Larry Pickett

Larry Pickett (born December 27, 1978) is an American television show creator, executive producer, host and editor.[1]

Larry Pickett
Larry Pickett, Executive Producer, Host
BornDecember 27, 1978 (1978-12-27) (age 42)
Queens, New York, U.S.
Other namesLP
OccupationAmerican television show creator, executive producer, host and editor

Life and career

Pickett's talents provided him with the ability to host 3 different television shows and a radio show at the same time. All while consulting other television producers and aspiring musicians. Larry also developed and produced the double disc CD "One Hot Minute: North Carolina Hip-Hop Compilation"[2][3] Pickett was a key contributor to helping Chapel Hill, North Carolina based entertainment company Zoom Culture attract national and international attention by helping their flagship television show titled "Hip Hop Nation: Notes from the Underground" gain nationwide airplay and worldwide DVD distribution.[4][5] Hip Hop Nation: Notes from the underground, created by Kevin Thomas and Sue Herzog and sponsored by Universal Records aired in over 25 million homes in the United States on various stations across the country.[6] Hip Hop Nation also aired overseas on MTV Base which is available in the United Kingdom, France, Belgium, Luxembourg, Switzerland, the Republic of Ireland, Kenya and South Africa. The channel was previously available in the Netherlands, Germany and other European countries but was replaced by MTV Dance in some territories from March 2008. All though Hip Hop Nation: Notes from the underground no longer airs on television it can still be found in DVD format worldwide (with a concentration in the USA, Italy and France) through a distribution deal with Xenon Pictures/Universal Music & Video Distribution/Lionsgate[7][8]

Pickett also created, produced and hosted "LP17" on WNCN (NBC-17) which was the #1 TV music show in the Southeast region of the United States. Lastly, "The Larry Pickett Show" was the highest rated show on Raleigh's Time Warner Cable Access.[9] Larry was also an on-air radio talent on WQOK-FM (K97.5) in Raleigh, NC. The shows he produced/hosted consistently dominated the ratings* in their time slots over shows like the legendary Apollo TV show and other shows including Blind Date, Hot Ticket[10] and Elimidate. (* Nielsen Media Research, DMA 29) more than doubling the ratings of their closest competitors.

The shows retained more than 65% of its Saturday Night Live lead-in, ranking highest among women in the highly coveted 18-34 demographic.

Pickett is known for his "LP Exclusives", because he gets exclusive interviews with the stars. All of the major record labels relied on Pickett to help them break their new artists in the Carolinas. Pickett has interviewed many celebrities in his career, ranging from WWE superstars, actors, comedians and literally hundreds of musicians, from Melissa Etheridge and P!nk to Babyface, DMX and Ludacris.

On top of all that, Pickett was an entertainment producer/reporter for NBC covering entertainment stories, concerts and events. His entertainment stories occasionally aired on 13 other NBC owned and operated stations across the country via the FeedRoom platform that allowed NBC stations to share each other's content.

Pickett has been seen on MTV, BET and Fox News Channel. He has also been featured in many national publications including Billboard Magazine,[11] The Source Magazine, Vibe Magazine, Broadcasting & Cable Magazine and XXL Magazine as well as the cover story for Praxis Magazine.

Pickett is originally from Queens, New York but moved to Raleigh, North Carolina after living in Long Beach, California for five years.

Pickett started in television production at an early age. He first learned about TV production when he was in the 6th grade at Buffum Elementary in Long Beach, California. When he was just ten years old, he developed a love for videography. He had a video camera with him everywhere he went in school, and videotaped everything from recess to the school plays.

When he first moved to North Carolina, he attended Ligon Middle School, and then went on to Athens Drive High School in Raleigh. Larry played wide receiver and free safety for the school football team and ran track, but his main concentration was on Television Production for ADTV, the school's closed circuit television station.

Pickett was the first freshman in the school's history to be accepted into "TV3", Athens Drive High School's highest-level television production class, which put on two live broadcasts per day. Larry stayed in TV3 for four straight years and took on the role of Executive Producer his junior and senior year. By the time his senior year rolled around, there was so much talk of him around town that WRAL-TV5 did a series on him called "College Bound". WRAL followed Pickett through his senior year and did an update on him around every three months.

WRAL's education reporter Yvonne Simmons followed Pickett's story from the first month of school during his senior year all the way to graduation day. After he graduated from Athens Drive High School in 1996, he continued to work in the TV production field. He did some work for WRAL-TV on a teen show called "Central Xpress" and worked as one of the official cameramen for the Raleigh Flyers soccer team. Pickett also filmed the annual North Carolina State gymnastics championships, worked with the News and Observer's annual Holiday Invitational basketball championships as a camera operator, and worked on a TV show that dealt with school issues called "School Talk."

Pickett started his quest to be a television personality at the studios of Community Television in Raleigh. Pickett was working as a cameraman on a live call in TV show on Time Warner Cable, when one day the host didn't show up. Pickett's good friend Ian Yack was the producer of the show and knew that Pickett had experience as a host, so he asked him to fill in. The phone lines lit up, and Pickett was an instant hit. He was invited to be a co-host on the show, and the show was a success, but the crew parted ways a year and a half after later. That is when Larry started his own show called "The Larry Pickett Show" which allowed local musicians in North Carolina to be interviewed by Pickett, perform live and be rated by the live call in audience.

References
  1. "Larry Pickett". TV Guide. Retrieved 14 November 2014.
  2. Steve Leggett. "One Hot Minute: North Carolina Hip-Hop Compilation - Various Artists - Songs, Reviews, Credits, Awards - AllMusic". AllMusic. Retrieved 14 November 2014.
  3. "One Hot Minute: The North Carolina Hip-Hop Compilation Vol. 1 CD Album". cduniverse.com. Retrieved 13 March 2015.
  4. ZOOM CULTURE (2 May 2002). "$7 Million Investment Closed by ZOOM CULTURE". Retrieved 14 November 2014.
  5. "NBC Television Stations Pick Up Zoom Culture's Hip-Hop Nation For Expanded Flight". Retrieved 14 November 2014.
  6. "Billboard Bits: DMB, Hip-Hop Nation, MCA/Victory". Billboard. Retrieved 14 November 2014.
  7. Lionsgate (26 March 2008). "Lionsgate and Xenon Pictures Announce New Home Entertainment Distribution Agreement". Retrieved 14 November 2014.
  8. ""Hip-Hop Nation" (2001)". imdb.com. Retrieved 13 March 2015.
  9. The Christian Science Monitor. "Public-access TV gains cachet ... and new viewers". The Christian Science Monitor. Retrieved 14 November 2014.
  10. "One Nation Under A Groove". Indy Week. Retrieved 14 November 2014.
  11. Billboard. Retrieved 14 November 2014.
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