Pop-Culturalist.com

Like the strong women who have inspired her, Hannah Rad is blazing her own trail in the industry and in life. As one of the top deejays and TV personalities in the world, Hannah has continued to champion progress and change, even when it has seemed an impossible feat. That tenacity and grit has led Hannah to the career she has today and taught her the important lessons, like owning your creativity and art.

Earlier this year, Hannah showed yet another facet of her talent with the launch of Sorry to Keep You Waiting.

Pop Culturalist was lucky enough to chat with Hannah about her career, Sorry to Keep You Waiting, and tapping into her vulnerability.

PC: How did you discover your passion for deejaying and TV hosting?
Hannah: I was raised in a musical family. Dad played piano. Sister sang like crazy. I had no musical expertise whatsoever. I tried every instrument and failed miserably. I hated practicing. I wanted to play drums and guitars and was not great at it. But I had a love for music, so I was like, “Maybe I’ll deejay and do music interviews.” That’s how I got started into radio, and that was my foray into the music side of things. I’ve always had a passion and a love for it but knew that I couldn’t create it on my own. That’s not for lack of trying.

PC: Who or what has had the biggest influence on your career?
Hannah: I look at a lot of strong females who have persisted through the course of time. Ruth Bader Ginsburg passed away recently. You look at someone like that who has been a champion of cause for things that she believed in for so many years regardless of what anybody said. It’s a path that my career has been on. When there weren’t a lot of female deejays or EDM wasn’t really a thing, I was still pushing that forward because I knew and I saw the value in it years before these big bubbles burst onto the front scene of things.

I believe in this and I want people to get on board with it because I know and I see the good of what it would do for the future of music and for the industry. You’re staying the course. It’s cliché to say, but it’s a marathon not a sprint. I was lucky enough to work for Puff Daddy for five years. That was something that he always insisted upon as well. So he’s like, “We’re starting a new network in a climate that doesn’t want TV channels, but we’re going to do it anyways.” I learned a lot of great invaluable lessons from him just in the sense of staying the course and remaining true to yourself. When you put that authenticity out there, people will respond to that.

PC: You’ve had a lot of success throughout the years. When you look back, is there a particular moment that stands out to you?
Hannah: I feel like there’s been quite a few, to be honest. I got my start in radio in New York at a time when I wasn’t even looking for it. It just came to me because, again, it was one of those moments when I was doing what I wanted to do. I was writing some crummy music blog and going to parties, begging artists for interviews. I was really pounding the pavement and doing it because I had a passion for it. Eventually, it turned into something that I was able to turn into a lucrative career that I’m very proud of.

I think it’s those unspoken and unseen moments where things happen behind closed doors. A lot of people will say to me, “You’ve got the best job in the world. You get to go on the road, go to festivals, and interview artists.” I was like, “Yeah, but you guys see thirty seconds of an interview and some face time on TV. You don’t see the years of work that has gone into it.” For me, a lot of those moments go by the wayside in accordance with what the public sees. Those personal moments of validation, they definitely happen in silence, and I’m grateful for that.

PC: Given all the success, what’s one thing you know now that you wish you knew when you started your career?
Hannah: I think it would be to own your own creativity and art. For a long period of time, I came from a generation where you had to stay at a job for thirty or forty years and then you retire and you’re happy. Generally speaking, you’re always working for someone else. There’s a boss. There’s someone higher than you. You’re working to help the benefit of the company or to get someone else paid or to get someone else’s name out there.

For me, I’m at a point now where if I had known ten years ago what I know now—and the lesson that I’m so grateful to have learned is that you can take a step back from that and own your own content and creations. It doesn’t necessarily have to be tied to any one place, person, or thing. That freedom is true freedom. That gives you the greatest flexibility in terms of being creative and getting your art out to people in an authentic and genuine way.

PC: Speaking of content, you have a new series out now. Can you tell us about Sorry to Keep You Waiting and how that came to fruition?
Hannah: For sure! This goes perfectly with the sentiment that I just described where I started this series out of a crummy day. I had one of the darkest days that I’ve had in quite a while. Everyone’s focusing on their mental health in these current times that we’re in. But for me, it’s not necessarily something that’s come out because of the pandemic or because of the systemic racism that’s going on in our country or the political landscape that is abysmal to watch develop day by day.

That’s something for me that’s been quite a few years in dealing with personal trauma and tragedy that I’ve had to overcome and endure. For me, I’m actually quite grateful. I mean this is the most respectful way possible for the time in which an industry that I’m in generally shut down. I was able to take a step back and focus on a passion project of mine, which is something that I wanted to be able to create that wasn’t tied to anyone but myself. That’s partly because of a control issue I have. [laughs] But also because I wanted to be able to do something and see it through from start to finish on my own.

So yeah, I had a crummy day and I didn’t want to feel bad anymore, so I got up and started this project. I was like, “These are the things that are personal and vulnerable about me, and I’m going to share them with the world.” Nobody gets to see this. Like I mentioned earlier, everyone gets to see a few seconds where I do these interviews or talk with people who are front-facing, but no one really gets to see behind the scenes. For me, it was important to lift that curtain and show people what it’s like on a day-to-day basis for me. That’s how the series started. I was like, “I’m going to be as raw as I can, and it’s going to be brutal at times.” It’s been a beautiful release.

PC: That’s actually the perfect segue into this next question. Like you were saying, you share a lot of really incredibly vulnerable stories. Was that ever a scary prospect?
Hannah: As I’ve gotten later into my career, I’ve been able to work with a lot of the organizations that have helped me come to terms with a lot of the stuff that I’ve gone through. These aren’t necessarily new stories. It’s new in the way that I’m telling them. I’ve been pretty vocal about certain aspects and episodic stories within the series. But for me, now this is on a much bigger scale and platform where there’s no hiding. I can do a PSA or go speak in a school. It goes by the wayside after a day’s time. But here, this is out on all my platforms. It’s specifically tied to me on a day-to-day basis.

I don’t know that there’s been a lot of fear about it. But there, for sure, has been a lot of anxious moments and nerves. I think mostly it comes from a place of excitement because I’m not ashamed and I don’t hide behind any of it. But I’m excited for people to know a little bit more about me.

PC: What was the biggest takeaway working on this project?
Hannah: The final episode is titled “Sorry to Keep You Waiting but I’m Getting Help.” This goes back to me being quite a sufficient self-starter and loving to do things on my own. I did this series all on my own, from production to planning to funding to going out and shooting with five cameras on tripods in the middle of the desert by myself and driving around from place to place all in seven days.

The biggest thing for me is Season 2, which I’m working on pre-producing right now. I’m definitely going to have some help on board. I’ll have another cameraman, a producer, someone to edit—because I’m editing the series as well myself.

So it’s really a one-woman production from start to finish. I think that was important because I was like, “These are my stories. I don’t want to keep rehashing it with an editor to say, “Okay, cut this, chop this, whatever. I can go through it and hash it out, that’s great.” But I do realize the importance of asking for help in a way that feels collaborative and not pushing control.

Pop Culturalist Speed Round

PC: Guilty pleasure TV show?
Hannah: Girlfriends.

PC: Guilty pleasure movie?
Hannah: I watched Step Brothers at the beginning of lockdown, and then I watched it four more times during quarantine.

PC: Favorite book?
Hannah: Little Prince because it’s a classic.

PC: Favorite play or musical?
Hannah: I love South Pacific. I was in a production of it years and years ago. I think people would also be surprised that I did musicals.

PC: A band or artist that fans would be surprised to learn is on your playlist?
Hannah: Ariana Grande. People see short hair, tattoos, and piercings and they’re like, “There’s no way.” I saw her at Lollapalooza last year—RIP music festivals for right now—and I lost my sh-t. Me and the twelve-year-olds had the best time ever.

To keep up with Hannah, follow her on Twitter and Instagram.