Salzman has been involved in a number of industries that include television news and entertainment, feature films, live theater, sports, and musical events.
[1] Salzman's career in the entertainment industry started during his years at Wayne State when he was a producer on the popular Detroit television talk program, The Lou Gordon Show, on Channel 50.
[3][6] After, Salzman joined Group W, Westinghouse's family of television stations, and moved up the ranks beginning with the CBS affiliate KDKA in Pittsburgh as news director from 1970 to 1972.
[10][12] He launched the syndicated strip programs Everyday and The Peter Marshall Show while running Group W.[2][9][13] He moved to Los Angeles in 1978 and left Group W to create NIWS (News Informational Weekly Service), a nationally syndicated news service.
NIWS ran in over 200 domestic markets, providing pre-packaged human interest news stories that subscriber stations could incorporate into their local broadcasts.
With Lorimar-Telepictures, Salzman assumed the office of the president and ran the first-run and syndication television production units.
[10][12][2] Including existing hit drama shows that Lorimar had already created (Dallas, Knots Landing, and Falcon Crest), Lorimar-Telepictures remained relevant in the industry by going on to produce new situation comedies such as Full House, The Hogan Family, ALF, and Perfect Strangers.
[10][24] Salzman also produced the 1993 Clinton Presidential Inauguration event at the Lincoln Memorial with Jones, along with the Concert of the Americas.
[30][31] In addition to this, he also owned WATL in Atlanta, KMID in Midland, WSPR in Springfield, and WNOL in New Orleans, which he eventually sold the license to News Corp.[31][32][33] In 2006, Salzman co-founded the AMGEN Tour of California.