How I Got Here: Byron Allen

Byron Allen, Chairman/CEO, Allen Media Group

As far as media moguls go, Byron Allen is one of the few whose career has been shaped by the comedy business. Today, Allen is the Chairman/CEO of Allen Media Group, which boasts a portfolio that includes The Weather Channel, a group of broadcast stations, cable and digital networks and the streaming platform Local Now, but during a panel at Advertising Week New York last week, Allen credited his early years wandering the halls of NBC studios as a teenager in the ’70s and the people he met while working as a young comedian for educating him on the ins and outs of the television business. 

That journey began when his mother, entertainment executive Carolyn Folks, got a job as a publicist at NBC, which allowed him to witness firsthand how TV was made. “I would just go and watch them tape ‘The Tonight Show’ with Johnny Carson, and I would just stand there, and I would watch Johnny do the show, and I watched his every move,” Allen said. “Then I would walk across the hall and watch a guy named Redd Fox tape a show called ‘Sanford and Son.’”

While reminiscing about his days as a teen comedian, Allen recalled telling “Good Times” star Jimmie Walker that he needed to ask his mom for permission when the comedian invited him to join his writing team, which also happened to include two young up-and-comers named Jay Leno and David Letterman. Allen started out getting paid $25 a joke, which allowed him to quit his paper route. Allen eventually got a shot to perform stand-up comedy on The Tonight Show at the age of 18, which then led to him being tapped to host the comedic reality show “Real People.” 

Allen also quickly became interested in the business of show business. One of his most important teachers was producer Al Masini, whom he met at his first TV convention in NYC when he was 19. “I walked into the New York Hilton, it was packed. And I said, ‘Who’s the smartest guy in this building?’ And they said, ‘Al Masini,” Allen recalled, explaining that the producer was pitching “Entertainment Tonight” at the time. “I watched him sell Entertainment Tonight to these TV stations, and I walked up and I introduced myself. I said, ‘Mr. Masini, I heard you’re the best in the business, and I’m here to learn from you. Where are we having dinner tonight?” 

Masini happened to be taking clients out for dinner at an Italian restaurant and Allen asked him to save him a seat, which the producer did, and class was in session. Allen credited Masini as one of the people who most inspired and pushed him to start his own business. “I remember him telling me, ‘I started from my dining room table when I was 36.’ Years later, he said, ‘Byron, you’re younger than me, start from your dining room table.’ And that’s how I started my company from my dining room table.”