| Website | DavidSams.com |
| @MrHit | |
| Birthplace | Ohio |
| Birthdate | 8/5/58 |
David Sams
David Sams is one of the world’s most respected marketing architects and brand evangelists. He is a nine-time Emmy-winning TV producer, author, speaker, and emerging tech-nologies guru. He has been featured in the pages of TVGUIDE, USATODAY, and EN-TERTAINMENT WEEKLY. He has appeared on 60 MINUTES, ENTERTAINMENT TONIGHT, NBC’S TODAY, DATELINE NBC, and WORLD NEWS TONIGHT. He is listed in WHO’S WHO IN ENTERTAINMENT, WHO’S WHO IN AMERICA, and WHO’S WHO IN THE WORLD. Sams is the archetypal entrepreneur, a preeminent idea man whose track record is synonymous with success.
A few months shy of his 26th birthday, Sams was hired by King World, a small, family owned syndication company. His job–as head of marketing and creative affairs–was to market and promote two little games shows. Game shows were not considered “cool†at the time; so, Sams had to roll-up-his sleeves and go where no marketer had ever gone before.
With a small marketing budget of only $100,000, Sams turned WHEEL OF FORTUNE into the highest-rated syndicated series on TV. Next, he helped the King Brothers launch JEOPARDY and performed his magic again—making the gamer the number two highest-rated show in syndication. Within two years, his marketing budget had grown to over $10,000,000. Then again, King World went from a 4-million-dollar company when Sams joined, to an $800 million dollar company—without any debt!
Soon thereafter, King World went public and became the darling of Wall Street–recognized as one of the most profitable publicly traded companies in the United States. Years later, without a penny of debt on its books, King World sold for billions of dollars–and is now part of CBS. As they say, “the rest is history.†To this very day, both WHEEL OF FORTUNE and JEOPARDY remain the two highest-rated TV series in all of syndication.
Sams most noted TV accomplishment is, ironically, not WHEEL or JEOPARDY. In 1986 he launched the OPRAH WINFREY SHOW into national syndication. His creative marketing efforts made Oprah a household name even before the talk show host hit the airwaves. Oprah was #1 in nearly every TV market from her very first day on the air. Now, one of the richest women in the world and a global brand powerhouse, Oprah is getting ready to launch her very own cable network. OWN, the Oprah Winfrey Network, premieres in January of 2011.
Sams re-invented the way TV shows and personalities are marketed. He was one of the first to preach that viewers watch shows and personalities they love, not the networks themselves. Over two decades since their debut, WHEEL, JEOPARDY and OPRAH are cash cows–generating billions-of-dollars in license fees, advertising revenues, and inter-national format rights.
As a TV PRODUCER, WRITER AND DIRECTOR, Sams has won 9 Emmy Awards. In addition to his work with WHEEL, JEOPARDY and OPRAH, he has produced news magazines, music programs and specials, reality shows, and documentaries for multiple networks and syndication companies. He is a member of the Director’s Guild of America.
As an INTERNET ENTREPRENEUR, Sams has launched numerous successful online ventures. In late 1999 and early 2000, he created an Internet company that generated over ten million dollars in revenues in less than 3 months–with fewer employees than five employees and virtually no marketing costs. He was instrumental in launching the .cc domain with Clear Channel Communications, as well as the .tv domain with the dotTV Corporation. Today, Sams owns a vast array of .com domain names, which he refers to as “beach front property.” However, his focus on the net now is CONVERGENCE. Some 60 million Internet-ready TV’s will be in U.S. households by 2013. Sams is working on multiple GoogleTV strategies in preparation for this great convergence.
There’s even a good chance that you’ve taken out your credit card, in the middle of the night, and bought one of the many DRTV products that Sams has either produced or dis-tributed on TV. He has been awarded INFOMERCIAL OF THE YEAR, ENTERTAINMENT INFOMERCIAL OF THE YEAR, and PROGRAM-LENGTH ADVERTISE-MENT OF THE YEAR. In 2005, he won a TELLY AWARD as well as a US INTER-NATIONAL FILM AND VIDEO FESTIVAL AWARD for his BEST OF HEE HAW infomercial for Time-Life. In just one year, more than 1 million HEE HAW DVDs were sold. Overall, Sams is responsible for hundreds-of-millions-of-dollars in DRTV sales. He has also won multiple advertising awards.
The son of a Midwest preacher, and the father of two daughters, Sams’ faith in God has led him to be a major force in the growth of “family friendly†entertainment media. In 1995, he brought together eleven major music labels and some 65 recording artists to re-lease a seven CD compilation titled KEEP THE FAITH. Marketed under his own label, TVFirst, at a retail price of $124.95, the collection has been certified PLATINUM by the RIAA, with over 1,000,000 albums sold. Since then, Sams has produced and distributed dozens of other compilations and music/entertainment infomercials, including several for Time Life and Sony, featuring superstar artists Christina Aguilera, American Idol’s Ruben Studdard, Gloria Estefan, Patti LaBelle, Wynonna, and Sarah McLachlan–just to name a few.
Sams also created and executive produced ETC, a TV news magazine which made na-tional headlines because of its ongoing coverage of underage teenagers getting into vio-lent R-rated movies. Sams’ program covered the issue in-depth, including hidden camera footage of kids continuously gaining admission to movies without question from theater ticket sellers. The Clinton White House turned to Sams for his special coverage in an ef-fort to challenge theater owners to change and police their ticket-selling policies to mi-nors under 17. Following a special White House screening of Sams’ news magazine, which originally aired in prime time on network television, President Clinton announced pledges by members of the National Association Theater Owners to enforce photo identi-fication when it came to minors and R-rated movies. This policy is strictly enforced to-day.
Sams has created and produced multiple news magazine programs. In 1991, he created and executive produced DAY IN COURT, hosted by the Today Show’s Matt Lauer. The pilot was picked up by NBC as TRIAL WATCH, hosted by Rob Weller, which ran for two seasons on the network. The daily program covered all of the hot legal battles of the rich and famous and led to the later development of networks such as COURT TV.
Sams is also very instrumental in raising awareness and money for numerous non-profit organizations. He has been honored by the U.S. Olympic Committee for his fund-raising efforts, served as President of CNI Holdings, and is one of the founding members of Operation DVD, an appeal to patriotic Americans to donate their new and used DVDs which are then shipped to our fighting men and women overseas. Safe entertainment is a concept that is difficult at best for our Soldiers, Sailors, Airmen and Marines in Iraq and Afghanistan. Even baseball and softball games are difficult because of snipers, mines, bombs and other terrorist activities. Sams is also an executive producer of WISHRIDERS, an upcoming ABC primetime special celebrating the 30th anniversary of MAKE A WISH.
Sams has strong retail alliances. Just one example is his relationship with Wal-Mart. In 2004 he created and produced a program called DVDWEEKEND that aired on the Tribune stations, including SuperStation WGN. The program enticed people to run to their phones and computers to DVDWeekend (dot) com to rent and buy their favorite DVDs. Thousands of people did just that, and within weeks Sams’ wholly-owned DVDWEEKEND became #3 online affiliate in the entire world.
Sams has consulted a vast array of broadcasters, Internet companies, and record labels, including: CBS, Clear Channel, Westinghouse, Motown, Warner Music, Paxson Com-munications, dotTV Corporation, Time-Life, Integrity Publishers, Sony, Reunion (dot) com, MyLife (dot) com, EMI, Universal, Reinvent Media, Dick Clark Productions, The Walk of Stars, and many others. He has worked on behalf of many entertainers, from Michael Jackson to Garth Brooks. Today, he is preparing for the great convergence of media platforms. Sams believes that by 2013, the media world as we have known it will look radically different.
Sams got into the media business by selling freelance photos of local high school sporting events to a local, Columbus, Ohio newspaper when he was just 13 years old. A year later, the editor of the paper asked him to write an entertainment column for teenage moviegoers in an effort to get young people to read the newspaper. Sams jumped at the idea when he realized that he’d never have to pay for a movie or concert ticket again! The column was so popular that it was syndicated to other papers.
At age 15, Sams moved into radio, hosting a morning radio show for a small station in central Ohio. He then anchored a local community newscast on cable TV. By the time he graduated from high school, he moved into commercial TV, creating a magazine show for WTVN-TV (now ABC, WSYX) that put him on the list of PEOPLE TO WATCH by COLUMBUS MONTHLY magazine. He went on to create numerous shows throughout Ohio, and became executive producer and head of marketing for WBNS 10TV in Columbus–the powerhouse CBS affiliate–where he drove that station’s EYEWITNESS NEWS to a stunning 53 share at 6 p.m., making it the highest-rated local newscast in the entire nation.
Of course, there are those programs, projects, and businesses in Sams’ career that he’ll never quite live down. At about age 20, he created the very first TABLOID TV show in the world, FRONT PAGE, which literally shocked viewers into watching. The program became so popular that it actually garnered as high as a 40 share in prime access. He also produced and was color commentator of a national TV show called ROLLERGAMES— (high voltage roller derby)—where skaters had to maneuver around the “Wall of Death,” and keep from falling into the live Alligator Pit! After screening the program, one outraged newspaper reviewer wrote that Sams was personally responsible for the “decline of the western civilization.” Better that than global warming!
In 2003, Sams ran for Governor of California, but lost to mega-movie star Arnold Schwarzenegger. While he may have lost the election, he has one incredible scrapbook for his two daughters. Further, he still has some 2,000 campaign buttons in his arsenal. Each very patriotic red, white, and blue button features a picture of Sams in his Uncle Sam(s) outfit. Around the stars and stripes, each button proclaims “Uncle David Sams for Governor.” There is no mention of the campaign year or the State. An optimist forever, Sams believes that those buttons may, in fact, come in handy one of these days–should he decide to run for governor of Tennessee, Florida, or Ohio!
Sams is the author of WHEEL OF FORTUNE: HOW TO GET ON AND PLAY THE GAME, with Bob Shook, published by St. Martin’s Press. He is currently working on his next book, CONFESSIONS OF A MARKETING HIT MAN.
