Nina Blackwood (born September 12, 1955) is an American disc jockey and music journalist, who was the first of the original five MTV VJs. She has also been an actress and model.

Biography

Early life and career
Blackwood was born Nina Kinckiner in Springfield, Massachusetts. In a Seattle Radio interview on August 1, 2011 Nina explained that her father was not a Minister, although he did teach Sunday School. His full-time job was in government service. She grew up on the west side of Cleveland, Ohio, and attended Rocky River High School, graduating in 1970. Prior to entering broadcasting, Blackwood appeared nude in the August 1978 Playboy pictorial, "Girls of the Office," as a brunette; the same issue coincidentally featured an interview with another future cable television pioneer, Ted Turner. On her November 7, 2011 radio show on SiriusXM she stated she sang and played keyboards in her high school sweethearts band, and covered the song "Venus".
After moving to California, she studied at the Strasberg Institute. Blackwood acted in a number of TV show and films, making appearances in the 1982 movie Vice Squad, Revenge of the Stepford Wives, and the 1993 film Reckless Kelly.


MTV and other television appearances
She was chosen for MTV's original video jockey lineup, along with Martha Quinn, Mark Goodman, Alan Hunter, and J. J. Jackson. After leaving the network in 1986, she hosted her own "Rock Report" for Entertainment Tonight. She also hosted the TV music show Solid Gold from 1986-1988. Blackwood has appeared on A Current Affair, Access Hollywood, VH1, The Discovery Channel, and MSNBC.


Radio career
In 1999, Blackwood and longtime manager/producer Danny Sheridan launched a nationally syndicated radio show for United Stations Radio Network called Nina Blackwood's Absolutely 80's. The two followed up with the another nationally syndicated program, the 80's alternative-themed Nina Blackwood's New Wave Nation. Blackwood currently hosts a weekday show on Sirius XM Radio The 80s on 8 from 1 to 4 p.m. Eastern. On weekends she co-hosts the Sirius XM Radio show The Big '80s Top 40 Countdown with other original MTV VJ's.

She performed as part of the 2003 road company of The Vagina Monologues.

Blackwood also broadcasts from San Diego radio station FM 94/9 on Sunday mornings.