Alright – so today we’ve got the honor of introducing you to Adam Wurtzel. We think you’ll enjoy our conversation, we’ve shared it below.

Hi Adam, thanks for joining us today. When did you first know you wanted to pursue a creative/artistic path professionally?

Before I could talk, I became infatuated with game shows. The lights, the sound effects, the buzzers. I didn’t understand how to play, but something about seeing those shows, and then hosts made me mesmerized. As I got a little older, while other kids were impersonating their favorite athletes, I was running around my house pretending to be Dick Clark and Bob Eubanks (both of which I ended up working with professionally).

It was from watching shows like Card Sharks and The $25,000 Pyramid at a young age that made me not only want to become a host, but to pursue a career in television. I wanted to see what shows like this looked like up close, and what it was like to work on them.

Adam, before we move on to more of these sorts of questions, can you take some time to bring our readers up to speed on you and what you do?

I am a TV Host and Producer. My career has always sort of been split down the middle, with half of it on air, and half of it on the Producer side.

While I first aspired to be a Host, I knew while in college that the traditional “Host” was being replaced with actors, comedians, and others who were already famous for doing something else. I couldn’t go the acting/agent route (I’m not a great actor), so I knew the best way to go about this career was to start working as a Production Assistant, than Coordinator, than Producer, and work my way up, and hopefully get some opportunities on-air along the way.

I took on learning all aspects of Production. I taught even myself how to edit to make myself more marketable.

While in college, I interned (on the TV Series “Wife Swap,” and at News 12 Long Island), and Hosted and Produced by own game show, “Eastern Expedition,” which ended up winning a BEA Award in Las Vegas in 2006. While in college, I worked in the Admissions department giving campus tours, and on my final tour as I was about to graduate, an editor for CBS Sports, Mark Levy happened to be showing his son around our campus. He gave me his business card, and within a few weeks, my first job out of college was as a Production Assistant for CBS Sports, working on the PGA Tour, NFL games, and in the NY CBS Studios on their gameday shows “College Football Today” and “The NFL Today.” It truly was being in the right place, at the right time, with someone who was in my corner.

Today, I work full time for Bahakel Entertainment, a TV station group and Production company based in Charlotte, NC. I am on the flagship Charlotte station’s morning show, Rising. I also Host and Executive Produce “Queen City Country,” which airs across America on The Heartland Network, as well as Executive Produce the reality series “Lately with Natalie & Jonathan Stewart.”

Since 2010, I have also been a Producer on “Dick Clark’s New Year’s Rockin’ Eve with Ryan Seacrest,” where I am in charge of Producing all the content with the co-host in Times Square. I have Produced everyone from Jenny McCarthy to Liza Koshy to most recently, Rita Ora.

Working in TV is hard. Finding a full time job in TV is even harder. I consider myself very lucky to be doing what I love, while also having health benefits and a 401K!

What do you find most rewarding about being a creative?

The most rewarding part of my job, is knowing that people are watching your work, and more importantly, that people are enjoying it. “Dick Clark’s New Year’s Rockin’ Eve” is by far the hardest job I have each year. But after lots of rehearsing, when that first moment comes and I know that millions of people are watching nationwide, I always get goosebumps (and not just from the cold weather in Times Square).

How about pivoting – can you share the story of a time you’ve had to pivot?

I moved to Nashville in January 2012 after over 4 years of bouncing from show to show in the freelance world in NYC. I knew that I needed to be a bigger fish in a smaller pond (Nashville was still small in 2012) to try to work my way up on the on-air side of my career. So on a whim, my girlfriend (now wife) and I moved to Nashville, and it worked. Within a few months, I was an Entertainment Reporter at the NBC affiliate, doing segments for their 12pm newscast “More at Midday.”

Contact Info:

• Website: https://adamwurtzel.com
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/adamwurtzel/?hl=en
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/adamwurtzelfanpage/
• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/adam-wurtzel-14b5b023/
• Twitter: https://x.com/adamwurtzel?lang=en
• Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCPZwccgXA9IeqntIq76hOMA

Image Credits

Michael Mathis