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They met when Daly was 13 and in Hawaii with his family. Kimmel was there on a high school-graduation vacation. Kimmel became friends with the Dalys and scored Carson his first few radio-deejay jobs. They eventually worked together at L.A.'s alternative-rock station KROCK, which led to Daly's MTV job. For the short time he was at the station, when he was one of the first people to play shock rocker Marilyn Manson, guys actually thought Daly was cool. He says the experience makes being a Tiger Beat pinup more palatable. "I've already been in that too-cool-for-school world, and I didn't like it. It's so judgmental," he says.
Besides, he's now too busy to worry about being cool. In addition to TRL and Last Call, Daly does radio, including a Top 10 syndicated show for Clear Channel, is signing bands for his new music label, which will be distributed by Sony Music, and is searching out Saturday-morning teen shows and music specials to produce for NBC. In 1998 Daly, tagged as the Dick Clark of his generation, called Clark and asked for a meeting to pick his brain. Clark, who turned his teen-show-host days at American Bandstand into a 45-year career and an entertainment empire, generously gave the younger man some tips and ideas. "New Year's Eve," Daly says, "would be the type of thing I'd like to develop." Of course, Clark isn't exactly ready to be replaced. Daly already does New Year's Eve for MTV, and, says Clark with a chuckle, "we crushed him."