STEVE INSKEEP, Host:
Many people will be watching the Fox Broadcast Network tonight because the country's most popular television show, "American Idol," begins its ninth season. It will also be the last season for Simon Cowell to sling cutting comments at aspiring singers.
(SOUNDBITE OF TV SHOW, "AMERICAN IDOL")
M: Eric, if you could imagine Linda Blair in "The Exorcist" singing at the point when she's doing all that on the bed, that's - no, seriously - that's what you sound like, because there were six of you in there.
INSKEEP: Fans of "Idol" might be relieved to hear that host Ryan Seacrest is under contract for another three years. It is hard to miss Mr. Seacrest on celebrity TV. He also hosts coverage of the Grammys, the Emmys, the Oscars and the Golden Globes. Now, it's easy to dismiss Ryan Seacrest as a pop culture Ken doll, but as NPR's Neda Ulaby explains, he has real power.
NEDA ULABY: So far, Ryan Seacrest has not taken over the entire world - only its shiniest, most glittery broadcasts.
(SOUNDBITE OF TV SHOW, "DICK CLARK'S NEW YEAR'S ROCKIN' EVE")
M: Hello and welcome to the biggest, most spectacular New Year's Eve party in the entire world.
ULABY: The show still known as "Dick Clark's New Year's Rockin' Eve" is now mainly hosted and produced by Ryan Seacrest. His sweetly vanilla good looks mask a monster of a work ethic.
INSKEEP: 00 a.m. to host a morning radio show in Los Angeles. Then he hosts a TV program for the E! channel. Then he edits and hosts a national radio show.
(SOUNDBITE OF RADIO SHOW)
ULABY: Stop the music. You're on air with Ryan Seacrest.
ULABY: On weekends, he relaxes by hosting the long-running pop radio shows, heard on over 500 stations.
(SOUNDBITE OF RADIO SHOW)
M: American Top 40 right here. I'll be with you on...
M: In the course of a very short period of time, he's essentially replaced Dick Clark in his longstanding emcee duties on so many shows.
ULABY: Larry Rosin is a media analyst and cofounder of Edison Research.
M: He's replaced Casey Kasem; he's replaced Rick Dees, who was the number one morning man in Los Angeles.
ULABY: And there's rumors, says Rosin, that Seacrest will eventually take over Larry King's show as well.
M: Tipping them over one by one, replacing every one of these sort of old media hosts. You would think a new guy, a different new guy or gal would come into each one of these positions, but in every case it's Ryan Seacrest.
ULABY: Ryan Seacrest pushed his reality show "Keeping Up With the Kardashians" on "Jimmy Kimmel Live."
(SOUNDBITE OF TV SHOW, "JIMMY KIMMEL LIVE")
M: But, yes, I'm producing that and I'm producing "The Denise Richards Show," which launches on Memorial Day for E! as well.
M: What do you need these headaches for?
ULABY: Apparently Seacrest thrives on headaches. He built "Keeping Up With the Kardashians" into the channel's number one hit. Seacrest is known for working unbelievably hard, with an obsessively micromanaged schedule.
(SOUNDBITE OF TV SHOW, "JIMMY KIMMEL LIVE")
M: Everything is, like, to the minute, but I love it. I love it.
M: Do you have, like, a daily schedule so you know exactly what - it's a grid, really.
M: I get a grid that's faxed to my house from my office the night before.
M: Really?
M: So it tells me what time I have to get ready for you. So I had to shower. So I got - three people are CCed, so three people know when I'm in the shower, three people know when I'm traveling to Jimmy Kimmel. They know...
M: Wow. You didn't have to shower for me. You could've came over...
ULABY: Seacrest's contract with "American Idol" is worth $45 million over the course of three years. Comcast and E! pay him another $21 million for the same amount of time. He has an uncanny knack for managing his own brand, says Tom Weeks. He's an executive at Starcom Entertainment.
M: He gets that people think he's a squeaky-clean guy. And there's a part of brands that you want to be approachable but you don't want to be so perfect that people just start ignoring you because it's not real anymore.
ULABY: Still, it's the glossy perfection of Seacrest's persona that moved author Dave Housley to write a short story about him. It's in a collection called "Ryan Seacrest is Famous." Housley finds his media mastery almost a little ominous. Ryan Seacrest seems so spookily prepackaged, he says he almost doesn't seem human, but...
M: Some kind of media conglomerate robot that's going to continue assembling jobs until he's kind of controlling everything. He's going to be the president of the United States.
ULABY: Neda Ulaby, NPR News.
INSKEEP: You hear Neda's forecasts on MORNING EDITION from NPR News.