Adam Curry

Infobox person
name = Adam Curry

---

birth_date = birth date and age|mf=yes|1964|09|03
birth_place = Washington, D.C.
death_date =
death_place =
residence =

citizenship =
spouse = Patricia Paay (1989-present)
children = 1
website = [http://www.curry.com/ curry.com]

Adam Clark Curry (born September 3, 1964 in Washington, D.C.) 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. [cite web|url=http://pressroom.podshow.com/2006/05/23/podfather-plots-a-radio-hit-of-his-own-la-times/|title=LAtimes|accessdate=2007-09-09] He pilots his own Cessna 182 RG. He is married to Dutch singer Patricia Paay; they have one daughter, Christina.

Youth

Curry's first EPs were David Bowie's Sound and Vision and the Detroit Spinners The Rubberband Man.

Early radio and TV career

Curry was born in Arlington, Virginia, but lived in Amstelveen, a city next to Amsterdam, the Netherlands, from 1972 to 1987. After a time working in Dutch pirate radio under the pseudonym "John Holdon", 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.

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 got to interview 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".

The Web and MTV.com

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 Adam 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. [cite web|url=http://www.loundy.com/CASES/MTV_v_Curry.html|title=MTV vs. Curry|accessdate=2007-03-28]

OnRamp eventually grew to forty employees and sold it 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. Mevio claims to have done 9 million unique visitors in May 2008 and offers advertisers "brand safe" content on a large scale. It raised a $15 million third round in July 2008, bringing the total amount it's raised since its launch to over $38 million. [cite web|url=http://www.paidcontent.org/entry/419-mevio-formerly-podshow-raises-15-million-third-round/|title=Mevio, Formerly PodShow, Raises $15 Million Third Round|accessdate=2008-07-09]

Back to Europe

After selling his business in the US, Curry and his family returned to work in the Netherlands in 1999. He pursued his radio and television career by presenting a morning talk/music show for his former employer, Veronica Radio. It was discontinued in September 2004. He carried out several loose television assignments and his family briefly starred in the reality soap "Adam's Family".Cite web
url=http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0386908/
title=Adam's Family
publisher=IMDB
accessdate=2006-12-05|]

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 unsuccessful. The participation in Kennisnet, a venture to introduce internet to Dutch schools ended in a bitter argument and lawsuits over incorrect European invitation to tender. [cite web
url=http://www.webwereld.nl/articles/9244/jamby-betrokken-bij-kennisnet-schandaal.html|title=Problems for Kennisnet
author=Wilbert de Vries
accessdate=2007-03-28
date=2003-05-16
language=NL] Sportus.nl, an online webshop in cooperation with Dutch athletes like Marcel Wouda, Jacco Eltingh, Ron Zwerver and Daniëlle Overgaag, started in 1999, went bankrupt in 2001.Cite web
url=http://www.sportus.nl/store/sportus_newsPageExec.asp?pk={8792BB70-35BF-43AB-99B7-AC8305AA3A01}
title=Nieuwe sportwinkel mikt op Europese markt
publisher= [http://www.sportus.nl/ Sportus.nl]
language=NL
date=December 16, 1999
accessdate=2006-12-05|] And a prestigious content exchange project called Freedom Controller [cite web
url=http://www.computable.nl/artikel.jsp?archive=1&id=1398257
title=Interview with Adam Curry where he speaks about his Peer2Peer video sharing program Freedom Controller
author=Ad Mulder
accessdate=2007-03-28
date=2001-01-23
language=NL] was cancelled in 2002. [Cite web
url=http://www.webwereld.nl/articles/7833/directeur---faillissement-jamby-niets-nieuws-.html
title="Freedom Controller canceled, Jamby B.V. chapter elevened
author=Maarten Reijnders
accessdate=2007-03-28
date=2002-12-19
language=NL]

In 2000 he and his business partner Simon Cavendish, a participant in his earlier ventures, founded the RotorJet company which was to offer helicopter services. The company went bankrupt in 2005. In the subsequent dispute, Cavendish seized the assets of the company. In April 2005, Adam Curry was ordered by the Dutch Court to restitute approximately two million American dollars which he had withdrawn from RotorJet.cite web
url=http://www.novatv.nl/uploaded/FILES/1_multipart_xF8FF_3_s-beslaglegging-FAV.doc
type=doc
title=Dutch Legal document on the RotorJet case
accessdate=2007-03-28
language=NL
format=DOC]

In 2004, the Curry family, who had resided in Belgium since 1999, moved their home to the United Kingdom. They currently reside in Guildford, Surrey, in what some and Adam himself refer to on his podcast, "The Daily Source Code" as "Curry Manor". Curry also owns a condominium in San Francisco, California, ("Curry Condo") which he uses for his frequent business trips to the city. In summer 2006, he and his wife began looking to purchase their own home in the UK.

On July 2, 2006, Adam's mother, Valerie Gail Clark (Breezy), died after a 2-year battle with cancer.Cite web
url=http://curry.podshow.com/?p=210
title=DSC-For Mom
author=Curry, Adam
publisher=Curry.com
date=2006-07-03
accessdate=2006-12-05|] During the same month, a younger cousin of Adam Curry, Timothy Curry, was arrested in Amsterdam for the possession of several illegal drugs. This caused some minor controversies in the Dutch media, especially local news in Amsterdam.

Podcasting

Adam Curry is involved in the development and promotion of podcasting. He produces and presents a podcast named "Daily Source Code", and was one of the first to create a successful podcast show. He is a prominent figure in podcasting and he was a key figure at BloggerCon 2004, held at Stanford Law School. Media interviewers and others often refer to Curry as "the podfather".Cite web
url=http://www.wired.com/news/culture/0,67525-0.html
title=Audience with the podfather
publisher=Wired News
date=2005-05-14
accessdate=2007-02-11|]

"Every new medium needs a celebrity, and Curry is happy to fill that role," noted Annalee Newitz when she interviewed Curry for Wired.Cite web
url=http://www.wired.com/wired/archive/13.03/curry.html
title=Adam Curry Wants to Make You an iPod Radio Star
publisher=Wired
date=March, 2005
accessdate=2007-02-11|]

Curry founded PodShow, Inc., now Mevio, along with business partner, Ron Bloom, in January 2005. Venture capitalists Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers and Sequoia Capital have invested nearly $9 million into PodShow.Cite web
url=http://pressroom.podshow.com/2006/05/23/podfather-plots-a-radio-hit-of-his-own-la-times/
title=‘Podfather’ plots a radio hit of his own : LA Times
author=Miller, Martin
publisher=PodShow, Inc.
date=2006-05-25
accessdate=2006-12-05|] PodShow is a podcast promotions and advertising company that encompasses the Podshow Podcast Network, the Podcast Delivery Network (launched on July 4, 2006), and the Podsafe Music Network. Some of Podshow's top podcasts are Curry's own "Daily Source Code", "The Dawn and Drew Show", "GeekBrief.TV". As of the end of 2006 PodShow's total amount of venture capital investments have risen to approximately $23m.

From June 2005 until May 2007, Curry hosted a show on Sirius Satellite Radio, entitled "Adam Curry's PodShow", running from 6 to 10 p.m. EST on weekdays. [cite press release|url=http://www.sirius.com/servlet/ContentServer?pagename=Sirius/CachedPage&c=EditorialAsset&cid=1117220854482|title=SIRIUS Satellite radio partnering with Adam Curry|Publisher=SIRIUS Satellite Radio|accessdate=2007-03-28] [cite web|url=http://inoveryourhead.net/sirius-and-podshow-end-their-contract/|title=Sirius and Podshow end their contract|date=April 24, 2007|accessdate=2007-11-21] The radio show featured what he called "The Best of Podcasting".

Since around the time of Daily Source Code episode 380 (aired May 4, 2006),cite web
url=http://www.mediabaron.com/blog/2006/05/03/adam-curry-discovers-second-life/
title=Adam Curry discovers Second Life
author=Sekiya, Baron
publisher= [http://www.mediabaron.com/ MediaBaron.com]
date=2006-05-03
accessdate=2006-11-28|] Curry has been promoting "Daily Source Code" in Second Life under the name Adam Neumann via Curry Castle.. He even introduced an island called Podshow Island which was managed by Britney Mason. Podshow Island however was shut down in March 2008.

Curry used podcasting in support of 2008 Republican Presidential hopeful, Congressman Ron Paul, after officially endorsing him. [http://www.podcastingnews.com/2007/12/28/podfather-adam-curry-backing-ron-paul/] He currently uses the show to discuss news topics and conspiracy theories such as Free energy suppression [Daily Source Code Episode 781, "Confessions of a multimedia hitman"] and the 9/11 Truth Movement.

He also participates in the general discussion podcast 'No Agenda' with John C. Dvorak [ [http://www.mevio.com/showguide/?key_id=15412&feed_type=pdn Mevio | Show Guide ] ] which has gathered over 100,000 listeners regularly.

Controversies

Wikipedia

Some controversy was caused by four edits Curry made to the podcasting article on Wikipedia during 2005, which appeared to boost his role in the creation of podcasting by removing mention of early work by others.Cite web
url=http://www.cadenhead.org/workbench/news/2818/adam-curry-caught-sticky-wiki
title=Adam Curry Caught in Sticky Wiki
author=Cadenhead, Rogers
publisher= [http://www.cadenhead.org/workbench/ Workbench]
date=2005-12-01
accessdate=2006-12-05|] Curry later apologized, saying he had not understood how to use Wikipedia editing functions and had been unaware of some of the prior work done by Kevin Marks.

Newspaper lawsuit

In late February 2006, Adam sued the Dutch tabloid "Weekend" for reprinting photos from his Flickr page and publishing details about his daughter.Cite web
url=http://creativecommons.org/weblog/entry/5823
title=Creative Commons Licenses Enforced in Dutch Court
author=Garlick, Mia
publisher=Creative Commons
date=2006-03-16
accessdate=2006-12-05|] The photos were released under a version of the Creative Commons license, which forbids commercial use and requires acknowledgement, but the tabloid printed a few of them without contacting Curry. The verdict of the lawsuit did not reward Curry, but required the tabloid to pay 1,000 euros for each photo used if they published the photos again.

References

* Curry, Adam. [http://adamcurry.editthispage.com/stories/storyReader$27 Adam Curry's Weblog - Personal Information about Adam Curry] (accessed May 8 2004, dated February 24 2002)
* [http://pressroom.podshow.com Podshow Pressroom] (accessed July 14, 2006)

External links

* [http://www.dailysourcecode.com/ Daily Source Code] Adam Curry's podcast
* [http://www.curry.com/ Adam Curry's Weblog]
*
* [http://www.mevio.com/ Mevio] Mevio official site
* [http://www.adamcurryisadouchebag.com/ Anti-Adam Curry Website]

Persondata
NAME = Curry, Adam
ALTERNATIVE NAMES = Curry, Adam Clark
SHORT DESCRIPTION = Broadcasting and Internet personality
DATE OF BIRTH = September 3, 1964
PLACE OF BIRTH = Washington, D.C.
DATE OF DEATH =
PLACE OF DEATH =