Marciano Kicks It Up At Radio City

With yet another notch to his impressive list of jobs within the concert biz, AEG Live senior exec Jay Marciano has been named president of New York City’s Radio City Entertainment. Effective March 7th, he will be responsible for all aspects of the company.

Specifically, Marciano will oversee booking and productions at Radio City Music Hall, Madison Square Garden and The Theater at Madison Square Garden.

“The opportunity to be associated with that great world-renowned facility … was just too seductive,” Marciano told Pollstar. “I think they were talking to many people within our industry. I don’t believe I’m the only candidate that they had, and frankly, I don’t see how anyone wouldn’t be interested in that job.”

The industry vet will also manage The Radio City Christmas Spectacular , Christmas Across America, which is scheduled for nine cities in 2005, as well as the Radio City Rockettes. In addition, he will be responsible for all concerts, family and award shows held at the venues.

Marciano admitted that talks with Radio City had been under way for the past couple of months, but it wasn’t until recently that he decided to take the job.

“It became decision time early last week,” he said. “I slept on it … but I made up my mind the next morning and called Hank Ratner (vice-chairman of Cablevision Systems Corp. and Madison Square Garden) and said I’d be proud to accept the position.

“I grew up very aware of Radio City and continued to be aware of it throughout my career at Universal Amphitheatre.”

Most recently, Marciano served as chief strategy officer at AEG, where he oversaw the development of the company’s business plan, new venue development and regional operations, as well as the company’s festival division.

His resume also includes an 18-year stand at Universal Concerts, where he served in a number of executive positions and ultimately as president/CEO. In that role, Marciano oversaw the $190 million sale of Universal Concerts and its subsequent merger with House of Blues Concerts.

Marciano said his new position differs from past jobs because it “is taking what is already a well-respected music brand and building upon it instead of building a business from scratch.”

Although it’s too soon to reveal any plans he may have for Radio City, Marciano has an optimistic outlook for the company’s future.

“[Radio City Entertainment] is a great portfolio of world-renowned venues,” he said. “I believe that we will be ideally positioned to be one of New York City’s largest entertainment providers. We’re going to build upon that.”