Off the Record with Jeff Smulyan: Emmis, WFAN and the Seattle Mariners

Jeff Smulyan joins Nate Feltman on Off the Record to discuss growing up in Indianapolis, studying at USC and returning home to build Emmis Communications into a national media company. He recounts buying his first stations, hiring David Letterman at WNTS and helping create major radio brands including Power 106 in Los Angeles, Hot 97 in New York, Q101 in Chicago and KSHE in St. Louis. Smulyan also explains why he pushed for sports talk radio at WFAN, what he learned from owning the Seattle Mariners and how he approached disruption in radio, television and publishing. He closes with lessons from his memoir, “Never Ride a Rollercoaster Upside Down,” and his views on risk, resilience, leadership, culture and civic engagement in Indianapolis.