Senor Abravanel (Hebrew: סניור אברבנאל, romanized: Senhor Abarbanel; pronounced [saniur avravne'el]; 12 December 1930 – 17 August 2024), known professionally as Silvio Santos, was a Brazilian television presenter and business magnate. Widely regarded as the greatest personality in Brazilian television, he was the founder of the television network Sistema Brasileiro de Televisão (SBT) and the conglomerate Grupo Silvio Santos, which holds interests in media and real estate among other assets. Throughout his life, he was also involved in other areas such as music and politics. His net worth was estimated at $1.3 billion in 2013, making him the only Brazilian celebrity on Forbes' billionaires list.
Born in Lapa, Rio de Janeiro, the former capital city of Brazil and former Federal District of Brazil, Abravanel was the eldest son of Alberto Abravanel and Rebeca Caro, Sephardic Jews who migrated to Brazil in 1924. Working as a hawker, salesman, and also on the radio, Abravanel debuted on television in the early 1960s as the host of the variety show Vamos Brincar de Forca on TV Paulista (now part of TV Globo), adopting the stage name "Silvio Santos". In 1963, he began hosting Programa Silvio Santos, which would become one of the longest-running programs on Brazilian television.
In 1976, amid creative conflicts with Globo executives, Santos entered the broadcasting industry himself by launching a new television station in Rio known as TVS, and purchasing a 50% stake in Rede Record, moving Programa Silvio Santos to the two outlets and Rede Tupi. When Tupi was closed by Brazil's military dictatorship, Santos' company acquired several of the former network's licenses, and joined with TVS to form a new national network known as SBT; the network would target lower middle class and working class viewers.
Santos had six daughters, fourteen grandchildren and four great-grandchildren. In his first marriage, to Maria Aparecida Vieira, most known as Cidinha, he had his first two daughters, Cintia (mother of actor Tiago Abravanel) and Silvia. The couple was together until 1977 when Cidinha died of cancer. Santos married for the second time to Íris Abravanel in 1981, with whom he remained until the end of his life and had four other daughters, Daniela, Patricia, Rebeca and Renata. Santos received several awards and honors, including almost thirty Imprensa trophies, sixteen Internet trophies and ten Roquette Pinto trophies, in addition to being honored with the Order of Merit for Communication by former president Dilma Rousseff and honored by carnival blocks.
Abravanel was the son of Sephardic Jewish immigrants born in the Ottoman Empire. His father, Alberto Abravanel, was born in Thessaloniki, 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 a descendant of Isaac Abrabanel, a 15th-century Portuguese Jewish statesman. 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.
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, Santos spearheaded 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 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.
In the early-1970s, Rede Globo began to shift its programming strategy in order to help improve viewership, with a stronger focus on telenovelas, news, sports, and films. As his variety programming conflicted with these new policies, Santos' relationship with Globo executives began to falter, and he almost left the network 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's 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 formerly used by TV Continental (which had closed in 1971) at auction; 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 by TV Record (with Santos having completed his purchase of a 50% stake), and Rede Tupi.
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.