Les Garland
Les Garland’s success as a business executive has long been fueled by his love for music. Beginning his career as a radio and television personality, he went on to become one of the most influential radio programmers of the ’70s, exerting even more influence on the ’80s as co-founder of both MTV: Music Television and VH-1.
Garland served as executive producer of the first six “MTV Video Music Award Shows” and the historic Live Aid concert in 1985. He launched “MTV Spring Break,” which remains a staple of the channel today and created the first “Making Of” and “MTV World Premiere” music videos. Garland accepted multiple achievement awards during the MTV years, including Cable Ace Awards and Billboard Magazine’s Innovator of the Year.
From 1990-97, Garland played an essential role in the domestic and international launch of the interactive music channel, The Box. Responsible for entertainment programming, promotion, ad sales and marketing, Garland oversaw the rollout of the channel from a base of 200,000 homes at its inception to more than 30 million U.S. households and 25 million households internationally. From there he went on to found sputnik7.com.
An early adopter of the Internet and subject of one of its first live interactive interviews in the early ’80s on ROCKNET.com, Garland continues to define his career by remaining on the front edge of popular mass entertainment through projects undertaken by his consulting company, AfterPlay Entertainment.
Garland’s passion for music is equaled by his passion for golf. An active member of the community, Garland was appointed by the City of Miami Beach to the commission overseeing the renovation of Miami Beach’s only two public golf courses, the Miami Beach Golf Club and Normandy Shores. He was also an owner/founder along with Gianni Versace, Sylvester Stallone and Chris Blackwell in BARNONE, once named one of the country’s hottest nightspots.