Jeff Smulyan founded and ran Emmis Communications in Indianapolis, one of the leading radio and television operations in the country. From his first radio station in the Indianapolis area where he hired David Letterman to host a talk radio show to buying and running the Seattle Mariners baseball team, Smulyan’s life journey has been full of several profound feats.
Smulyan was born on April 6, 1947, in Indianapolis, Indiana. As a young man, Smulyan worked for the Indianapolis Times and the Indianapolis Star.
Smulyan attended the University of Southern California. He stayed at USC for law school where he worked as a note and comment editor for the USC Law Review and earned his law degree.
Smulyan moved back to Indiana to help run a small radio station owned by a relative. Smulyan renamed the station WNTS (standing for news, talk, and sports) and even hired David Letterman away from Channel 13 to host a talk radio show.
In 1980, Jeff Smulyan established Emmis Broadcasting Company (later renamed Emmis Communications), where he now serves as the Chairman and CEO.
Emmis grew from one station in Shelbyville to across the United States, from Los Angeles to New York. In fact, at one time, Emmis owned 15 television stations, six monthly city and/or regional magazines, and more than 20 radio stations.
Smulyan worked hard to build and own various well-known brands, including Hot 97 based out of New York City, Power 106 in Los Angeles, KSHE in St. Louis, Q101 in Chicago, WVUE-TV in New Orleans, along with Texas Monthly and Los Angeles magazines.
In 1987, Smulyan transformed the New York-based radio station WNBC into one centered around sports: rebranding itself as WFAN. WFAN was America’s first all-sports radio station.
In 1989, Smulyan and Letterman—along with several other buyers—purchased the Seattle Mariners from George Argyros for $75 million.
Smulyan was inducted into the Indiana Broadcast Hall of Fame in 2011.
