Starting in the early 1980s, he began working as both a radio and club DJ in the New Jerseyalternative rock scene, working at WHTG-FM when the station first began broadcasting alternative rock in 1984. He later became music director at the station and won several awards before MTV hired him to host their long-running late-night alternative music show in 1995. Pinfield went on to host a number of other shows on the MTV family of networks, including MTV, MTV2, and VH1. He left MTV in 1999 to host Farmclub.com, a live music show that aired on the USA Network. He served as vice president of A&R and artist development for Columbia Records from 2001 to 2006. He has since worked as a DJ and television host for a number of terrestrial and satellite radio stations and television networks.
During his 10 years at WHTG, Pinfield was the recipient of the Gavin Award (1992 and 1993) for National Commercial Alternative Music Director of the Year.[2]
In 1992, Pinfield appeared in an episode of the first season of MTV's The Real World when he interviewed members of the rock group Reigndance on-air at WHTG. The group's lead singer, Andre, was one of the seven cast members of The Real World.[citation needed]
In 1995, Pinfield began his television career hosting MTV's 120 Minutes. Within a year, he hosted a variety of MTV shows including MattRock, Pinfield Suite, Pinfield Presents, Rocks Off, Say What?, MTV Live, and over 100 MTV specials. His music knowledge was showcased on TRL's Stump Matt. In 1999, Pinfield joined Universal Television to host and co-write a live television show about music, farmclub.com, which aired in 2000 on the USA Network.[3]
In 2001, Pinfield became Vice President of A & R and Artist Development for Columbia Records, signing and overseeing the making of albums by acts including Coheed & Cambria and Crossfade. During the same time, he hosted WXRK's The Buzz and made cameo appearances on several albums, including a secret spoken word track on Limp Bizkit's Significant Other. In 2005, Pinfield was asked by The Rolling Stones to host their international radio interview for Premiere networks. The special featured all four band members together for the first time in an interview setting in over 35 years.[4]
On August 22, 2007, Pinfield hosted Projekt Revolution, a free concert hosted on Myspace.com.[7] Pinfield hosted Sirius Satellite Radio's Matt Pinfield Plays Whatever He Wants and Soundoff with Matt Pinfield. However, as of November 12, 2008, the merger of XM and Sirius had left the future of these shows in doubt. The future of these shows remains in doubt to this day.
Beginning May 28, 2008 Pinfield took over as morning drive DJ on New York radio station WRXP 101.9FM.[8]
In July 2009, Pinfield worked the counter at Jack White's Third Man Records pop-up store, which operated for two days on Chrystie Street in New York City. The store's primary function was to promote two WRXP gigs that White's band, the Dead Weather, was doing at Terminal 5.[citation needed]
Every February, Pinfield spins 80s/90s alternative classics at the now annual Melody Bar Reunion in New Brunswick, New Jersey.[citation needed]
In July 2011, WRXP changed formats and Pinfield left the station to host 120 Minutes, which had been revived by MTV2. He began hosting the revived weekly series on July 31, 2011.[1]
In January, 2012, Pinfield was chosen to host "Flashback", the classic rock weekend show on 219 radio stations owned by Cumulus Media.[9]
Pinfield played himself in an episode of Portlandia on January 4, 2013.[10]
On Wednesday, April 20, 2016, Pinfield took over the morning DJ time-slot at Cumulus Media's San Francisco outpost, KFOG 104.5.[12]
In 2016, Pinfield published a memoir, All These Things That I've Done: My Insane, Improbable Rock Life".[13]
In 2018, Pinfield penned the foreword for the book 100 Things Pearl Jam Fans Should Know & Do Before They Die, by author Greg Prato.[14]
In September 2019, Pinfield covered the Rock in Rio festival for LiveXLive interviewing artists on the backstage.[15]
In January 2021, Pinfield began hosting "New & Approved," a Sunday evening program featuring new rock music, on 95.5 FM KLOS in Los Angeles. [16][17]
Matt Pinfield was honored at the Global Rock Summit 2022 event with the first International Rock Icon of the Year Award for his contributions to music, radio, and media.[2]
Pinfield was the interviewer for Season 1 of the reality competition show No Cover that aired in April 2022.[18]
On March 28, 2024, Pinfield was introduced on-air as the new afternoon drivetime host for KCSN, a AAA-format public radio station based in Los Angeles.
On December3, 2018, Pinfield nearly died while crossing the street near his Hollywood home. He was struck by a car that was going 40 miles per hour (64km/h); Pinfield broke his leg in two places and split his head open all the way to the skull after hitting the windshield headfirst and striking his head a second time on the pavement.[21]
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↑ Cotter, Kelly Jane. "PLAYING HIS PICKS", Asbury Park Press, August 10, 2008. Accessed February 13, 2011. "On weekdays Pinfield gets up at the unrockin hour of 4 a.m. at his home in Harrison and is in the RXP studio by 520 a.m."
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