| I've been watching Ryan's afternoon show, "ON AIR Live!", whenever I had the chance. He doesn't get to show it on American Idol but he is really a multi-faceted person. I am very impressed with this young man's drive and intelligence.
We have individual threads started for many of the American Idol contestants but no threads devoted to the individual Judges nor to Ryan. I think it would be nice to have a place to post information about these people as individuals so that we can all learn more about them.
So, I'm starting things off with this thread about Ryan. Here is a New York Times interview that I found to be very interesting. Hope you will also:
January 11, 2004
His Feet in 'American Idol,' and Reaching to Be a Star
Ever since Ryan Seacrest was "The Voice of Dunwoody High School," leading the daily Pledge of Allegiance over the public address system in Atlanta in the early 90's, he dreamed of becoming the next Dick Clark. This weekend Mr. Seacrest will come close, replacing Casey Kasem as the host of "American Top 40," the syndicated radio show that counts down the week's pop hits. The changeover represents a generational handoff: the blow-dried, highlighted Mr. Seacrest is 29; the velvet-voiced Mr. Kasem, who started the countdown in 1970, is 71. Mr. Seacrest is one of the most popular and busiest radio D.J.'s in Los Angeles and the host of the Fox television show "American Idol," which returns for its third season on Jan. 19. He will also be the host of the syndicated daytime television show "On Air With Ryan Seacrest," which has its premiere tomorrow. Last month he spoke with Hilary de Vries in his "On Air" offices on Sunset Boulevard in Hollywood.
HILARY DE VRIES Was becoming the host of "American Top 40" a big goal of yours?
RYAN SEACREST I've always had this plan of doing what Dick Clark did — producing and hosting radio and television and building a business from it. After I guest-hosted the show a few months ago, we did the deal for me to take it over, and of course the success of "American Idol" helped with that. But it was never an aggressive attack on Casey, like I have to have your job.
DE VRIES What changes are you making to the show?
SEACREST The only constants are the name and the countdown; everything between the songs will be different. I want to make it a very interactive countdown, so we'll be doing phone calls, interviews, performances.
DE VRIES No long-distance dedications?
SEACREST Casey is the creator of the long-distance dedication. No way would I try to imitate him.
DE VRIES Do you think "American Idol" is changing the pop music scene?
SEACREST I think we're showing that there is more than one way to launch a star. It could have been a great TV show, but not have any validity in the record-buying world. But we've proven to be very successful that way. We'll see where we are in five years.
DE VRIES You've used the success of "Idol" to start your own show. Was that always your intention?
SEACREST That was a lucky break. No, I've wanted to host my own TV show for the past few years, but where's the book that shows you how to do that? Since I'm not a comedian, the late-night route was not for me. I also couldn't see myself doing a daytime show with cooking segments and relationship issues.
DE VRIES Too metrosexual?
SEACREST No, nothing's too metrosexual for me. It's just a little too much "been there, seen that." Besides, a lot of men have tried daytime talk shows, and it doesn't work. So I decided to pitch the kind of show I would want to watch — a live entertainment newsmagazine with a studio audience.
DE VRIES Sounds similar to what you're doing with "American Top 40."
SEACREST "On Air" and "American Top 40" are strategic corporate partners. They've built me an entire recording studio two doors down from where we do the TV show. So if Ben Affleck is in our studio on Thursday promoting his new movie, "Paycheck," two minutes later we can walk him into the radio studio, where he can do a couple of songs with me and plug his movie. I've already been to all the publicity firms and talent agencies to talk about how we are one-stop shopping for radio and TV and how we're targeting the same demographics, the 18- to 36-year-olds that movie studios and record companies are targeting.
DE VRIES Do you think we need more entertainment news programming?
SEACREST You're sick of it? Well, the public's appetite for it has only grown. Look at the cable channels, even the music channels. There are no videos anymore. It's all about the money and the lifestyle. I'm in the business of connecting people with their fans, and I just don't overthink it.
DE VRIES But you do give a lot of thought to your appearance. Are you really that into your hair, or are you just trying to be part of the metrosexual trend?
SEACREST Well, now metrosexuality is mainstream, but six years ago, when I was first talking about getting my eyebrows waxed and my hair highlighted it was like, "You got to tune into this guy because`What's he talking about?' " But I just picked all these things up from women.
DE VRIES So how long did you spend doing your hair this morning?
SEACREST This was quick today. I think we got it down to 12 minutes.
DE VRIES Including the flat ironing?
SEACREST No, today I didn't, but it will be flat ironed tonight, when I have to shoot a commercial.
DE VRIES You do realize a lot of people just think you're cheesy, with all this talk about your appearance?
SEACREST I could definitely use cheesy to describe myself, some days more than others. But if I wear a shirt that people make fun of, well, I decided to wear it, so I better be O.K. with people saying, "Hey, he's the guy who wears blouses."
DE VRIES Were you like this in high school?
SEACREST No, I wore braces and glasses and was fat and got teased about it, but I was always very ambitious. I always knew what I wanted to do, and I also knew I wanted to be in a place where there is no ceiling on success. If you're 17 and you have a great idea in Atlanta, you're just a kid who doesn't know anything. But in L.A. if you come up with a cool concept, people are like, "Wow, you're right."
DE VRIES Like Dick Clark and "American Bandstand"?
SEACREST I really studied Dick. After I got "American Idol," I called him because I wanted to ask him how he built his business. His response was: "You can't do it like I did. The business has changed so much that it's much more difficult to have ownership in projects." So I needed to figure out how to have ownership and that was part of the motivation of creating my own TV show.
DE VRIES So it's more important to own a show than be the host of it?
SEACREST When you can generate equity and revenue from something and not be on it, that's the thing. That's why I wanted to establish a brand name that could live forever. So maybe in 20 years it will still be called "On Air," with someone else hosting the show, but I can still produce it. Because, let's be honest, you don't know how long people are going to let you into their homes. At some point they'll want someone new.
DE VRIES How long do you think you've got?
SEACREST If I'm doing an interview like this in 10 years, I'll be very happy.
Copyright 2004 The New York Times Company | |
