Melvin Alan "Mel" Karmazin (born August 24, 1943) is an American executive. He was the president of Infinity Broadcasting (formerly known as CBS Radio now Audacy, Inc.) and eventually became the president and CEO of CBS. From 2004 to 2013, he was the CEO of Sirius Radio.

Early life and education

Karmazin was born in 1943 to a Jewish family in Long Island City, Queens in New York City. His father was a taxi driver and his mother a factory worker. Mel Karmazin first worked as a typist for an advertising firm in high school In the 1980s, he hired Howard Stern after Stern was fired for another station. Karmazin later said he didn't get along with Redstone and found it difficult to be "No. 2" at a company, but particularly under Redstone. The two executives continued to snipe at each other through the media even a year after Karmazin left Viacom.

Sirius (2004-2012)

From 2004 to 2012, he was the CEO of Sirius Radio (re-branded Sirius XM Radio after XM merged with Sirius in 2008).

For most of his career he has been known as a "Wall Street darling" for his ability to drive up the price of his various companies' stock. "The joke about him was that he was so pushy that advertisers used to buy airtime from Mel just to get him out of their office," according to a Fortune magazine article. Like his father, Craig Karmazin went into radio, and founded Good Karma Broadcasting, which owns a number of radio stations. Dina graduated from the University of Miami and married in 1993. In 1994, Sharon and Mel divorced.

In June 2001, Karmazin married his longtime executive assistant, Terry Malia. Karmazin is a resident of Greenwich, Connecticut.

References

  • Biographical information on Karmazin at Sirius Satellite Radio Web site
  • "Corporate Overview" Web page at Sirius Satellite Radio Web site
  • Karmazin's political contributions, as tracked and updated by Newsmeat.com