This one’s personal. Eight years ago, when we launched the Roots Radio format on the historic signal WMOT 89.5 FM, a few of us knew we could have no better program director than Jessie Scott, and we were fortunate that she was in the right time and place to come on board. Her 50 years of on-air experience, her expertise in Americana music, and her warm and knowledgeable voice have become the core of WMOT’s sound. She governs the deep and excellent WMOT playlist and its mix of new and legacy music, plus she’s a fountain of enthusiasm on the air every weekday afternoon from 4 to 7 pm. So after all this time and hearing some of her career stories, it was time to invite her on The String for a special year-end episode.
We start at the beginning, when growing up in Scarsdale, NY, Jessie reacted to rock and roll on the radio as early as three and four years old. When she asked her mom for the single “Tutti Fruitti” and mom bought the Pat Boone version, Jessie sent her right back for the Little Richard original. She’s been seeking out music with soul and authenticity ever since, and she knew from an early age that she needed to be on radio, sharing that music with a wide audience.
“Radio was always in my crosshairs, even before there were any women on the radio or anything. I picked up WKBW out of Buffalo and noticed that, for instance, they played ‘Dirty Water’ by the Standells three months before WABC did. Fort Wayne, WOWO. I used to pick them up all the time. Same thing. They would play stuff before New York. So I was hearing the trajectory of a hit. I was paying attention. I would get the trades back then too and look at the Top 40. I mean, I was really immersed in it. Who knows why. It just called my name.”
You’ll hear how Jessie talked her way into her first job and took to the airwaves in Pittsburgh in the 1970s. And as with all professional radio careers, she worked in different markets and different formats.
“I had luck, really, to fall in love with every genre I've ever done, including the two weekends I did disco - a short lived chapter of playing ‘Rock the Boat”! But, I mean, I love disco! And I did 80s (music) in Santa Barbara. So there, playing Yaz on the radio, I'm all about that. I think that it's easy to immerse yourself in the lifestyle, and that's kind of what we're tasked with doing as communicators.”
Yet today, Scott is known throughout the industry as a lifelong champion for good, honest country music, and her first deep dive as a DJ came with an offer from WHN-AM, to build the first country station based in New York City. She recalls the fun of figuring out who that audience was and could be, but it was a success, reaching up to 2 million listeners with Dolly, Willie, Waylon, Emmylou, and Charley Pride. That set the stage for a big move in her career, when she was recruited to join the new world of XM Satellite radio in the early 2000s. She launched the influential, nation-spanning X Country on channel 12, ensuring it would be a home for what was being called progressive or alternative country, and the icons of roots country like Doug Sahm and Jerry Jeff Walker.
“I already knew a lot about what it was going to be, and they had incredible backers, and all of the toys and the money in the world to make things happen. There was no barrier. And then they sat us down and they said, ‘You have your canvas in front of you. There is no corporate mindset here. Go paint a picture. Go be the authority for your channel.’”
Jessie also talks about being one of the founding architects of the Americana Music Association in 1999 and the legacy of that group and the Americana idea.
“For me, it's about real, and real, 25 years later, is even more of a commodity to embrace. (Artificial Intelligence) and auto tuning, those weren't even on the radar back in the day - and you know, writing by committee, instead of somebody who absolutely needs to get a song down. It expresses who they are, and they'll polish it, work on it. And you know, it becomes a cry in the dark, or, you know, an exaltation. And you know, for me, real humans, writing from that perspective of life is the goal.”
