Alan Citron is former journalist who became an unlikely Internet executive.

Citron began his career at The Times-Picayune in New Orleans, where he covered a variety of beats. He subsequently spent 13 years at The Los Angeles Times. His last position there was assistant business editor for entertainment. Citron also authored a twice-weekly entertainment column called Company Town.

Citron left journalism in 1995, when the Internet boom was starting. He was the founding president of Ticketmaster Online. When Barry Diller bought Ticketmaster, Citron became president of Diller’s USA Networks Interactive.

Real Networks next hired Citron to start its music service, MusicNet. He later ran marketing for Movielink, an early download service owned by five of the major studios, until Warner Bros. and AOL recruited him to help launch TMZ, where Citron was instrumental in charting the success of the web site and the TV show.

More recently, Citron was business lead for entertainment at Yahoo and general manager of The Wrap. He is currently executive vice president of Red Carpet Home Cinema, which licenses first-run movies for rental in customer’s homes.

Throughout his business career, Citron continued to pursue his love of writing. He wrote op-ed pieces for The Wall Street Journal and Daily Variety. Citron also authored a novel, New Orleansland, about an entertainment conglomerate’s scheme to turn New Orleans into a theme park in the wake of Hurricane Katrina.

Follow him on social media!

Facebook – @thelastbestsaturdaynight

Instagram – @alan.citron