‘Behind the Blue’: Brian Cury’s mission to make the world watchable
LEXINGTON, Ky. (Oct. 7, 2025) – When University of Kentucky alum Brian Cury, founder of EarthCam, placed the company’s first webcam above Times Square for the 1996 New Year’s Eve celebration, he thought it was a fad that soon would pass.
Today, though, webcams are part of the culture. We watch eagles in their nests, bears in the wilderness, buildings under construction and scenes from cities around the world.
This type of innocent voyeurism has “great appeal,” Cury said.
Cury’s EarthCam, founded in 1996 and headquartered in Upper Saddle River, New Jersey, has cameras all over the planet, including looking down from the torch of the Statue of Liberty, outside Chicago’s Wrigley Field and the crosswalk made famous by the Beatles on northwest London’s Abbey Road.
“A lot of people actually have used our cameras as a destination,” Cury said. “They’ve traveled to London and made sure they walked in front of the (Abbey Road) camera and got a video clip of themselves.
“Paul McCartney actually did it. He got in front of one of our cameras and waved.”
Cury was one of 20 UK graduates inducted into the university’s Hall of Distinguished Alumni in September.
On this episode of “Behind the Blue,” Cury discusses EarthCam’s beginnings, changes in technology that have helped and challenged the company’s mission and how EarthCam has expanded its business offerings into areas like ensuring safety on building construction sites.
“Behind the Blue” is available via a variety of podcast providers, including iTunes and Spotify. Become a subscriber to receive new episodes of “Behind the Blue” each week. UK’s latest medical breakthroughs, research, artists and writers will be featured, along with the most important news impacting the university.
“Behind the Blue” is a joint production of the University of Kentucky and UK HealthCare. Transcripts for most episodes are now embedded in the audio file and can be accessed in many podcast apps during playback. Transcripts for older episodes remain available on the show’s blog page.
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