10 Questions with ... Brooke Primero

BRIEF CAREER SYNOPSIS:

I started my career as a freelance teen journalist for The Fresno Bee while still in high school, hired there for a 2-year stint and then came to L.A. where I worked for Disney Magazine Publishing's DISNEY ADVENTURES and Petersen Publishing's SASSY and TEEN magazines. When SASSY folded, I started over with an eye towards publicity, and became an assistant in the publicity department at Paramount Pictures, working on premieres/Oscar parties/star ceremonies for the studio for 3 years. From there, I went to what is now called PMK-BNC, an entertainment PR firm, where I lead the red carpet events department for six of the nine years I spent there, including handling PR/red carpet for the Academy of Country Music Awards. I joined the Academy from the agency in 2007.

1) It seems like you have a very interesting job with the Academy Of Country Music-can you give us a 'snapshot' of your job description?

My daily job description is to attempt to stay a few paces ahead of our new Chairman, Bill Mayne, and Academy CEO Bob Romeo, one of the most nimble-minded people I've ever met. Bob embraces new ideas, change, risk-taking -- all things you have to embrace to make a difference in any business. He's not afraid to invest in something that may not have an apparent, immediate return. That liberates me to propose wild ideas, like "maybe we should invite 35 top radio programmers out to experience the Awards this year, at our expense, and expect nothing in return," which we did in 2009. I do a lot of strategizing for how to increase our fan/viewer awareness. People don't realize that within a week of the ACM Awards airing, we are sprinting headfirst into the next year or the year after: how can we do it all better, more impactful? We're already into 2012, and considering our 50th anniversary which is just around the corner. We had 20% or better increase in ratings for two of the past three ACM Awards, and we want to continue that momentum.

2) You were interested in journalism from a very young age-how old were you exactly when you started to think that you had to be in this line of work and what attracted you?

I'm an avid reader and I've been writing creatively since I was old enough to hold a pen, so I gravitated to the storytelling part of journalism early on. I think that's part of why I appreciate a lot of different kinds of music, and country in particular, which is so rich in storytelling - it's basically lyrical fiction you can sing along to.

3) Were you really the youngest staffer ever hired at the Fresno Bee? What was that like?

Yes, I was 18 and just out of high school. I wore down the features editor, begging for a shot. It was an amazing 2-year experience. I was assigned a lot of weekend stories, I didn't realize until much later that no one liked to work weekends. I just thought, wow, I get to cover a New Kids on the Block concert?! A Mariachi festival!? A vintage car show?! It was all good. I remember one veteran photographer, who had been working for longer than I'd been alive -- and I was asked to art direct him on one of my stories. An 18-year-old girl telling a seasoned newsman what to shoot? Neither one of us was very comfortable with that. But the job got done, and the story was well-served by the collaboration, even if it wasn't either of our favorite conversations.

4) How does the ACM interact with Country Radio? And why is radio an important component to the ACM?

The Academy has always embraced Country Radio, and radio overall has been a much bigger focus for us over the past few years in terms of our marketing strategies. This year we gave ACM Awards trip packages to 50 top radio stations nationwide to give away on-air, and added value to it by handing it to them as an asset they could use as a sales tool. We invited luminaries Blair Garner, Shawn Parr and Storme Warren to play key roles during The Week Vegas Goes Country(tm) by hosting events. We partner with the CRB annually on the CRS Music City Jam, and with Westwood One on our Awards remotes.

We have a very active and esteemed Radio Task Force, a group of approximately 16 acclaimed radio professionals, ranging from expert industry consultants to respected programmers, who have been in the business for years-folks such as Bill Mayne, Jaye Albright, Wade Jessen, Bob Kingsley, Mike Culotta, Joel Raab and Task Force Chairman, Charlie Cook, to name a few. They've improved our processes for our broadcast Awards tremendously and also, personally, taught me a lot in the 3 years I've been here.

Radio is critical to the Academy. We take it on the chin because we don't always win the battle to get airtime for our broadcast Awards within the live telecast-we get pummeled on the network side for fighting for it, and pummeled on the radio side for the perception that we don't fight for it. If most people could see behind the curtain, they'd realize we'd like nothing more than to have those Awards presented live onstage. And when that can't happen, we find other ways to demonstrate our appreciation-this year we hosted a Radio Winners' Reception for the first time ever, and Miranda Lambert graciously attended and presented the Awards. The radio winners in turn surprised Miranda with the news that she'd won Video of the Year for "White Liar" - they actually presented the award to her as a group. It was very special.

5) Every year it's quite a big deal for people at radio to try for the radio awards that the ACM gives out-how competitive is it? Are you getting lots of submissions as opposed to former years?

This year we enjoyed a 15 percent increase in professional radio membership and our submissions have increased over the past 3 years-in 2008 submissions grew by almost 20%. It is competitive but there's always one category that has markedly fewer submissions than others, and it's never the same category from year to year, which is interesting. One year only a handful of small markets will submit, and the next, we're overwhelmed with small market submissions - so it really varies.

6) Why do you like working for the Academy of Country Music?

The people I interact with on a daily basis are decent, hardworking and honest. I spent nine years at a prestigious entertainment PR firm in Los Angeles and when I left to come to the Academy, I got a lot of scrunched up noses, "Country? Really?" But it was the best decision I've made. I'm excited to come to work every day, because I have a boss that challenges me to be better and colleagues that have fun. And since I came here, I haven't once had to throw myself over a celebutant who'd fallen on red carpet arrivals, because she forgot her underpants and I didn't want the entire night's publicity to be THAT footage. That happened some years ago, and the clip still gets played on every E! "crazy red carpet moment" special. It's the clip of my backside that just won't go away.

7) Since you're based in California, is it challenging to not be here in Nashville?

We love Music City but our home is California. We're the exciting "away game" for the industry, which I like. If there is a disadvantage, it's that we don't get to see a lot people we'd like to see more constantly, the majority of our Board members reside there. But Nashville realizes an intrinsic value in us being L.A.-based, I think, because we can act a resource for anything left coast related. Last week, I covered an artist at an L.A. event for a publicist who couldn't attend to escort her client on a red carpet. We can support the industry in ways we couldn't if we were in TN.

8) So let's go back a bit because you have some very interesting stories-did you really go undercover to do an expose' on Playboy magazine? What was that all about?

I got paid to do something I'd never actually do in real life, how many people can say that? Playboy had never come to Fresno State for "Girls of the Big West" and it was causing a ruckus with the women's groups on campus. I was a freshman and didn't have an opinion one way or the other but the controversy grabbed me so I pitched the story. I was terrified; I really expected it to be seedy but it was 100 percent professional. We were asked to bring pictures of ourselves, close up, full body, etc and I'd taken one I thought was flattering of me with my mom. And as I was leaving, the photographer asked, "When do I get to meet your mom?" My dad thought that was pretty cool.

9) Who was the most interesting person that you have ever worked with and why?

Allison Jackson, who was my boss at Paramount Pictures, got more done a day than most people get done in a week. She taught me to work smart, to be efficient, to speak frankly and directly, and to smile and be gracious under pressure when hosting a red carpet or a cocktail party. When I interviewed with her, I sat in her office for an hour watching people come and go with deadline work, waiting for her to speak to me. She finally looked at me from over the top of her glasses and said, "Are you sensitive?" I said, "I don't think so. Are you mean?" That was the whole interview. She wasn't ever mean, but she taught me to have thick skin and not take a differing opinion as a personal affront in the business realm - probably the best lesson anyone could learn at 23. She was a terrific mentor.

It's worth noting that if the question was, who is the funniest person I've ever worked with - it would have been Charlie Cook, hands down.

10) How is next year's ACM Awards show shaping up-anything new you can tell us about?

We will have some surprises! Over the past few years we've worked to develop new television specials that tape in Las Vegas during Awards week, and they've been very successful, including "George Strait - ACM Artist of the Decade" in 2009 and "ACM Presents: Brooks & Dunn - The Last Rodeo" this year. So I think it's safe to say we'll probably continue that winning formula.

1) What was the first concert you ever went to?

My first 3 concerts were Alabama, Alabama and Alabama.

2) What's your favorite junk food?

Carls Jr. or In & Out Burgers

3) What are 2-3 of your favorite TV shows and why?

Mad Men, because it's basically like watching the birth of marketing. Nikita, I'm a sucker for anything with a spy or exploding car chase. Project Runway and Top Chef because I love competitive reality shows based on skill.