What it’s like on radio row at the GRAMMY Awards
I spent five days in Los Angeles working radio row for the 59th Annual GRAMMY Awards. It was ridiculous. With all the celebrities around, I felt like I was in a movie. Crazy! I got a firsthand look at what goes on behind the scenes leading up to the GRAMMYs. It’s not as simple as you think. I didn’t go to the award show, I only attended radio row. Radio row is a two-day opportunity for radio stations to interview celebrities. It took place at the Staples Center, in Los Angeles, Thursday, Feb. 9, and Friday, Feb. 10, from 12 p.m. to 4 p.m.
When I’m not busy being a communication major at UHCL, I am an associate producer for “The Roula & Ryan Show” on 104.1 KRBE. I also intern with the Cumulus Media regional digital department. As a part of my internship, I was sent to L.A. to cover radio row.
I arrived in L.A. Tuesday night and got to my hotel, the J.W. Marriott somewhere close to 1 a.m. Before turning into for the night, I had to stop at my all-time favorite restaurant: Tatsu Ramen. Wednesday evening, I went to check-in at the Staples Center to get my credentials for radio row and attended a happy hour that members of the press were invited to so we could learn about the week’s itinerary. I didn’t want to over indulge because I knew I had to work a full day the next day, and I wanted to maintain a professional image, even though the college student inside of me wanted to drink everything there.
Thursday morning, I woke up nervous and anxious and didn’t know what to expect. We were told to show up two hours prior in order to have enough time to setup. 10 a.m. came around, and I walked into the Staples Center. I was carrying all my equipment and almost dropped it because I was so nervous. I finally made it to the second floor. I was then guided into what looked like a sea of radio stations from all over the world. As I stood there, feeling intimidated, I said to myself, “What am I doing here? I hope I don’t screw it up.” After getting lost in a maze of radio station booths, I finally found mine.
Radio row started right at noon, and Amber Rose was our first of 40 interviews. As soon as she walked up, there was a crowd of cameras chasing her attempting to taking pictures. We were told by her handler that we only had four minutes to interview her, and if we weren’t done in four minutes, she was going to be pulled away. You could say I was overwhelmed, honestly, I felt like I wanted to pee my pants because I was shaking so much. All I could hear was the sound of cameras flashing until we started the interview. The interview went very well. She has a good sense of humor and was open to talk about almost anything.
Seconds after the Amber Rose interview, Flume walked up. Flume ended up winning a GRAMMY Sunday night, and it was a pretty cool to be able to say afterward, “Hey we just interviewed that guy” as he was on stage. We had five minutes to interview Flume. He was quiet during his interview but very nice.
Most interviews were 4 – 5 minutes long, so the celebrities had enough time to visit all the radio stations. There was never any down time. There was always people yelling and there were a lot of people running around with cameras trying to take pictures of the celebrities. On top of that, I could hear rehearsals going on in the background. Not only did I have to film each interview, I was also responsible for covering social media for KRBE. I felt like I was going 100 mph the entire time and felt delirious after a while because I was moving so fast.
My favorite interview was LeAnn Rimes. She walked up to our booth, and I was speechless. That was the first time I have ever been star struck. Not only am I a huge fan of her music, but my parents are too. We always listened to her music growing up, so I couldn’t wait to send my parents a selfie with her. Not only was she the nicest person ever, but she also spent extra time with us after the interview to take pictures. We interviewed a wide range of celebrities like Margaret Cho, Train, Gnash, Daya, and many more, but meeting LeAnn Rimes was the highlight of my trip.
Each day ended with a private performance for everyone that attended radio row. On Thursday, Marian Hill performed their hit single “Down” and Friday Train opened with “Drops of Jupiter” and ended with an audience sing-a-long version of “Hey, Soul Sister”. Even though I didn’t stay for the actual award show, I didn’t mind. I was so tired by the second day of radio row I just wanted to rest. I had enough celebrity interaction to last me a lifetime, or at least until next year. I am so grateful to have been a part of this experience because not many people get to see this in person. This trip was worth missing school for, even though I was a little scared to fail a class or miss assignments. Actually, I almost turned down the trip because I didn’t want to miss school, but I am happy I didn’t.
