Allison Hagendorf: The Future Of The Radio DJ

    The rock n’ roll blog is back once again with the fresh rock music announcements and input from someone, who gives the generation Z’s point of view. This is Gen Z Talks Rock Music, and the topic of day is a podcast on Spotify with a female DJ that interviews rock stars and plays rock music. I will state my opinion on this new radio platform, and I will have a bio section on the DJ, who hosts the podcast.                                                                      This radio disc jockey has talks rock legends like Joan Jett, Brian Mays and Roger Taylor of Queen, Dave Grohl and Taylor Hawkins of The Foo Fighter, Sammy Hagar from Van Halen, Tommy Lee from Motley Crue and many more rock stars on her podcast. This playlist turned into a podcast started in 2021 and it is a celebration of the past, present, and future of rock music. She is the global head of Spotify’s rock department. This is the podcast called “Rock This” hosted by Allison Hagendorf.

Allison Hagendorf Bio:

    Before I go into my opinion about the podcast, I will have a bio section on the host of the show. Allison Hagendorf was born on March 5, 1982. Hagendorf began her journey in the music industry as an employee in A&R at Sony Music’s Columbia Records and Epic Records. What someone does in A&R or artist and repertoire is recruiting new talent for the record company. Hagendorf would find new talent globally for Columbia and Epic Records and she would oversee the album production of the new talent. Hagendorf’s famous recruitments were finding the metal band, Lamb Of God and Juliet Simms. Hagendorf would sign and develop Juliet Simms herself. She would manger Simms’s solo career and band career with the Automatic Loveletter.

    Hagendorf’s next chapter of her music career would be a music television personality. She would host the music talent show called, “The Next” on the CW Network. “The Next” was a show searching nationwide for undiscovered artists to give them a chance for stardom. Then on AXS TV, Hagendorf hosted live broadcast of music festivals like the New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Festival. Around the same time, she hosted multiple shows on Fuse TV including “Fuse Top 20 Countdown” and “Backstage At The Z100 Jingle Ballsooza.” Hagendorf would eventually team up with AOL and T-Mobile to create “Signature Sounds With Allison Hagendorf,” which was an original music travel series. Hagendorf would travel across the country to showcase music from past and present. Also, Hagendorf would dabble in writing for a music advice column called “Sound Advice” for Maxim.

    In January 2016, Hagendorf would announce to the public, she is the new global head of Spotify’s rock department. She would start creating rock and alternative playlists for Spotify that caters to all rock listeners like “Rock This.” “Rock This” is a playlist with the newest rock artists and songs being released to the public. This playlist in 2021 would be the foundation for Hagendorf’s podcast called “Rock This With Allison Hagendorf.” The first season of 24 episodes is completely out on Spotify. Every Friday, she released an episode interviewing rock legends and playing the latest artists and songs in the genre of rock. If you want to learn more about Allison Hagendorf’s superstar life, then check out the link below. Allison Hagendorf Biography, Age, Husband And Net worth. (informationcradle.com)

Gen Z Opinion On “Rock This With Allison Hagendorf”

     I think “Rock This With Allison Hagendorf” is an innovation to the world of radio, because it combines the podcast with the radio music show. Spotify releasing this hybrid of podcast and streaming music was a response to Pandora’s version of this concept and I think it is better. Pandora’s version has a popular artist talking about the songs and then playing songs. I feel Spotify’s version of this concept feels more like a show than talking between the songs. For instance, “Rock This With Allison Hagendorf “is has a format that every episode follows that makes it more of an organized radio show. Hagendorf’s show starts with rock news and then she plays a song celebrating an anniversary of it’s release. Then she talks about and plays the newest rock songs and artists rising on the rock charts. After the new songs, she plays a tune by the rock artist that she is interviewing and then the hour interview begins. Once the interview ends, Hagendorf talks about and plays songs from interviewee and songs that influenced the interviewee.

    Personally, I am not a huge fan of the podcast, because people talking can’t hold my attention and I get bored very easily. I rather listen to music than podcasts in any task that keeps me busy. However, “Rock This With Allison Hagendorf” has my full attention, because of a few reasons. First, it has a perfect balance of playing music and of a podcast. It is almost like a radio program with a disc jockey announcing the song before it’s played and interviewing a musician that comes to the station. The only difference about this show on Spotify than radio is it is prerecorded not live. I really enjoy this format due to it has breaks from talking with the music portion of the show.

    Second, Hagendorf is such an entertaining and fascinating person to listen to. She keeps me listening, because I love hearing her personal stories about the connections with a specific rock song from her childhood. I also cherish that she is so knowledgeable about music, and I am into learning new things about songs that I love on her show. Then she can interview anybody, because she does an amazing job with keeping the conversation on topic and she moves the conservation along with her thoughtful segues. I also like that she is funny, which makes the interview with the rock star much more fun and interesting. Then I think she is very relatable to her audience, because I can relate to her being passion about music and being a fan girl, when meeting her favorite musicians.

    Third, I love listening to the stories of these rock legends, because I am fascinated with learning about how they write songs and how they became rock stars. I think I am obsessed with the musicians’ stories, ever since I read Paul Stanley’s book called “Backstage Pass,” which I did a book review in a previous blog. I watch YouTube channel now called Professor Of Rock, who talks about the stories of how rock songs were written. This is why I love “Rock This With Allison Hagendorf,” because I learn so much about my favorite rock musicians and their songs.

    Hagendorf has been an important figure in the rock music world. Hagendorf’s show, “Rock This With Allison Hagendorf,” is a cool mix of the music and the podcast. She tells her audience about the latest upcoming rock stars with their newest song that she has discovered and interviews my favorite rock stars. If you have the time to listen to this podcast, then I totally recommend to all my readers, who like rock music. I have put a link to listen to “Rock This With Allison Hagendorf” on Spotify and I have linked songs by the guests that she interviewed on her show. Let me know, what you think of Allison Hagendorf’s career and her show on Spotify. Also, let me know what your favorite podcast is to listen to. This was Gen Z Talks Rock Music, but make sure to come back for more rock n’ roll blogs.

Rock This with Allison Hagendorf | Podcast on Spotify

Joan Jett ‎– Bad Reputation - YouTube

Van Halen - Why Can't This Be Love - YouTube

Queen - Killer Queen - YouTube

Mötley Crüe - Kickstart my Heart - YouTube

Foo Fighters- Times Like These - YouTube

Smashing Pumpkins - Bullet With Butterfly Wings - YouTube

Bush - Machinehead - YouTube

Blink 182 - I Miss You - YouTube

Rage Against The Machine - Bombtrack (Audio) - YouTube

Guns N' Roses - Paradise City - YouTube

Pearl Jam, Jeremy - YouTube