Classic Rock Revisited met up with one of the original five MTV VJs, Nina Blackwood, to discuss the 30^th anniversary of the unique network. While MTV, today, is a far cry from the music only format that it was created to be, the early days remain special in the hearts of an entire generation that grew up watching videos.

In the interview that follows, Nina recounts working on the set, interviewing rock stars and becoming famous. Despite being a household name amongst anyone who grew up in the 1980’s, Nina remains a very down to earth person. She is far from jaded and actually still seems in awe of the fact that people recognize her.

Read on to hear what it was like to be a VJ, including what happens when a rock star is a total jerk on live TV or a famous actor is too wasted to do an interview.

Happy 30^th to Nina, Alan, Mark, J.J. and Martha!

Nina: It has been a busy summer. Our summer ends around Labor Day, which is fine. Labor Day is here and I have not done any summertime activities. Of course, August 1^st was the 30^th Anniversary of MTV.

Nina: I, certainly, as I suppose you do too, don’t feel old enough to have been a part of something that was 30 years ago. Maybe I could go 20, but certainly not 30.

We all knew it was coming up, even though it’s hard to believe. It was a life-changing thing for our original VJs, Martha Quinn, Mark Goodman, Alan Hunter, J.J. Jackson and myself. For the four us, it really marked the anniversary of us working together, as we all work on Serious XM on the same channel, even though we are spread out all over the country. We’re always in contact with each other. It may have been MTV’s 30^th but it feels more like our anniversary – that is a long time to work together. We’ve been like family all of that time – albeit a dysfunctional family, but still, we’ve been family all that time.

Nina: I was involved with that before MTV. When I saw the ad for MTV, I sent away my resume. We met a couple of times over five months and in June of 1981, they hired me and I had to move to New York.

Nina: It was learn as you go – all of it. We were creating something and there were no guidelines. Some weeks we would go in and nothing would be scripted, and other weeks we would show up and it was all scripted. Ultimately, it became half and half. We were really creating it as we went along.

Nina: I think that is what happened later with MTV. They began to think of themselves as too cool for the room. We weren’t thinking of ourselves as cool, and if you want testimony then just look at some of the clips from back then – we weren’t cool. As soon as you try to be cool, or act cool, then it is already not cool. I completely agree with you, that part of the beauty of it was that we were spontaneous. As things got bigger, then the reigns got tightened. There was more heat on us to be a little more professional and structured. Since then, it has turned into what it is today, which is nothing that is music related.

When people ask me what my favorite memory of MTV is, I give a disappointing answer. It is not some big event; it is the early days, as that is what I hold close to my heart. It was a blast. We had so much fun, a lot of it not on the air. We would just be silly, as we were all young. It was really, really great.

Nina: We were in New York but cable wasn’t in New York at first. We weren’t aware of the impact we were having until our fan mail started really growing. When we would get sent out on personal appearances, then we saw what was happening. I remember going to San Antonio, Texas and showing up at a record store at the shopping mall and there were people wrapped around the entire mall waiting to meet me and get my autograph. I was like, “Oh my God.” It was really wild. I am basically a shy person, believe it or not. People would say that I couldn’t be shy because I’m in the entertainment business, but that’s not true, as that is my job. As a human being, I’m basically shy.

I am hosting this thing called Absolutely 80’s: The Freemont Street Experience in Las Vegas, and to this day, when I’m there, everyone is happy to see me and I am like, “Wow.” It’s 30 years later and I can’t believe how people are still responding to what I do. I never really have gotten tired of that in a jaded way. I’m kind of in awe of it.

Nina: It was unique. Now, you have shows in your house everyday, but back then, we were really the only individuals that were in your house seven days out of the week, for five hours a day. People really felt that they knew us. To this day, I meet people who really feel they know you as a friend, and its really nice. I think that is a really, really special thing.

Nina: Not too much, but we all had a few weirdo’s. J.J. had the weirdest woman. I don’t remember where she was from, it was not New York, but she thought that J.J. was talking to her directly through her television when she had her period. She was strange. She actually showed up at the studio one day. She was a little unbalanced. I do remember being in the ladies room and having someone slide a piece of paper underneath for me to sign. I think that is a little weird. It’s certainly not polite. It wasn’t anything that was bad. Thankfully, for me, it has all been pretty much positive.

Nina: Not at the time I didn’t, not even now. I never would have envisioned that. When I left MTV and went to do ET and Solid Gold, I just moved on; that was my MTV chapter of my life. I graduated from MTV and was going into the “real” world of entertainment. I would never have thought that all of this time later people would be interested in those early days. It has really been an eye opener and a very warming feeling inside. I don’t’ want to sound too corny but it really has been wonderful.

Nina: Everybody stopped by. Speaking for myself, but I think the others felt the same way too, none of us were star struck; it was just part of our job. I never thought, “Oh my God, I’m going to be talking to Roger Daltrey today.” I loved the Who growing up but it was just like it was our homework. Only on hindsight do I go, “I remember going to Abbey Road Studios and touring London with Roger Daltrey for that special where we toured London. That was pretty cool.” I got to fly on the maiden flight of Virgin Airlines with Richard Branson and that was damn cool. At the time, it was just my assignment for the week. Looking back, it was amazing.

Nina: I wasn’t one of the people that did that. I think there was some thing going back and forth between Martha and Mark about Paul McCartney. Alan and Mark finally settled this, but for a long time they argued over who was the first one to talk to Madonna. I really wasn’t like that. I would do whatever they wanted to give me. They tried to match the personalities with the artist. For instance, I was kind of the Duran Duran girl. I did their first American interview. I was connected with INXS, Bon Jovi and John Mellencamp. J.J. would get Pete Townsend, Robert Plant or Rod Stewart because J.J. was friends with them, or because of his background.

Nina: The very first live broadcast MTV ever did was on Halloween at the Palladium in New York and Frank Zappa had a show there. He was horrendous to me. That was a good case of a mismatch. They should have put J.J., or maybe Mark, on it. They put me on it and he was very condescending and mean to me for the sake of humoring himself. That was really the worst. To this day, so far, that was probably the worst experience of my television career. I was just starting out and he was just mean. Now, I have a little bit more of an edge and I wouldn’t have put up with that. He knew I didn’t have that edge then and he was like the bully picking on the girl in the playground. It really was horrible. It was not nice.

Nina: Oh yeah, there were people that came in that were flying high. The only one that was so bad that the interview couldn’t even occur wasn’t even a rock n’ roller. It was Nick Nolte and it was for the movie Teachers. They had this big premier on the MGM lot and I was flown out. After the premier there was a big hospitality tent and I was supposed to do an interview with Nick. He was so blasted – he was trying to get out of the tent, not where you are supposed to get out of the tent but between where the flaps were tied town. The interview never happened because he was so gone. The other people, they were loaded but it was just the way of the times. There weren’t that many people who were totally incoherent. It might not have been their proudest moment but it’s rock n’ roll, for crying out loud. In Nick Nolte’s case, bless his heart, he was gone.

Nina: There were only around 300 to 500 and that went pretty fast in 24 hours. There were a lot of REO Speedwagon, Rod Steward and Pat Benetar.

Nina: I don’t personally feel responsible for it. I do feel a bit of a kinship with some of the artists that came about via MTV and we kind of grew up together. I’m so proud of John Mellencamp, who has really established himself and remained a true artist. Cindy Lauper and Duran Duran I feel the same way about.

I will tell you a funny story about Bon Jovi. I met Jon Bon Jovi at a concert in New Jersey; I think it was a Heart concert. I met him backstage. He was a cute guy with great hair and he hands me a cassette and says, “I have a band and I’m working on an album in my cousin’s studio, here’s a demo tape.” I wasn’t jaded but I know how hard it is to make it in the music business. I’m rolling my eyes to myself going, “Thank you.” Every week we would get the acquisition reels that the acquisition committee would want us to start airing each week. I am in the VJ lounge and here comes “Runaway.” Who would have thought? They became one of the biggest bands in the world. To this day, to run into them, there is that connection and they have that same connection to us.

Pat Benetar was on a VJ special we did recently. She had some success on radio but her video was actually the second video ever aired on MTV. She said, “All of the sudden, everyone at the airport is recognizing me. It was like night and day.” We were all part of something that did have a major effect on the careers of a lot of artists.

Nina: I was at MTV, but I didn’t go. I wasn’t too broken up about that because I hate the heat and they held it in the desert. I was not throwing a fit about not covering that.

Nina: I think Live Aid because of the magnitude of the event. It really was a historic event. I think all of us would admit that was a really, really fantastic thing.

Nina: Lets see, having wisdom teeth pulled or being at Live Aid…hmm, where would I rather be? I think Live Aid would win.

Nina: Seven days a week I have a show on Serious XM 8, which is 80’s on 8. I have two nationally syndicated shows through United Stations Radio Networks called Absolutely 80’s and New Wave Nation. This summer I’ve been commuting back and forth to Las Vegas hosting the Absolutely 80’s Presents the Freemont Street Experience. We are going to have Howard Jones over Labor Day weekend.

Nina: Yeah, it’s actually is a lot of fun. I’m able to connect live with the listeners and the former viewers of MTV and that is really, really cool. I get all these stories that people tell me, just like the wisdom teeth thing. People remember a lot of stuff that I don’t even remember.

Nina: It was both guys and girls. The reason that my hair looked like that is because I have always been a klutz setting my hair. I could never master rolling my hair. My hair is actually wavy like that. That haircut came about back in Ohio because I couldn’t do anything with my hair and I didn’t have to with that haircut. It did get a little blonde. It kept getting blonder and blonder for some reason. Maybe it was those hot lights… yeah, that’s it. It may not have been natural but what the heck.

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