Biography
Over the last 20 years, Sean "Hollywood" Hamilton has become one of the most recognizable names in radio from coast-to-coast. Coined as a radio icon, he has hosted shows at Z-100 in New York, KIIS-FM in Los Angeles and, then, a show back in New York at KTU while establishing a legion of fans and admirers within the music industry, leading all his shows to #1 in the Arbitron ratings in a relatively short amount of time.
Sean Hamilton always dreamed about becoming a disc jockey. His dream started at sixteen-years-old, when he constructed an illegal pirate radio station in the basement of his parent's home. His pirate radio station was pulled off the air by the Federal Communications Commission, but he immediately landed his first job in commercial radio in his hometown of Reno, Nevada. In 1990, New Line Cinema released a popular motion picture called Pump Up the Volume (1990), starring Christian Slater, loosely-based on Sean's life. Sean Hamilton's popularity rose and his innovative style quickly generated attention within the radio industry. He felt "the early success of my career was based on working the phones and being able to adlib with people on the air, naturally".
In 1983, Sean received his big break when he was asked to incorporate his philosophy as part of the launch of a new radio station called Z-100 in New York City. Little did he know he was about to become part of the most successful radio station in the country. Just 72 days after the start of WHTZ, the station rose to #1 and, still to this day, remains the most powerful radio station in America. Sean stayed #1 at Z-100 from 1983 until his departure in 1987. That same year, Sean also created the enormously popular show, "Lovelines". It became a huge hit in New York, and evolved into a 15-year syndicated radio success and MTV-TV show, starring Adam Carolla and Dr. Drew.
From 1987-1996, Sean took his high-energy radio show to Los Angeles and became the night jock at the popular Top 40 station 102.7 KIIS-FM. For nine years, his timeslot consistently remained at the top three, according to the Arbitron rating system.
Later in 1996, WKTU convinced Sean, now one of radio's most successful young hosts to relocate back to New York and work his "magic" on their evening slot. Sean then convinced station management to consider a then-unknown talent, by the name of "Goumba Johnny", to be his sidekick. The chemistry between "Hollywood & Goumba" was combustible! The hip, funny and frenetic tag team earned top ratings consistently for two years in a row. To this day, they still hold the record in New York for having the highest ratings for the demo of 25-54. The "Hollywood Hamilton & Goumba Johnny" show can currently be heard weekdays from 3-7pm and is the second highest-rated show in New York City.
Sean "Hollywood" Hamilton went national in 1998 and Hollywood Hamilton's Weekend Top 30 was established in conjunction with United Stations Radio Network. In one year, the show became the fastest growing syndicated program in America and, in 2000, was named the "Nationally Syndicated Radio Show of the Year" by Radio & Records Magazine. Today, Hollywood Hamilton's Weekend Top 30 is listened to by approximately 5.7 million people every weekend. He counts down the 30 biggest songs of the week while having the biggest celebrities in the business join him, either in-studio or backstage. The show is heard in over 200 cities throughout America and around the world and is offered in two different formats: Pop/Mainstream and Hip Hop.
This spring, Sean launched his third syndicated project called the Remix Top40 with WKTU in New York being its flagship station. The show airs on Friday and Saturday nights in some of the hottest party cities: Q102 in Philadelphia, KISS-FM in Boston, Movin-FM in San Francisco, and MIA-FM in Miami. A nightclub radio dance show, it consists of America's top 40 hits, all remixed. Additionally, as of April 13th, 2009, Sean will also be heard in Los Angeles on 104.3 MYfm weekdays from 3-7 p.m. Impressively, he is Clear Channel's only (music) talent to be heard on both coasts during the afternoon drive.
In addition to his vast background in radio, Sean Hamilton has also been the spokesman/spokesmodel for many of today's most successful products: Sprint "Muziq" Phone, Drakkar Cologne, Doritos Chips, M&Ms, Levis, Diet Pepsi and Bank of America. On his off time away from the radio industry, Sean's production company, Mischief Media Entertainment, has directed and produced television projects for Telepictures, Warner Brothers, Twentieth Century Fox and, just recently, two half-hour pilots for Court TV, entitled "29 Minutes & Counting". He is currently in production and co-starring in a new film called Hyenas (2011). This film is scheduled for release in late 2009 and is an Entertainment LAB production.
Now bicoastal, Sean "Hollywood" Hamilton currently lives in New York City but maintains his residence in Los Angeles as well.
