Randy Michaels

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Randy Michaels (born Benjamin Homel) is an American broadcaster and entrepreneur. He is currently the COO of the Tribune Company. He is also a member of the National Association of Broadcasters TV Board.^[1]

[edit] Early Career

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Michaels started his career in radio as an engineer. He assumed the name of Randy Michaels when he started doing on-air work in Buffalo at WGR radio. At one point in his early career, Michaels was working at 5 stations using 3 different names.^{[citation needed]}

Michaels was often referred to as “boy wonder” for Taft Broadcasting in the early 1970’s.^{[citation needed]} Michaels was Taft’s Vice President of Programming in his 20’s, successfully turning stations WGRQ Buffalo, WKRQ and WKRC Cincinnati, and WDAF Kansas City.

In 1983, Michaels left Taft with partner Robert Lawrence to form Seven Hills Broadcasting. With partners, he purchased stations in Nashville and Knoxville, along with WSKS and WLW Cincinnati. Within three years WLW had become the pioneer of modern talk radio, rising to the top of the ratings.

Seven Hills merged with Jacor in 1986 and Michaels became EVP/Programming and co-COO until assuming the President/COO position during re-structuring under Sam Zell in May of 1993. In 1996, Zell named Michaels CEO of Jacor.

At Jacor, Michaels built a team that produced not only the most impressive acquisition record but also the industry’s best “same store” growth figures.^{[citation needed]}

In 1992, Michaels hired a young Sean Hannity to join Jacor as a talkshow host in Atlanta. In 1997 Michaels cut one of the largest deals in radio history with Rush Limbaugh to acquire the program. In 1998, Michaels made a deal with Dr. Laura Schlessinger, at the time the #2 talkshow host in the country.

Michaels first experienced television in the mid 90’s when Jacor purchased Citicasters. The deal included two television stations: WTSP in Tampa (swapped to Gannett for six radio stations shortly after acquisition) and WKRC in Cincinnati which held ratings dominance during the late 1990’s and early 2000’s.

In May of 1999, Zell and Michaels merged Jacor with Clear Channel Communications. While CEO of Clear Channel, Michaels took the merged Jacor/Clear Channel from 425 stations to 1200 in a 3 year period. Michaels remained in the CEO role until July 2002.

After leaving Clear Channel in 2002, Michaels started several private broadcast firms, including RadioActive and Product 1st.

FCC ownership reports indicate that Benjamin Homel (also identified as the CEO of Local TV, LLC) is the sole member of Radioactive, LLC, which controls the licenses or building permits for 23 new FM radio stations acquired from FCC license auctions.^[2]

Michaels began working with Oak Hill Capital partners in early 2005 on acquisition opportunities, culminating in the creation of Local TV, LLC, a company that acquired television stations formerly owned by The New York Times. In early 2007, Michaels became CEO of the company. On December 22, 2007, Local TV announced it was acquiring eight large market stations from News Corp.^[3]

[edit] Tribune Company

On December 20, 2007 Michaels became EVP of Chicago based Tribune Company and CEO of Interactive and Broadcasting operations as part of the management restructuring following the consummation of the Tribune Company privatization transaction.^[4]

His Tribune role includes overseeing most of the Tribune newspapers. Michaels will also oversee Local TV LLC through a management agreement. The Tribune/LocalTV management agreement creates the largest television group in the United States in terms of total reach.

In April 2008, Michaels raided the top executive ranks at Clear Channel. CFO Jerry Kersting, SVP Programming Marc Chase & Sean Compton, and VP Technology Steve Gable all left Clear Channel to join Tribune Company.^[5]

On May 7, 2008, Michaels was named the COO of the entire Tribune Company.^[6]

[edit] References