Ryan Seacrest on Opening His 14th Children’s Hospital Studio and Starting Wheel Duties With Vanna White

Ryan Seacrest, through his nonprofit, the Ryan Seacrest Foundation, has opened his 14th Seacrest Studio inside Primary Children’s Hospital in Salt Lake City. The family-run foundation led by Seacrest’s sister, Meredith Seacrest Leach, who serves as executive director and chief operating officer, opened its first studio inside Children’s Healthcare of Atlanta in 2010 as an outlet for pediatric patients to experiment with radio broadcasting and learn new media during their hospital stay.

“Parents tell us, ‘My daughter has cancer; there’s not much she looks forward to when she’s in the hospital, but every day at 2 o’clock when they’re going to play bingo in the studio, she can’t wait to go do it, and it takes her mind off of the treatment she’s getting,’” says Seacrest, who recently signed a three-year deal with iHeartMedia to continue hosting and producing across its iHeartRadio platforms.

“Those are the tangible things that we’re seeing happen with the studios around the country,” says Seacrest. “And I think that’s why this concept proved itself out in Atlanta and then went to Philadelphia and Boston and all around the country.”

The grand opening of the Salt Lake City Studio on Dec. 5 was marked by performances from Andy Grammer with actors Miles Teller and Zachary Levi also in attendance. The celebrity factor plays a large role in Seacrest Studios’ impact, with entertainers and other special guests regularly stopping by for interviews. The studios also facilitate music therapy and other forms of therapeutic play and allow patients to create their own shows.

“Now that we’ve got this scale of 14 studios across the country, my new partner, Sony, which produces Wheel of Fortune, is going to become a partner in helping with special content for the studios across the country,” explains Seacrest, who’ll succeed Pat Sajak as host of the ABC game show in September 2024. He’ll resume hosting duties for American Idol when it returns for its seventh season on ABC on Feb. 18, 2024, as well.

“We almost picture it sort of with a network mentality that at certain hours and certain evenings and times during the week, there’ll be a network program where all of the studios can connect and communicate with each other and feel like they’re a part of experiencing the same thing,” he says.

The newly opened Salt Lake City location is the third studio the foundation has established this year, following the opening of a space in Le Bonheur Children’s Hospital in Memphis, Tennessee, in May and at Cohen Children’s Medical Center in Queens, New York, in September. Last year, patients created more than 530 unique shows across the studios. Hospitalized children who can’t physically come into the space can also participate by calling into shows and tuning in from their rooms.

“It’s beyond the child,” says Seacrest Leach. “It’s the siblings. It’s the parents. The studio is a place where siblings can go hang out. They can make song requests or give a shout-out to their sibling. We have parents who might have a child in the NICU, and they need an escape, so they come down to hear some live music.

“It’s just supposed to be the place that’s the safe space for everybody,” she adds. “It’s all-inclusive and hopefully can bring a smile to those that need it.”

Jamie L. Durkin, MS, CCLS, a certified child life specialist II at Boston Children’s Hospital, where one of the Seacrest Studios is located, explains why the environment at a hospital is so important to patient outcomes: “It is often said that hospital programming, especially that in a children’s hospital, is crucial to the healing process — with a figurative and literal part in a patient’s treatment plan — due to the interconnectedness of mind and body. Aside from a distraction from physical and emotional discomfort, programming allows for emotional expression, exploration of one’s identities and development of self-esteem. … This is crucial to healing. They can quite literally see others, relate to others, and share their own stories.”

Ahead of the opening in Salt Lake City, the Seacrest siblings spoke further with THR about how the idea for Seacrest Studios came to be and how the programming has evolved. Ryan also weighs in on having recently started some Wheel duties, including filming promo spots and show opens with Vanna White.

How does it feel to now have 14 Seacrest Studios, and how did this endeavor first begin?

Seacrest: Twenty years ago when American Idol started, I spent time at different pediatric hospitals to see the kids and their families. During those visits, I had a chance to speak with parents, often outside of the patient’s rooms, and just ask them what the kids do to tap into their ambition or is there anything they look forward to because you’re isolated in these hospitals and it’s tough stuff you’re dealing with. They said more often than not it would be great if there were something that my son or daughter could anticipate [something] happening that will put a smile on their face. I heard that story often, and as I was driving back from Orange County, I started thinking about the idea for building my office, the radio studio that we had at KISS, and a media center that would be both visual and audio so that the kids could have a destination and tap into creativity, and ambition, and programming, and we could bring in celebrities. The dream was that whoever they were listening to on the radio would often come by, and they could interview them, and we could take that broadcast and include every patient that was in the building so that no one was left out. If you could get out of your bed, you could come down and participate in this cool studio in the lobby of the atrium. If you couldn’t, you could watch the program and call into the program. It was happening inside the walls of your hospital at 3 o’clock in the afternoon that day. So, that was the initial impetus for it, and we thought we’d build one studio in Atlanta and see how it went. It has really connected the patients in a way that we found has become critical for their mental health while they’re inside the hospital healing physically.

Has the studio evolved in any way over the years?

Seacrest Leach: It’s definitely evolved. As you know, technology is ever-changing, and we learned a lot about the space that’s needed with getting wheelchairs through and their equipment, having enough space for camera, to the green screen, all sorts of things when it comes to storage and our interns, where are they putting their backpacks? There’s so much we’ve learned from the first one we built, and now they are state-of-the-art facilities. We joke when talent comes through, or even we work with iHeart so much, and their teams come in, they’re like, ‘This is nicer than the radio stations we work in.’ We want them to be a fun place where the kids get to get on air and create shows and meet friends. We’ve got two patients in Orange County who met each other in the studio, realized they love Pokemon, and then they started creating a show about that, and now they’re best buds, and they’re sharing what they’re going through together.

Seacrest: There’s one patient I met in Dallas a couple weeks ago, she’s 10, and she was so impacted by what the studio did for her as a patient when she was there that she told me when she grows up she wants to come back and work in the studio and be a manager for the studio in another city. So, the other part of the concept is we tap into internship programs in each community so that young people in the broadcast world could come in and get hands-on experience with producing and technology, editing, and all the different things that are needed to do the job that, essentially, I do every day.

Can you talk more about how you allow kids who can’t physically come to the studio to participate in the experience?

Seacrest: The mission from the beginning was to have full inclusivity within the walls of the hospital so that if a child couldn’t go to the playroom or couldn’t even walk down the hallway, they could not only see the studio, they could connect with it, too, on the phone. So, they can call in from hard lines inside their rooms so they can be a part of the programming and hear it as well.

Seacrest Leach: During the pandemic, our studio teams were essential. They were able to stay and keep working because the hospital realized that was one of the only ways to connect to patients in their rooms and give them child-like experiences and a way to escape and play because they weren’t able to go to the playroom.

Seacrest: And we found that the celebrity guests that come through, for example, Ed Sheeran was there recently. They’re just so generous, and they make these events such big and special events because it’s not only the two hours that Ed is in the studio answering questions, singing songs, talking with patients and taking pictures. It’s also the lead-up. Next week he’s coming, two days he’s coming, in two hours he’s on the way. So, we build up the anticipation as well, which helps with the overall energy, and enthusiasm, and buzz in the hospital for the patients and the staff as well.

Seacrest Leach: We were here in Nashville, and the Jonas Brothers were stopping by, and there were kids that were supposed to get discharged, and they didn’t want to get out and leave yet so they could meet them. We hear patients that now are excited to come for treatment because they want to be a part of a show that’s happening. So, it’s interesting when you hear excitement around kids being excited to be in a children’s hospital. We’re just happy to be able to help provide that as best we can.

Have medical professionals given you any input over the years that’s been helpful?

Seacrest Leach: They’ve shared so much about how calls for medicine go down when they’re in treatment. We’ve had patients who used to have to get certain medicine to be able to do a certain treatment, and then they put on the programming, and it distracted them so much they didn’t need that medicine anymore. It’s also been things like a child won’t do their physical therapy, but then they go down to the studio, and they’re doing a dance party, and that’s the physical therapy they needed, but they’re not thinking about it. Or we had a child that was playing a game, and all of a sudden, they got out of their wheelchair and took a few steps to change a letter in a game, and they hadn’t walked in several weeks. So that motivation and distraction was a part of the healing process.

Are there any unique details about the newest studio in Salt Lake City?

Seacrest: It’s rumored to be one of the best we’re building. It’s what they’re saying from their perspective as they’re putting the final pieces together.

Seacrest Leach: I think we’ve learned a lot about how to make it feel spacious and big. It’s an exciting space where you don’t feel like you’re in a children’s hospital. You step into the studio, and you go to another place that feels kind of cool and different, and there’s music playing and fun things going on. We have green screens. We’ve got amazing lighting packages now. We’ve got the whole thing set up like Ryan’s radio studio so you can get on air and be a DJ. This studio’s going to be really state-of-the-art.

Seacrest: We’re constantly updating studios with the latest and best new technology so that the things that those students are learning from and that the kids are using are easy and are current. As soon as we finish one studio, we’ve got to go back to the next one and replace the equipment. But it’s important that they are state of the art and function like they would function in a commercial world as well.

A large number of patients are either interns or actual employees of the studios too, right?

Seacrest Leach: Yeah, it’s been incredible to see. We’ve kind of seen, as we have these interns, they then want to go and work in the studio. And it’s great because they’re already trained, and they click right in, and they know how to work with the patients and also how to use all of the equipment. The team we have here in Nashville, two of the girls were interns previously and now work with me. We have several interns that are now running the Seacrest Studios across the country, and it just continues to grow, and it’s been great. It’s close to 2.5 million patients coming through who are essentially the audience for the studios each year, which is a lot.

How does the Ryan Seacrest Foundation fund the studios? Is it a mix of both of your contributions and then fundraising as well?

Seacrest Leach: Ryan is a big part of the organization, but we’ve been fortunate to have several great partners over the years such as iHeart and Coca-Cola. There’s also partners in programmatic support and in-kind donations. We work with Jakks Pacific, and they donate so many toys for our studios, which we use a lot for prizes because we’re always playing bingo and when someone wins, a prize goes right up to the room. So it’s a lot of partnership and financial support.

What has your experience been like devoting yourself to working with kids who sometimes recover and are wonderful success stories, yet, sadly, sometimes are diagnosed with terminal illnesses?

Seacrest: There’s a guy named Rider who I met when we were in one of the hospitals recently who really became like a sidekick for me while I was doing a broadcast inside the hospital. He was fearless, and he was funny, and he had this great personality. He says, “I have a talent. I can sing 140 countries in a song.” I said, “Great, go live,” and from memory he did it. It was so great and so cool and so impressive that I had him back on my radio show to do it across the country live, and he did it again. And when he was on, he said, “I’ve got some really good news. I’m getting new lungs. This is going to be a really special Christmas.” I was so excited; it gives me chills just to say it. But you know, here is this 9-year-old turning 10-year-old boy who we’re so excited he’s going to come on and share his energy and enthusiasm for singing this song. And in his mind, it’s going to be a great Christmas because he’s going to be able to actually play a sport. He’s never played a sport. And he always wanted to just run down the field. He’s going to be able to do that after this surgery. And when you hear it from a kid’s point of view, a young person’s point of view, it really makes an impact.

The Salt Lake studio is the third new studio to open this year. Do you have plans for more next year?

Seacrest: We’re putting a brand new two-story state-of-the-art studio into the new hospital in Atlanta. Children’s Healthcare of Atlanta is moving into this incredible new facility, so we’re building a new studio for that hospital. We have some others in the pipeline that we haven’t announced yet publicly, but there are more to come.

We just announced you’re renewing your iHeart deal. What keeps you sticking with radio with all of the other ventures you have?

Seacrest: I truly look forward to each day, the broadcast that we get to do on KISS and then nationwide, it’s something that I started doing. The first job I ever had where I got a paycheck was from a radio station, and that was when I was 16 years old. So, I’ve come into a studio every day of my life forever, and it’s just something that’s such a part of my DNA, and I think honestly that there’s a lot of value in the camaraderie, in the companionship that one can establish through audio as we’ve seen with the world of podcast taking off. There is a real intimacy and unvarnished presentation to live radio that I love, and I think there’s a lot of value in that frequent, connective moment with an audience, and it’s something that I’ve built over time and want to continue to do. It’s much different than presentation on television where it’s highly produced and in many cases very rehearsed. This is different, and it’s something that I just wake up every morning with a smile on my face thinking, “I get to do it again today.”

Vanna White just re-upped her deal for Wheel of Fortune as well. Have you been meeting with her ahead of your upcoming turn as host?

Seacrest: I’m very excited that she has, and I’m looking forward to being on set with her when I start. We’ve known each other for a long time. We spoke during this process a little bit and, certainly, once I made my deal, she and I spoke, and we started shooting together already. We shot some promotional video in Nashville and some theme week opens for the show, and she’s just so beloved and such an incredibly lovely individual, and part of Americana. She is a part of history in that franchise and also for the future of that franchise, and I’m thrilled she’ll be with me, and she’ll be on the stage. I’m starstruck by her still, and Pat is a legend. When you’re a host of a show for that long, it doesn’t just happen. And to do it so seamlessly, he’s brilliant. So I’m very interested to see what that dynamic is like, being such a fan of the show and also hosting the show.