Joel Hartstone, a longtime radio station owner and entrepreneur, passed away earlier this month. He was 79.
As put by his son, Hartstone was an influential businessman in the broadcast industry who, over the course of 25 years, owned and operated more than 50 radio stations in 20 markets. He also held ownership interests in more than a dozen television stations.
A 1970 graduate of Cornell Law School, Hartstone began his career as the chief investment counsel for Aetna Life before transitioning into media ownership in the early 1980s.
Around that time, he co-founded Hartstone & Dickstein Incorporated (later StoneGate Capital Group) and moved away from practicing private law to a new career of private investment and merchant banking, according to his obituary.
Through Hartstone & Dickstein, Hartstone held ownership interests in and directly managed numerous enterprises, including a portfolio of radio stations in Atlantic City, Chicago, Connecticut and Delaware. The group spent a decade acquiring and managing stations before selling properties to Connoisseur Communications in 1994.
In the late 1990s, Hartstone co-founded Excalibur Media, which owned stations in Vermont and Port Henry, N.Y., in partnership with Jim Champlin. He was also the former CEO and principal of Sabre Communications and Community Radio, according to his LinkedIn.
Later in his career, Harstone created the StoneGate One Day MBA Program, a business boot camp designed for both owner-managers of private businesses and their professional advisors.
“Joel will be remembered for his devotion to family, his passion for mentoring emerging entrepreneurs and his unwavering commitment to excellence in all his endeavors,” read his obituary.
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