Interview with Heather of Hot 100.7 by Casandra Lyon

Night-time radio personality Heather of Hot 100.7 has been making a name for herself over the past few years. This vivacious disc jockey is always on the go and is 100 percent dedicated to her job. Heather, a Virginia Tech graduate, knows what she wants to do in life and is working hard to attain her dreams.

When asked about her busy night-time schedule, she replied: “It’s funny because you want to be fun and you want people to think you’re fun, but in reality you don’t get to go out (laughs) because by the time you get home everything’s closed.”

Heather talks about her love of radio, pleasant and not so pleasant artists, and the obstacles that she must overcome on a regular basis while working in the radio industry.

While she enjoys almost all aspects of her job, she jokingly declares: “The American Top 40 is the bane of my existence.” What follows are excerpts from the interview.

Heather: “No, I’m originally from New Jersey; I went to school at Virginia Tech.”

Heather: “English … almost Biology, I was about six credits [short] … I couldn’t pass Physics, basically.”

Heather: “I had a college radio show with Silhouette. I moved to Atlanta on a whim, and the first person I met in Atlanta was the producer of a morning show down there. We were just chatting, and he was like ‘Hey, you’re not doing anything, you want to come work for me?’ so I did and I fell in love with radio. You won’t fall in love with radio unless you start in a major market. If you get a taste of it here, in this area, it’s a lot of work. … But if you can see what it’s like to be in any of the major markets you will fall in love with it because it’s just great.”

Heather: “The stations have more money to work with, so you’re giving away a lot of stuff. Promotions are kind of key to [the success of] radio. The sales people [have to] go out and sell a lot of stuff so that you have money to pay for stuff to give away so that people want to listen. Then at the same time, when you’re in a larger market you’ve got studio guests and bands coming into play and a lot more interest so people want to buy those ads. So it’s this big chain, if you are at a station where the Black Crowes come in and play live, then Bill-Bob from Express Mart wants to buy advertising from your station. Then you can buy stuff to give away, and it’s this big chain. So aside from working less, there is a lot more going on all the time.”

Q: You stated earlier that you got your first radio job by chance. Do you feel that it is hard for most people to break into the radio industry?

Heather: “Well, radio is exactly like being an actor. You can potentially get lucky and meet someone and fall into it, or you can work really hard and try to get into it. It’s like acting in other ways too. When you’re applying for a job, you’re applying to be cast for something. You could have a résumé a mile long and not be what they want. So it’s kind of hit or miss when you’re rejected, the rejection is not that bad because if you’re a girl and they want a guy, you’re not going to get it so don’t feel bad about it.”

Q: You’re an extremely busy person. Can you give an example of what you do on a regular day at work?

Oh, okay! I’ll tell you about yesterday. (laughs) Yesterday I had a remote at 3, so I had to get to the station at 1. So I get to the station at 1, load up the van, get my prizes, [and] drive over to the remote. You always want to get there about a half hour early. [I] set up, did my remote -basically at a remote you go to a business, and you talk about them but you also talk about what you might be giving away - we’re giving away Nickelback tickets. [So, I] registered people for Nickelback until 6, then packed up and hauled ass back to the station because Gizmo, who I work with, had a remote after mine from 7 to 9. So I got there, did a little bit of show prep - which is basically just seeing what songs are coming up, [and] getting your play list together- most of my songs are already in there, I don’t have a lot of control over it but I do [take requests on] the Hot 8 @ 8. Then I had guests in the studio at 8 so I had to prep them from 7:45 to 8. So we did their thing, simultaneously Gizmo had his remote so he was doing call ins. And then at Midnight, after I am off the air, probably three to four days a week I have commercials that I have to voice and then produce - put music and sound effects behind them. So from 12 to 1, I did that. From 1 to 3, I was dubbing stuff in - we do syndicated shows like American Top 40 on Sundays. They come in CDs, and in real time you have to record them into the system. Basically they send us CDs on Thursday or Friday and [they are] four hours. We also do Backtracks USA, which is two hours. Sometimes I can get interns to dub in the American Top 40 for me, but with Spring Break they haven’t been around. The American Top 40 is the bane of my existence.”

Q: According to your bio online, you would like work the entertainment buzz & be the weather person during the morning show in Atlanta someday. Why would you prefer entertainment and weather over the other on-air positions available?

Heather: “Basically, I fell in love with Atlanta when I was there, but when you’re starting in a major market anyone can be the news and weather chick on a morning show - you don’t have to have any technical skills at all. So to have a real career in radio, you need to have an actual shift and then hopefully do whatever you want. Generally on a morning show, the girl’s role is to do news, weather, and entertainment buzz. It’s very rare that you have a girl anchor or a girl that does sports. The typical recipe for a morning show is the chick that does news, entertainment buzz, and weather, then you have the guy anchor who sits behind the board and controls all the sounds and everything, then you have a producer who makes sure everything runs smoothly. You [also] have a guy behind the scenes who is constantly listening to the news and pulling out clips of anything that might be funny. Then you have a dumbass, who goes out and does stunts. And then you have a handful of tertiary characters that are kind of in there for kitsch value. It’s just very rare for the girl to be in the anchor position, unless you’re talking about news radio. If you’re talking about entertainment radio, I would say maybe five percent [of the stations] have a girl anchor. Generally girls kind of reign in the guy, and they do provide an opposing viewpoint … but to be the anchor of the morning show - it’s very difficult to be a girl. That’s most of the reason why [I don’t want to] and it’s nicer to not be the anchor because you don’t have to do anything except be there. You just hang out and talk - it’s actually very stressful to be behind the board and running sound effects because every little sound that you hear is usually separate. You’ll have a countdown, you’ll have the number that’s separate, you’ll have a caller that’s separate, [and] then you’ll have you talking into [the microphone]. So someone will call in and you will record the call, and then save it, edit it, save it, and then you’ll say ‘All the hits, the new hot 100, what’s up?’,[then you will play the prerecorded] caller, blah blah blah, maybe a sound effect in the middle. It’s just a lot of crap going on constantly … it’s hard to be that person.”

Q: Is it hard working the night shift? Would you prefer to work the day shift because it’s an easier time of day to broadcast, or are there just better positions during the day?

Heather: “There’s kind of a hierarchy. Basically mornings are at the top. If you’re on the morning show, you get paid the most, you get the most interest. Then the second would be nights, and then the other day parts and then overnights is the worst shift as far as pay scale. Generally people move from doing nights to mornings because you’re on pop-culture overload at night and you’re like an energizer bunny [so] you can easily move into the next part. I wouldn’t say it’s hard to work that time of day ... I give up a lot of going out time.

Q: Who is the most interesting person you have met while working in the radio industry?

Heather: “Wow, that’s tough. See another thing that’s great about major markets is you meet a lot of people. It’s funny because I’m probably going to have to say that it was while I was working in radio but not actually working. This is my favorite story to tell, so I’ll just fall back on this. When I was in Atlanta, I did promotions at night, and in the mornings I was on the morning show. We did three Black Crowes concerts. Generally we would be back stage setting up interviews - talking to the bands and stuff. Chris Robinson and Kate Hudson are very off in their own little world, they don’t really talk to people. I saw them, said hi, [and had] maybe a ten second encounter each night [with them]. The next morning - my hair was bright pink at the time - I was hung over, 7 o’clock in the morning at Starbucks and I’m standing in line and I look over and I see this guy and I’m like that’s not Chris Robinson. And then I look over and there’s Kate Hudson ordering. Then I’m like holy shit … I’m not going to talk to them, I’m not going to be that girl. [So] Chris Robinson is holding his kid and his kid starts freaking out and pointing at my hair and he walks over to me and he’s like, ‘My kid likes you because you look like a rocker.’ And then we started talking. You know it’s funny because you meet all these people all the time; you talk to these artists when you’re working and it’s not a big deal. But when you run into them on the street, that’s when it’s cool because [when you are working for them] you expect to see them, you expect to go backstage ... but Starbucks, 7 o’clock in the morning, hung-over, you don’t expect it.”

Heather: “Yeah! They were trying to catch a plane - they live in Atlanta, and he was on tour so they were catching a plane to New York - and it was just funny because everyone in the store was kind of like looking, [but] not talking to them. The only not nice people I have ever met are the guys from Good Charlotte. Backstage, [at] the first show I ever went to, one of them walks up to me and he’s like ‘What are you here for?’ and I was like for you - do you need anything? And he was like ‘Yeah, get me a coffee right now.’ [I was thinking] okay, I kind of meant something cooler ... One of the things I did in Atlanta was guest relations. When a band would come in a lot of times I would drive them around, [and] get them food. The guys from Interpol are vegetarians. They had a [food] spread but they couldn’t eat any of it because it was like little turkey sandwiches so we drove around to this Indian restaurant that had vegetarian stuff. It was funny because they were like ‘Here’s money, do you want to just go’ - and I was like none of the people at the Indian Restaurant are going to know who you are so you guys can just come in with me. Atlanta is like being on pop-culture crack [because] there’s just so much going on all the time. It’s not as mean as New York. I am originally from New Jersey, so a lot of my family lives in New York … New York is like the meaner, colder city. Atlanta is [in] the South so everyone’s friendly, it’s warm, it’s nice … but still there’s a lot going on.”

Q: Do you enjoy your job more because you are passionate about music or because you enjoy connecting with your audience?

Heather: “The best feeling - and it’s a very strange feeling because you’re in the studio by yourself and you might play a break that’s 15 [or] 20 seconds, and you listen to it and you’re like that was great, that was so funny. And the best feeling of all is when someone calls you right after that and is just laughing and is like ‘Oh my God that was so funny!’ … Because you don’t get feedback - you’re entertaining people but they don’t respond so you don’t know. That will happen maybe like once a week”

Q: Have you ever had anyone creepy call the station while you were working? If so, how did you deal with them?

Heather: “Yes! Well I have several people that call me several times a night every night and you have to be nice to them but they’re constantly asking you for your number, trying to get you to hang out with them, asking you out on dates - all that stuff. Basically my answer to ‘Do you want to hang out?’ is I’m really, really busy, I never have any free time. My answer to ‘Can I have your number?’ is no, call me at the station because I’m always here. When you are on radio, it’s not necessarily good, [and] it’s not necessarily bad because sometimes it fits the format - but generally in Top 40, you need to be young and single and fun. It would be a hindrance to me if I told these people I have a boyfriend, but generally I say something like I’m talking to my ex-boyfriend, [and] we might get back together.”

Q: Everyone knows that DJ’s have to be outgoing and animated while on air. But you have bad days, just like everyone else. Is it hard for you to put aside your personal life when you’re on air? How do you make it through a five hour show when you’ve had a bad day?

Heather: “No, bad days don’t affect me. In fact, radio is the only venue where everything you do in your life - every possible thing even if it’s regrettable is validated because no matter what you do it’s show prop. If you’re a crack addict, it’s show prop. If you failed a test, it’s show prop. It’s kind of cool because unless you’re a professional reality show star, [then] everything you do in your life in any other career isn’t validated. A lot of times I’ll get off the air and I’ll forget everything that happened because it’s so fast and you need so much energy. I’ll tape myself a lot and I’ll listen to it and I’ll be like oh I forgot that I said that, that’s really funny. So you kind of get in this natural high, euphoric state quickly - usually within the first 20 minutes.”

Q: I noticed on your website that you are hosting “Sin-Sational Saturdays” at Attitudes. What exactly does it entail?

Heather: “Yes! This is what I was talking about all morning when I was voice tracking. I broadcast live 8-10 and a local DJ. DJ Squirrel comes out [and] spins some music. Basically it’s just a big party. They get a little bit more business because we’re there and we get a little bit more publicity because we’re there. Every time we go out [to an event], we have CDs and key chains and random stuff to give away - recently we had 25 pairs of Nickelback tickets to give away.”