As a young boy, Amari was fascinated with classic radio shows and collected them on LP records and reel-to-reel tape. As he got older he decided to share his love of classic radio and founded Radio Spirits, which eventually became the world's largest marketer and distributor of classic radio programs. Amari spent 30 years licensing more than 60,000 original radio programs from the rightsholders, including George Burns, Milton Berle and Jerry Lewis. Amari created the nationally syndicated radio series "When Radio Was". Former CBS Radio executive Dick Brescia heard an in-flight version of the program on an Eastern Airlines flight, and soon mounted a nationally syndicated version of the series, beginning January 1, 1990, with host Art Fleming. Amari was instrumental in developing the Radio Classics channel for Sirius XM. Amari is the host and producer of Hollywood 360, a 4-hour weekly nostalgia and showbiz radio show heard globally in 168 countries on American Forces Radio and coast-to-coast on 150+ radio stations. It airs on most of the Salem Radio Network's major-market News/Talk stations as well as many non-Salem radio stations. It also airs each week in 168 countries on the American Forces Radio Network. On Hollywood 360, Amari and his co-host Lisa Wolf present classic radio shows. Amari is the producer and host of The WGNRadio Theatre heard every Saturday night from 10 pm - 3 am on Chicago radio station AM 720 WGN. Amari and Lisa Wolf broadcast live and present five classic radio programs each weekend. The WGN Radio Theatre is the #1 most-listened-to show in its time-slot. Amari is the creator/producer of the nationally syndicated radio series The Twilight Zone Radio Dramas. This series is hosted by Stacy Keach and has won numerous awards, including: The Audie Award, AFTRA's American Scene Award and the XM Nation Award for Best Radio Drama. Amari has produced four award-winning audio dramas of The New Adventures of Mickey Spillane’s Mike Hammer starring Stacy Keach. Amari is the producer and co-creator of the audio drama series Fangoria’s Dreadtime Stories that is hosted by Malcolm McDowell.
Controversy
Amari has threatened legal action against classic radio show collectors who distribute episodes online. Some in the classic radio community find this problematic, as the community's long history of collecting and sharing episodes is partially credited with the survival of radio shows into the 21st century.
Audio production
In 1998, Amari sold Radio Spirits to the public company Audio Book Club and in 2001 formed Falcon Picture Group, a company that specializes in the development of family-friendly entertainment projects. Through Falcon Picture Group, Amari controls exclusive licensing rights to more than 20,000 classic television shows, including Family Affair, Dangerous Assignment, Bozo’s Circus, Man with a Camera, Suspense, and Hopalong Cassidy. In 2007, Amari combined his passion for radio drama and love of the Bible by producing the Word of Promise audio Bible published by Thomas Nelson, Inc. The New Testament was released in October 2007 and quickly won the top Evangelical award, The Christian Book of the Year. In October 2008, Amari produced a youth edition of the New Testament entitled The Word of Promise: Next Generation, which won the 2009 Audie Award for Best Inspirational Audio Non-Fiction. In October 2009, Amari produced The Word of Promise Old Testament featuring more than 400 actors. The Old Testament was combined with the New Testament and released as The Word of Promise Complete Audio Bible in 2009 and has won numerous awards, including three Audie Awards and the Christian Retailer's Choice Award. The Word of Promise is the #1 best-selling audio Bible in the world. In 2010, Amari produced The Truth and Life Dramatized Audio Bible: New Testament, a Catholic audio Bible from the RSV-CE translation, released by Zondervan Corporation. It was granted an Imprimatur by the Vatican, and features a foreword by Pope Benedict XVI. It is the #1 selling Catholic audio Bible in the world and has won numerous awards of excellence. In 2016, Amari produced The Breathe Bible: New Testament, a Protestant audio Bible from the NLT-translation. It was released in 2017 by Tyndale House and quickly became a best-seller.
Film and television
Amari has appeared as an actor in several motion picture and television projects, including Madison, which he produced. It opened the Sundance Film Festival. He also appeared in "The Package," "Next of Kin,"The 18th Angel, Johnny & Clyde, and Prison Break. Amari produced the romantic-comedy Eden Court starring Thomas Lennon and Kimberly Williams-Paisley.
