0:01

You're listening to Math and Magic, a production

0:04

of iHeartRadio.

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I think at the core what I get

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excited about, what gets me up in the morning is

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connecting with people in

0:15

an unscripted, unvarnished way. Is getting

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to say something to them, here back from

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them. Know that I'm part of the routine,

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and I look forward to getting on the air.

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Welcome to Math and Magic, Stories from the

0:28

Frontiers of Marketing. I'm Bob Pittman,

0:30

and on this episode, we're going to chat with one of

0:32

the world's most famous workaholics.

0:35

Often called the hardest working person

0:37

in showbiz, he covers the spectrum,

0:40

host, producer, promoter, owner

0:42

of radio and TV shows, events and products,

0:44

entrepreneur, investor, and a generous

0:46

philanthropist. He's best known for

0:49

his long running stint as the host

0:51

of American Idol. He's on season twenty two

0:54

and twenty years with us at iHeart

0:56

the iconic morning personality

0:58

on LA's Kiss, and on air

1:01

with Ryan Seacrest on over one hundred

1:03

radio stations nationwide. Ryan

1:06

is an almost Christmas baby from Atlanta,

1:08

Georgia, but is probably best known

1:10

as part of the Hollywood establishment for decades.

1:13

Most people we talked to a math at Magic

1:15

had a childhood ambition that got disrupted

1:18

for the path they eventually took. Not

1:20

Ryan, he has done what he originally

1:23

dreamed of doing and then some. He

1:25

has impeccable instincts, plus

1:27

do organizational skills and discipline to

1:29

bring them to life. The Kardashians

1:32

New Year's Eve on ABC, six

1:34

years of Live with Kelly and Ryan, American

1:36

Top forty, the iHeartRadio Music

1:38

Festival, and coming soon he takes

1:41

over as the host of the legendary Wheel

1:43

of Fortune place. He's on the radio every

1:46

morning, no matter what, How

1:48

does he do it all?

1:48

And why?

1:49

We'll dig into that in a few minutes. He's also,

1:51

by the way, a great guy and a good friend.

1:53

Ryan. Welcome, congrats

1:56

on thanks for twenty years at iHeart.

1:58

Thank you. I'm thrilled to be Bob, my

2:00

fellow Capricorn friend.

2:02

Before we jump into the media topics,

2:04

I want to do you in sixty seconds.

2:06

You ready? Okay? Great? Do you prefer cats

2:08

or dogs? Dogs?

2:10

Early Riser Night Out Early

2:12

Riser New York

2:15

or Los Angeles by Coastal

2:17

Coca Pepsi Coca Cola, Atlanta

2:19

boy Here, Rock and Roller, country, country,

2:22

coffee or tea so much

2:25

black coffee. Reality TV

2:27

or TV dramas, Reality

2:30

TV cook or eat out?

2:32

Cook and eat out, but I

2:34

cook? Radio or TV? Well,

2:36

are you the chairman of iHeart radio?

2:39

And I like TV? Comedy

2:42

or drama? Drama? Selfie

2:44

or autograph? Autograph? This is

2:46

going to get really hard.

2:48

All time favorite music artists Frank

2:50

Sinatra, first job, Radio,

2:52

Favorite TV show from your childhood,

2:55

Growing Pains, The Love Boat, Beverly

2:57

Hills, nine oh two, one Ohero. I can't choose

3:00

smartest person you know? My father,

3:02

childhood hero. I'm my father as well.

3:05

Favorite sport to watch football, Favorite

3:08

city Atlants in New York, Los Angeles,

3:10

I mean all of my affiliates.

3:13

A favorite place to visit Italy.

3:16

And secret talent is

3:18

still searching. Okay,

3:21

let's jump in.

3:22

Anytime I talk with anyone about you,

3:25

the first words out of their mouth are, he's

3:27

a great guy. No one ever

3:29

calls you temperamental talent. How

3:32

did you navigate all you've done

3:34

and not turn into the Hollywood prima Donna?

3:37

Well, I'm flattered to hear that people

3:39

say that when I'm not around, I think

3:42

for me, it's just honesty

3:44

and simple this is what I always wanted to do.

3:47

I dreamt of doing what I get to do every

3:49

single day, and I remind myself

3:51

of how it felt when I didn't do it, and

3:53

that drive, that how that fire I had

3:55

in my belly beforehand, and

3:58

so to have the privilege of doing it

4:00

every day, I remind myself to be

4:02

grateful and treat it in

4:05

such a way.

4:06

So, how has been

4:08

a good reasonable guy helped

4:11

your career?

4:12

Well? I think people appreciate relationships

4:15

in any business, especially in our

4:17

business. I think people appreciate kindness

4:20

and authenticity. And I

4:22

hope to think that people who I've met

4:25

and didn't have an opportunity to

4:27

do something with right away later we

4:29

came back and we were eventually able to

4:31

collaborate because we maintained a good, friendly,

4:33

kind relationship.

4:34

Although I read a long list

4:36

of things you do, the truth

4:39

is that that's just a sampling of all

4:41

you do. Did you intend to do all

4:43

those things or did it just sneak up on you.

4:45

I never intended to do all of those

4:48

things. I wanted to

4:50

move to Los Angeles when I was growing

4:53

up in Atlanta.

4:54

I had a dream to do that. When I was a teenager.

4:56

I made that dream come true. When I was nineteen,

4:59

still a teenage, I studied the work

5:01

of Merv Griffin Dick

5:04

Clark, both guys

5:06

who had a radio and TV career and

5:09

both entrepreneurs and

5:11

both asset owners, and

5:14

both very very smart but also very good

5:16

presenters on air. And I watched

5:18

how they maneuvered the skills

5:20

of business and the skills of performance

5:23

and what that intersection was for them, And

5:26

in my head I felt, Okay,

5:28

if I could take baby steps towards

5:30

those paths, maybe

5:33

it would be the career that I'm looking for

5:35

and be fulfilling to me. But I didn't know how it

5:37

would all come together. I didn't know what the pieces

5:39

of the puzzle necessarily would

5:41

be.

5:42

Simple question here on your

5:44

personality. Do you love

5:47

complexity and what

5:50

happens to you if you don't have enough to

5:52

do?

5:52

Maybe I love complexity, but I

5:55

also love simplicity in the form

5:57

of efficiency. When I was growing up,

6:00

was always very very busy and

6:02

hustling and rushing to the

6:04

next thing, and at the time that was you

6:07

know, I played football, believe it or not, as a kid, and

6:09

so we get up early, we go to the weight room before

6:11

class, we go to class, we go to practice afterwards,

6:13

then after that there'd be a four h meeting or some sort

6:15

of clug we'd have to go to. Now remember

6:17

my days being filled and loving

6:20

that sort of velocity in the day, And

6:22

I think I conditioned myself to

6:25

thrive on motion and movement

6:27

and create emotion from that kind of motion.

6:30

And so as an adult, and as

6:32

I put my professional life together,

6:35

I thought, how can I,

6:37

if given the opportunity, do multiple

6:40

things, probably because I also have the fear of

6:42

all of it going away at some point, but

6:44

do multiple things in the most

6:46

efficient way so that

6:49

it can be stacked into a morning,

6:51

an afternoon, an evening, a day a

6:53

week, and create

6:56

a formula that allows me to

6:58

jump into different roles, which I find

7:00

very exciting.

7:01

So do you think of your schedule as hectic

7:04

or stimulating?

7:05

Well, when I read it, it's hectic,

7:08

But then when I get into it, I do find

7:10

it exhilarating and stimulating.

7:13

And I prefer and I like

7:15

the momentum the schedule that

7:17

I keep.

7:18

Does it propel you through the day, It does propel

7:20

me through the day.

7:21

I've also gotten better, you know, as the years go

7:23

by, you know, you start to chip

7:25

off a little wisdom. And I have gotten better

7:27

understanding balance. I used to carry a

7:29

lot of guilt Bob when I wasn't working. So for

7:31

example, if I had a

7:34

Saturday and I was going to the beach with

7:36

some friends, I felt

7:38

a little guilt like why am I not trying

7:41

to get that big break, or why am I not trying

7:43

to leverage what I'm doing into

7:45

something else. And I

7:48

remember going on vacations

7:50

with my family, with my parents, with my sister when

7:52

I was in my early twenties, and I always

7:54

have my phone with me, and my mom and

7:56

dad said, why you why do you have that phone with you? Well, well, in

7:58

case the program director of the radio station needs me

8:01

or calls me or wants me to come back to do a shift

8:03

because somebody is sick, I want to be able

8:05

to do that. And so I carried that with

8:07

me for a long time. But now I've gotten to the place

8:09

where I do believe in full focus

8:12

and work and preparation in the

8:14

hours and blocks that I'm in production. But

8:16

I also believe in really expanding

8:20

my horizon when it comes to things that I love to do

8:22

with wellness, food, the hobbies

8:24

that I'm into.

8:26

Almost every career is enabled

8:28

by one unlikely or

8:31

improbable stroke of luck somewhere

8:33

in the process. For me, it was to jump

8:35

from minimum wage part time radio

8:38

announce from Brookhaven, Mississippi, to

8:40

programming this station and being on the air

8:43

at the big NBC owned radio station

8:45

in Chicago just five years later. What

8:47

was yours and how did it happen?

8:49

One that I think about now and

8:51

hone in on is the big break

8:53

of being the host of American Idol. This

8:56

came at a time when I was twenty

8:59

six seven years years old. I

9:01

was on the radio in Los Angeles doing afternoon drive.

9:03

It had been on television a little bit and gotten some good experience,

9:06

but nothing at the level with the impact

9:08

of what was about to come. And initially

9:10

I met with the producers and I was considered

9:12

as a judge for American Idol. And

9:14

during the meeting with those executive producers, I started

9:16

asking about the host and they said, well,

9:19

you could audition for the host if you want, so I auditioned

9:21

to be the host of American Idol. After

9:23

the audition that night, they told me that

9:26

I got the job and we started shooting the next day.

9:28

Literally the next morning we started

9:31

shooting.

9:32

We were doing.

9:32

Audition Simon, Randy Paula. We

9:34

were meeting in Hollywood to do the auditions for the first

9:36

season of the show that had never been on the air.

9:39

This was at the time Bup.

9:40

You probably remember this when people were saying music does

9:42

not work on TV, right, Remember that, Well,

9:44

I remember those stories. I know those people,

9:46

we know those people. Well, it did work

9:49

on TV. It started to become

9:51

this massive, massive event on

9:53

television. And that was a

9:55

moment that I thought to myself,

9:57

Wow, I'm lucky here right like I got

10:00

into this, I'm lucky.

10:02

This is going to be a ride.

10:03

How do I take this momentum

10:05

and turn it into something bigger

10:08

at the same time, And that's when

10:10

we started having conversations with the management

10:12

for American Top forty and Kiss

10:15

FM and the other things

10:17

that you mentioned at E where

10:19

I went and hosted E News and the red carpet

10:21

shows and produced series for them.

10:24

So I would say being the host

10:26

of that singing competition show

10:28

opened the door for all

10:31

the things that they came to fruition.

10:33

How did you even get the audition?

10:35

That was one that you know, in

10:37

Hollywood, you have representation and the

10:39

agents call and say they're looking for a host

10:41

for this show. The audition was pretty

10:43

interesting. The audition was at

10:46

the Fox lot in front of the executives in a meeting

10:48

room, and all they did was say, Okay,

10:50

here's a scenario. A contestant just

10:52

lost a family member. They sang an emotional song,

10:55

they're crying. You need to talk to them and turn

10:57

to the camera and get us a commercial break in thirty seconds

10:59

with Finn go.

11:01

Wait a minute, you can't leave us hanging. What did

11:03

you say? How did you handle that?

11:04

I can't remember exactly how are what

11:07

I said, but I do remember thinking, Okay,

11:09

this is a moment to slow down and not say too much.

11:11

That's the other thing that I've learned. And of course

11:13

this is an audio format, so we're talking

11:16

a lot. But another thing that I learned hosting

11:19

was just listening is the best thing you can do when

11:21

being a host.

11:21

It's just to listen. So I just I think I listened

11:24

and maybe that's what they saw.

11:25

So you started as your foundation

11:28

as an on air radio personality.

11:31

You still do it today mornings on the

11:33

legendary KISSFM in Los Angeles,

11:35

America Top forty. You're syndicated on Aaron

11:38

Ryan Seacrest on over one hundred stations

11:40

nationwide, plus one of the top shows

11:42

on the iHeartRadio digital app. Why

11:45

the love of radio and after all your

11:47

success across all media, why

11:49

is radio still so important to you?

11:51

Love the connection to people.

11:53

I think at the core what I

11:56

get excited about, what gets me up in the morning

11:58

is connecting with people

12:00

in an unscripted, unvarnished way. Is

12:02

getting to say something to them,

12:04

hear back from them, know that I'm

12:07

part of the routine, and I look forward

12:09

to getting on the air. I look forward to it. Just last

12:11

night, I went to dinner. I eat very early. I went to

12:13

dinner very early. I was trying to get into a restaurant.

12:15

It was five point thirty the first reservation. I was there at five

12:17

twelve. I was sitting outside. It wasn't open, and

12:20

I was standing on the curb, and I'm texting the co hosts of

12:22

my morning show, you know, just sort of

12:24

saying, hey, this is kind of funny, let's talk about this tomorrow.

12:26

That I'm always the one standing outside waiting for a place

12:28

to open, and I can't wait to get in there and get out in

12:31

forty two minutes, And so in my mind

12:33

I'm thinking about the next day's

12:36

show because I just love to get

12:38

up and connect and have that conversation on a regular

12:40

basis. That same thing about the radio shows,

12:43

and I've done it almost every day since i was fourteen

12:45

years old.

12:45

I'm now not fourteen.

12:47

But there's just something about the fluidity,

12:50

about the autonomy of

12:52

conversation, of content, of topics

12:54

that we get to have in the radio show that's

12:56

just real and hopefully relatable.

12:59

I love that, and I love you

13:01

mentioned Wheel of Fortune. I haven't done

13:03

it yet, but I think I'm going to

13:05

love the opportunity to connect with three people

13:08

every night, meet three people from across

13:10

the country, get to know them for a half

13:12

hour, and give away some money

13:14

and maybe a car, you know, cash and prizes.

13:17

That's what drives me.

13:19

Advertisers love being on your show, and they really

13:21

love your endorsements. Talk

13:23

about how you think about that and

13:26

how you interact with sponsors.

13:28

Well, we have done this together for a long time,

13:30

you and I and I truly believe and

13:32

I realize this that the

13:34

sales department and the partnership with our advertisers

13:37

and clients. That's what fuels

13:39

the platform. That's what allows us

13:42

as personalities influencers

13:44

to get up every day and have a place to talk and

13:46

have a beacon. Right Without the

13:49

advertisers, we wouldn't be able to do what

13:51

we do. So there's a lot of value in our relationship

13:54

with them. And what's most important to me

13:56

is when an advertiser

13:59

wants to be on one of our programs, is to understand

14:01

what they're trying to accomplish. And

14:04

we've asked them before meetings that you and I

14:06

have been in together, what will move the

14:08

needle for you? Not just getting

14:10

on the air and talking about something, but what really will

14:13

make change or what really

14:16

is a success for you for this product,

14:18

for this campaign, for this season.

14:20

And that's helpful.

14:21

You get really clear answers

14:24

and have a very clear path to success with an

14:26

advertiser when you understand

14:29

what a win is for them.

14:30

And I love to have that dialogue.

14:32

Most people on the radio would love

14:35

to have your success. You're the top of the

14:37

heap. What do you think makes

14:39

great on air talent and what advice

14:42

would you give to anyone who wants to be

14:44

you.

14:45

It's difficult for me to give advice because

14:47

everybody is so different and everybody's

14:50

got their own skill set.

14:53

For me, I don't have

14:55

a talent.

14:55

I don't have a skill set per se

14:58

except I love to go.

15:01

I love to prepare. I do

15:04

take it seriously while having fun. But

15:06

preparation is a big thing for me that

15:08

I can control. When I was a baby DJ,

15:11

people who were wiser than I

15:13

said, you know, you got to have a point of view, and

15:16

you've got to be a good communicator

15:18

with that point of view and be

15:21

your genuine self. And when

15:23

I was young and starting out, that was impossible to

15:25

do because I had imposter syndrome because I was

15:27

eighteen trying to play thirty five and

15:31

always wanting to sound like

15:33

I fit in. But I do think that the

15:35

preparation is key. Having

15:37

fun while taking it seriously and

15:40

being kind is a good formula.

15:42

I remember when you first told us about the opportunity

15:45

to do the live TV show each

15:47

day with Kelly and explaining how

15:50

you could get off the air in New York and

15:52

then do your daily radio show in Los

15:54

Angeles, and I ad met you and I've talked

15:56

about it before.

15:57

I was skeptical.

15:58

I couldn't imagine that anyone can handle

16:00

that schedule. And oh, by the way, he squeezed

16:02

in American Idol. But you did,

16:04

and ratings actually went up. On your radio

16:07

show, Live with Kelly

16:09

and Ryan was a top daytime show on

16:11

TV. An Idol was

16:13

also a smash and you're not stopping.

16:15

So after six seasons, you've moved on

16:17

from the daily TV show to step into

16:20

one of the most legendary roles on TV,

16:22

replacing Pat Sajack as the

16:24

host of Wheel of Fortune. Tell

16:26

us why and how that happened.

16:29

Well, to think about that meeting with you, I

16:31

don't get nervous too much. I was a little nervous about that

16:33

meeting, right because I had to come

16:35

in sounding pretty confident that could pull it all

16:37

off, even if I wasn't quite sure if

16:39

I could. And thank goodness, it did work.

16:42

And you know, those six years with Kelly Rippa

16:44

were amazing six years. She is

16:47

such a brilliant talent.

16:50

She made me better. Sitting next to her raised

16:52

my game. You kind of have to. She's just that

16:55

good. And she can carry

16:57

any conversation anywhere, at any time,

17:00

at any second it's thrown at her on

17:02

live television, and that's a show that has no script.

17:04

And I will tell you one of the things

17:06

I loved about that show having no script was because

17:08

I had so many years of radio experience where we don't

17:11

have a script, and that made it fun. It's a little bit

17:13

like doing a morning show Bob on TV,

17:15

right, the two of us sitting there talking about what we did last

17:17

night, And after

17:19

traveling back and forth from Los Angeles

17:21

to New York a lot over

17:24

the years, it felt like a good time to

17:27

try something else. The opportunity for Wheel of Fortune

17:29

came up. Fortunately we made that deal.

17:32

And no one will ever do what Pat Sajack has done.

17:35

He's a legend who had hosted

17:37

that show for so many years, I mean

17:39

the episode's record breaking episodes, and

17:43

he became a companion and a good friend to a lot

17:45

of people in their living rooms every single night with Vanna

17:48

and me too. So for me, it's

17:50

a show that I know this

17:53

country loves. I know it's got a special place

17:55

in a lot of people's hearts because it's generational.

17:58

They grew up with it, maybe they learned something

18:00

from it, maybe they got together with their kids to watch

18:02

it.

18:02

I like that in the show.

18:04

I like that it's fun, it's lighthearted,

18:07

and at the end of it, you make people

18:09

really happy. At this stage

18:11

in my career, that's exciting.

18:14

To do it in the seven to eight time period

18:16

is exciting, and I

18:19

kind of can't wait to get on the air that starts in

18:21

September Moral Math.

18:23

And Magic right after this quick break. Welcome

18:29

back to Math and Magic. Let's hear more

18:31

from my conversation with Ryan Seacrest.

18:35

So let's go back in time. I want to put you

18:37

in context. You were born in Atlanta,

18:39

Georgia, a very tight and supportive

18:41

family, still have it. Can you paint

18:44

the picture of that time

18:46

and place when you were growing up?

18:48

Oh?

18:49

Yeah, this is when I found in love with

18:51

radio. I can smell the

18:53

grass when I was mowing the lawn

18:56

with a Toro rear

18:58

propelled lawnmower, and I

19:00

was listening at the time on my water

19:02

resistant yellow Sony Walkman

19:05

to American Top forty hosted by Casey Kaseum,

19:08

and I pictured all of the

19:10

artists he was playing. I pictured

19:12

him being in his studio in Hollywood,

19:15

the glamour of it all, and I just

19:17

thought, Wow, this is super cool that I'm

19:19

listening in Atlanta to something coming out of Hollywood

19:21

about the biggest artists in the top forty.

19:24

And that's when I started to dream about doing it.

19:26

That's when I started to make tapes pretending I was

19:28

Casey Caseum and I go up into

19:30

my bedroom and I'd count down

19:33

the hits from coast to coast, as he would say,

19:35

and make audio tapes

19:37

with songs for my mom

19:39

and dad and my sister and I to listen to

19:42

when we would drive from Atlanta to Destin,

19:44

Florida for our one week summer vacation every

19:47

year in a Volvo station Wagon with the luggage

19:49

carrier on top. So I have vivid

19:51

memories of those days dreaming about

19:53

this.

19:54

Did your family worry about your

19:56

obsession with radio.

19:58

I don't know that they were. I

20:00

think they saw this is something

20:02

that I am going to do. Either they

20:05

get to come on board or if they don't,

20:07

I'm going for it anyway. I remember telling my folks,

20:09

you know, I went to the University of Georgia in about a year

20:12

and a half in I wasn't sleeping. I

20:14

was so focused on

20:17

trying to make it in Los Angeles.

20:20

I thought, I cannot get this out of

20:22

my system. That's all they think about.

20:24

I'm obsessed with going for it.

20:26

I'm going to pack up my stuff, I'm gonna get in my Honda,

20:28

I'm going to go out to Los Angeles. I have to tell my parents

20:31

I'm dropping out of college. This is not something

20:33

that they saw coming pretty

20:35

traditional families, you know, Bob. My mom and

20:37

dad blessed. They've been married for fifty

20:39

plus years, and

20:42

my father is a retired attorney.

20:44

My mother's the greatest mother in the world. So going

20:46

to them to say, hey, I'm quitting school and going to LA

20:48

where we didn't know anybody, I knew it was gonna

20:50

be a tough one. And they said,

20:53

well, look, we can tell based on what you're saying

20:55

that if we're not supportive

20:57

of this idea, you're going to go anyway, and said, I think I

20:59

am. Now whether or not they thought it would

21:02

work out, I don't know what they really believed,

21:04

but I knew when I went out there, I wasn't going to come

21:06

back until I made it. I didn't want to come home until

21:09

I could say at least I've got a job.

21:11

You went to La. Where did you live?

21:13

You didn't know anybody? Who did you say

21:15

hello to? How did you start? So my

21:18

father was in the army.

21:20

One of the guys he kept in touch with had

21:23

a son who was a teacher in LA.

21:26

And so my mom says, hey,

21:28

why don't you.

21:30

Call this guy and if you

21:32

guys can connect, we feel

21:34

more comfortable if you would move in with him,

21:36

if he is cool with it, and you guys share an apartment

21:38

together, because we just don't know anybody

21:41

out there. So anyway, I went out. We stood

21:43

in line to get tickets to see the Tonight Show with Jay

21:45

Leno. We watched that. That's when we

21:47

first met and we started talking. He said, yeah, we

21:49

want to split a one bedroom I'll do it. So

21:51

we split a one bedroom apartment in Burbank

21:53

for three hundred and seventy five dollars

21:56

each. And that's where I started to

21:58

live.

21:58

You're living in this one an apartment with

22:01

a roommate and you don't know anybody

22:03

in LA and you're going to make it. How

22:05

do you get into the system? Who on earth

22:07

did you call? What put your foot in the door.

22:10

So at the time when I moved out to Los Angeles.

22:12

I had been on the air while

22:14

I was in high school as a part time

22:17

DJ at the radio station, the pop station

22:19

in Atlanta, WSTR Star ninety

22:21

four FM. And when

22:24

I moved out to Los

22:26

Angeles, there was

22:28

an affiliate of the American Top

22:30

forty. And somehow I got a name of somebody

22:32

that was a program director at Star ninety

22:35

eight point seven in LA. And

22:38

his name was Randy Lane. And I

22:40

called Randy Lane and I left a message,

22:42

and I called it, called and called, and eventually I did get a call back

22:44

from him, and I said, look, I was a part time guy. It just

22:46

moved out to LA. I was on in Atlanta. I'm just a

22:48

kid. I'm trying to make it no problem. Come

22:51

in, we'll meet. We met the

22:53

first shift I did, eventually, after driving

22:55

the van around and giving away tab

22:57

Clear in drugstore parking line.

23:00

Remember that it was a big promotion for tab Clear.

23:02

I was doing, oh yeah, and he said,

23:04

why don't you do overnights Friday. It

23:07

was like midnight to five am, same thing Saturday.

23:09

So that's what I did. I did overnights. I drove the van

23:12

and I.

23:12

Kept just chipping away and trying

23:15

to show some ambition in

23:17

what I wanted to do for a living.

23:19

Did you ever think maybe

23:21

I need to go back to Atlanta.

23:23

No.

23:23

I knew that no matter

23:26

what or how hard or you

23:28

know, sleepless nights, whatever it was going to take,

23:31

I was going to do something

23:33

so that I never had to go back

23:36

and say I didn't do it.

23:37

I couldn't do it, I didn't make it.

23:38

I had real fire,

23:41

real drive to do something

23:45

so that I didn't have to go back. Not because I didn't love

23:47

Atlanta. I want to go back, but I wanted to make it. I

23:49

wanted to be right right. I wanted the case

23:51

that presented to my parents to actually be legitimate.

23:54

So you mentioned Murf Griffin

23:56

and Dick Clark. Dick Clark, I know, was

23:58

someone you greatly admired, and he was mentor

24:00

of yours as well. What did you learn from Dick

24:02

Clark And how the hell did you meet Dick Clark?

24:05

I called called Dick Clark

24:07

when American Idol first started

24:10

after the first season.

24:11

He was a he and Marbez.

24:12

You said, these guys were guys I looked up to, and

24:15

I called his office and American Idol had aired, So

24:17

I figured I have a shot at meeting

24:19

him, and they set a meeting with

24:21

him, and I went into his offices in

24:24

Burbank, and you know, I asked him

24:26

some questions and he was extremely

24:29

focused on the business while being the most

24:32

congenial guy and making it look so easy

24:34

on TV.

24:35

And I'll never forget what he did say to me.

24:37

He did say to me, Okay,

24:39

so everybody's probably gonna

24:42

think they can do what you do really well.

24:44

You want people to think that's easy. I

24:46

could do that. Who are watching you? Because

24:48

if you're making it look that easy, and we all know

24:51

it's not. You're doing a good job, making

24:53

it seamless and making it comfortable.

24:55

If it looks difficult and hard, you're not doing

24:57

a good job. So I remember him telling me that, and

25:00

he also said you should try to own some things and the shows

25:02

that you do, really make sure you've got

25:04

some equity and the piece of them and some control

25:06

of those. And so I took that and eventually we

25:09

established a rapport, and eventually

25:11

he invited me to come on a co host

25:14

with him after his stroke on

25:16

New Year's Rock and Eve. The first year immediately

25:18

Regis Philbin hosted with

25:21

before Dick actually, and then

25:24

after Dick had me come

25:26

in and co host with him, and

25:28

every year afterwards he would write me the

25:30

most beautiful letter about the

25:32

night and the experience and just

25:35

just really kind words.

25:37

So it was an honor to take over for him once

25:40

I did.

25:41

You started your own production company

25:43

two thousand and six and almost

25:45

immediately had a hit. What took

25:48

you there and looking back, what

25:50

was the most important reason for your

25:52

success as a producer. How

25:54

did you make that jump from creative to

25:56

business person?

25:58

This is thinking of the ideas that MERV

26:00

Griffin when I sat with him, and Dick Clark when I sat

26:02

with him, These are the things that they said to always be on

26:04

the lookout for. I remember MRV saying, look,

26:06

once you're on a TV show where people are

26:08

watching, you can probably get a meeting with

26:11

executives at different networks

26:13

to sell an idea. So I remember that and

26:15

we made the production deal. The

26:17

Kardashians came along pretty fast.

26:20

I was watching the Osbornes at the time that was on MTV,

26:23

and I thought that was brilliant the way that they

26:25

were showing the family and thought, wow,

26:27

there could be you know, a real genre for this and

26:30

is there another interesting family

26:32

with a lot of different moving parts and people

26:35

and things going on that people

26:37

might want to watch. And at the time,

26:39

Chris Jenner was thinking

26:42

about doing a show with the family

26:44

and a casting director, Dina Katz.

26:47

She knew that both of us were in

26:49

this aligned thinking pattern

26:51

about this kind of show and this genre

26:54

in seat up a meeting with the two of us, and Chris

26:56

Jenner and I had that meeting and afterwards we

26:59

made a deal to go shoot a pilot

27:01

of the Kardashians. And I, at the time at the production company

27:03

didn't own I didn't own

27:05

a camera. We didn't have anything, no

27:07

equipment. So I remember Elliott,

27:10

who worked for me at the time. He went out and he bought

27:12

a camera. He went to the valley to the Kardashians

27:14

house over a weekend and he just.

27:16

Shot a backyard barbecue.

27:18

He called me after he shot.

27:19

He said, I think we've got something here, and

27:22

of course we saw it. We put the tape together. I think Chris

27:25

Jenner still has the pilot tape

27:27

somewhere. Initially we pitched it to

27:30

E and it didn't stick in The pitch

27:32

was going to go somewhere else and I remember

27:35

calling Ted Harbert, who was the president

27:37

of E at the time, and saying, I

27:39

really think we should try and do this here

27:42

and and Chris, to her credit, said, they are going to let

27:44

the cameras follow everything.

27:45

They're going to be vulnerable. That's just the way they're going to

27:47

treat this. And I made one more push and they

27:50

bought it.

27:51

And then what happened was we

27:53

had to move quick, and we made that show very

27:55

fast to air, and the rest sort of well,

27:58

you know.

27:58

And that was your jump the business person.

28:01

That was the jump I think you know making and you're

28:03

good at this making a quick decision,

28:06

right. I mean, I like to digest, but

28:08

I also have found this sometimes you don't get the opportunity

28:10

to do that, and if you can make a quick decision,

28:13

it can pay off.

28:14

Philanthropy, you've always

28:16

been concerned about others. It shows on the air. It's

28:18

probably what makes you you. Listeners

28:20

can feel it. But you've also given your

28:23

time and your money directly to causes

28:25

that matter to you and move you

28:27

can you tell us a little bit about that, and specifically

28:30

about the Ryan Seacrest Foundation of what you're

28:32

doing in pediatric hospitals.

28:34

Well, this is something that is

28:37

my greatest work and

28:40

it is something that we are fortunate

28:42

enough to do. My mom, my dad, my sister, and I

28:44

at the Ryan Seacrest Foundation and a great team

28:46

based out of Nashville. Now we have built

28:48

media centers, TV content

28:51

centers, radio centers, green

28:53

screen centers in fifteen

28:57

pediatric hospitals across

28:59

the country. We're in the

29:01

lobby of pediatric hospitals everywhere

29:03

from Boston to Philly to Atlanta and

29:06

many more to come. And when you walk

29:08

into the lobby, you'll see this cool

29:10

area behind the glass that looks like a studio

29:12

that we would work in, and it's a place

29:14

for kids and their families

29:16

to go to escape. It's the one room in the hospital

29:19

where they're not giving shots, doctors aren't

29:21

telling you what you have to do, there's no treatment

29:24

in there. It's all about escaping

29:26

and tapping into creativity. And

29:28

this idea came after I had visited pediatric

29:31

hospitals around the country and spoken with parents,

29:33

After I met kids in their hospital beds and

29:36

I just asked them questions. I said, you know, what are

29:38

the kids do, what

29:41

keeps them motivated, what

29:43

gives them the incentive to get up and walk

29:45

the hallways or get out of bed when you're going

29:47

through a tough time. And I listened

29:50

to what parents had to say, and I thought, Okay,

29:53

what if we could create this

29:56

center of energy and excitement,

29:58

essentially an event space where

30:01

kids and their families would have things to look forward

30:03

to and they could go participate and they could be the

30:05

stars. And that's how we develop these secret

30:07

studios where now patients will

30:10

go into the studio and artists,

30:12

every artist that we have played on iHeartRadio,

30:14

and movie stars and TV stars have come to

30:16

these different cities inside the studios, and

30:19

the patients produce the shows,

30:21

the patients interview the stars, and the

30:23

patients broadcast all of it into

30:25

the hospital rooms, not only in the

30:27

building that they're in, sometimes in campuses

30:30

across the country, and that we've

30:32

seen has helped in

30:34

the healing process. Some patients

30:36

call less for pain medication because

30:39

they're happy, because they've forgotten

30:41

for a moment what they're going through, and we've had

30:44

doctors report that to us. So

30:46

we didn't know what it was going to be and how it was going to

30:48

have an impact in healing, but it

30:50

has, and fortunately we

30:53

continue to build them.

30:54

You're up to eleven, soon

30:56

to have fourteen, is that right? Yeah, we're

30:58

going to have fourteen the new ones.

31:00

A fifteenth is another

31:02

one going into Atlanta and their new hospital

31:05

there, and then we've got two more that we're going to announce

31:07

real soon.

31:07

Well, thank you and congratulations

31:10

on that. You always wanted to be on the

31:12

air since you were a kid, and I'm

31:14

sure you have exceeded your own wildest

31:16

expectations. But it comes at

31:19

a price celebrity and not much

31:21

privacy.

31:22

How have you dealt with that?

31:23

I have one sort of thought about that.

31:26

It's everything I ever wanted. If I

31:28

were doing these jobs

31:30

and no one came up to me and said

31:32

hi, then they're not making the shows,

31:34

aren't making a real impact. So I love

31:36

it when anybody walks

31:39

up to me anywhere and says hello,

31:42

or hey, I heard you talking about this, or you know

31:44

what. I'm a big carry Underwood fan. I remember

31:46

the night that she won American Idol.

31:48

I was with my family, we were in the airport, we were

31:50

at a bar. I love that. So the

31:52

deal I made with myself was whenever I leave

31:54

my home, I'm out, I'm

31:57

on right, like, I'm a little bit of

31:59

public property. And so if

32:01

you want to take a picture, if you want to say hello, if you want

32:04

to chat about something, I'm totally,

32:06

absolutely fine with it. As a matter of fact. When that

32:08

stops, then I have a problem.

32:10

And the other thing, Bob, but we talked about this too. I'm

32:13

not the star of any of the shows

32:16

that I do. I

32:18

put people in the spotlight. I

32:21

listen to people, I talk to people, I interview

32:23

people, I debut people, I celebrate

32:25

people that I'm not the star. You know, Live

32:27

with Kelly and Ryan. Kelly Rippa is the star of the

32:29

show We Have a Fortune, The game and

32:32

the contestants are the star of the show American

32:34

Idol, the judges and the singers are

32:36

the star of the show. So that's my

32:38

role. And by having that role, I find

32:40

that people don't treat me like a star. They treat

32:43

me like somebody they know, and that's what I want.

32:45

Let's jump to some advice. If

32:47

you could it was possible, what

32:50

advice would you give your fifteen year

32:52

old self, your twenty one year old self,

32:54

and your thirty year old self.

32:56

Oh man, so my fifteen

32:58

year old self, the advice would be to

33:01

actually do a few things that are

33:03

fun in school, not just work all around class,

33:05

right like I worked a lot

33:07

around class in football my twenties.

33:10

Something might be to carry

33:12

a little less guilt when

33:14

I wasn't working, as I was saying, even

33:16

if a Sunday morning and I wasn't at the radio stations,

33:18

like why wasn't they there?

33:19

Why didn't they want me to be there on Sunday? I should

33:21

be there, you know.

33:23

So I think about those things throughout

33:25

the years, and I

33:27

would tell my now I'm I don't

33:29

want to say, but yeah, now I'm into my

33:31

forties. I would tell you know, my thirty five,

33:33

thirty six, thirty seven a little more balanced,

33:35

like find a hobby. I remember filling out doctors

33:38

not doctorsworms, it forms, whatever form you're filling

33:41

out for.

33:41

They say, what are your hobbies?

33:43

I was like, hm, I need to make something

33:46

up because I haven't had a chance to do anything like that.

33:49

So I thought that was a moment where I should try and develop

33:51

some hobbies. We end each episode

33:53

with a shout out to the greats of math

33:55

and magic and business marketing. The

33:57

math person who has an incredibly

34:00

analytical mind and their success comes

34:02

from that skill. And the magic

34:04

person, the promoter, the visionary, the dreamer

34:06

who achieved success.

34:08

Through that path. Who

34:10

are the two who get

34:13

your shout outs?

34:14

There's one that I didn't meet

34:16

and one that I met for the Math. For the Math,

34:19

the one I wanted to meet would have been Walt

34:21

Disney. The one that I

34:23

think about that I did meet is one

34:25

we spoke about in Dick Clark. And

34:27

when I think of the magic and we put Dick

34:29

and Merv together, I would put Merv in the

34:31

magic category. He was great

34:34

in math, but the magic category. He had something

34:36

special. He had the magic wand

34:38

he could just create an

34:40

atmosphere, an energy, a connection

34:43

that I was in awe of. And Chris

34:46

Jenner, we talked about her earlier

34:48

too.

34:49

She has it.

34:50

She has a magic wand she can

34:52

do the math. She's very smart

34:54

with business, but she knows how to

34:57

create the magic. And I've been blessed

34:59

with the op cortinuy to be exposed to these people. Vote

35:01

well, what's the one that I would have loved to have met?

35:04

Brian, you are truly a unicorn. You've

35:06

not only done things no one's ever done

35:09

before but you've done them in parallel,

35:11

not in sequence, and you show no

35:13

signs of slowing down. Thanks for sharing

35:15

your stories and insights.

35:17

Thank you.

35:23

Here are a few things I picked up from my conversation

35:25

with Ryan. One, have an

35:27

open line of communication with business

35:29

partners. Bryan's relationships with

35:31

brands are true collaborative partnerships,

35:34

and as a result, advertisers love

35:36

being on Ryan's show.

35:38

Enter any business partnership with a

35:40

clear.

35:40

Understanding of their goals, find

35:43

out what success means to them and what

35:45

will move the needle, and work together to

35:47

achieve it.

35:48

Two.

35:49

Foster and maintain meaningful

35:51

relationships. People appreciate

35:53

honesty, kindness, and authenticity

35:55

in any business, and Ryan is

35:58

just as genuine as he appears on tea on

36:00

the radio. He was able to lean on

36:02

the connections he formed early in his career,

36:05

and this is one of the key elements he attributes

36:07

to his success.

36:09

Three.

36:09

Make quick decisions time and time

36:11

again. Ryan built his career by making

36:14

quick decisions.

36:15

He did not.

36:16

Miss the moment he saw an opening

36:18

in the reality TV space for the Kardashians

36:20

before he even owned the camera. Don't

36:22

be afraid to make a quick decision when you see

36:24

the opportunity, it may pay off in

36:27

more ways than you ever imagine.

36:29

I'm Bob Pittman. Thanks for listening.

36:40

That's it for today's episode. Thanks so much

36:42

for listening to Math and Magic, a production

36:44

of iHeart Podcasts. The show is

36:46

hosted by Bob Pittman. Special thanks

36:48

to Sidney Rosenblat for booking and wrangling

36:50

our wonderful talent, which is no small feat.

36:53

Math and Magic's producers are Emily Meronoth

36:55

and Jessica Crimechech. It is mixed

36:58

and mastered by Baheid Fraser. Our

37:00

executive producers are Nikki Etoor and

37:02

Ali Perry, and of course, of big thanks

37:04

to Gail Raoul, Eric Angel

37:06

Noel and everyone who helped bring this

37:09

show to your ears. Until next

37:11

time,