Ryan Seacrest, host of “Wheel of Fortune” and “American Idol,” opened “Seacrest Studios” at the pediatric care pavilion of Nicklaus Children’s Hospital, Tuesday.
“This moment marks the beginning of a new chapter in our mission to bring joy, creativity and healing to the children and families we serve,” said Seacrest.
The radio station is the first bilingual studio made by Seacrest, making content in both English and Spanish.
“With Spanish speaking patients, we are able to have the full programming to listen to engage with and programing we are gonna film here… we are gonna share with all of our Seacrest studios across the country — this will be the premiere studio to help us of all of our programming,” said Seacrest.
The TV host created the radio and TV centers to give children and families at the hospital a sense of normalcy and hope during challenging times.
“We call it the No Poke Zone. you go in there and you became the star, you have fun, you host shows, you play the music you wanna play. We’ve had patients who come in, who were shy, didn’t wanna come out of their room, they came down, and next thing you know they’re hosting bingo every night and they’ve made friends for life,” said Seacrest.
During the session, young patients can be the star, director or producer of their own show. From hosting to interviewing celebrity guests and playing games, their imagination is the limit.
“The patients here will be national stars. They won’t just be stars here in Miami, we are gonna send them all over the place which is fun,” said Seacrest.
Seacrest plans to build state of the art studios in hospitals across the country.
“We want to create this fun, center for the hospital, a heartbeat at the center of the hospital for patients and families to come and smile, laugh and be stars,” said Seacrest.
The studio is the 14th that has opened in a children’s hospital nationwide. Other celebrities at the opening ceremony included actor Anthony Ramos and influencer Lele Pons, who were interviewed by patients.