MUNCIE, Ind. – Media executive Jeff Smulyan believes unlimited business opportunities are developing around the globe and just as many headaches.

A successful venture to create a radio network in Hungary can be offset by a money-losing talk radio show in Great Britain, said the president and chief executive officer of Emmis Communications of Indianapolis and a member of the Ball State University Board of Trustees.

"There are tremendous opportunities in the media field around the globe today," said Smulyan, keynote speaker Friday at Ball State’s WorldClass Conference. "At the same time, there are just as many risks and problems."

The international conference brought together the top business faculty from other Mid-American Conference schools and business executives to discuss international business issues.

Smulyan said understanding a local culture and its customs is critical to success on the international level. As one of several investors, he was forced to pull out of a talk radio network in Great Britain because local interests put nationalism above profit.

"The British television people brought us in as partners, and at the last moment wanted to run the show completely," Smulyan said. "They weren’t interested in making a profit even though it was a commercial venture. I can now put on my tombstone that we got out of Great Britain for 87 cents on the dollar."

Emmis was awarded a contract to run a privatized radio network in Hungary, a former communist nation. The network went on the air in 1998 and now reaches about four of the country’s 11 million listeners playing mostly classic American rock songs banned in the 1970s.

By surveying the audience, the network’s music format was changed from music from the last decade to focus more 1970s era music. The format change forced the network to renegotiate the licensing agreement.

"In America, you would have no problem changing formats but the Hungarian government had some problems with that since it violated the original agreement," he said. "We had to go back and renegotiate. We want to give the audience what they wanted and it has been hugely popular."

Smulyan placed credit for the Hungarian venture’s success on creating an operation to fit the local culture.

"As Americans, we have the expertise in classic rock and bad movies," Smulyan said. "However, when you go overseas you have to do everything in context of the local community. We have an all Hungarian staff running the operation and about 15 percent of the investment came from one of their banks."

Emmis continues to look for additional markets, recently reaching an agreement to operate in Argentina only after months of intense negotiations with that country’s communications agency.

By Marc Ransford, Communications Manager