Sean Hamilton

Sean "Hollywood" Hamilton is an American radio personality.

Later, during the 1970s, she performed on the Nevada casino circuit with her own band, April Ames and The Dames.

Hamilton got the nickname "Hollywood" when he was nine years old.

Sitting backstage watching his father's Las Vegas show while wearing a suit and bow tie, one of his father's showgirls passed by, stopped, and called him "Little Hollywood".

While still in high school, Hamilton landed his first job in commercial radio after gaining recognition from an illegal pirate radio station, broadcasting from a walk-in closet in his parents' home in Reno, Nevada.

After weeks of complaints from local commercial radio stations the Federal Communications Commission issued a formal cease and desist.

It wasn't until then, that Hamilton's parents even knew of such an operation.

In 1983 while broadcasting one night, his big break came when a then famous radio executive Scott Shannon was flying commercially over Long Branch and heard Sean on the air.

Upon Shannon's arrival at his destination Sean was immediately offered a job to be part of creating and premiering what is now the largest and most influential radio station in the world today, New York's WHTZ/Z100.

At just 20 years old and only four years after building his small pirate radio station in Reno, Nevada, he was now on the air at Z100 in New York City.

After Z100s premiere on August 2, 1983 with its legendary campaign "Worst to First", the station went #1 in the ratings in just 74 days.

During those four years working in New York he helped launch and introduce such new artists as Madonna, Duran Duran, U2, Cyndi Lauper and Prince, just to name a few.

Hamilton remained at Z100 from 1983-87.

In 1987, Hamilton was asked to head out west to join Rick Dees and 102.7 KIIS-FM.

During his seven years at KIISFM he headed up a very popular concert series called “Rad Pack.” This was a concert series where many of the biggest music and teen celebrities at the time would come together to raise money for the newly found D.A.R.E. foundation (Drug Abuse Resistance Education).

The attention of this series caught the eye of then President George H. W. Bush where Hamilton was asked to join the President for several youth anti-drug appearances.

During the late eighties through the mid-nineties while at KIIS-FM, Hamilton made many other notable high-profile appearances such as participating in the Toyota Pro/Celebrity Race Grand Prix of Long Beach and being part of the Los Angeles Air Show where he trained and flew with the United States Navy Blue Angels.

Hamilton remained at KIIS-FM from 1987-94.

In 1990 actor Christian Slater studied the role of playing a DJ for the motion picture Pump Up the Volume under the tutelage of then friend Hamilton.

Because Sean Hamilton's start in radio was very similar to the storyline in the movie, Christian's Mother Mary Jo Slater had personally asked Sean if he'd work with Christian on and off the air while working at KIISFM in Los Angeles.

In 1996, Clear Channel convinced Hamilton to relocate back to New York City to host a show for their WKTU evening slot.

Hamilton brought a sidekick/comedian along by the name of Goumba Johnny, their chemistry earned them top ratings consistently for two years.

In 1996 Hamilton was asked to host the annual Easter Egg Roll at the White House with President Bill Clinton and first Lady Hillary Clinton in Washington, D.C.

Because of their overwhelming success, in September 2006 Clear Channel decided to promote the duo to WKTU's afternoon drive.

In December 2010, with the departure of sidekick Goumba Johnny, Hamilton started hosting the afternoon drive-time show solo.

Since then his show became not only the highest rated afternoon show in the New York metro area but currently also holds the highest rated share for all radio stations in New York.

(8.2 share 25-54 demographic, according to the Arbitron PPM/Summer rating system).

On September 2, 2015 WKTU announced that Sean ‘Hollywood’ Hamilton had signed a new three-year deal to extend his contract through 2018.

In their press release it stated that Hamilton's show is currently rated the No.1 afternoon show by Arbitron's Portable People Meter (PPM) with adults ages 25–54.

It goes on to mention his show features a segment called War of the Roses, weekdays at 5:40 p.m., helping KTU's 5:00 p.m. hour become the most listened to hour in New York City radio.

After spending only a year broadcasting in his hometown, Hamilton decided to hit the road hoping to achieve the big time one day.

After three years of traveling and working for a couple small market radio stations like KLAV in Las Vegas and KIDD in Monterey, he ended up in a small town in central New Jersey called Long Branch at a station called WWZY Y-107.

On October 5, 2018 iHeartMedia announced a new long-term agreement with Hamilton.

Robert Pittman (media executive), Chairman and CEO of iHeartMedia, Inc stated “Hollywood Hamilton is one of the most loved, respected and recognized voices and names in radio, his unparalleled ability to connect with both listeners and music's biggest artists is a true representation of what makes radio the most powerful medium in the U.S."

Hamilton was born and raised in both Las Vegas and Reno, Nevada.

Both his parents were in show business; his father, Al, was the entertainment director for major Nevada hotels and casinos, and also a comedian who performed in those establishments.

Hamilton's mother, April Ames, was a singer for Harry James, Sam Donahue, Buddy Rich, and others during the "big band" era.

She made appearances on Johnny Carson and George Gobel television shows.

On November 8, 2019 he was inducted into the National Radio Hall of Fame.

He can be heard live weekday afternoons on WKTU in New York City.