387. WFAN Creator, Former Seattle Mariners Owner Jeff Smulyan

Jeff Smulyan is known for creating the format of sports radio. Smulyan is the Founder, CEO, and Chairman of the Board of Emmis Broadcasting. In 1987, he created WFAN Radio in New York, the 1st 24-hour sports radio station of its kind. That spawned hundreds of sports radio stations across the country. In 1989, Smulyan lead a group that purchased the Seattle Mariners. In 1994, he was named to the White House as a US Ambassador to head the US Delegation to the Plenipotentiary Conference of the International Telecommunications Union.

Living in Indianapolis, Smulyan penned his memoir which was recently this year. It is entitled, “ Never Ride a Roller Coaster Upside Down – The Ups, Downs, and Reinvention of an Entrepreneur.” It can be found here: https://a.co/g9fjkDu.

In this episode, Smulyan talks extensively about what went right and what didn’t during his tenure as the Mariners’ owner. He also talked about the idea to create a 24-hour sports station, and what made WFAN flourish. He also talked about the changing media landscape in both television and radio.