Barry Kluger

 

About Kluger Media Group / KMG Impact

Kluger Media Group and its sister division, KMG Impact has worked extensively in the pr sector. Among its efforts: ShopNBC, the television and Internet shopping network; Bills.com, the leading consumer finance portal which offers a financial suite of services including Freedom Debt  Relief and Freedom Financial Network (www.bills.com), Gateway Studios, a new $70M film and production studio complex to begin construction in late 2010 (www.gatewaystudios.comArizona Security Inc., a joint venture between Arizona State University and Rolls-Royce in the field of signature verification security (www.azsecurityinc.com) ; AirNovo, a “green” company in the area of sustainable refrigeration technology(www.airnovo.com); Flux/gs, which offers cost-effective, turnkey, design building of solar power plants from 10 to 100 Megawatts (www.flux.gs), Motor Trend TV, a 24-hour digital television network, in partnership with PRIMEDIA, scheduled for launch in 2010; Sedona Jazz on the Rocks Festival; Cigar King, the leading on-line tobacconist and retailer of fine cigars, watches and accessories. (www.cigarking.com, www.phatash.com); Scottsdale.com, the definitive travel, entertainment, golf, news and lifestyle internet source “Everything Scottsdale” (www.scottsdale.com), Lunch Club and DineSmart (www.lunchclub.com, www.dinesmart.com) Arizona’s leading restaurant loyalty programs; The Tucson Film Festival, the first and only U.S. film festival dedicated to Mexican and Mexican American Film (www.tucsonfilmfestival.org); Houses Inc., a luxury residential development company in Fayetteville, Arkansas (www.housesinc.com); Upoc Networks (an Allen & Company and Apax Partners venture); Fingerhut Companies; Federated Direct; Mobilogic (A CMGI company); Greenberg Traurig; NBC Internet; ProxyMed; CondeNast; 2002 Columbus for Congress Campaign (AZ Fifth Congressional District); MyShoppingCenter.com, a provider of web-enabling technologies and "last mile" infrastructure for the delivery of communications solutions to community-based shopping center owners, developers and their tenants, in the U.S. and abroad; the law firms of Weinberg/Cummerford Legal Group, Kirsch-Goodwin and Kirsch, and Garrity Graham Favetta & Flynn, as well as StarMedia, the Hispanic internet portal; BigStar.com; RadioWave.com; Jupiter Communications; and Prodigy Internet.


Founded in 1998, Kluger Media Group Managing Partner Barry Kluger, previously served as Senior Vice President, Communications for Prodigy Inc from 1995-1998. He led all communications activities for Prodigy, Inc. and its divisions: Prodigy Internet, (the consumer online/internet service); Prodigy Solutions (the company's software creation and development division); and Prodigy International (which included Africa OnLine; Prodigy Mexico/Latin and South America, Prodigy China/Asia, Prodigy Europe) and the Company's cellular and Internet businesses. Responsibilities included all corporate communications and public relations, internal communications, shareholder newsletters and pro-social initiatives. He was a Member of senior executive team that successfully launched a management-led/investor-backed acquisition of the Company in May, 1996.

 

Prior to Prodigy, Mr. Kluger was the senior communications executive for more than a decade (1985-1995) for MTV Networks, a Viacom Company. As Senior Vice President, VH1, he directed all public relations and corporate communications activities for the MTVN-owned 24 hour cable network as well as launch pr development of VH1 Europe, which launched in Fall, 1994. He oversaw all pr strategic planning and activities for programming, marketing, sales, legal, licensing, merchandising, advertising and syndication divisions of the channel and supervised the network's initial entry into interactive technology and new media with launch of VH1 Online on AOL.

 

While at MTV Networks, he also served as Vice President, Communications, MTV Networks, the ranking senior communications executive and Officer for Viacom's MTV Networks in 1987. He directed all worldwide pr activities for MTV Networks and all of its channels: MTV, Nickelodeon, Nick at Nite and VH1. He oversaw pr efforts for the 1987 launch of MTV Europe. During 1990-1991, he supervised pr efforts and launch of MTV's comedy network, HA!, which merged in 1991 with HBO's Comedy Channel to become Comedy Central.

 

Earlier in his career, from 1981-1985, Mr. Kluger directed all public relations activities for USA Network, the 24-hour entertainment and sports network. He oversaw all professional sports league liaison; crisis management; and pr efforts for the legal, marketing, sales, distribution, programming and cause-related divisions of the organization, a joint venture of HBO, Paramount and Universal.

 

He also served as Public Relations Senior Account Executive for media publicity and corporate communications for March Five Inc. His clients included Eastman-Kodak, ABC Television, The Washington Post Company, TV Globo Network of Brazil, National Association of Television Program Executives (NATPE), Time, Inc. and Viacom.

 

He began his pr career in 1975 with Douglas Poretz & Associates and in 1976 joined WHN, the New York flagship station of Miami-based Storer Broadcasting Group where he directed pr activities. Previously, he served as Washington Bureau Chief for WBAB, the New York radio station, covering, among other stories, the House Impeachment Hearings of Richard Nixon.


Mr. Kluger also serves as a Strategic Partner to BHI Evolution, a new division of leading pr and marketing firm Bender/Helper Impact, serving the needs of early growth startups.

FOR THE LATEST IN NEWS AND OPINIONS, VISIT BARRY KLUGER'S NEW BLOG!
(Click here)


Barry Kluger, Managing Partner of Kluger Media Group, LLC, is also a contributing Columnist for Gannett’s Arizona Republic, The Jewish News of Phoenix, The Business Journal (www.bizjournals.com), and the Valley PR Blog (www.valleyprblog.com).


Barry Kluger served as Chairman of the Arizona Governor’s Commission on Television and Film from 2005-2009.


Mr. Kluger also serves on the Board of Councils of the Arizona State University School of Theatre and Film, as well as the Scottsdale Mayor’s Channel 11 Programming Commission.


In March 2010, Barry Kluger will publish his first book, A Life Undone: A Father’s Journey, the story of the tragic automobile death of his daughter Erica in 2001.  The non-fiction memoir  looks at Erica’s legacy, the grieving process and how men cope with loss. With comments by Jeffrey Zaslow, Co-author of The Last Lecture, A Life Undone describes the 18 years of Erica’s too-short life and examines the journey from pain to new beginnings.


E-mail Barry Kluger at barry@barrykluger.com