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10 Questions with ... Jackie Stevens
July 7, 2019
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BRIEF CAREER SYNOPSIS:
In her role with EMI, Stevens works with 30 radio stations in the Midwest. She joined the label in January after nearly 15 years with the nationally syndicated radio show "The Big Time With Whitney Allen," where she wore multiple hats as Music Director, Executive Producer and co-host. She launched her career as an intern at Country KZLA/Los Angeles, moving on to jobs as producer for the Leeza Gibbons-hosted "Leeza At Night," morning show producer for Shawn Parr at Country KKGO/Los Angeles, and APD for Westwood One's Country format. Prior to "The Big Time," she worked with Allen for a year on another show called "America's Hot List." She calls Allen and Parr, "great mentors, and two of best talents in the world," and says, "The fact that I got to work with them for so long was just an honor."
1. As a Southern California native, how are you enjoying living in Nashville so far, especially starting out in the winter as you did?
I'm not used to weather. And I took the Midwest region, so I've been probably complaining more than I should about weather, but I'm not used to it [coming from] sunshine, 75 degrees and an ocean breeze.
When Eric Church kicked off his tour in January in the Midwest, we had a show in Minneapolis where it was 11 below. And the wind chill was actually 24 below. It was probably in my second week of living in Nashville and doing this job, and I actually sat down and was like, "How do I do this? How do I go outside?"
The first thing I did when I got to Nashville, knowing what I got myself into, was I went to a sporting goods store and I walked in and I grabbed the sales person and I said, "I don't care what it costs, I need to know what the warmest coat you have is, because I'm a wuss and I don't want to die." I spent $40 on a pair of gloves, which is more than I've ever spent in my life on clothes, all together. So I tried to prepare myself.
2. We've written a lot of stories about people starting new jobs, but I've never seen an outpouring of support like there was when you took the EMI job. It seems there is literally nobody in this industry who doesn't love you. It's a weird question to answer about yourself, but how does that happen?
Oh man, that is a weird question to answer about yourself. I think the best way I can explain is I love people. I love the people I get to work with, I love the people that I have worked with, and I love Country music. You know Donna Hughes that works here [at Universal Music Group Nashville]. She has been just a great friend and supporter, but she told me a long time ago, "Just be kind in this industry that's crazy." It was right around the time [the song] "Humble And Kind" was out, and every part of that rang true. I've been very, very lucky to make great friends, and I feel like I'm the lucky one with the people I have around me. So the excitement that was around [the job announcement] was because a lot of people were happy I was finally moving to Nashville, because that's where I was eventually going to be at some point.
3. Was a regional promotion job something that you always wanted, or did EMI's Jimmy Rector just do a good job recruiting you?
Yes and no. It kind of felt like a natural transition. I was very lucky to work with Whitney and for so long. What I think a lot of people don't realize is that Whitney owns the show, and it's a small company. And to have worked as Music Director and Executive Producer for 15 years, it was really kind of a point of, "What's the next move, and how do I continue my career?" Jimmy had joked once, "You'd be good on this side and I think you should come work for us one day." But there wasn't ever really an opportunity [before now], or it wasn't something I was going to do. But my love for the music and for radio in general, they kind of worked as a natural transition. It was the next step. It just kind of fell into place that way.
4. How has it been going for you so far? Is the job what you expected?
Actually I think that all of my regionals that I worked with [in radio], and everybody on this side really hid a lot from me. It's a harder job than I thought.
It's kind of been like learning a language backwards. I speak radio, and I speak programming, but to turn it around and transition it this way has been just learning it backwards. But it's been great. Everybody's been so supportive. I have an amazing region. I have an amazing roster of artists. It's been a good six months.
5. What has been the biggest surprise? What were some of the things that you feel like were hidden from you, or that you didn't really get to see from the other side?
I think the schedule. I mean, I knew there was a lot travel. But you don't know until you get into it how hard it can be on your body. How much we back up to these artists that we love and we're lucky to work with .... it really does become part of you. They're your family now.
But everybody's been so welcoming and helpful with the transition. The EMI team is just the best group of humans, and they've been so supportive.
6. What are the keys to being a great regional, in your experience so far?
Honestly, just communication [and] forming new relationships with all my radio folks. Luckily, because of the job I was doing before I had this, I had a couple of relationships that were already there, so it made it a little easier to transition. But I think just communicating, knowing what they're doing, knowing what we're doing, and being honest about it. We work in a weird world, a weird industry. So as long as you're honest and communicating, things go a little smoother.
7. What is it like working with a roster than includes great artists like Eric Church and Brothers Osborne?
Part of the reason I made the transition was to be able to work with artists like that. It's an honor. They make music because they love it, and they make music that I love. They've been supportive. I've known them since they came through on radio tours on that side of the world. And so they were so welcoming to me, as the whole team has been.
8. Talk about the fun of being involved in the very embryonic stages of a career, like, you are now with Jon Langston.
I'm not a parent, so I can't say that it's like watching kids grow up, [but] Jon's career, he's setting it up to be so great. And it's cool to see [his audience grow] from 200 people, to a thousand people, to now opening up for Luke Bryan and, just watching him grow onstage and his confidence as he performs. He's opening up at stadiums, and so excited to do it that you can't help but feed off of it.
We all do this because we love the music. And to see something like that grow is, honestly, why making this transition was something I wanted to do. On the radio side you get to help. You get to play a single and you get to support an act. And when you see them grow, you feel proud. [Here,] they're yours, and you [also] get to say, "I got to help." It's so cool to be part of it.
9. Last year, you and the "Big Time With Whitney Allen" team won a Gracie Award for your coverage following the Route 91 Harvest Festival in Las Vegas. What was that experience like, and what did that recognition mean to you and the team?
It was such a cool experience. I mean, it was a weird award to win for what it was, but what I don't think people really know about Whitney Allen is her support of women in media and radio, and the fact that she owns her show and delivers daily for what a lot of women in radio want to do. I needed Whitney to have an award because she's amazing and deserves it. When we got there to accept it, [an award] for women in media, we sat at a table with April Ryan of CNN and just amazing women doing amazing things in the news and we thought, "How did we get here? How did we get to be in this room?" It was honestly one of the greatest nights, and surely a highlight of my entire career and life. To be recognized for what you do, and not only to be recognized, but to be recognized by amazing women who took you aside and said, "You're doing something right for women in media," there's no way to describe it except amazing.
10. I know this is a difficult one to talk about, but you were there at the Route 91 Harvest Festival the night of the shooting. Can you talk about both what that experience was like at the time, and also what your takeaway is now that you've had a year and a half or so to process everything that went down there?
It was obviously a terrible night. The one thing that I can tell you that most people don't know about that weekend in general was we all would have left thinking it was the greatest weekend of music, of Country, of people -- just the best time you could ever possibly have at a music festival had it not ended the way it ended. It was truly a great weekend that obviously just didn't end the way it should. In keeping with why I love humans, the worst of humanity came out that night, but also the best. Some of my best friends now were with us that night, or were a part of all of this.
It was a terrifying night. There's been a lot of therapy to fix some of the things that we went through, and, it's never gonna go away. It's something we had to deal with and something we lived through. I have friends that were shot. I have friends that lost people they loved. It hit Southern California harder, I think, than most people realize. We have a community of people that still, to this day, every single day, rally around each other. There's Facebook groups, and if you're having a bad day, you post, "I'm having a bad day," and the entire community of people, there was 22,000 people there [rally]. Out of all of this terrible, there's been a lot of love.
The reason I chose to stay in Country and stay doing what I was doing after that weekend -- because it was a lot easier to not do anything -- but we chose to keep going because the industry as a whole kept us together. We felt so much love and support and, in a really, really dark time, I was surrounded by nothing but love. And that changed everything.
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