On February 21, a select group of CBS students (including the three of us) met media industry legend and current Sirius Radio CEO Mel Karmazin. Karmazin was at CBS to tape a CNN International broadcast that will air this Saturday, March 8.
Prior to the taping, we found ourselves in the green room with Professor Jonathan Knee, director of the Media Program, and Karmazin, who regaled us with tales from his days at CBS Corp. and his experiences with higher education.
“When I was in college, they wouldn’t have even let me walk in this neighborhood!” he quipped.
During the taping, Karmazin spoke candidly to CNN host Andrew Stevens about his life. He is the son of a taxicab driver, and he reminisced about attending P.S. 1 in Queens, high school in Hell’s Kitchen and maintaining a C average as an accounting major at Pace University in Manhattan.
Karmazin found his calling in ad sales at CBS Radio, and at an early stage in his career began making more money than his bosses.
“Because of my own insecurity, I worked harder than everybody else,” he said.
When the top brass tried to cap his pay with the reasoning that “CBS made you, you didn’t make CBS,” he left and went on to build Infinity Broadcasting in 1981.
Eventually, he became president and COO of CBS Corp., but he left in 2004 (CBS Corp. was acquired by Viacom in 2000).
In November of 2004 he took the helm of Sirius, he said, because he could “maneuver [in radio] much quicker than [in] the television business,” due to the myriad of long-term production and distribution contracts that are prevalent in TV.
Karmazin remembered advice handed down to him by an early mentor: “Managing is like holding a dove. Hold it too tight and you’ll kill it. Hold it too loosely and it’ll fly away.”
“I’ve always believed in paying the people who work for me very well,” he said. “I have huge expectations. I expect zero defects. I expect you go to the Super Bowl every single year, and I expect you to win it.”
But Viacom didn’t exactly win Super Bowl XXXVIII in 2004, the year of the infamous Janet Jackson “wardrobe malfunction” during the half-time show, which resulted in FCC fines of over a half-million dollars.
After conducting an internal investigation, Karmazin decided he would not be made a scapegoat. “If I thought I did something wrong, I would have been happy to step down,” he said. He blamed the incident wholly on Jackson and didn’t say whether the network passed any fines or other penalties on to her.
Then again, Karmazin is no stranger to controversy; he has often been a staunch defender of the right of broadcasters to put divisive material on the air.
The Howard Stern Show was first broadcast on Infinity before moving to Sirius in 2006. Since the switch, Sirius has rapidly grown its subscriber base from 700 thousand to 8 million.
“Most of us believe a significant driver in this was related to Howard,” Karmazin said. Although the company paid Stern $80 million a year, Karmazin said CBS Radio lost $200 million in revenue when Stern departed.
“It’s about the content. Shakespeare said, “The play is the thing.” Although 90 percent of people don’t listen to Howard Stern, the 10 percent [who are] fans are huge fans. We all would like to get that content cheaper,” Karmazin said. “But that content helps separate your brand.“
Karmazin believes that Sirius will move to a model of increased content choices in the same way that cable TV relies on identifiable brands ranging from HBO to VH1 to ESPN.
“I think it’s a great time to be a consumer,” he said. “Technology is so phenomenal. You have so many choices.”
Karmazin closed his talk by reminding students that ethics — honesty, credibility, following the rules, integrity — are the most important element in business.
“I’m willing to believe someone until he tells me the first lie,” he said. “Then I’ll never trust him again.”
This event will also be viewable online at www.cnn.com/boardroom.
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Prior to the taping, we found ourselves in the green room with Professor Jonathan Knee, director of the Media Program, and Karmazin, who regaled us with tales from his days at CBS Corp. and his experiences with higher education.
“When I was in college, they wouldn’t have even let me walk in this neighborhood!” he quipped.
During the taping, Karmazin spoke candidly to CNN host Andrew Stevens about his life. He is the son of a taxicab driver, and he reminisced about attending P.S. 1 in Queens, high school in Hell’s Kitchen and maintaining a C average as an accounting major at Pace University in Manhattan.
Karmazin found his calling in ad sales at CBS Radio, and at an early stage in his career began making more money than his bosses.
“Because of my own insecurity, I worked harder than everybody else,” he said.
When the top brass tried to cap his pay with the reasoning that “CBS made you, you didn’t make CBS,” he left and went on to build Infinity Broadcasting in 1981.
Eventually, he became president and COO of CBS Corp., but he left in 2004 (CBS Corp. was acquired by Viacom in 2000).
In November of 2004 he took the helm of Sirius, he said, because he could “maneuver [in radio] much quicker than [in] the television business,” due to the myriad of long-term production and distribution contracts that are prevalent in TV.
Karmazin remembered advice handed down to him by an early mentor: “Managing is like holding a dove. Hold it too tight and you’ll kill it. Hold it too loosely and it’ll fly away.”
“I’ve always believed in paying the people who work for me very well,” he said. “I have huge expectations. I expect zero defects. I expect you go to the Super Bowl every single year, and I expect you to win it.”
But Viacom didn’t exactly win Super Bowl XXXVIII in 2004, the year of the infamous Janet Jackson “wardrobe malfunction” during the half-time show, which resulted in FCC fines of over a half-million dollars.
After conducting an internal investigation, Karmazin decided he would not be made a scapegoat. “If I thought I did something wrong, I would have been happy to step down,” he said. He blamed the incident wholly on Jackson and didn’t say whether the network passed any fines or other penalties on to her.
Then again, Karmazin is no stranger to controversy; he has often been a staunch defender of the right of broadcasters to put divisive material on the air.
The Howard Stern Show was first broadcast on Infinity before moving to Sirius in 2006. Since the switch, Sirius has rapidly grown its subscriber base from 700 thousand to 8 million.
“Most of us believe a significant driver in this was related to Howard,” Karmazin said. Although the company paid Stern $80 million a year, Karmazin said CBS Radio lost $200 million in revenue when Stern departed.
“It’s about the content. Shakespeare said, “The play is the thing.” Although 90 percent of people don’t listen to Howard Stern, the 10 percent [who are] fans are huge fans. We all would like to get that content cheaper,” Karmazin said. “But that content helps separate your brand.“
Karmazin believes that Sirius will move to a model of increased content choices in the same way that cable TV relies on identifiable brands ranging from HBO to VH1 to ESPN.
“I think it’s a great time to be a consumer,” he said. “Technology is so phenomenal. You have so many choices.”
Karmazin closed his talk by reminding students that ethics — honesty, credibility, following the rules, integrity — are the most important element in business.
“I’m willing to believe someone until he tells me the first lie,” he said. “Then I’ll never trust him again.”
This event will also be viewable online at www.cnn.com/boardroom.
</p>
More...