THE INDUSTRY REPORT # 18 | THE SURREAL LIFE OF KROQ’s NICOLE ALVAREZ
THE INDUSTRY REPORT # 18
The Surreal Life Of
KROQ’s NICOLE ALVAREZ
April 24, 2024 by Jimmy Alvarez & Rachael Contreras
In our ongoing Industry Report Series, we return to the industry that has been a media lightning rod and to the station that has been at the center of the radio broadcasting mega-storm. For this segment, we went back to the World Famous KROQ to speak with Nicole Alvarez.
The thing about this segment is we have a solid feel for the pulse of radio – especially here in Southern California – and its DJs. Nicole is in her 21st year at the station, and she has evolved into one of the most respected joqs around. She won’t say that; she is too humble and maybe a little superstitious, we’ll circle back to that.
As we arrived at the station, Nicole greeted us with that infectious smile of hers and that voice we have all followed for the better part of two decades. We let her know we received several e-mails from fans that have followed her career and mentioned they had questions for her. She smiled and let us know that she is an open book and nothing is off limits.
With Nicole having just been at week 1 of Coachella, we asked how the ska bands performed?
Rachael wanted to know if Chino Moreno really is dreamy in person.
Nicole just laughed and said, “I was there! The ska bands provided probably the most emotional punch of the weekend. Specifically, there were people in tears when No Doubt came out.”
Nicole continued, “And there was a moment at the very end, and the weather was perfect. You need to understand because it added to the whole scenario. It was one of those perfect desert nights. It’s not hot, and the breeze is blowing every so often that it elevates the moment. They had just played. Everybody in the audience watching has had this dose of nostalgia wash over them. They’ve relived their lives. They’re feeling all the things they felt when No Doubt came out. When the band came out to the center stage and the spotlight was on them and they all took a bow… I get chills just talking about it. The electricity in the air was beautiful, and that was, to me, the most poignant moment of the weekend. That bow right there.”
Then she added, “Chino is beyond dreamy in person. He is. I didn’t know what to expect, and he literally sat right next to me. We were lounging and he looks really good, number one. But it’s the way he’s so soft-spoken, yet commanding of what he’s going to say, coupled with his cool outfit. Yeah, he’s dreamy as fuck. Then, to see him step on stage and become the beast that he becomes is quite sexy.”
Rachael asked Nicole to touch on her early days and what made her the person who loves music as much as she does; what drove her to say, “Fuck, yeah, this is what I want to do!”
Nicole responded, “I’ve been thinking about this a lot. I always do because I just want to understand. My love of music is beyond comprehension, even to me sometimes. There are people that love music, but music is the biggest part of every day of my life. I can’t live without it. I can’t get in the car until I know what I’m going to play. I have a playlist for every season, every half season. I talk to people about music more than anything. Music is my source. People have religion, people have whatever it is.”
She continued, “But music is the one thing that I understand the most. I grew up in a very musical household. My best memories of my dad are going to the beach listening to Beatles, or my grandmother had this record player. That was so cool. I remember being a little girl and rummaging through it. My parents were divorced, and there was a lot of combat in my family. My happiest memories of my family have to do with music. That’s probably something that started it because I associated music with a very happy escape and with bringing people together.”
Nicole explained, “Then I remember when my parents got divorced, and it was just me and my mom, she would have friends over and live her life. I was always in my room sitting by the radio, waiting for songs, recording them. Music, to me, it became my family. It was my safe space. It was just the thing that raised me and took care of me the most and the most consistent. Then there was a rock station in Miami where I grew up, and there was this lady with this very cool voice. She was always talking about meeting her favorite band.”
She continued, “As I grew up, I started to love Pearl Jam so much. I’m like, “Wait a second. If I get into radio, then I can meet Pearl Jam and Eddie Vedder.” My love of rock and roll and music, all of it just made sense. I remember I was 15 years old when I decided this is the one thing I’m going to do. I’m going to get into radio. I’m going to meet Pearl Jam. The music had already been the driving force everything.”
She went on, “In college, my first boyfriend cheated on me; broke my heart. I did not leave my dorm room for a long time, and finally my friends dragged me out. I went to a club that night, and the local rock station was there. I remember standing in the back of the room going, “That would make me happy. Working for that radio station would make me happy.” I jumped on stage, and I talked to the guy that was there, and I said, “Who do I need to call to get a job?” That was Planet Radio 93.3 in Jacksonville. He gave me the woman’s name, and I called the next week relentlessly, and she was like, “Jesus Christ, you’re obnoxious, but come see us.” I went in, and she hired me in the promotions department, and I met the program director for the rock station, and I just went up to him and said, “When are you going to put me on the air?” And he did. He gave me overnights. It was this weird belief that I had. I’ve always had self-confidence. Self-esteem is a different story.”
Nicole continued, “But my self-confidence, when attached to the thing I love the most, which is music, it was untouchable. So I knew that in the space that included music, there was nothing I couldn’t do, so there was nothing I didn’t ask for. Because what’s the harm in asking? He put me on the air, and the rest is history. I was only in Jacksonville for a little while. They hired me in Miami to take the place of the woman who I grew up loving. But then the guy there fired me because he said, “Women have no business in rock radio.” Four days after he fired me, I guess somebody in Miami sent Kevin Weatherly of KROQ a tape, and he called me. He’s like, “I want to fly you out to audition you for KROQ.” He flew me out July 4th, 2003, put me on overnight. And then before I flew back, he said, “I think you’re a star. I want to hire you. And I moved out to Los Angeles, and I’ve been at KROQ ever since.”
KROQ 106.7FM
KEVIN WEATHERLY | Sr. VP of PROGRAMMING
Jimmy said that Weatherly saved a lot of people in the industry; he’s that guy. We then discussed her early days at KROQ. Nicole responded, “I’m going into my 21st year here and I was troublesome when I first got here. I tried to get fired a million times. But the thing, when you love something as much as some of us love music, it gives you this audacity and this, ‘I’m going to burn it all down, but it’s okay because they’re going to ask me to come back and do it again,’ feeling that if you navigate that correctly, it’ll get you where you want to go and then places you never dreamed of going. So, yeah, I’m still here.”
We turned to one of the fan e-mails: The fan loves music because it saved her soul, and she knows it will never abandon her. Would you say that that is a common theme for someone that is just so immersed into music that it becomes part of them?
Nicole smiled and said, “Yeah, because a lot of times, there are a lot of our life experiences that either happen so fast that we don’t fully process them. Some of them are dramatic, some of them are great, but still, they’re all fleeting because you’re on to the next experience. Most of our lives are buried within us. And when you hear certain songs that open doors that either hadn’t been opened or that you don’t even know existed, and memories come flooding back. Songs are able to, lyrics in particular, speak on behalf of part of yourself that you don’t even let speak. You feel seen. You don’t feel abandoned because if somebody else is feeling something similar to you, you’re like, ‘Oh, that’s not just me. I’m not crazy.’ You feel seen.”
She paused and said, “There’s no way that music can abandon you because all you have to do is press play. And that’s why I think also so many people find their favorite bands because there are bands in particular that you gravitate to because it’s almost like you’re cut from the same fabric. Pearl Jam is that band for me. They just speak on my behalf.”
During Nicole’s tenure at KROQ, Kevin Weatherly departed the station. However, he recently returned. We asked how that news made her feel. With a huge smile, she said, “I manifested that. We are very close. I’ve worked with him, and also I just know him and his family for my entire… The man gave me my job. When he wasn’t here, when he left, I stayed in touch with him because I couldn’t imagine a world where I was at KROQ and I didn’t speak to Kevin Weatherly as often as possible.”
Nicole continued: “I, along with a lot of other people, would always hope and pray that the one man that knows how to steer the ship is given the reins back. I remember when they sent the email that we were all going to jump on a Zoom, and we saw Kevin Weatherly’s name, and everybody started yelling. I was in tears. Part of me knew because I manifested that. The other part was just like, finally. You made it happen. I knew it would happen. It was just a matter of time.”
Jimmy asked if there is one moment over those 21 years she goes back and sees young Nicole and can tell that little girl she made it. She said, “Lately I’m starting to feel like, ‘Oh, okay, you made it.’ But no, because I am a very, very, very much a free spirit and a live in the moment girl. I immerse myself in every moment that I’ve had. I mean, you know you make it the second you get hired at KROQ. But it’s not until lately, speaking on the phone with Eddie Vedder, when I’m like, maybe this is a thing! I believe that you should never allow yourself to believe you’ve made it because then the work ethic changes and the hunger changes a little bit and you get a little entitled and settled. And I think that’s where things get dangerous and complacent. You always want the chase just a little bit.”
All superstitions aside, hard work never takes a day off. That is the common denominator between the greats, DJ’s like Nicole, and let’s say a legendary punk rocker like Mike Ness of Social Distortion.
Nicole with Social Distortion’s Mike Ness
She went on, “I think that when you sit behind the microphone, that is the world you live, and that’s your bubble. It’s my bubble. But people on the outside, they see you, and you’re who they aspire to be. Which is wild. Young women, young guys that I talk to about broadcasting, they’ll ask me for advice. I say, “Well, who do you like?” They’ll tell me all the different DJs, what past or present.”
Jimmy asked another fan question: “I’ve been listening to you forever; I love your interviews, and love how you can be so direct. I’ve noticed sometimes the directness catches the bands off balance. When that happens, how do you deal with that?”
Nicole pondered the question for a second and said, “You just move on to the next one. Because one thing I’ve learned is a lot of these bands do what they do because they’re not really good at communicating verbally, and because a lot of them are socially awkward and shy, believe it or not. So when they’re on stage, you would think, if they’re shy, how do they get on stage? Well, they get to hide behind the music, and they get to immerse themselves in their instruments, and they don’t have to talk, and they don’t have to be themselves. They’ve got everybody else. Once you learn that, you know that it’s not you. You don’t take it personally. You just move on.”
Rachael asked how she pushes through the hurdles of being a woman in the music industry, which are predominantly men.
Nicole just smiled and said, “That one is difficult because I am a very outspoken, fiery woman, and I have to deal with a lot of men. Sometimes my outspoken nature and my fiery nature often gets me called dramatic, emotional; the basic fucking clichés that women have to deal with all the time. One of two things can happen. Either I can buy into that and let them make me feel crazy, which sometimes I do, honestly, and sometimes I’m a lot, or I can keep being myself and saying the things I need to say. Because one thing I’ve realized lately is the more I stick to my guns and say the things that make a room uncomfortable, specifically with men, it does affect change. When I noticed that it started affecting change, I couldn’t wait till the next opportunity that I had.”
She took a breath and then said, “I will give the advice to anybody who’s trying to go up against anything, whether it’s a man against a woman or a woman against a man or whatever. Just try to compose yourself when you’re trying to make a point. But it is difficult. I am outspoken, but they’re starting to listen.”
Obviously the next question had to be, how do you know they are listening? She said, “Because I’ve noticed that they’re making the changes that need to be made. There’s just not enough of us women who are willing to go out there and say the things that need to be said. But we’re growing in numbers for sure. It’s just predominantly been a male industry for so long that it’s going to take us a little longer, but it’s happening. I don’t necessarily want to see a complete female takeover, but I would like to see equal numbers and equal impact, because this is one thing that’s frustrating to me. If you ask somebody, ‘Who’s the greatest on-air personality of all time,’ 10 out of 10 times, they’ll give you a guy. But the woman never stands out, and I would like to change that. I would like for us to be top of the line, and we deserve it.”
Turning back to fan e-mails, Jimmy read, “OC Music News staffer Amber Crouch wanted to thank you. A while back, she and her boyfriend were in a tough spot and trying to buy a camper. they asked people to help and donate, and you were one of those who donated. Your donation helped put them over the top. Amber wanted to tell you thank you for being a good person.” As Jimmy read that, Nicole was visibly moved and as her eyes watered a little, she said, “I am so happy for them; and thank you for telling me this.”
The fact that Nicole helps people comes as no surprise. Clearly a soul that cares about the right things in life, she is known to always help, especially homeless organizations like The Suitcase Joe Foundation.
THE SUITCASE JOE FOUNDATION
Jimmy then asked more of a music question. Richard Lamas – from the LA ska punk band Rundown Creeps – wanted to know Nicole’s take on the LA rock subculture and the future for the punk, metal, ska, or just grunge bands that are coming out of LA. Nicole was almost giddy and said, “I think it’s actually a really exciting time for that because lately I’ve heard… I’ve been going to a lot of underground shows at 1720 or there’s a new local band, I love Strawberry Fuzz. I think that people are so tired right now of the electronic music and all the other pop music and everything that’s completely consuming mainstream media, that these underground spots are becoming very exciting again and creating a buzz. I think we’re in a really good place to get back to a punk era when that was the cool thing to do, and it’s about to bust the doors open, I think.”
Jimmy wrapped things up by asking what Nicole looks forward to when she arrives at the station and sits behind the mic.
Nicole smiled and said, “I’m so fascinated by human beings and the human experience, and the little guy that nobody sees, or making people feel something or making people feel seen, or just giving somebody tickets to something and knowing that that moment. I get to do this all the time, but that night might be the greatest moment of their life. So contributing to the human experience is probably the greatest gift that I have been given working here at KROQ. I guess to know you’re connected to that source and that you’ve just said something that maybe gave somebody goosebumps or that somebody on the other side is happy. That’s my favorite part. There’s always that part of the day and you connect to the source. That’s it.”
Monday Through Friday
10AM to 2PM
As we closed we let her know that the people we ask to do this series are those that have an impact on the day-to-day lives of listeners. We let her know we choose DJs whose presence matters, who give a shit, not just about the music, but the people that tune, that’s why we were there.
Bottom line, what Nicole Alvarez does matters; how she does it matters; and people have noticed. She is in her own bubble so-to-speak, and doesn’t consider herself a mover and shaker. That’s the modest side of her; the truth is she remains at the top of the profession because she works hard, and never takes herself too seriously.
LTR – RACHAEL, NICOLE, JIMMY
It is good to see good things happen to good people. With a great morning show, a solid lineup of DJs and the music programing what it is again, KROQ is definitely on the path to be the station that listeners love. Nicole Alvarez is a big part of why The World Famous KROQ is back and firing on all cylinders.
