| Adam Curry | |
|---|---|
| Born | September 3, 1964 Arlington, Virginia |
| Residence | Austin, Texas, U.S. |
| Citizenship | American & Dutch |
| Known for | MTV VJ Daily Source Code No Agenda |
| Height | 6 ft 5 in (1.96 m)[1] |
| Spouse | Patricia Paay (m. 1989–2009) |
| Children | 1 (Christina, 1990) |
| Website | |
| curry.com | |
Adam Clark Curry (born September 3, 1964 in Arlington, Virginia) is a broadcasting and Internet personality well known for his stint from 1987 to 1994 as a video jockey on the music video channel MTV. In the mid-1990s, Curry was a World Wide Web entrepreneur and one of the first celebrities to personally create and administer a Web site. In the 2000s, he helped pioneer podcasting, and is often called the 'Podfather' because of his efforts.[2] He is a licensed airplane pilot.
Contents |
Curry was born in Arlington, Virginia, but lived in Amstelveen, Netherlands, from 1972 to 1987. After a time working in Dutch pirate radio Radio Picasso in Amstelveen and Radio Decibel in Amsterdam in the early eighties under the pseudonym "John Holden", he got his big break in broadcasting as the host of the Dutch weekly pop-music television program Countdown, and the English version of the same show, which was broadcast on pan-European music channel Music Box. He also hosted several other radio and television programs for the Dutch broadcast station Veronica. Aside Countdown, in the Netherlands Adam Curry is most well known for his part in the Curry and Van Inkel radioshow (together with Dutch DJ Jeroen van Inkel).
In 1987, Curry became a VJ for MTV. Besides making spot appearances between music videos, he was also host of the programs Headbangers Ball and Top 20 Countdown in which he interviewed stars like Michael Jackson and Paul McCartney. While working for MTV, he also did radio work, including drive-time host for the New York City radio station WHTZ, and host of the national program HitLine USA.
In the late 1980s, before the World Wide Web, in the days of Gopher, Curry began experimenting on the Net. He registered the then-unclaimed domain name "mtv.com" in 1993 with the idea of being MTV's unofficial new voice on the Internet. Although this move was sanctioned by his superiors at MTV Networks at the time, when Curry left to start his own web-portal design and hosting company, OnRamp Inc, MTV subsequently sued him for the domain name, which led to an out-of-court settlement.[3]
OnRamp eventually grew to forty employees and was sold to THINK New Ideas Inc., another company that he co-founded, becoming Chief Technology Officer of THINK. In 1996, as the Internet was undergoing its legendary "bubble", the company made an initial public offering on NASDAQ under the ticker symbol THNK. It subsequently grew to employ over 400 people and with offices in seven countries, and was absorbed into Answerthink Inc., in a later merger.
In 2005, Curry founded a video sharing site called mevio (formerly PodShow) with Ron Bloom. In May 2008, mevio claimed to have reached 9 million unique visitors. It offers advertisers "brand safe" content on a large scale. It raised a $15 million third round in July 2008, bringing the total amount it has raised since its launch to over $38 million.[4] Curry has also gone back to his hosting roots and can be seen daily on the site in the show called "Mevio Today."
After selling his business in the U.S., Curry and his family moved to the Netherlands in 1999, where Curry hosted a morning talk/music show for Radio Veronica. He also landed various television assignments and his family briefly starred in the reality show Adam's Family.[5]
Curry and two business partners founded the multimedia company United Resources of Jamby in 1999. It was to act as an incubator and cultivator for new internet-related businesses. The business was ultimately unsuccessful. Curry's participation in Kennisnet, another venture to introduce the internet to Dutch schools, ended in a bitter argument and lawsuits.[6] Sportus.nl, an online webshop in collaboration with Dutch athletes like Marcel Wouda, Jacco Eltingh, Ron Zwerver and Daniëlle Overgaag, started in 1999, went bankrupt in 2001.[7] Another content exchange project, Freedom Controller[8], was cancelled in 2002.[9]
In 2000 he and business partner Simon Cavendish, a participant in his earlier ventures, founded the RotorJet company to offer helicopter services. The company filed for bankruptcy in 2005. In the subsequent dispute, Cavendish seized the assets of the company, and in April 2005, Curry was ordered by a Dutch court to repay approximately $2 million (U.S.) that he had withdrawn from RotorJet.[10]
Since 1999, Curry has, at one time or another, owned homes in Belgium, Guildford, London, San Francisco, Los Angeles, and Austin.
As of 2011, Curry hosts the podcast No Agenda with John C. Dvorak. The shows does not accept any advertising, and is solely listener supported.
Additionally, Curry describes himself as a "bi-curious male."[11] In 2009, he announced that he and wife Patricia Paay were divorcing, and that he was living in Los Angeles with his new partner Micky Hoogendijk.
Curry founded PodShow, now mevio, with his business partner, Ron Bloom, in January 2005. PodShow is a podcast promotions and advertising company that encompasses the Podshow Podcast Network, the Podcast Delivery Network, and the Podsafe Music Network. Some of Podshow's top podcasts are Curry's own Daily Source Code, The Dawn and Drew Show, and GeekBrief.TV.[12]
From June 2005 to May 2007, Curry hosted a weekday evening show on Sirius Satellite Radio called 'Adam Curry's PodShow'.[13][14]
Curry has heavily promoted his podcasting endeavors. He promoted his podcast Daily Source Code in Second Life under the name 'Adam Neumann'.[15], along with a Second Life island called Podshow Island. Curry used podcasting to endorse 2008 Republican Presidential hopeful Ron Paul.[16] He also uses his show to discuss news topics and conspiracy theories such as Free energy suppression[17] and the 9/11 Truth Movement.
Curry is widely credited for popularizing the podcast medium. As Annalee Newitz noted in Wired, "Every new medium needs a celebrity, and Curry is happy to fill that role."[18]
In late February 2006, Curry sued the Dutch tabloid Weekend for reprinting photos from his Flickr page and publishing details about his daughter.[19] The photos were released under a version of the Creative Commons license that forbids commercial use and requires acknowledgement, but the tabloid printed a few of them without contacting Curry.[20]
The verdict of the lawsuit did not award Curry any damages, but did forbid the tabloid from reprinting the photos in the future, and set a fine of 1,000€ for each subsequent violation by the tabloid. It was one of the first times the license was tested in a court.[20]
In May 2009, Curry posted on his blog information about a different Dutch tabloid publishing another Creative Commons licensed photo from Curry's Flickr account and Curry's attempt to apply Creative Commons license requirements.[21] The publisher settled without a trial on Curry's terms.[22]