Arick Wierson
Encyclopedia
Arick Wierson is an American-born media executive and entrepreneur. His has business interests that span television and film production, political consultancy, and a variety of business interests in the Middle East, Latin America, Europe and Africa. Best known as the founder of NYC TV, which, according to some sources, revolutionized local television in the United States. Wierson has been labeled as "one of the most important people in New York media" by the television industry 'Bible' weekly magazine Broadcasting & Cable
. In 2002, Wierson was handpicked by New York City Mayor and media mogul Michael Bloomberg
as the executive charged with building and managing the television and radio holdings owned by the City of New York, which later became collectively known as NYC Media Group
. On April 28, 2009, New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg announced that Wierson was returning to the private sector to develop and produce feature film and television projects as an executive at Channel Production Films.
Wierson is the Executive Producer of the feature documentary film "Back Door Channels: The Price of Peace
", which held its world premiere in Abu Dhabi
at the 2010 Abu Dhabi Film Festival, formerly known as the Middle East International Film Festival
. An early cut of the film was shown once in a private screening in 2009, which garnered the film considerable industry buzz given the collection of high-profile interviewees who gave Wierson and his team unfettered access to previously classified documents related to the Israel-Egypt peace accords of 1979. The film was personally selected by H.S.H. Albert II, Prince of Monaco
to open the 49th Annual Monte-Carlo Film & Television Festival at an invitation-only private royal screening.
At the helm of NYC TV, Wierson led the network to accrue over 160 Emmy nominations in seven years. He has been personally nominated on 29 different occasions for the role of Executive Producer in the creation of NYCTV's various programs. In 2007, Wierson won five Emmy awards for his role as the Executive Producer of the nationally syndicated Secrets of New York
.
Wierson, along with co-founder Seth Unger
, launched NYC TV in 2005. The network has been recognized as an innovator and pioneer in both local and public broadcasting across the United States and internationally.
in 1990. Wierson graduated cum laude from Georgetown University
in 1994 with a Bachelor's of Science degree in Foreign Service. During his years in Washington, DC, working at the Embassies of Nicaragua
and Brazil
as well as at the World Bank, it is said that Wierson cultivated relationships which would later catapult his career in politics and business. At the Brazilian Embassy, he worked under (then) Ambassador Rubens Ricúpero, who would later rise to international prominence as the Brazilian Finance Minister responsible for managing the Plano Real
, Brazil's currency stabilization plan. Wierson also spent time in Managua
, working for the Nicaraguan Foreign Ministry under (then) Foreign Minister (and future Nicaraguan presidential candidate) Ernesto Leal
. During his time at Georgetown, Wierson also worked at the World Bank
both in Washington and later at the Bank's offices in Recife
, Brazil
. After graduation, he obtained a Master's Degree in Economics from the State University of Campinas (UNICAMP), in the state of São Paulo, Brazil
, where he studied as a Rotary Scholar. His 1997 Master's dissertation focused on the deregulation of the Brazilian cellular telephone industry.
, ABN AMRO
Bank, and JP Morgan
. There has been ample speculation that Wierson was hired to lend his political and personal connections to the Dutch Banking giant ABN Amro
to ensure a successful acquisition of the Brazilian retail giant Banco Real
.
. In early 2001, billionaire businessman Michael Bloomberg
made a personal appeal to Wierson to move to New York from Brazil to aid him in his 2001 mayoral campaign. Although he has referred to himself in the press as a "reluctant politico," Wierson ended up playing a major role in Bloomberg's initial election, managing the "Democrats for Bloomberg" initiatives and overseeing the campaign's field operations which combined traditional electioneering with state-of-the-art database management. Wierson has been credited with setting the stage in Bloomberg's 2001 campaign for what many political analysts today call the most technically sophisticated political operation in the country.
Wierson is known to have close political ties in his home state of Minnesota
. He is known to be close to maverick political strategist Bill Hillsman
, who asked Wierson to lecture at the John F. Kennedy School of Government
at Harvard University
on several occasions while he was in residency there. In June 2010, Brazilian Vice Presidential candidate and Federal Deputy Antônio Pedro de Siqueira Indio da Costa
(Democratas (Brasil)) invited Wierson to advise him and Presidential candidate José Serra
on media and political matters during the final months of the campaign before the October election. Wierson is said to have declined the invitation due to "ongoing engagements in Angola."
. Since becoming General Manager of NYC TV, Wierson led the network to 42 Emmy Awards and over 100 National Telly Cable Awards. In addition to Secrets of New York, Wierson played a role in the creation of many of the network's original series' productions including $9.99
, Eat Out NY
, New York 360*, and The Bridge
. In 2008, Wierson led NYC TV's digital media group to its first-ever Webby
nominations.
While at the helm of NYC Media Group, since rebranded as NYC Media, Wierson was vocal in his disdain for the traditional public broadcasting model. In 2005, Wierson disbanded the station’s long-held PBS status, enabling NYC TV's original shows to take over prime-time "It was smart not to be the 'fifth channel,' said Dalton Delan, executive vice president of WETA in Washington. You don't want to be the triple-A team. You want to find a new ballpark where you can be No. 1."
In August 2006, Wierson, Unger and Bloomberg appeared in the NBC studios, joined WNBC General Manager Francis Comerford and former NBC Station Group President Jay Ireland in announcing a partnership between NYC TV and NBC flagship station WNBC The executives were flanked by two of NYC TV's on-air stars, Kelly Choi
and Amy Palmer
, who would be hosting some of the programming that would be part of the content deal, namely Eat Out NY
and New York 360*.
On April 28, 2009, Mayor Bloomberg announced Wierson was stepping down as CEO of NYC Media Group. The Mayor lauded Wierson's service to him stating, "Over the past seven years, Arick Wierson and his team transformed NYC TV into one of the nation’s best television stations. After helping build the station virtually from scratch, Arick oversaw the merger of NYC TV with WNYE-TV
and WNYE-FM, creating the largest local media group in New York that now reaches hundreds of thousands of people every day. NYC TV’s 160 New York Emmy nominations and 42 awards serve as a testament to Arick’s vision, tenacity, and leadership and to the excellence of the media group he was instrumental in creating. I have no doubt that Arick’s entrepreneurial and creative talents, which helped him achieve great things at NYC TV will serve him well as he rejoins the private sector..."
It was later revealed that Wierson had been planning an exit from NYC TV for well over a year. In a private email circulated among city officials, Wierson revealed that has had been planning to leave NYC TV since late 2008 to work on a number of projects in Brazil and Portuguese-speaking Africa, where Wierson had previously spent many years as an investment banker with ABN AMRO Bank. Additionally, the New York Times revealed that Wierson had been quietly producing a documentary film starring former U.S. President Jimmy Carter "Back Door Channels: The Price of Peace
" which later opened in Monte-Carlo and Abu Dhabi
.
. The announcement caused major ripples throughout the New York City music community, causing some broadcasters such as local indie station WFUV
to take public barbs at Wierson and his team for encroaching on their market.
On March 5, 2009, Wierson, along with NYC Mayor Michael Bloomberg and DoITT Commissioner Paul Cosgrave announced that Radio NYC was moving its radio broadcast operations to Manhattan, and was unveiling a new digital transmitter, capable of transmitting multiple in-band HD radio
streams.
, was known for his aggressive "ask for forgiveness, not for permission" management style, risk-taking, and disregard for formalities. Moreover, the close personal relationship between Bloomberg and Wierson has been revealed in recent years. Wierson was of one Bloomberg's first hires on his initial campaign for mayor in 2001. Until 2009, Wierson's wife, Fabiana Mesquita-Wierson, was one of the top executives at Bloomberg, LP; based in Brazil, she had been the executive responsible for expanding Bloomberg's operations throughout Latin America. In fact, it is rumored that Wierson's daughter, Isabella, takes her first name because Bloomberg suggested to Wierson and his wife that they call call her "Izzie" while Mesquita-Wierson was still pregnant.
It has also been suggested that Bloomberg, in an effort to entice Wierson to follow him to City Hall, subsidized Wierson's public sector salary by passing on yearly bonuses to his spouse via his company, as he has done with other key employees who straddle the porous walls dividing Bloomberg's company, Bloomberg's political and campaign apparatus, the Bloomberg Family Foundation, and City Hall, including NYC TV co-founder Seth Unger
, whose wife, Allison Jaffin, works at City Hall and the Foundation through a special waiver granted by the city's ethics board. Critics have voiced concerns that Wierson and Unger, both long-time members of Bloomberg's circle of trusted aides and loyalists, have at times pushed the television channels and radio stations to further Mayor Bloomberg's political agenda with programs such as City Scoop - winner of a NY Emmy in 2009.
The central contention has been that NYC TV was simply a very slick and well-oiled sales machine. In a 2006 article on the network, the NY Times' Winnie Hu wrote, "NYC TV is largely an invention of the Bloomberg administration, which has aggressively attempted to apply the latest technology and business practices from the private sector to all levels of city government. Mayor Michael Bloomberg, who began Bloomberg Television as part of his media empire, knew better than most the value of a city television station, his aides said."
. Brewer, who represents Manhattan's Upper West Side
regularly criticized NYC TV for being “too flashy” with its focus on fashion, celebrity, and other topics she viewed as inconsistent with the mission of the network. Wierson has countered in Council testimony that “television is meant to be watched.” Brewer often complained in public hearings that Wierson was a "pain in the neck" - as recently as the April 14, 2010 NYC Council Committee on Technology in Government hearing - nearly a full year after Wierson had left office.
In August 2009, the free weekly New York City counter-culture newspaper, the Village Voice, dedicated a cover story to the rise of NYC TV, focusing on the organization's president and co-founder, Arick B. Wierson. The author, Tom Robbins, a highly vocal critic of Mayor Bloomberg (who has taken to calling Bloomberg "Mayor Mugabe" in drawing comparisons between him and the Zimbabwean dictator Robert Mugabe
) wrote an article dissecting Wierson's many outside business interests, some of which he alleged were never formally approved by the appropriate oversights. Robbins has since been let go of the Village Voice.
The editors at the Village Voice, which at the time was still (and continues) under tremendous financial pressure, were apparently adopting a strategy based on the hope that their extreme anti-Bloomberg stance would appeal to New Yorkers' who were upset with the Mayor's overturning of term-limits, and so it appears that the real target of the Robbin's articles (he has written 8 follow up stories on matters related to Bloomberg and NYC TV as of June, 2010) was Mayor Bloomberg. Robbins attempted to portray Wierson and the media assets he had been quietly amassing since Bloomberg took office, as part of a concerted effort to use a hazy mixture of campaign, personal, not-for-profit and public sector resources at the Mayor's disposal to manipulate his public image, positioning him for first a presidential run, then later a third-term as Mayor. Robbin's initial article described Wierson as a Bloomberg insider who was given carte-blanche to run the city agency as he saw fit, often eschewing traditional public-service protocols.
Now part of the annals of New York City journalistic lore, one of Robbin's articles stands out as particularly bizarre - and many insiders feel ~that it was the "tipping point
" of an othersie long and dignified career, after which Robbin´s exit was all but inevitable. In a Fall 2009 cover story, Robbins spent considerable time dissecting Wierson's personal life, and his cozy relationship with not only Bloomberg but other wealthy businessmen, royalty, and politicians. He went on to describe Wierson as "a tall man with a broad jaw, who wears his hair fashionably slicked back" and his wife, Fabiana Wierson, as "an attractive blond from Brazil."
Robbins was particularly critical of Wierson's unusually close business ties with New York billionaire and real estate tycoon Leon Charney
, a client of the station as well as Wierson's relationship with Monaco's Prince Albert II. Robbins later wrote that Wierson later cut a check for $5,000 to the City's Conflicts Board to settle the issues in what Robbins referred to as the "...latest episode of justice in the Bloomberg era." Wierson's statement on the matter centered on the fact that he had assumed that since he had been given authorization to hire specific staff to work with him on outside matters, that this waiver applied to all NYC TV staff. The Conflicts Board disagreed, and suggested that he had played a role in hiring, without receiving the necessary and proper clearances in advance, several of the station's Emmy-award winning creative talents to work on an outside documentary film that he was producing.
" which will be one of the opening night films of the 2010 Middle East International Film Festival
, since rebranded as the Abu Dhabi Film Festival. Due to a special request from the Monte-Carlo Television Festival in Monaco, an early cut of the movie was shown in Monaco
in 2009 to a private audience including Prince Albert. In June 2011, Fisher Klingenstein Films announced that it had acquired worldwide rights to "Back Door Channels: The Price of Peace" and laid out plans for a platform release in New York City on Sept. 16, 2011, followed by openings in Los Angeles, San Francisco, Chicago, Cleveland, Boston and Philadelphia. The film deals with the 1979 Peace Treaty between Israel and Egypt and the unlikely circumstances and behind-the scenes jockeying that led to its coming to fruition. The film features former U.S. President Jimmy Carter
, former Secretary-General of the U.N. Boutros Boutros-Ghali
, Dr. Henry Kissinger
, the former U.S. Secretary of State and CNN's Wolf Blitzer
, among many other name-brand international statesmen and politicians.
Broadcasting & Cable
Broadcasting & Cable magazine is a television industry trade magazine published by NewBay Media. Previous names included Broadcasting/Telecasting, Broadcasting and Broadcast Advertising, and Broadcasting...
. In 2002, Wierson was handpicked by New York City Mayor and media mogul Michael Bloomberg
Michael Bloomberg
Michael Rubens Bloomberg is the current Mayor of New York City. With a net worth of $19.5 billion in 2011, he is also the 12th-richest person in the United States...
as the executive charged with building and managing the television and radio holdings owned by the City of New York, which later became collectively known as NYC Media Group
NYC Media Group
NYC Media is the radio, television, and online media network of the City of New York. It oversees four public television channels, two public radio services, and an Internet video on demand service....
. On April 28, 2009, New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg announced that Wierson was returning to the private sector to develop and produce feature film and television projects as an executive at Channel Production Films.
Wierson is the Executive Producer of the feature documentary film "Back Door Channels: The Price of Peace
Back Door Channels: The Price of Peace
Back Door Channels: The Price of Peace, directed by Harry Hunkele,and produced by Arick Wierson, Donald Tanselle, and Matthew Tollin, is an American documentary film about the interplay between the official government channels and the men who acted largely behind the scenes during the course of...
", which held its world premiere in Abu Dhabi
Abu Dhabi
Abu Dhabi , literally Father of Gazelle, is the capital and the second largest city of the United Arab Emirates in terms of population and the largest of the seven member emirates of the United Arab Emirates. Abu Dhabi lies on a T-shaped island jutting into the Persian Gulf from the central western...
at the 2010 Abu Dhabi Film Festival, formerly known as the Middle East International Film Festival
Middle East International Film Festival
Abu Dhabi Film Festival is an international film festival. Created in 2007, the ceremony is held annually in October in Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates by the Abu Dhabi Authority for Culture and Heritage , under the patronage of Sheikh Sultan Bin Tahnoon Al Nahyan, Chairman of the ADACH...
. An early cut of the film was shown once in a private screening in 2009, which garnered the film considerable industry buzz given the collection of high-profile interviewees who gave Wierson and his team unfettered access to previously classified documents related to the Israel-Egypt peace accords of 1979. The film was personally selected by H.S.H. Albert II, Prince of Monaco
Albert II, Prince of Monaco
Albert II, Sovereign Prince of Monaco is the head of the House of Grimaldi and the ruler of the Principality of Monaco. He is the son of Rainier III, Prince of Monaco, and the American actress Grace Kelly...
to open the 49th Annual Monte-Carlo Film & Television Festival at an invitation-only private royal screening.
At the helm of NYC TV, Wierson led the network to accrue over 160 Emmy nominations in seven years. He has been personally nominated on 29 different occasions for the role of Executive Producer in the creation of NYCTV's various programs. In 2007, Wierson won five Emmy awards for his role as the Executive Producer of the nationally syndicated Secrets of New York
Secrets of New York
Secrets of New York is the all-time most recognized television program in the history of the New York Tri-State television market, having won 16 Emmy Awards since 2006 on top of over 50 Emmy nominations...
.
Wierson, along with co-founder Seth Unger
Seth Unger
Seth Unger is a co-founder of NYC TV, the network he and Arick Wierson launched in 2003 while working for Mayor Michael Bloomberg. Among Unger's most notable accomplishments at the network is the creation of "Blueprint | NYC", a documentary series that highlights local architectural and historical...
, launched NYC TV in 2005. The network has been recognized as an innovator and pioneer in both local and public broadcasting across the United States and internationally.
Early years
Wierson grew up in Excelsior, Minnesota and attended part of his high school years in the Middle East. He graduated from Minnetonka High SchoolMinnetonka High School
Minnetonka High School is a public comprehensive high school that is located in Minnetonka, Minnesota, a western suburb of Minneapolis-St. Paul. With almost 3,000 students, it is the 3rd largest high school in Minnesota behind neighboring Wayzata and Eden Prarie high schools...
in 1990. Wierson graduated cum laude from Georgetown University
Georgetown University
Georgetown University is a private, Jesuit, research university whose main campus is in the Georgetown neighborhood of Washington, D.C. Founded in 1789, it is the oldest Catholic university in the United States...
in 1994 with a Bachelor's of Science degree in Foreign Service. During his years in Washington, DC, working at the Embassies of Nicaragua
Nicaragua
Nicaragua is the largest country in the Central American American isthmus, bordered by Honduras to the north and Costa Rica to the south. The country is situated between 11 and 14 degrees north of the Equator in the Northern Hemisphere, which places it entirely within the tropics. The Pacific Ocean...
and Brazil
Brazil
Brazil , officially the Federative Republic of Brazil , is the largest country in South America. It is the world's fifth largest country, both by geographical area and by population with over 192 million people...
as well as at the World Bank, it is said that Wierson cultivated relationships which would later catapult his career in politics and business. At the Brazilian Embassy, he worked under (then) Ambassador Rubens Ricúpero, who would later rise to international prominence as the Brazilian Finance Minister responsible for managing the Plano Real
Plano Real
The Plano Real was a set of measures taken to stabilize the Brazilian economy in early 1994, under the direction of Fernando Henrique Cardoso as the Minister of Finance, during the presidency of Itamar Franco....
, Brazil's currency stabilization plan. Wierson also spent time in Managua
Managua
Managua is the capital city of Nicaragua as well as the department and municipality by the same name. It is the largest city in Nicaragua in terms of population and geographic size. Located on the southwestern shore of Lake Xolotlán or Lake Managua, the city was declared the national capital in...
, working for the Nicaraguan Foreign Ministry under (then) Foreign Minister (and future Nicaraguan presidential candidate) Ernesto Leal
Ernesto Leal
-Early life:Leal was born in Nicaragua's capital Managua. He became a civil engineer by profession, but was interested in politics since his youth. He graduated from the Universidad Centroamericana in Nicaragua, and the Georgia Institute of Technology in Atlanta, Georgia.In 1979 he supported the...
. During his time at Georgetown, Wierson also worked at the World Bank
World Bank
The World Bank is an international financial institution that provides loans to developing countries for capital programmes.The World Bank's official goal is the reduction of poverty...
both in Washington and later at the Bank's offices in Recife
Recife
Recife is the fifth-largest metropolitan area in Brazil with 4,136,506 inhabitants, the largest metropolitan area of the North/Northeast Regions, the 5th-largest metropolitan influence area in Brazil, and the capital and largest city of the state of Pernambuco. The population of the city proper...
, Brazil
Brazil
Brazil , officially the Federative Republic of Brazil , is the largest country in South America. It is the world's fifth largest country, both by geographical area and by population with over 192 million people...
. After graduation, he obtained a Master's Degree in Economics from the State University of Campinas (UNICAMP), in the state of São Paulo, Brazil
Brazil
Brazil , officially the Federative Republic of Brazil , is the largest country in South America. It is the world's fifth largest country, both by geographical area and by population with over 192 million people...
, where he studied as a Rotary Scholar. His 1997 Master's dissertation focused on the deregulation of the Brazilian cellular telephone industry.
Banking career
Wierson's career began as an investment banker, working for the World BankWorld Bank
The World Bank is an international financial institution that provides loans to developing countries for capital programmes.The World Bank's official goal is the reduction of poverty...
, ABN AMRO
ABN AMRO
ABN AMRO Bank N.V. is a Dutch state-owned bank with headquarters in Amsterdam. It was re-established, in its current form, in 2009 following the acquisition and break up of ABN AMRO Group by a banking consortium consisting of Royal Bank of Scotland Group, Santander and Fortis...
Bank, and JP Morgan
J.P. Morgan & Co.
J.P. Morgan & Co. was a commercial and investment banking institution based in the United States founded by J. Pierpont Morgan and commonly known as the House of Morgan or simply Morgan. Today, J.P...
. There has been ample speculation that Wierson was hired to lend his political and personal connections to the Dutch Banking giant ABN Amro
ABN AMRO
ABN AMRO Bank N.V. is a Dutch state-owned bank with headquarters in Amsterdam. It was re-established, in its current form, in 2009 following the acquisition and break up of ABN AMRO Group by a banking consortium consisting of Royal Bank of Scotland Group, Santander and Fortis...
to ensure a successful acquisition of the Brazilian retail giant Banco Real
Banco Real
Banco Real was a Brazilian bank, owned by Spain's Banco Santander. ABN AMRO had owned the bank but in October 2007, a consortium led by Royal Bank of Scotland that also included Banco Santander and Belgium's Fortis, acquired ABN AMRO and proceeded to dismember it...
.
Political career
In the 1990s, Wierson worked under former Brazilian Finance Minister Rubens Ricúpero and, later, former Nicaraguan President Violeta ChamorroVioleta Chamorro
Violeta Barrios Torres de Chamorro is a Nicaraguan political leader, former president and publisher. She became president of Nicaragua on April 25, 1990, when she unseated Daniel Ortega...
. In early 2001, billionaire businessman Michael Bloomberg
Michael Bloomberg
Michael Rubens Bloomberg is the current Mayor of New York City. With a net worth of $19.5 billion in 2011, he is also the 12th-richest person in the United States...
made a personal appeal to Wierson to move to New York from Brazil to aid him in his 2001 mayoral campaign. Although he has referred to himself in the press as a "reluctant politico," Wierson ended up playing a major role in Bloomberg's initial election, managing the "Democrats for Bloomberg" initiatives and overseeing the campaign's field operations which combined traditional electioneering with state-of-the-art database management. Wierson has been credited with setting the stage in Bloomberg's 2001 campaign for what many political analysts today call the most technically sophisticated political operation in the country.
Wierson is known to have close political ties in his home state of Minnesota
Minnesota
Minnesota is a U.S. state located in the Midwestern United States. The twelfth largest state of the U.S., it is the twenty-first most populous, with 5.3 million residents. Minnesota was carved out of the eastern half of the Minnesota Territory and admitted to the Union as the thirty-second state...
. He is known to be close to maverick political strategist Bill Hillsman
Bill Hillsman
William Gerard Hillsman, Jr. is an American political consultant and advertising executive. He works and lives in Minneapolis, Minnesota...
, who asked Wierson to lecture at the John F. Kennedy School of Government
John F. Kennedy School of Government
The John F. Kennedy School of Government at Harvard University is a public policy and public administration school, and one of Harvard's graduate and professional schools...
at Harvard University
Harvard University
Harvard University is a private Ivy League university located in Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States, established in 1636 by the Massachusetts legislature. Harvard is the oldest institution of higher learning in the United States and the first corporation chartered in the country...
on several occasions while he was in residency there. In June 2010, Brazilian Vice Presidential candidate and Federal Deputy Antônio Pedro de Siqueira Indio da Costa
Antônio Pedro de Siqueira Indio da Costa
Antônio Pedro de Siqueira Indio da Costa is a Brazilian lawyer and politician in the Brazilian Democrats Party...
(Democratas (Brasil)) invited Wierson to advise him and Presidential candidate José Serra
José Serra
José Serra is a Brazilian politician, former secretary of state, congressman, senator, minister of Planning and Minister of Health, mayor of São Paulo and Governor of São Paulo state.-Background:...
on media and political matters during the final months of the campaign before the October election. Wierson is said to have declined the invitation due to "ongoing engagements in Angola."
Media Interests
Broadcasting & Cable Magazine describes Wierson as "one of the most important people in New York media". Under Wierson, NYC TV expanded from a local cable operation to a broad array of broadcast, cable, production, online video and syndication entities, organized under the name of NYC Media GroupNYC Media Group
NYC Media is the radio, television, and online media network of the City of New York. It oversees four public television channels, two public radio services, and an Internet video on demand service....
. Since becoming General Manager of NYC TV, Wierson led the network to 42 Emmy Awards and over 100 National Telly Cable Awards. In addition to Secrets of New York, Wierson played a role in the creation of many of the network's original series' productions including $9.99
$9.99
$9.99 is a 2008 Australian/Israeli stop motion film written and directed by Tatia Rosenthal, with the screenplay by Etgar Keret. This film marks the third collaboration between Rosenthal and Keret...
, Eat Out NY
Eat Out NY
Eat Out NY is a local television series that explores New York City's restaurants. The program runs in the New York City area on NYC TV and on WNBC...
, New York 360*, and The Bridge
The Bridge (TV show)
The Bridge is a TV show chronicling the history of hip hop in New York City. The show airs weekly on NYC TV in the New York City area. The show got its start in 2005 when NYC TV acquired broadcast station WNYE....
. In 2008, Wierson led NYC TV's digital media group to its first-ever Webby
Webby Awards
A Webby Award is an international award presented annually by The International Academy of Digital Arts and Sciences for excellence on the Internet with categories in websites, interactive advertising, online film and video, and mobile....
nominations.
While at the helm of NYC Media Group, since rebranded as NYC Media, Wierson was vocal in his disdain for the traditional public broadcasting model. In 2005, Wierson disbanded the station’s long-held PBS status, enabling NYC TV's original shows to take over prime-time "It was smart not to be the 'fifth channel,' said Dalton Delan, executive vice president of WETA in Washington. You don't want to be the triple-A team. You want to find a new ballpark where you can be No. 1."
In August 2006, Wierson, Unger and Bloomberg appeared in the NBC studios, joined WNBC General Manager Francis Comerford and former NBC Station Group President Jay Ireland in announcing a partnership between NYC TV and NBC flagship station WNBC The executives were flanked by two of NYC TV's on-air stars, Kelly Choi
Kelly Choi
Kelly Choi is the former host of Bravo TV's Top Chef spin-off, Top Chef Masters, which premiered on June 10, 2009...
and Amy Palmer
Amy Palmer
Amy Marie Palmer is a retired female hammer thrower from the United States. Her personal best throw was 68.28 metres, achieved on April 29, 2000 in Philadelphia.She was the bronze medalist at the 1998 Goodwill Games...
, who would be hosting some of the programming that would be part of the content deal, namely Eat Out NY
Eat Out NY
Eat Out NY is a local television series that explores New York City's restaurants. The program runs in the New York City area on NYC TV and on WNBC...
and New York 360*.
On April 28, 2009, Mayor Bloomberg announced Wierson was stepping down as CEO of NYC Media Group. The Mayor lauded Wierson's service to him stating, "Over the past seven years, Arick Wierson and his team transformed NYC TV into one of the nation’s best television stations. After helping build the station virtually from scratch, Arick oversaw the merger of NYC TV with WNYE-TV
WNYE-TV
WNYE-TV, channel 25 is an non-commercial educational, independent television station located in New York City, USA. WNYE-TV is part of the NYC Media Group and has its studios located in Brooklyn and Manhattan, and transmitter at the Conde Nast Building....
and WNYE-FM, creating the largest local media group in New York that now reaches hundreds of thousands of people every day. NYC TV’s 160 New York Emmy nominations and 42 awards serve as a testament to Arick’s vision, tenacity, and leadership and to the excellence of the media group he was instrumental in creating. I have no doubt that Arick’s entrepreneurial and creative talents, which helped him achieve great things at NYC TV will serve him well as he rejoins the private sector..."
It was later revealed that Wierson had been planning an exit from NYC TV for well over a year. In a private email circulated among city officials, Wierson revealed that has had been planning to leave NYC TV since late 2008 to work on a number of projects in Brazil and Portuguese-speaking Africa, where Wierson had previously spent many years as an investment banker with ABN AMRO Bank. Additionally, the New York Times revealed that Wierson had been quietly producing a documentary film starring former U.S. President Jimmy Carter "Back Door Channels: The Price of Peace
Back Door Channels: The Price of Peace
Back Door Channels: The Price of Peace, directed by Harry Hunkele,and produced by Arick Wierson, Donald Tanselle, and Matthew Tollin, is an American documentary film about the interplay between the official government channels and the men who acted largely behind the scenes during the course of...
" which later opened in Monte-Carlo and Abu Dhabi
Abu Dhabi
Abu Dhabi , literally Father of Gazelle, is the capital and the second largest city of the United Arab Emirates in terms of population and the largest of the seven member emirates of the United Arab Emirates. Abu Dhabi lies on a T-shaped island jutting into the Persian Gulf from the central western...
.
Radio New York 91.5FM
In 2008, NYC Media Group launched an aggressive campaign to overhaul WNYE-FM 91.5FM, which included a complete remake of the morning and afternoon drive-time programming. On February 19, 2008, a major announcement was made that WNYE was re-branding itself as "Radio New York" and that the station was partnering for live coast-to-coast music feeds with Seattle-based alternative rock station KEXPKEXP
KEXP-FM is a public radio station based in Seattle, Washington, that specializes in alternative and indie rock programmed by its disc jockeys. Its broadcasting license is owned by the University of Washington, which operates the station in a partnership with Paul Allen's Experience Music Project...
. The announcement caused major ripples throughout the New York City music community, causing some broadcasters such as local indie station WFUV
WFUV
WFUV, 90.7 FM in New York City, is Fordham University's 50,000-watt, non-commercial radio station, with studios on campus and its antenna atop nearby Montefiore Medical Center. First broadcast in 1947, WFUV has an airstaff which includes such New York radio veterans as Pete Fornatale , Dennis...
to take public barbs at Wierson and his team for encroaching on their market.
On March 5, 2009, Wierson, along with NYC Mayor Michael Bloomberg and DoITT Commissioner Paul Cosgrave announced that Radio NYC was moving its radio broadcast operations to Manhattan, and was unveiling a new digital transmitter, capable of transmitting multiple in-band HD radio
HD Radio
HD Radio, which originally stood for "Hybrid Digital", is the trademark for iBiquity's in-band on-channel digital radio technology used by AM and FM radio stations to transmit audio and data via a digital signal in conjunction with their analog signals...
streams.
The Politics of NYC Media Group
Although his success running NYC TV is well documented, Wierson, much like his long-time boss Michael BloombergMichael Bloomberg
Michael Rubens Bloomberg is the current Mayor of New York City. With a net worth of $19.5 billion in 2011, he is also the 12th-richest person in the United States...
, was known for his aggressive "ask for forgiveness, not for permission" management style, risk-taking, and disregard for formalities. Moreover, the close personal relationship between Bloomberg and Wierson has been revealed in recent years. Wierson was of one Bloomberg's first hires on his initial campaign for mayor in 2001. Until 2009, Wierson's wife, Fabiana Mesquita-Wierson, was one of the top executives at Bloomberg, LP; based in Brazil, she had been the executive responsible for expanding Bloomberg's operations throughout Latin America. In fact, it is rumored that Wierson's daughter, Isabella, takes her first name because Bloomberg suggested to Wierson and his wife that they call call her "Izzie" while Mesquita-Wierson was still pregnant.
It has also been suggested that Bloomberg, in an effort to entice Wierson to follow him to City Hall, subsidized Wierson's public sector salary by passing on yearly bonuses to his spouse via his company, as he has done with other key employees who straddle the porous walls dividing Bloomberg's company, Bloomberg's political and campaign apparatus, the Bloomberg Family Foundation, and City Hall, including NYC TV co-founder Seth Unger
Seth Unger
Seth Unger is a co-founder of NYC TV, the network he and Arick Wierson launched in 2003 while working for Mayor Michael Bloomberg. Among Unger's most notable accomplishments at the network is the creation of "Blueprint | NYC", a documentary series that highlights local architectural and historical...
, whose wife, Allison Jaffin, works at City Hall and the Foundation through a special waiver granted by the city's ethics board. Critics have voiced concerns that Wierson and Unger, both long-time members of Bloomberg's circle of trusted aides and loyalists, have at times pushed the television channels and radio stations to further Mayor Bloomberg's political agenda with programs such as City Scoop - winner of a NY Emmy in 2009.
The central contention has been that NYC TV was simply a very slick and well-oiled sales machine. In a 2006 article on the network, the NY Times' Winnie Hu wrote, "NYC TV is largely an invention of the Bloomberg administration, which has aggressively attempted to apply the latest technology and business practices from the private sector to all levels of city government. Mayor Michael Bloomberg, who began Bloomberg Television as part of his media empire, knew better than most the value of a city television station, his aides said."
Controversies and Criticisms
Over the years Wierson was at the helm of New York City's media assets, he frequently, and sometimes very publicly, sparred with public officials who had a bone to pick with Mayor Bloomberg. One elected official who was a consistent thorn in Wierson's side was New York City Councilwoman Gale BrewerGale Brewer
Gale Arnot Brewer is a member of the New York City Council. She is a Democrat representing the Upper West Side and the northern part of Clinton in Manhattan.-Career:...
. Brewer, who represents Manhattan's Upper West Side
Upper West Side
The Upper West Side is a neighborhood in the borough of Manhattan, New York City, that lies between Central Park and the Hudson River and between West 59th Street and West 125th Street...
regularly criticized NYC TV for being “too flashy” with its focus on fashion, celebrity, and other topics she viewed as inconsistent with the mission of the network. Wierson has countered in Council testimony that “television is meant to be watched.” Brewer often complained in public hearings that Wierson was a "pain in the neck" - as recently as the April 14, 2010 NYC Council Committee on Technology in Government hearing - nearly a full year after Wierson had left office.
In August 2009, the free weekly New York City counter-culture newspaper, the Village Voice, dedicated a cover story to the rise of NYC TV, focusing on the organization's president and co-founder, Arick B. Wierson. The author, Tom Robbins, a highly vocal critic of Mayor Bloomberg (who has taken to calling Bloomberg "Mayor Mugabe" in drawing comparisons between him and the Zimbabwean dictator Robert Mugabe
Robert Mugabe
Robert Gabriel Mugabe is the President of Zimbabwe. As one of the leaders of the liberation movement against white-minority rule, he was elected into power in 1980...
) wrote an article dissecting Wierson's many outside business interests, some of which he alleged were never formally approved by the appropriate oversights. Robbins has since been let go of the Village Voice.
The editors at the Village Voice, which at the time was still (and continues) under tremendous financial pressure, were apparently adopting a strategy based on the hope that their extreme anti-Bloomberg stance would appeal to New Yorkers' who were upset with the Mayor's overturning of term-limits, and so it appears that the real target of the Robbin's articles (he has written 8 follow up stories on matters related to Bloomberg and NYC TV as of June, 2010) was Mayor Bloomberg. Robbins attempted to portray Wierson and the media assets he had been quietly amassing since Bloomberg took office, as part of a concerted effort to use a hazy mixture of campaign, personal, not-for-profit and public sector resources at the Mayor's disposal to manipulate his public image, positioning him for first a presidential run, then later a third-term as Mayor. Robbin's initial article described Wierson as a Bloomberg insider who was given carte-blanche to run the city agency as he saw fit, often eschewing traditional public-service protocols.
Now part of the annals of New York City journalistic lore, one of Robbin's articles stands out as particularly bizarre - and many insiders feel ~that it was the "tipping point
Tipping point
In sociology, a tipping point is the event of a previously rare phenomenon becoming rapidly and dramatically more common. The phrase was coined in its sociological use by Morton Grodzins, by analogy with the fact in physics that adding a small amount of weight to a balanced object can cause it to...
" of an othersie long and dignified career, after which Robbin´s exit was all but inevitable. In a Fall 2009 cover story, Robbins spent considerable time dissecting Wierson's personal life, and his cozy relationship with not only Bloomberg but other wealthy businessmen, royalty, and politicians. He went on to describe Wierson as "a tall man with a broad jaw, who wears his hair fashionably slicked back" and his wife, Fabiana Wierson, as "an attractive blond from Brazil."
Robbins was particularly critical of Wierson's unusually close business ties with New York billionaire and real estate tycoon Leon Charney
Leon Charney
Leon Charney is an American real estate tycoon, author, philanthropist, political pundit, media personality, and Jewish cantor. He lives in Manhattan in New York City, dividing his time between his residences in Tel Aviv and Boca Raton, Florida...
, a client of the station as well as Wierson's relationship with Monaco's Prince Albert II. Robbins later wrote that Wierson later cut a check for $5,000 to the City's Conflicts Board to settle the issues in what Robbins referred to as the "...latest episode of justice in the Bloomberg era." Wierson's statement on the matter centered on the fact that he had assumed that since he had been given authorization to hire specific staff to work with him on outside matters, that this waiver applied to all NYC TV staff. The Conflicts Board disagreed, and suggested that he had played a role in hiring, without receiving the necessary and proper clearances in advance, several of the station's Emmy-award winning creative talents to work on an outside documentary film that he was producing.
Academia
Wierson, who has taught MBA students at Metropolitan College of New York (formerly known as Audrey Cohen College) on the business of media and television, has often focused his lectures on why the PBS system is broken and has asked his students to debate what will eventually replace the system.Channel Productions
Wierson is one of the Executive Producers in a film and television production company called Channel Productions. The film arm of the company, Channel Production Films, produced the feature documentary film "Back Door Channels: The Price of PeaceBack Door Channels: The Price of Peace
Back Door Channels: The Price of Peace, directed by Harry Hunkele,and produced by Arick Wierson, Donald Tanselle, and Matthew Tollin, is an American documentary film about the interplay between the official government channels and the men who acted largely behind the scenes during the course of...
" which will be one of the opening night films of the 2010 Middle East International Film Festival
Middle East International Film Festival
Abu Dhabi Film Festival is an international film festival. Created in 2007, the ceremony is held annually in October in Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates by the Abu Dhabi Authority for Culture and Heritage , under the patronage of Sheikh Sultan Bin Tahnoon Al Nahyan, Chairman of the ADACH...
, since rebranded as the Abu Dhabi Film Festival. Due to a special request from the Monte-Carlo Television Festival in Monaco, an early cut of the movie was shown in Monaco
Monaco
Monaco , officially the Principality of Monaco , is a sovereign city state on the French Riviera. It is bordered on three sides by its neighbour, France, and its centre is about from Italy. Its area is with a population of 35,986 as of 2011 and is the most densely populated country in the...
in 2009 to a private audience including Prince Albert. In June 2011, Fisher Klingenstein Films announced that it had acquired worldwide rights to "Back Door Channels: The Price of Peace" and laid out plans for a platform release in New York City on Sept. 16, 2011, followed by openings in Los Angeles, San Francisco, Chicago, Cleveland, Boston and Philadelphia. The film deals with the 1979 Peace Treaty between Israel and Egypt and the unlikely circumstances and behind-the scenes jockeying that led to its coming to fruition. The film features former U.S. President Jimmy Carter
Jimmy Carter
James Earl "Jimmy" Carter, Jr. is an American politician who served as the 39th President of the United States and was the recipient of the 2002 Nobel Peace Prize, the only U.S. President to have received the Prize after leaving office...
, former Secretary-General of the U.N. Boutros Boutros-Ghali
Boutros Boutros-Ghali
Boutros Boutros-Ghali is an Egyptian politician and diplomat who was the sixth Secretary-General of the United Nations from January 1992 to December 1996...
, Dr. Henry Kissinger
Henry Kissinger
Heinz Alfred "Henry" Kissinger is a German-born American academic, political scientist, diplomat, and businessman. He is a recipient of the Nobel Peace Prize. He served as National Security Advisor and later concurrently as Secretary of State in the administrations of Presidents Richard Nixon and...
, the former U.S. Secretary of State and CNN's Wolf Blitzer
Wolf Blitzer
Wolf Isaac Blitzer is an American journalist who has been a CNN reporter since 1990. Blitzer is currently the host of the newscast The Situation Room and was the host of the Sunday talk show Late Edition until it was discontinued on January 11, 2009...
, among many other name-brand international statesmen and politicians.