Jeff Smulyan
Jeff Smulyan | |
|---|---|
| Born | Jeffrey Smulyan April 6, 1947 |
| Education | B.A and J.D. University of Southern California |
| Known for | founder and CEO of Emmis Communications owner of the Seattle Mariners |
| Spouse(s) | Janine Ginger Smulyan (divorced) Heather Hill Smulyan |
| Children | 3 |
Jeffrey "Jeff" Smulyan born April 6, 1947, in Indianapolis, Indiana is the founder and CEO of Emmis Communications.
Early life and education
Smulyan was born to a Jewish family, the son of Natalie (née Stolkin) and Sam Smulyan.[1][2] He has one brother and one sister.[2] His father owned the local Howard Johnson motel franchise and was president of Congregation Beth-El Zedeck.[3] He earned undergraduate and law degrees from the University of Southern California.[1] While in law school, he wrote for the school's Law Review and specialized in federal communications law.[1]
Career
In 1973,[3] he returned to Indianapolis where he his father purchased WNTS-AM for $400,000 and named Jeff vice president and general manager.[4] WNTS failed as a talk station and went religious, a format Jeff had no interest in managing.[4] In 1980, he founded Emmis Broadcasting Corporation as the principal shareholder and began to purchase radio stations: WENS in Indianapolis; WLOL in Minneapolis; KSHE in St. Louis; KPWR in Los Angeles; WQHT (1986) and WFAN (1986) in New York; and WAVA (1986) in Washington D.C.[4] making EMMIS the largest privately owned radio broadcasting company in America.[1][4] In 1988, he purchased KXXX in San Francisco; WKQX in Chicago; WJIB in Boston; and WYNY and WNBC in New York.[4] He also purchased the Indianapolis Monthly magazine.[4] He pioneered the all sports radio format converting WYNY and WNBC (where he had exclusive rights to the New York Mets) to all sports.[4] In 1991, he sold WFAN for $70 million, the highest price ever paid for a radio station.[4]
As of 2016, Indianapolis-based Emmis operates the ninth-largest radio portfolio in the U.S. owning 19 FM and four AM radio stations in Indianapolis, New York, Los Angeles, St. Louis and Austin, Texas.[5] Emmis (the Hebrew word for "truth") also developed and licenses TagStation®, a cloud-based software platform that allows a broadcaster to manage album art, metadata and enhanced advertising on its various broadcasts, and developed NextRadio®, a smartphone application that marries over-the-air FM radio broadcasts with visual and interactive features on smartphones.[citation needed]
Seattle Mariners
In 1989, Smulyan with partners, purchased the Seattle Mariners from George Argyros for $75 million.[4] Smulyan held the largest interest and contributed $35 million while the remainder was contributed by Morgan Stanley ($20 million); other investors ($5 million); and the remainder via bank financing.[4][6] After struggling to make the team profitable, he attempted to relocate the team to St. Petersburg, Florida but was thwarted by a clause in his lease requiring that he sell the team if a purchaser made a bid that would keep the Mariners in Seattle.[4] In 1992, Nintendo, promising to keep the team in Seattle, purchased the team for $100 million.[4]
In 2005, Smulyan made an unsuccessful bid to purchase the Washington Nationals baseball team.[citation needed]
Personal life
He has been married twice. In 1975, he married Janine J. Ginger.[7] They had two children: Cari and Bradley. The marriage ended in divorce in 1988.[4][8][9] In 2003, he married Heather Hill [10]; they have a daughter, Samantha Ann.[11] In 1981, Smulyan and his wife were contestants on the NBC game show Las Vegas Gambit.[8]
References
- ^ a b c d Seattle Times: "Family Source Tells All On Mariners' Jeff Smulyan" by Emmett Watson March 17, 1991
- ^ a b Indianapolis Star: "Natalie J. Smulyan" September 30, 2013
- ^ a b Indianapolis Star: "Media Mogul has Nice Guy Image" September 15, 2003
- ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m Andelman, Bob (February 17, 2015). Stadium For Rent: Tampa Bay's Quest for Major League Baseball. CreateSpace. ISBN 9781507655061.
- ^ Indianapolis Star: "After Jeff Smulyan's go-private offer, Emmis investors suddenly see big value" by Jeff Briggs August 22, 2016
- ^ Egan, Timothy (24 January 1992). "Japanese Bid for Seattle Team Gets Baseball's Cold Shoulder". The New York Times. Retrieved 14 July 2010.
- ^ The Indianapolis Star Weddings: "Smulyan-Ginger" November 2, 1975
- ^ a b "Las Vegas Gambit, May 14, 1981". YouTube. Retrieved 17 October 2014. minute 19:10
- ^ Sky Blue Window: "In My Closet: Cari Smulyan" By Shelby Roby-Terr April 2, 2015
- ^ The Indianapolis Star: "New love: Jeff Smulyan keeps photos of new wife Heather Hill Smulyan in his office" September 15, 2003
- ^ Emmis Communications Corporation website: "Who We Are: Jeff Smulyan, Chairman, CEO, and Founder" retrieved March 2, 2017
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- Major League Baseball owners
- Seattle Mariners owners
- Jewish American sportspeople
- University of Southern California Law School alumni
- 1947 births
- Businesspeople from Indianapolis
- Living people
- American chief executives
- American business biography, 1940s birth stubs
- American baseball business biography stubs
- 20th-century American businesspeople