10 Questions with ... Scrap Jackson

BRIEF CAREER SYNOPSIS:

• BS, University of Florida, MBA, Vanderbilt University, MA, Fordham University
• Creator of MTV's "Blind Date", ESPN's "Rockin the Rim" and USA Network's "College Roadtrip"...
• Pioneered Hip Hop Radio to Asia...
• Started first privatized radio station, More 94.9 FM in Bahamas... First Hip Hop station in Caribbean...
• Creator of Rock n' Soul cartoon, currently being pitched...
• Pulse Magazine/South Florida's Music Writer/Editor...
• Former PD/Mornings at B96/Minneapolis...
• 8 years in current gig, living in paradise...

1. Why Radio?

I am an artist that plays on the radio. I get off on creating differential expressions on a daily basis as both programmer and air talent. In TV, we have to stand around and wait. In print we lack immediacy. Radio is so friggin' intimate and pervasively manipulate able. It is limitless on how we can passionately express ourselves.

2. What really excites you about walking into the office in the morning?

The fact that my super boss, Sherri Carlson, gives me the freedom to create and be as inventive and experimental as I want to be. I also collaborate with smarter, wittier people that challenge me.

3. What's probably the biggest way that your job has changed from say, four years ago?

The competition in the market has grown in both depth and scope, but I preach personal enrichment and self improvement. What are you doing today to innovate on yesterday's equation?

Clear Channel has been a blessing for me and my team because they facilitate this philosophy with empowerment. They are not ceiling our unlimited potential. We are as creative as we want to be - song long as it is in the context of the brand.

4. You seem to be well settled in Florida. Do you have a dream market to work in?

I am working in my dream market. Everyone is motivated by different things. Status and money are tertiary to crafting one of kind aural works of art for a boss and company that deem you capable to handle and capitalize on complete freedom. I'm blessed and grateful for my existing opportunity.

5. What do you like to do with your down time?

I go overseas every two months to alternately stimulate my senses and feed my subconscious with fresh ideas that I can toss into the universe via radio, TV, magazine or internet. I am also a Florida Gator and a rabid fan of our football and basketball teams.

6. Did you ever get really discouraged about a career in radio?

Never, ever. I never really thought of my life as a radio person. I think that is too one dimensional...too linear. We are deployed to emotionally entertain our peers with differential stimuli everyday. Programming people are artists that have a social responsibility to entertain. It is show business to me. And I have the tools I need to optimize.

7. Who do you consider to be your mentor(s)?

My dad, formerly the Director of National Circulation for the New York Times. He has empowered my self esteem to chase my vision and eschew the herd, the norm, the myopias. He fuels my Buddhism, positively reinforcing me to always live in the moment. And he reminds me that I am not defined by accomplishment, career, status or finances; that a keen sense of self and compassion trumps all. Radio doesn't get the best of me. My family does.

8. As a PD, what would you like to do more of as we wrap up Summer 2011 and head towards 2012?

I would like to work longer hours so I could justify having more days off to explore my non-radio, creative pursuits. I think that the more I live outside of the box, the more I can offer the inside thinkers. This Fall will be a huge turning point for the radio station because I have a new bazooka, my immensely talented Music Director, Jade. She facilitates my musings better than anyone and she is a fine complement to my immensely gifted air staff.

9. Do people unfamiliar with Fort Myers tend to have misconceptions about life in Fort Myers?

I don't know, but they must if you are asking this question. I only care what my listeners think. I have huge pride for Southwest Florida and I celebrate that with my extended family everyday. That is why my station is one of the most successful in the entire state of Florida with arguably the best brand. And my cost of living is about 50 cents on most people's dollar.

10. If you were to leave Radio today and you could choose any other occupation, what would it be?

Move to South America and open up a modeling agency. Seriously. Not all of my ambitions are creative.

If you were going to roll with an artist on tour, who would you want that artist to be?

It's a no brainer. Pitbull or Sean Paul. They are artistic geniuses who have reinvented our Hip Hop genre by doing things their way. I am a "brand" fanatic. Think about theirs. Pit and Sean could lecture us on originality and how that kind of integrity gives them an unpenetrateable, unduplicateable presence. They are microcosms of what individual radio stations should be. They are my dawgs.

If you could be on any reality TV show, which would you want to be on?

I created one of the very first reality TV shows, College Roadtrip, for The USA Network. I dig the notion of eavesdropping in on people, but most of these shows gnaw at me now because the intense need to keep the audience engaged has caused feigned reality. Sometimes things need to marinate, naturally breathe and be organic, not so stifled by corporate programming agendas.