Les Garland
| Les Garland | |
|---|---|
Garland
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| Born | U.S. |
| Occupation | Entertainment Executive |
| Known for | MTV and Radio |
Les Garland is an American Entertainment Executive who currently leads mass media entertainment as the Founder and CEO of his company, AfterPlay Entertainment, a boutique, multi-disciplinary consulting practice that, in part, matches world famous talent with world-class brands. Garland was an executive or co-founder of networks including MTV: Music Television, VH1, The Box Television Network, and College Television Networks.
In his early days in Radio, Garland was discovered by radio giants Bill Drake and Paul Drew. From there he became the Program Director of four major market radio stations including K-100 Los Angeles, CKLW Detroit, WRKO Boston, and KFRC San Francisco, all during contemporary music’s prime.
In San Francisco, KFRC took the place as the top rated radio station in Northern California and was named Radio Station of the Year. Channeling Orson Welles, Garland created a KFRC promotional spot that has since become a part of radio history and also receiving a Clio for it. The promo, titled 'Close Encounters', stunned listeners by announcing that the station would go silent in order to communicate with extraterrestrials. There, Garland was named Program director of the year.
From KFRC, Garland was hand-picked by label founder Ahmet Ertegun and label chief Doug Morris to manage West Coast operations for Atlantic Records. At that time, Atlantic was home to Led Zeppelin, The Rolling Stones, Genesis, ABBA, Aretha Franklin, Foreigner, The Spinners, Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young, and AC/DC.
After Atlantic Records, Garland moved back to the east coast becoming the programming head of MTV: Music Television, the world’s first 24-hour music channel. While at MTV, Garland set celebrity profiles for ad guru Dale Pon's anthemic I Want My MTV marketing campaign. Along with Founder, Robert Pittman, serving as MTV Networks Senior Executive Vice President, Garland was executive producer of the first six MTV Video Music Awards and oversaw all elements of programming. He was on the lead team that globalized the MTV brand with distribution into Europe, Asia and Australia. During his time at MTV he was asked to be the DJ voice embedded in the classic hit We Built This City by Starship. This impromptu stunt immortalized his voice as the things DJ dreams are made of, while Garland calls it his first number one song.
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