Despite his early success, Stryker still wasn't sure if working at a radio station was the right fit for him. So he returned to his hometown, and spent a year working "as the main pool boy" at the Four Seasons Hotel in Beverly Hills, where he handed towels to celebrities like Kurt Cobain and George Foreman.
After a year, he returned to Tucson's 92.1 KFMA as the morning show host, although he said, "it was just me on the air and I had no sidekick." Stryker won an award in 1998 for the best "mid-size market show" in the country. At the station, he also worked as the music director and the assistant program director.
He credits his initial success with being "a regular guy" on the radio.
"I was different than everyone else on the radio in Tucson," he recalled. "It was just me talking, and there was a lot of interaction with the listeners. People were able to relate."
One of those listeners worked for KROQ, and eventually Stryker was asked to fly to Los Angeles to interview with the station's executives. They tested him on the air, telling him to 'be yourself,' and hired him in mid-1999 as the evening deejay. Stryker said the experience "was so amazing I have trouble putting it into words."
"Now that I was in the business, the whole goal was to work at KROQ. If it wasn't KROQ, I was going to quit the business," he said.
That professional goal has taken Stryker's career to new heights, ones that he never anticipated. He got his "feet wet" hosting television shows five years ago on MTV's "Who Knows the Band?" in which he taped approximately 50 episodes. He has also hosted Spike TV's "The Ultimate Gamer," which stylizes rooms for video-game aficionados, MTV's "All Things Rock" and Fox Sports Net's "54321," which is a mix of entertainment and extreme sports.
He said he enjoys hosting television shows, because "almost everything is in your own words and your own style."
"The most gratifying was 'The Ultimate Gamer.' For 20 minutes, it was a lot of work putting that show together," he said.
Stryker has even tried his hand at acting. His acting debut was a portrayal of a bong-drinking tourist in the movie, "Out Cold." Then he co-starred in the independent film "A Midsummer Night's Rave," was knocked out by Cameron Diaz in a scene in "The Sweetest Thing," and, most recently, worked with David Spade while portraying a "nerdy, dorky guy" in "Grandma's Boy."
Stryker said he would love to continue acting, especially in comedies, but remembers how "nerve-wracking" it can be. His role in "A Midsummer Night's Rave" is just one example.
"I played the promoter of the rave, and my main scene is just me on the telephone having a fake conversation," he recalled. "Talk about all eyes on you at once. When I was doing that, I was a little freaked out."
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