why brian?
brian gruber
Born in Brooklyn, New York, Brian Gruber has spent 40 years helping companies and individuals tell their stories. Armed with a B.A. in Communication Arts and Sciences from Queens College and an M.A. in Communication and Broadcast Management from Pepperdine University, he was hired by C-SPAN founder Brian Lamb to be the pioneering cable network’s first head of marketing. In addition to extending the young network’s reach nationwide, he hosted two live national call-in shows each week with politically prominent guests such as Cesar Chavez, Nancy Pelosi, and John McCain. After directing marketing programs for Jones Intercable Albuquerque, Heritage San Jose, and Scripps-Howard Sacramento, he became the first head of marketing for Australia’s national cable television company FOXTEL.
While building the media program for the World Affairs Council and introducing video coverage to its events, Gruber founded FORA.tv. Named by TIME magazine as one of the fifty best sites on the web, he realized the vision of a global thought leader network with the world’s leading public forums, from the Chautauqua Institution and the Aspen Ideas Festival to the New York Public Library and London’s Chatham House. While there he interviewed numerous public intellectuals, writers, and policy experts from Christopher Hitchens and Norman Mailer to Robert Thurman, Amy Goodman, Arianna Huffington, and Quincy Jones.
Intrigued by the potential of live real-time video and automated HD production, Gruber created beNOW.tv, which streamed live events from magazine newsrooms (The New Republic), bookstores (Booksmith), public forums (the Commonwealth Club) and iconic music venues (Yoshi’s). Under the beNOW umbrella, he launched ShowGo.tv, streaming hundreds of live concerts from elite jazz clubs in Brazil, the UK, Italy, and the United States.
The author of five books featuring interviews with scores of public figures, he currently lives and writes by the sea on the Thai island of Koh Phangan. Recent projects include facilitation of a weekly seaside writing group, conducting a ‘writeshop’ for MyJustice in Myanmar, helping EU journalists tour NGO projects in Myanmar and Cambodia, and “Sand Scribes,” a concept-to-completion coaching and publishing service for aspiring writers. He is the father of two daughters, Andrea and Jennie, with two grandchildren, Silas and Cecelia.
