Shock jock Howard Stern and Mel Karmazin will be working together again. Karmazin is the new chief executive officer of Sirius Satellite Radio. The Sirius board appointed Karmazin to Joe Clayton’s former job, and bumped up Clayton to chairman of the board.
Clayton’s three-year contract ends in December. He had told the board he was willing to stay through a transition period.
“When Mel left Viacom, we all felt we had a unique opportunity,” states Clayton, who credits the hire of Karmazin as the capstone to his turnaround of the company. When Clayton assumed control, the company had satellites launched and studios built, but no receivers in the market due to chipset delays from Agere, a Lucent spinoff.
Karmazin, served as President/CEO of Viacom until earlier this year.
“This is a perfect opportunity for me because I want to lead a growth company that can reshape the landscape of the radio business,” stated Karmazin. “I took Infinity Broadcasting and Westwood One to leadership positions in the industry and am confident that Sirius will become a market leader in short order.”
Karmazin to Lead Sirius
Karmazin to Lead Sirius