The Founder, President, and Chief Executive Officer of Central New York radio station owner Galaxy Media plans to retire later this year after 36 years leading the broadcaster he built into a regional player.
Ed Levine’s radio career began at Syracuse University’s WAER, where he served as program director before co-founding 95X (WAQX) in 1978, one of Central New York’s early rock stations. He went on to hold leadership roles in Albany, Houston, and Washington, DC, before returning to Upstate New York in 1990 to launch WKLL. He was later inducted into the WAER Hall of Fame.
Galaxy got its start in 1990, when Levine launched WKLL out of the back of a diner.
Over the next 36 years, Levine built Galaxy Media Partners into a regional broadcaster that, at its peak, owned 15 stations across Central and Upstate New York. Galaxy sold its Albany cluster in 2006 and shifted its focus to Syracuse and Utica, where it also built a live events business anchored by Taste of Syracuse, the Syracuse Nationals car show, Lights on the Lake, and the Wine & Chocolate Festivals.
Beyond ownership, Levine founded the New York State Broadcasters Hall of Fame, which marked its 20th anniversary last year, and received the Jim and Juli Boeheim Award for his community service work. Radio Ink has named him one of America’s Best Broadcasters on multiple occasions.
Galaxy has not named a successor for Levine; additional details on leadership succession and his effective retirement date are expected in the coming weeks. In January, Galaxy Media promoted five internal leaders, including Nick Maine to Chief Operating Officer and Alex Conn to Chief Content Officer, in what the company called a strategic expansion.
Levine said, “It’s been a wonderful ride over the past 36 years. It’s hard to believe I was 33 when I started the company, and now I’m 70. Where did the time go? As the years have passed, my priorities have changed…Spending more time with my family has become increasingly important, and I know this is the right time to begin a new chapter.”
