How is Ryan doing?

[DJ Particle]

Oh...the way I heard it, Premiere gave him a list of possible successors, and he chose Seacrest off the list.

[mkarns]

Mar 17, 2016 18:03:05 GMT -5 DJ Particle said:

Oh...the way I heard it, Premiere gave him a list of possible successors, and he chose Seacrest off the list.

I've never heard that before, though it's possible it might have worked out that way. I've thought that typically Premiere chose things like guest hosts, and possible successors, and that Casey didn't determine them himself, though I suppose he could have made recommendations or objections for them to consider.

In any case, Ryan has said that Casey complimented him on his work in 2003 when he guest hosted AT40 several times, so at the very least Casey approved of his selection, even if he didn't make it.

[Deleted]

Looking back I've wondered if 2003 was the year they were trying out certain people for the role of host in the future. After years of pretty much the same indescript DJ Ed McMann (whom I have nothing against, that's not a shot at him) do substitution duty, both Pat OBrien and Ryan Seacrest filled in that year. Both were higher profile celebrity news types and I wonder if they were on the short list of possible replacements depending on what direction they were thinking the show should take.

[BrettVW]

I have thought that for quite some time. 2003 was the first time they ever went out of the box with a guest host for Casey, really, since Hall and Oates in 1988. Pat O'Brien was an interesting choice, and I think he just didn't fit the generation they were targeting. But it definitely has crossed my mind that the goal in 2003 was to begin the search, and they got lucky pretty quickly with Ryan.

[BrettVW]

I still remember when I heard Ryan's first AT40 on July 12, 2003 thinking that he had done a great job and he would do a nice job if Casey ever decided to retire. I didn't see it happening quite so soon, but now I am glad it happened exactly the way it did. It gave quite a few years of Casey and Ryan hosting side by side on different shows, which I think in the long run was beneficial to both of them.

[BrettVW]

I don't see my generation (the millennials) having the same long standing reverence with personalities like Ryan as past generations do with folks like Walter Cronkite, Dick Clark, Ed Sullivan, Casey Kasem, etc. It's just not important like it was in past generations.

[palmer7]

Or had to express his approval because it'd be too much trouble to move back to Westwood One.

[Deleted]

Mar 19, 2016 20:37:26 GMT -5 palmer7 said:

Or had to express his approval because it'd be too much trouble to move back to Westwood One.

I don't understand what you are saying.

[palmer7]

I'm saying that Casey gave his approval because Premiere told him to. Although, the more I think about it, he probably had mixed feelings about leaving AT40. First, he'd have to trust his baby to another DJ, but also, he'd have more time to focus on Long Distance Dedications and such.

[BrettVW]

Why would leaving AT40 make him focus on long distance dedications?

[mkarns]

Because AT40 nixed the LDD's after he left? (Though I don't think he spent too much time on the dedications on his later adult contemporary countdowns beyond reading the letters/e-mails chosen and playing the requested songs.)

In any case, Casey may have had reservations about leaving his "baby" to someone else, but he knew he couldn't keep hosting it forever (he was 71 at the time), and Ryan Seacrest was probably as good a choice as any to carry on his legacy while going along with changes and updates needed to keep up with radio and current audience trends, keeping the product viable for the future.

[Deleted]

Mar 19, 2016 21:26:32 GMT -5 palmer7 said:

I'm saying that Casey gave his approval because Premiere told him to. Although, the more I think about it, he probably had mixed feelings about leaving AT40. First, he'd have to trust his baby to another DJ, but also, he'd have more time to focus on Long Distance Dedications and such.

I think you are seeing a story that isn't there. I think he knew it was time to go from CHR. People here who love AT40 seem to not realize that while he cared the product he was putting out being a quality one, he didn't care about the show itself. He didn't listen to music. Don't know if he ever really did although I'm sure there was a time he was more in tune to it then he was in 2003. He was far more in to politics and social causes than anything else and the shows were a job that gave him a celeb status to speak out to those who care what celebs think, the time to devote to them, and the resources to support them. Beyond "I have been doing this brand of show for 33 years. It's going to be hard to see someone else do it" type of emotions most anyone who did a job that long would have, I don't think he was forced to give approval by Premiere or anyone else.

[BrettVW]

My guess is it may have been a bit "weird" for him at first to give up AT40, continuing the two AT20s meant he was still doing what he did, he was doing it for an audience that still wanted him, and at 71, his workload went down to one day a week. I'm sure not much changed in his day to day life when he turned over AT40, except he had Thursdays free and didn't have to be told how to pronounce any more rap and R&B artist names except the rare few that made it to Hot AC back then. As he said himself in an interview back in early 2004, passing AT40 was a "win" for everyone involved, including himself.

[Deleted]

We were discussing this in this thread, thus me posting it here. I am in process of listening to all the 2003 AT40 shows and am in the middle of Pat O’Briens second appearance as guest host. I always wonder how looking back years later will reflect and something holds up. He did a really good job. He probably wasn’t the best person to guest host his show in this era, but he did bring some personality to it and was suitable.

[ackh70]

I'll admit; I hated it at first; I refused to listen to the show for four years; It was Billy Bush's countdown at the time that actually got me to listen to Ryan Seacrest again in 2008 when both were airing on my local stations in the Nashville area; when comparing between the two, Seacrest had improved from the time he started, so I started listening again on a regular basis ever since; I must say, the non-music celebrity interviews does contradict having a national syndicated music show; but it serves as a crossover to his On-Air show as well; I'm shocked with his recent MeToo blimp scandal, and American Idol's struggles that he still is gold on radio when it comes to controversy; And I'm sure when it's all said and done, knock on wood, he will surpass Casey Kasem in most years as host in both American Top 40 and in Music Countdown shows altogether; I can't think of anyone other than Rick Dees that hosts a show better than him at the moment.