Full Name Nina Kinckiner Name Nina Blackwood | ||
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Known for Original MTV Video Jockey, Radio and TV Personality Books VJ: The Unplugged Adventures of MTV's First Wave Movies and TV shows Solid Gold, Reckless Kelly, 100 Greatest Songs of t Similar People | ||
Nina Blackwood June 1985
Reunion Weekend: - Nina Blackwood
Nina Blackwood (born September 12, 1955) is an American disc jockey and music journalist, who was the first of the original five MTV VJs. She has also been an actress and model. She got the nickname "Juicy Fruit" from C-Kat.
Contents
- Nina Blackwood June 1985
- Reunion Weekend Nina Blackwood
- Early life and career
- MTV and other television appearances
- Radio career
- In popular culture
- References
Early life and career
Blackwood was born Nina Kinckiner in Springfield, Massachusetts. Her father was in government service, and also taught Sunday school; he was never a minister, as has sometimes been reported. She grew up on the west side of Cleveland, Ohio, and attended Rocky River High School, graduating in 1970. In high school she sang and played keyboards in her high school sweetheart's band, and covered the song "Venus".
Prior to entering broadcasting, Blackwood appeared nude in the August 1978 Playboy pictorial, "The Girls in the Office," as a brunette.
She moved to California, and studied acting at the Strasberg Institute. Blackwood has acted in a number of TV show and films, making appearances in the movies Vice Squad (1982), Reckless Kelly (1993), and I Crave Rock & Roll (1996).
MTV and other television appearances
She was chosen for MTV's original video jockey lineup, along with Martha Quinn, Mark Goodman, Alan Hunter, and J. J. Jackson, when the network began airing in 1981. After leaving the network in 1986, she hosted her own "Rock Report" for Entertainment Tonight. She also hosted the TV music show Solid Gold from 1986 to 1988. Blackwood has appeared on A Current Affair, Access Hollywood, VH1, The Discovery Channel, and MSNBC.
Radio career
In 1999, Blackwood and longtime manager/producer Danny Sheridan launched a nationally syndicated radio show for United Stations Radio Network called Nina Blackwood's Absolutely 80's. The two followed up with another nationally syndicated program, the 80's alternative-themed Nina Blackwood's New Wave Nation (which, as of 2014, is no longer being produced). Blackwood currently hosts a weekday show on Sirius XM Radio The 80s on 8 from 1 to 4 p.m. Eastern. On weekends she co-hosts the Sirius XM Radio show The Big '80s Top 40 Countdown with other original MTV VJ's.
She performed as part of the 2003 road company of The Vagina Monologues.
Blackwood also broadcasts from San Diego radio station FM 94/9 on Sunday mornings.
In popular culture
Blackwood has said that the 1984 John Waite hit single "Missing You" was written about her, and that Waite has confirmed this fact.