Jeff Smulyan shares advice, lessons learn in entrepreneurship in new memoir

Jeff Smulyan has owned a Major League Baseball team, managed the likes of David Letterman, Ken Griffey and Don Imus and learned a lot of valuable lessons along the way.

The entrepreneur and founder/chairman of the board of Emmis Communications joined us Thursday on “Life.Style.Live!” to discuss his new book, “Never Ride a Rollercoaster Upside Down: The Ups, Downs, and Reinvention of an Entrepreneur.”

Book Description:

Jeff Smulyan grew up with a love for radio and a fierce entrepreneurial spirit. Smulyan came of age at a time when radio transformed from a niche medium to an indispensable form of news and entertainment. Like so many youths of the time he could be found hiding his transistor radio under his pillow so he could listen to radio late into the night and escape to far off places and events. 

So, it’s no wonder Smulyan made his career in radio. He started the first all sports radio station, created the world’s two largest hip hop radio stations, owned the Seattle Mariners, and built Emmis Communications from the ground up. What’s more, the Museum of Broadcast Communications recently announced that Smulyan will be honored as an inductee into the Radio Hall of Fame this November. Despite these enormous successes, Smulyan’s path to success was not without obstacles. In his new memoir, “Never Ride a Rollercoaster Upside Down: The Ups, Downs, and Reinvention of an Entrepreneur” (Matt Holt Books, December 6, 2022; ISBN: 9781637742228), he chronicles the successes as well as the failures and provides a roadmap to becoming an entrepreneur and a successful business leader. 

Part business manual and part memoir, readers will meet a wonderful cast of characters and household names from David Letterman to Ken Griffey Jr., all the while enjoying countless humorous and dramatic stories from Smulyan’s fascinating career.  

To purchase the book, click here.