Jackie’s Trackies is more than just music

In the internet age, and especially in a city as alive as Los Angeles, the air is constantly buzzing with music. Where prior generations may have heard only live performances or radio singles doled out in meager portions, we now live only seconds away from more new tracks than we could ever hope to hear. In this unceasing ocean of sound, rather than feeling overwhelmed or lost, Jackie Greenberg finds potential for life’s most sincere connections.

“Everyone says math is the universal language. No, it’s music — I don’t know how to do math,” Greenberg said with a laugh. “Music can bring so many people together, in ways that are just indescribable.”

Greenberg, a senior majoring in creative writing and music director for USC’s KXSC, has done just that — harnessing the connective power of music through her online radio show, “Jackie’s Trackies.” In just two years of running the weekly radio hour, Greenberg has expanded her reach thirtyfold while cultivating a tight-knit community of listeners.

A longtime fan of indie music, Greenberg has devoted her extracurricular attention exclusively to music curation since she was in high school — at L.A.’s Harvard Westlake, Greenberg worked at the school’s KHWS station, where the skills and moniker behind the show were built.

While spending her freshman year at the University of Portland, Greenberg had her work as assistant music director at the school’s KDUP station interrupted by the coronavirus pandemic.

“I’ve always been really into radio. I did it in high school for two years, so I got my grounding there,” she said. “[But] once COVID hit, I knew I wanted to start my own thing because I didn’t really know when I would get back to Portland.”

With newfound time and old passion, Greenberg went all in on launching her new project, adjusting to technical difficulties with a multi-medium creativity, apparent upon landing on the website and exploring Greenberg’s original art and poetry.

“I initially bought my domain name in January of 2020 as my birthday gift, and it took me up until March to get the design and the layout going. It was definitely just trial and error in making it,” she said.

It also took time for Greenberg to settle on the format of the show. Though “Jackie’s Trackies” is now an hour-long weekly broadcast, it began in the spring of 2020 as multiple streams per week of a longer-form program.

“In 2020 when it was peak COVID, I had all the time in the world, and I was also [using the server’s] free trial, which means you can stream 24 hours a day,” Greenberg said. “So it would definitely go between two to four hours, but once I started getting a routine and a typical crowd, I just kept it at an hour.”

Greenberg said that while her radio work has always been “more of a hobby than anything,” it is one she thinks fulfills an important role in her life and in society. While the widespread availability of streaming services has limited the degree to which listeners rely on radio to break new music, Greenberg has used the project to explore how curation can still be remarkably enriching, if not for discovering music, then for connecting with the audience — something she’s also experienced with her role at KXSC.

“‘Jackie’s Trackies’ is sort of my own free reign; I can choose whatever I want, find as much music as I want or as little music as I want and know that the music that I choose, I’m giving directly to the audience that tunes in every week,” she said. “But [at] KXSC, I sift through thousands of emails of new music submissions and have to pick, not necessarily the best of the best, but something that’s good enough for college radio.”

Greenberg has found a home at KXSC, not just because it provides an additional platform for music curation, but also because it prioritizes personal connections, both with its listeners and among its staff.

“This is literally the only club I’m a part of at USC, and it’s the one thing I was most excited for when I transferred initially,” she said. “It just fit in so perfectly, and I love the people I meet at the station.”

KXSC general manager Spencer Churchill harmonized with Greenberg’s thoughts on curation in the digital age. As a music director and assistant music director duo last year, Churchill and Greenberg spent countless hours digging through thousands of direct submissions and online spaces each week to find brand new music for KXSC listeners.

“In my opinion, nobody’s finding out about anything through radio anymore,” Churchill, who now serves as KXSC’s general manager, said. “But sometimes people don’t want to pick what gets played, and people want to hear other people’s taste, so I think it’s less about breaking new artists and more about showing people your taste. It’s more about the personality behind it.”

In the case of “Jackie’s Trackies,” Greenberg’s ability to inject her broadcasts with personality is part of why her online community has grown so quickly. And according to Churchill, on top of being “just fantastic with listening to music,” this quality makes her independent endeavor all the more special.

“It’s a really unique way to build a community online,” Churchill said. “I’ve never seen anybody else make a presence online like that, alone.

The unique qualities of the broadcast are evident to new listeners, but most apparent among the long-time audience of “Jackie’s Trackies,” who, over time, have grown sincere friendships through their similar tastes. On the “Jackie’s Trackies” Discord channel, which Greenberg launched this February, listeners-turned-friends talk and play games late into the night, comparing Last.fms and competing to guess song titles.

“As someone that didn’t really have any friends besides two of my closest friends, having the power to use music in a way that brings people together, it’s so cool,” Greenberg said. “[Music is] such a good way to make friends — it’s one of the most universal things in the world.”

Members of Greenberg’s community reflect similar sentiments. Aiden Brady, a senior majoring in journalism, remarked that even as a first-time listener in the spring of 2021, he felt personally welcomed.

“I think that Jackie did a really good job of creating a tight-knit community where everybody feels welcomed and included in the chat,” Brady said. “From the first time that I ever joined, she welcomes you by name. She asks how everybody’s doing. She’s talking about her own personal life. It kind of feels like, immediately right off the bat, it feels like she’s a friend.”

To Greenberg and the listeners of her program, those feelings are just as important as the music recommendations. She doesn’t just curate her favorite tracks each week — she cares for a community.

“It means the world to me. Every time I go live and I see 16-20 people in there, I’m like ‘Oh shit, people actually want to hear my voice, people want to hear my music,’” Greenberg said. “To know that I have the ability to curate a community and make it a loving and friendly environment where people like to come back to and people feel like they have a safe space almost, it’s one of the most tender feelings in the world.”

“Jackie’s Trackies” streams every Wednesday at 5 p.m. PST on jackiestrackies.com.