He noted, 'There wasn't a consistent answer, so I thought, 'What if we could build something that was the heartbeat, the pulse, of the hospital, in the middle of the hospital, that allowed them to escape?' And that's how we came up with the studio idea. In September 1983 Wheel of Fortune went into nighttime syndication (while continuing its daytime run on NBC) in an attempt to broaden its viewership. And I met with parents at different children's hospitals and talked to them about what their kids were going through and asked them how they escaped from it.' White became such an integral and iconic part of the program that, in 1988, The New York Times quipped that Sajak was perhaps best-known as Vanna White’s sidekick. 19.ĭetailing how he came up with the idea for Seacrest Studios, Ryan shared, 'I wanted to do something tangible for my mission and my purpose and my foundation. Ryan added, 'Pat Sajak's a legend whom I've looked up to and watched so many years, and to know that that show is such a staple for America and such a destination for people and families in the evening, I just want to do my best job and make it seamless and have people continue to enjoy it.'īut before Ryan steps into the role of Wheel of Fortune host, the star was focused on unveiling The Ryan Seacrest Foundation's latest Seacrest Studio, a broadcast media center for patients at Cohen Children's Medical Center in Queens, N.Y.
