Silvio Santos

Silvio Santos
Santos in 2019
Born	Senor Abravanel (1930-12-12)12 December 1930 Rio de Janeiro, Federal District, Brazil
Died	17 August 2024(2024-08-17) (aged 93) São Paulo, Brazil
Occupations	Television host media mogul
Years active	1962–2022
Title	Chairman and founder of Grupo Silvio Santos
Spouses	Maria Aparecida Vieira ​ ​ (m. 1962; died 1977)​ Íris Pássaro ​ (m. 1978)​
Children	6, including Patricia
Relatives	Tiago Abravanel (grandson) Fábio Faria (son-in-law) Alexandre Pato (son-in-law)
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Senor Abravanel (12 December 1930 – 17 August 2024), known professionally as Sílvio Santos (Portuguese pronunciation: [ˈsiwvju ˈsɐ̃tus]), was a Brazilian media proprietor and television personality. He was the founder of Grupo Silvio Santos, a conglomerate that includes SBT—the second-largest television network in Brazil.

A media mogul and television host, he was the owner of holdings that include SBT, the second largest television network in the country. His net worth was US$3.2 billion in 2020. He was the host of the second longest running Brazilian program, Programa Silvio Santos, which has aired since 1963, and has been described as one of the greatest personalities in the history of Brazilian television.

Early life

Abravanel was the son of Sephardic Jewish immigrants born in the Ottoman Empire. His father, Alberto Abravanel, was born in Thessalonica, Greece in 1897 whilst his mother, Rebecca Caro, was born in Smyrna, Turkey in 1905. Both died in Rio de Janeiro (in 1975 and 1988 respectively) and are buried side by side in the Caju Jewish Cemetery, Rio de Janeiro. He was also a descendant of Isaac Abravanel. Abravanel attended primary school at the Escola Municipal Celestino da Silva, and graduated from Colégio Estadual Amaro Cavalcanti.

Abravanel worked on the streets of Rio de Janeiro as a street vendor at the age of 14, selling plastic cases for storing voter registration cards. Impressed by his voice, he was invited to try out for a position at Radio Guanabara, but quit after a month because he made more money as a street vendor. At the age of 18, he began service in the Brazilian Army, training as part of the Paratroopers Brigade.

Broadcasting career

As he had time off on Sundays, Abravanel revisited his pursuit of a broadcasting career by joining Rádio Mauá. He later moved to Rádio Tupi, and added another position at Rádio Continental in Niterói—to which he travelled by ferry from Rio. Seeing an opportunity in adding entertainment for passengers, he began a business venture of bringing a PA system aboard the ferry to play music and commercials. Abravanel quit Rádio Continental to focus on the ferry venture instead, which proved successful. After the ferry company added bars to the ships, per his suggestion, it began to organize raffle promotions where passengers could receive a ticket by buying a beverage.

Abravanel adopted the professional name Silvio Santos; his mother Caro had taken to calling him "Silvio" instead of "Senor" as it was easier to pronounce, while his surname stemmed from having once said "que todos os Santos me ajudem" ("may all the Saints help me") before going on the air.

Baú da Felicidade, television work

Santos would later move to São Paulo, taking a job at Rádio Nacional de São Paulo, and beginning other ventures such as a magazine, and a circus caravan—where he would continue a focus on raffles as an aspect of his businesses. One of the advertisers Santos would work with at the station was Manuel de Nóbrega, entertainer and co-owner of Baú da Felicidade—a company that offered Christmas toy chests that customers could pay for in installments throughout the year. However, after the company faced financial issues (including Manuel's German partner taking the money for himself, the company being unable to deliver on its orders, and its "headquarters" being a largely empty basement), Manuel transferred the business to Santos—who would go on to establish a partnership with the Estrela toy company, and expand the program by allowing customers to redeem for other items besides toys.

In 1960, TV Paulista signed Santos to host a television program—Vamos Brincar de Forca—which would incorporate variety entertainment and raffles, and be used as a platform to promote Baú da Felicidade. He would also go on to host other programs for TV Tupi. In 1963, he moved to a Sunday afternoon variety show on TV Paulista, Programa Silvio Santos. In 1966, TV Paulista became part of the new Rede Globo, which signed Santos to a five-year deal. In 1971, Santos began to present the Troféu Imprensa, an awards presentation for Brazilian television. He opened a studio, Estudios Silvio Santos Cinema e Televisao, at the former facilities of TV Excelsior in 1974.

TVS and SBT

Santos in the early 70's

In the early-1970s, Rede Globo began to institute a new quality standard for its programming in order to help improve viewership, with a stronger focus on novellas, news, sports, and films; Santos began to experience conflicts with the network due to these policies, and almost left in 1972. Santos sought to establish his own channel, but his contract with Globo prevented him from holding ownership stakes in a competitor. In the interim, Santos had a partner—Dermerval Gonçalves—covertly offer to acquire a stake in TV Record on his behalf to keep his programming on the air in São Paulo.

When the Brazilian government began taking applications for a new VHF station in Rio on channel 11, Santos would bid for its concession with the support of Manuel de Nóbrega and other television personalities (including Carlos Eduardo Imperial, who had previously been critical of Santos' programming). Santos would be awarded the concession for channel 11 in December 1975, becoming the first Brazilian television artist to own a broadcast station.

To get the station on-air as quickly as possible, Santos purchased transmission equipment at auction from TV Continental, which had closed in 1971. While the equipment was initially dismissed as junk by the press, it was discovered that all of the equipment was in working order, and capable of broadcasting in colour (with its use by Continental pre-dating the official introduction of PAL-M colour television in 1972). The new station—known as TVS—first broadcast on 14 May 1976. Programa Silvio Santos would subsequently move from Globo to TVS in August; it would also be simulcast on TV Record (with Santos having completed his purchase of a 50% stake), and Rede Tupi.

Silvio Santos in the TV program "First Brazilian Championship of New Singers", 1972. National Archives of Brazil.

In July 1980, Rede Tupi was closed by the military dictatorship, and the federal government began to take bids on its stations' concessions. Santos was among several parties placing bids, and commissioned a survey from the IBOPE that displayed public support for him as an owner. In 1981, the stations would be awarded to Grupo Silvio Santos and Grupo Bloch, with Santos awarded Tupi's former signals in São Paulo and Porto Alegre. His victory in São Paulo was criticized by a local broadcasters' union, who lamented TVS's programming as "canned goods", and felt that Santos only wanted to sell more Baú da Felicidade cards.

The São Paulo station signed on 19 August 1981, officially launching the Sistema Brasileiro de Televisão (SBT). Meanwhile, Bloch's stations became the core of Rede Manchete. Santos had also won the concession for a station in Rio; this station would be transferred to Paulinho Machado de Carvalho, and operate as an affiliate of TV Record. By the late-1980s, SBT became more established, acquiring popular film rights, and signing names such as Hebe Camargo, Carlos Alberto de Nóbrega, and Jô Soares. He also personally intervened with Globo's head Roberto Marinho to keep Gugu Liberato (who had hosted a late-night talk show for SBT) from defecting to the competitor. Santos would, in turn, give Liberato a major pay raise, and prominent roles in SBT's Sunday lineup.

Further projects

In 1989, 20 days before the Brazil's first direct presidential election since 1960, Santos announced that he would run as a candidate for the Brazilian Municipalist Party. However, the party was delisted from the ballot shortly afterward due to multiple technicalities.

In 1999, Santos premiered Show do Milhão, a game show that was influenced by Who Wants to Be a Millionaire? (which would not have a local version until 2017, hosted by Luciano Huck for Globo) and become a major success for SBT through the early-2000s. In 2001, Santos entered the reality television market by premiering Casa dos Artistas; the show was inspired by the Dutch format Big Brother; SBT had attempted to acquire the local rights to, but lost to Globo. The series was developed in secret, and only revealed on its premiere date of 28 October 2001 (beating Globo's Big Brother Brasil to air). Its similarities to Big Brother led to Globo briefly reaching an injunction to halt its broadcast, but Casa would later return to air. The first season was successful, with SBT averaging 46 ratings points.

By the 2000s, Programa Silvio Santos was primarily structured as a block of multiple programs rather than as a singular variety show, with Santos focusing more on hosting individual programs (particularly on Wednesday nights). In 2008, Programa Silvio Santos was revived as a variety show, with Santos reviving classic segments and features.

Finances and involvement in politics

With a net worth of US$3.2 billion, Santos was the single biggest individual/natural person taxpayer in Brazil. In 1976, he started to fight for the rights of having his own television network, as he wanted to expand his prizes raffling. In 1981, he finally obtained permission to operate what would become TVS, in São Paulo. The TV channel expanded very quickly and became what today is known as SBT (acronym for Sistema Brasileiro de Televisão, translation: "Brazilian Television System"), a brand that would be widespread throughout the country by the end of the 80s and early 90s.

Santos also tried to get involved in politics and ran for president in 1989. In 2008, Grupo Silvio Santos turned 50 and consisted of 44 companies, with ventures that ranged from agribusiness to banks and hotels.

Social impact

Santos was also responsible for providing access to international TV programming, such as Celebrity Big Brother, Wheel of Fortune, Candid Camera, Who Wants to Be a Millionaire?, Are You Smarter than a 5th Grader?, and Deal or No Deal. Instead of just broadcasting these shows – which are mostly on pay TV channels – he created Brazilian versions so that people could not only watch the shows, but also participate in them as contestants buying the products of their sponsors or even other investments.

His trajectory has led to many comparisons between him and Sir Richard Branson. Due to his extremely charismatic personality, Silvio became one of the most influential and beloved people in Brazil. Due to his peculiar mannerisms, impersonations of him have become a staple of Brazilian humor. Santos's other trademark was wearing a full-size microphone on his chest (although he would eventually abandon this practice in late 2014).

Death

Main article: Death of Silvio Santos

Santos died due to a bronchopneumonia, a complication provoked by H1N1, in São Paulo, on August 17, 2024. He was 93, and had been hospitalized at Albert Einstein Israelite Hospital since the beginning of August.

His body was not veiled and was buried in Israelite Cemetery of Butanta. He did not want tributes or large wakes, which was respected by the family. Because he was Jewish, he was buried, since he could not be cremated.

See also

• Sistema Brasileiro de Televisão
• List of Brazilians by net worth

References

General sources

• Grinberg, Keila (2005). Os judeus no Brasil. Editora Record. ISBN 85-200-0699-X.

Further reading

• Silva, Arlindo (2002). A fantástica história de Sílvio Santos. Editora do Brasil. ISBN 85-10-03063-4.

External links

• Sílvio Santos at IMDb
• Official SBT site
• Official Group