Nic Harcourt | |
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| Born | (1957-09-23)September 23, 1957 (age 67) |
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Nic Harcourt (born September 23, 1957) is an English-bornAmerican radio and television presenter, producer, and journalist best known as the former Music Director and on-air presenter for theSanta Monica,California-based radio stationKCRW. Harcourt hosts the weekday88.5 FM Morning Music Mix atKCSN inNorthridge,California.
Born inBirmingham,England, Harcourt lived inLichfield, England and BrisbaneAustralia before coming to theUnited States.[1] Before joining KCRW, Harcourt worked for eight years (1990-1998) as a news director and later morning drive show host, music director and program director at radio stationWDST inWoodstock, New York, which he described as "an innovative commercial station ... renowned as a bastion of new music, always being ahead of the curve".[2] Leaving WDST after it changed owners in 1998, he joined KCRW to host and edit the daily radio showMorning Becomes Eclectic. He later wrote, "my new job was a very different proposition from the controlled playlist of commercial radio. All of a sudden I found myself with the greatest job in radio where I was allowed to play anything I like and go as deep into an album as I wanted to."[2]
The shows, broadcast live inLos Angeles, often featured live performances by artists both popular and obscure. They includedDido andTravis who have credited Harcourt for recognizing them early in their career. Harcourt was also credited with helping to launchColdplay's career as well as those ofNorah Jones,Sigur Ros,David Gray,Adele,Arctic Monkeys, andMetric.
A weekly version of the show calledSounds Eclectic, launched in 2000, was broadcast on several other stations in cooperation withPRI.
On November 10, 2008, Harcourt announced that he would be leaving his role withMorning Becomes Eclectic and resigning as music director for KCRW as of November 30, 2008, while taking on a new show on Sundays.[3][4] KCRW management selectedJason Bentley to replace Harcourt on bothMorning Becomes Eclectic and as music director.[5]
With his reduced role at KCRW, Harcourt founded his own company, SamLuna Media Inc., to develop TV and movie projects. Harcourt continued to do his Sunday show at KCRW until June 2011, when he took on a new show atKCSN calledConnections with Nic Harcourt[6] Harcourt was hoping that he could have done his shows on both stations as he was not getting paid by KCSN.[6] On October 19, 2012 Harcourt debuted his weekday morning show on KCSN, calledMornings Are Electric. Harcourt also became Music Supervisor in residence forMTV in March 2011 and many thought he left KCRW for this reason due to a press release from KCRW mentioning his new job.[6] Harcourt denied this in an interview with theLos Angeles Times and said the real reason he had to leave KCRW was because of his new show on KCSN and that KCRW management would not let him do shows on both stations.[6] In October 2011 he became the host of the morning (6 am–11 am) drive music show at KCSN (KCSN Morning Show with Nic Harcourt). In September 2015 his show moved to the midday (11 am–3 pm) time slot (KCSN Midday Music Mix with Nic Harcourt). In 2017 he returned to the morning show.
In 2005 Harcourt publishedMusic Lust, a book of "recommended listening for every mood, moment and reason." He has also worked as music consultant/supervisor for several television shows and movies, including:Ben Affleck'sGone Baby Gone (2007),Love Monkey,The Dukes of Hazzard,Life As We Know It,Igby Goes Down, and the first season of the rebooted teen drama90210 (TV series). Harcourt was also the American national voice over talent from 2005 thru 2008 for theLand Rover advertising campaign.
Harcourt has also served as Editor at Large: Music and Culture for LA: TheLos Angeles Times Magazine (2009–10).
He produced and hosted a short-lived live performance music website called TheLiveBuzz in the fall of 2010 and was also the first Music Supervisor in Residence at MTV (2011-2012). He is currently the host and interviewer forDirecTV's "Guitar Center Sessions"[7] (2010 onwards) and also hosted a performance/interview podcast series forGuitar Center (2010-2014).
He also manages Los Angeles based singer/songwriter and producer Kita Klane and has directed several music videos for her.[8]
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