Hey, it's Jeff Zito and thanks for listening to another episode of the Celebrity Jobber podcast. Streaming on I Heart Spotify, Apple Podcasts or wherever you listen to podcasts, please hit subscribe, would love a five star rating and please leave a review. Check out past guests and episodes online at celebrityjobber.com and you can follow on Instagram at celebrity underscore, jobber underscore podcast or the YouTube channel, youtube.com slash the at sign celebrity jobber. Who were these famous people before they were famous? How did they get there? Was there a big break or a life changing event that happened to them? And what did they do before fame? Like what was their first job? I've been friends with Jackie Kaiser for about 15 years now? Maybe a little longer, but I knew her as a promotions person at a record label. I did not know in the beginning she was nationally syndicated radio host Full Metal Jackie. Kind of felt stupid in the beginning when I first found that out. Jackie's got a great story and she's got a new book called Certified the 50 Most Influential Heavy Metal Songs of the 80s. We'll talk about all of Jackie's jobs in the music business. We'll talk about how she got started her big break. Who named her Full Metal Jackie and how about her first job before radio? Jackie has interviewed the biggest giants in the world of metal. Artists like Ozzy Osborne, Rob Howford, Dave Mustaine, Slayer, who inspired her to get into the music business. Jackie Kaiser, aka Full Metal Jackie is my guest this week on Celebrity Jobber. So I find out right around the holidays that you just came out with a book. And by the way, I just received in the mail my autograph copy of your book Certify the 50 Most Influential Heavy Metal Songs of the 80s. And you can purchase your copy online at Full Metal Jackie Radio.com in the merch store. So people that write books to me are fascinating because I feel like the anxiety level would be at like a 10. Especially when you make the decision to write a book, you're sitting at a computer and you're like, okay, gonna write a book, it's gonna be about an inch thick. I've got nothing. And then you write once upon a time or whatever. And I don't know, man. But first of all, like what made you want to do this? So early days when I was doing my show, I wanted to play a lot of songs that were never met for radio, right? You know, there's songs that you want to pull out of the archives or whatever and play and you're like, oh, there was never a radio edit. I'm gonna make my own. What do you do? You pull up the lyrics and you sit there and you read the lyrics as you're listening to the song and you create your own edit, right? We've all done it as radio pieces. I did that a lot, like a lot. And with that, you're really getting into the lyrics, not just looking for the F-bombs or the whatever bombs, but you're reading the lyrics and as a story, let's say, or you're A, finding out you've been singing the song wrong, which happens a lot and is actually hilarious. But B, you really start to think about how we're maybe singing these songs with joy and with whatever feeling we're having, but a lot of these stories are, you know, could be dark or not even what we thought it was when we're singing them. And that's what sort of like stoked this idea for me about really making a book about lyrics. And if you're gonna write a book about lyrics, you got to talk to the folks that wrote them. So then I started, you know, putting a list together, like, okay, if I was gonna do this, which songs would I feature? And that was the hardest part is to narrow it down because that kind of a book can go on forever, right? Did you ever find the, ever run into the issue? Maybe it's different because you're full metal Jackie and in the heavy metal genre, your name carries a lot of weight. So maybe it's different, but did you ever run into the situation where these lyrics are just so personal to these guys they don't want to tell you? Exactly. They're like, yeah, it's up for interpretation. You know, you hear that a lot. You're right. A lot of artists are like, I don't want to tell people what they should think this song is about because a lot of time songs end up meaning different things to different people. But the reality is when an artist wrote a song, there was something going on at that time or they were in a certain mindset. So I really wasn't just like, hi Rob Halford, could you tell me what breaking was about? It was really just talking about, you know, where they were at at that time. And a lot of these songs were, you know, the pretty old. So it was like taking a trip down memory lane and really painting a picture about what was going on in that time, which is really what is important and what affected what they were writing about at that time, you know. But again, I just want to say that one of the biggest things that I took away from this project was misinterpretation. That's sort of like a core theme. A lot of these songs were misunderstood because let's be honest, people, you know, if they just focus on the titles or the imagery or the shock value instead of intense, you know, they really, I mean, that's why hearing it from the artists really mattered to me. The Celebrity Jobber podcast with Jeff Zito. So Jackie, let's rewind it all the way back. When you're a little girl, you grew up in New Jersey, correct? I did. And you became a fan of music at what age? I would say probably 12, 13. And I have an older sibling, which is how a lot of us get introduced to music that we're fans of, right? And I have an older sister who at that time was working at, well, actually, no, early days, you know, when we were like in a school, she ended up ultimately working at WSW. So you were, I ended up working at the Seaton Halls, you know, College Radio Station, a full-on metal station. But, you know, growing up in New Jersey, like that music was very prevalent at that time. And I got to see a lot of shows and a lot of it was featured on MTV at the time. And I mean, before there was sort of this shift with, you know, grunge and everything changed, I mean, this was what was going on, right? These bands were touring arenas and it was a moment. And obviously, there's been so many shifts between then and now. But I feel like I was lucky enough to maybe catch the but end of an amazing time in music. And being a hard rock fan, it became part of the fabric of who I am. And what I love still to this day. So just for people that are listening that don't know anything about WSOU, Seaton Hall University has a radio station and famous in New Jersey for being this like trail blazing radio station that played songs that you would never hear on the radio. It's legendary. And a lot of it's like locally funded, whatever funded from the college and donations. It wasn't always a 24-7 station, like when I was growing up and I was in high school, it started at 6am. So overnight, it was like community programming or, you know, cultural, just, you know, weird, weird stuff that was happening overnight. And at 6am, they would open with some epic metal song. And I was listening as, you know, my sister and I would be listening as we were getting ready for school. And, you know, we'd listen on the bus. I mean, it was a metal station. It still isn't metal station. And it's, you know, normally college radio stations can reach, you know, to the parking lot of the college. Here's a station in northern New Jersey that reaches into New York City. That's amazing. That has a bigger signal than a commercial rock station. I worked at that station when it was first in a little rinky dinky studio. And it was like real to real. And then we moved into a bully, like million dollar location next door that was fully digital and amazing to just get my start in radio. But I'm very proud of, you know, the real to real days because I think young people getting into radio now will never know. They don't understand what it's like to do production with a grease pencil and a razor blade. So, yeah, it's slicing. You know, that's the thing I've been making edits since the dawn of time. So here we are. Yeah. You know, this many years later, they don't get it. They have no idea. They have no idea. So, so Jackie radio nerds like us. Right. I know it will reveal how old we are too. So, I know, I know, I know I'm there too. I'm there too. Everything hurts. So Jackie, WSOU definitely very influential. And you had an older sister that got you into music. Can you tell me between the time that you start at WSOU? And now in case people don't know, Jackie has, like I said, a nationally syndicated radio show. And she also works in the music business. And you manage quite a few bands. Jackie, a handful of bands. I do wear many hats, Jeff, you're right. So, ever since I just started working, right, like I was old enough to have a job, I wanted to do everything, right? I was DJing at, you know, I was a DJ at a radio station. I would do fillings. I would do my own shifts. And then I had my regular full-time day job. So, I would sometimes fill it. And you know, and only radio nerds like us will get this. But when you're starting out in radio and you get a job at a commercial radio station and they're like, call you up to fill in for something. Like, hey, could you fill on it on this weekend shift? Could you fill in on Christmas? Could you fill in on your car? You're in the car. You are on your way. I'm saying yes before I even know. Hey, Jackie, can you, yes, wait, I'm on my way. Like you said yes before you even know. Right. New when it was. And that was your life. There were times where I was doing midnight till six fill in for the overnight guy and then go into my daytime job with us smile because I was so happy to get that opportunity to get in that time, you know, being on the radio. I would do that for when they said, I need you to board up. Right. And this holiday, yes, yes, yes, I wanted to do all of it. I was happy to do all of it. And it just, you know, started from just a huge love of radio. And not just, it wasn't just radio. I wanted to do. I was very interested in the music business. So I decided to move to Southern California. And I wanted to work for what was the biggest artist management company at that time. It was a company called the firm that had everybody from corn and limp biscuit and Lincoln Park, all those bands in their heyday. So I moved to Southern California to work at the firm. And I still was doing radio and ultimately, you know, led to me doing the full metal Jackie show. But it's like I didn't want to pick one or the other. So here I am this many years later. And I do a radio show and I work at a management company and I work at a record label and I do multiple radio shows and channels and all the things. I mean, all the things that as a young Jackie growing up in New Jersey that I only dreamed of doing maybe one this thing or that thing. Now I'm doing all the things. So I have 12 jobs and I love them all. Sleep is for sissy. Yeah, it is. Yeah, it is. Celebrity jobber. The celebrity jobber podcast with Jeff Zito. Can you tell me like where do you feel like there was a moment where everything kind of connected like a big break? What do you think your big break? Because I know there's so many different levels to your career and your trajectory. What was that defining moment that you think of? I really couldn't say it was one moment, but I will say that things don't just happen to you. Yes. You have to make them happen. And I manifested things that I wanted to have happen. And I think that having people say you're not going to be able to do it or a girl's not going to be able to get a syndicated radio show, which I was told at times or whatever it was. By the way, when you tell me I can't do something, it only makes me want to do it more. Right. And once I set my sights on something and I'm sure a lot of people can relate. I'm a I become a dangerous person because I put blinders on to everything else and I am a laser focused on what it is I want to do. So when there was a radio station when I lived, you know, I moved to Southern California and one day the station called Indy 103 one popped up on the air. And I remember driving in my car hearing this station and touching the radio in my car, I touched the radio and I said, this is the station where I'm going to do a metal show. And I set out to figure out who was in charge. I knew somebody who knew somebody who knew somebody who knew that person and how did that person so they let me take them out to lunch. And I said, hey, and by the way, it was an alternative station. So like, why would they let me do a metal show? I don't know, but I said, hey, I'm going to bring we are in Southern California and there's no active rock station. There's no metal station here. And yet every metal show comes to down and sells out. That means there's people here that care about this music. There's an audience for this and they have nowhere to go. So let me do a show for you and you will not have to lift a finger and you'll look like a hero. That was my sit-in-the-page, by the way. And ultimately, you know, they're like, hey, come in this week and let's see what happens. And I was on that station until they went off the air. And at that time, my show was called Chaos with Jackie. And Steve Jones from the Sex Pistons did mid days. And one day I was at the station and I just walked in. He was like, waved me in while he was on the air and he said, oh, look, it's full metal Jackie. And he just said it. Like, he just said it. And my boss, the program director at that time said, that's your new show name. And I was like, that's a great idea. Wow, we got to credit that to Steve Jones in the Sex Pistons. Wow. Yeah. And then, but ultimately, because I was doing the multiple jobs that I was doing, right? So I was a radio promo person traveling the country meeting programmers. And because I was doing this metal show in LA, people were hearing about it. And a few of my friends who were programmers were like, hey, when are you going to do a metal show for me? And I was like, that's actually a great idea. So I bought the domain. I got a trademark on the name Full Metal Jackie. I started creating a show and uploading it to a link for different stations. I started syndicating it on my own. And ultimately, after I had like seven or eight stations on my own, I was approached by a syndication company and you know, the rest is history. Celebrity jobber. The celebrity jobber podcast with Jeff Cito. Can you think back Jackie before the music business? Tell me about your very first job. What was your first paycheck? And maybe a couple other jobs that you held before you were in the music business. Like tell me tell me about Jackie Kaiser, the regular regular girl from Jersey. What kind of work did she do before she became Full Metal Jackie nationally syndicated radio host? All right. All right. So one of the first jobs I ever had because if I remember correctly, you had to be a certain age to get working papers. I think it was like 14 or 15. So I think when I was like 13 years old, I started working at the English town auction, which is a legendary sort of outdoor indoor and outdoor sort of flea market that was open on Saturdays and Sundays. I believe it still is. And you know, this was off the books. And they were different boots. Everything from you know, clothing and electronics and trinkets and whatever. So a lot of kids I went to school with were able to get a job at the auction because they would pay you in cash and you didn't have to, you know, taxes, whatever. So that is where I had my first job. I used to have to get dropped off by my mom at like six in the morning. And sometimes it was snowing and I would still show up and whoever I was working for. By the way, we didn't have cell phones. Right. Kids, there was a time where we didn't have cell phones. There you go. Imagine a world. And so I'd be standing there in the snow waiting for some guy to show up with the electronics that probably fell off the back of a truck. And it was snowing. So he didn't show up and I wouldn't make my, you know, whatever, 75 bucks for the day. So English town auction I worked in the freehold race with mall at in the food court as a teenager. And then I got an office job, which actually when I was in high school, there was a sign on the Bolton board for like getting jobs. And it was like, Hey, data entry, 10 to 15 dollars an hour. I was like, 10 to 15 dollars an hour. Come on. So instead of taking the little piece of the paper to take the phone number, I took the whole sign off the wall. I'm like, I don't want anyone calling this isn't my job. I'm going to get this job. And I did. And I stayed that company. I like did on the side of all my radio stuff, even when I went through the college. And because I stole the sign off the Bolton board, I worked for that company for like 15 years. And they have a lot of money and was able to really have a lot of freedom to do, you know, all the stuff that I was wanting to do, right? DJ at the various stations in New Jersey, I DJed at a club. You know, I worked at WS O U W D H A in North Jersey and W H T G in South Jersey, which early days I was following the footsteps of my radio and television hero Matt Pinfield. I'm so fortunate to call a friend to this day. And he's been dealing with some health problems. I'm glad to see that he's actually getting better. He's doing great, but I wanted to follow Matt's footsteps and he was on W H T G. So I wanted to be on W H T G. He was on MTV. I wanted to be on MTV, which ultimately at some point I did host an episode of Headbanger's Ball for my book. There was a full metal jacket certified, you know, episode. And also Matt used to be a DJ at this club in New Brunswick, yeah. Melody Bar. Yeah. I was like, that's where Matt did. So that's what I wanted to do. So I DJed at that club. So I was like DJing at a club one night a week, you know, doing my that job where I stole the sign off the bulletin board all day during the day, DJing at the radio stations. By the way, at one point I was working for DHA and H T G at the same time. Wow. There were days where I was like doing one shift and then driving across the state, going to the other station because, you know, like I said, for us fans, you know, or us radio nerds, we were like, I'll do whatever. Anytime you are willing to have me in there, like I'm there. Right. I'm sure you can hear my dog bear barking during the whole interview here. So I had to ask, how is Lemmy? Lemmy is the cutest dog in the world. And I love him. And he is the bestest boy. There you go. Well, Jackie, look, the book, full metal Jackie certified the 50 most influential heavy metal songs of the 80s. I mean, you used to say you get it at Barnes and no, I guess people know how to buy books these days. I have signed copies up for sale at fullmetaljackyradio.com. Jackie, thank you so much for your time again and congratulations on all your success. And I'm sure we'll talk soon. Thank you so much for having me. I really appreciate it. Really great talking to Jackie as she mentioned earlier, you know, like we're radio nerds. So if you're still in the radio business today, the industry has changed dramatically over the course of the last 20 or 25 years. So if you're still in the business today, making a living, you wear a lot of different hats. And she does nationally syndicated radio show record label, artist management responsible for discovering the band five finger death punch just came out with the book. Once again, certify the 50 most influential heavy metal songs of the 80s. You can purchase an autograph copy at fullmetaljackyradio.com talking about some of her first jobs before radio. She worked at the English town auction. She also worked at the food court. I think she said it was at the freehold raceway mall. And then she talked about an office job to a data entry. So all that stuff before radio before the music biz. She got interested in music because she had an older sister and by wanting to follow in the footsteps of the legendary Matt Pinnfield, who is definitely one of my major influences as well. And as far as a big break is concerned, she had a lot of breaks along the way. But I'm going to say, starting at that radio station to do that metal show, Steve Jones from the Sex Pistols doing mid days and saying, full metal jockey coming up next. I got to say, I think that could have been a really big break for organic just happened, right? Great story. I really admire Jackie. And again, glad to call her a friend. So thank you for checking out another episode of the celebrity jobber podcast. Number three, this week on the Apple podcast, music interviews chart. So please subscribe. We love a five star rating. And please leave a review, pass guests and episodes online at celebrity jobber.com. And you never know what these people's lives were before fame. Jackie Kaiser worked at an auction. She worked at the food court in the mall. And she did data entry at some office before she became nationally syndicated radio host, full metal Jackie. Everybody's got a story. And some great ones coming up in the next few weeks. Again, thank you for listening to another episode of the celebrity jobber podcast. Until next week, I'll see you then. I'm Jeff Zito.
