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Ryan Seacrest has become such a household name that it’s sometimes hard to remember that he’s actually, really a real person. Don’t you think? So today, since Idol’s over and we know he’s busy back to work on his secret scheme to rule the world, I think we should take a moment to dig into the origin of the machine that is Ryan Seacrest.
Ryan was born in Dunwoody, Georgia, in 1974. His mother’s said that he would play with a microphone as a kid rather than with traditional toys like G.I. Joes, and that people who called the house and heard his voice on the answering machine often thought she had hired a professional to record the message. In high school, Ryan did the morning announcements at school regularly. About high school, he’s said, “I wore braces and glasses and was fat and got teased about it, but I was always very ambitious.”
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When Ryan was just 16-years-old, he won a coveted internship at a radio station in Atlanta. One day, when a DJ called in sick, Ryan was put on the air in his stead. Soon after, Ryan was given the weekend overnight shift at the station. He held onto the job throughout the rest of high school, and upon graduation he went off to the University of Georgia to study journalism. While in college, he continued his radio show at a satellite station in Athens, Georgia. By the age of 19, however, Ryan knew what he was destined to do, so he quit college and moved to LA to pursue his broadcast career.
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In 1993, Ryan landed his first professional hosting gig on the ESPN show Radical Outdoor Challenge. Over the course of the nine years that followed that initial job, Ryan hosted several additional, mostly short-lived programs. In 2002, however, he got his big break when he was cast as the host of Fox’s breakout hit American Idol. Ten years later, Idol’s still going strong, and Ryan’s now the highest paid television host to date!
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Meanwhile, Ryan was hired in 2004 to host the new American Top 40 radio program, which was produced by Casey Kasem. That gig led to his own show on the LA radio station KIIS, which is known as On Air with Ryan Seacrest and still runs daily.
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In 2005, Ryan signed on to co-host and executive produce Dick Clark’s Rockin’ New Years Eve. In the years that followed, the show was renamed Dick Clark’s Rockin’ New Years Eve with Ryan Seacrest, and Seacrest eventually took over completely when Dick Clark passed away early this year.
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Meanwhile, back in 2006, Ryan added to his long list of day jobs by signing a production deal with E! Entertainment. Through the deal, Ryan produced E! News and all of E!’s red carpet coverage. The same year, Ryan launched his own production company. Ryan Seacrest Productions is responsible for shows like Keeping up with the Kardashians, Khloe and Lamar, Kourtney and Kim Take New York, and Kourtney and Khloe Take Miami. They’ve also produced Jamie Oliver’s Food Revolution and Shahs of Sunset.
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In April of this year, Ryan inked a deal with NBC to expand his on-air role beyond E! It was also announced this year that a venture capital firm would contribute $300M to Ryan Seacrest Productions. At the same time, Ryan entered into a joint venture with HDNet, AEG, and Creative Artists Agency to launch AXS TV. Not a bad year, eh? To top it off, Ryan moved in with girlfriend and fellow entertainer Julianne Hough in early 2012!
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I wonder what the classmates who used to make fun of Ryan think now! Clearly, it pays to ignore the naysayers in life and follow the beat of your own drum, just as Ryan did.
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