Angela Watson Charles (Uptown Angela) is living the dream in her hometown of New Orleans, where she is the Executive Vice President of Programming for iHeartRadio. She oversees 54 markets for the company and 295 stations across the country, specializing in Custom R&B and Gospel.
In addition to that, she is the Program Director for legendary stations 98.5 WYLD (R&B), Q 93 WQUE (Hip Hop & R&B), WYLD-AM, and WRNO-HD2 in New Orleans.
Fresh off the Super Bowl, Mardi Gras and French Quarter Fest, Angela and her team are navigating the New Orleans Jazz and Heritage Festival, which kicked off this week and extends through May 4th. This is in the middle of Crawfish season and whatever else the Crescent City throws their way to celebrate in the near future. Needless to say, it NEVER ends when you represent such a large part of the culture for a city like New Orleans.
“Being the home of the big heritage stations in the city, iHeart NOLA is the go-to for getting the word out in the community,” says Angela. “This ranges from kids/family resources and givebacks to keeping our listeners safe during hurricanes and citywide flooding. We’ve also got a well-oiled machine for Mardi Gras & the festivals…our talent divides and conquers! So, you’ll see us EVERYWHERE!”
“It’s the culture that separates New Orleans from other cities,” says Angela. “New Orleans is BURSTING with culture! Including and especially with its music. Bounce is a huge part of this, and the city has several artists who have been on the circuit for decades. Bounce picked up traction internationally a while back and more recently gained national acclaim with artists like Drake & Chris Brown using popular bounce samples in their tracks.”
It’s crazy, but outside of her busy radio schedule, Angela also hosts events on the side and enjoys flipping houses in the city. Her Instagram account tells the story of someone completely entrenched in the NOLA community and thoroughly enjoying life.
Her story is an interesting and rare one about her journey in the radio industry, which uniquely never took her away from her hometown or first radio company. She started at iHeart (Clear Channel) as a Promotions intern in 1990, joined the Programming team six months later on air as “Uptown Angela,” then picked up Music Director duties, then APD, PD, Ops Manager, SVP Programming, and in 2020 became Executive VP of Programming for the company.
Her path was pretty straightforward. “I actually researched Oprah’s path and saw that she started in radio,” she says. “I called the top stations to inquire about internships (WYLD-FM & WQUE-FM). The PD of Q93 invited me the next day to interview, and he hired me on the spot!”
Since then, she has enjoyed many successes and amazing experiences, but the best is pretty simple for her. “The awards for Best Stations have been greatly appreciated,” she says. “But coaching up-and-coming ‘rock star talent’ is what I am most proud of. Seeing young, hungry talent come in, work hard, and then move into full-time roles within the company is what makes me feel accomplished!”
With so many responsibilities, Angela’s primary concern is making sure none of the balls are dropped. “I make daily lists,” she says. “Before I close my eyes each night, I double and triple-check my next day’s priorities. To find balance, I work out and have ‘ME TIME!’ I also tell Google to play ocean sounds, the piano, or Chill Jams (on our iHeartRadio app of course), and just relax on the sofa most weekends!”
One of the most challenging experiences for Angela over the years, besides Hurricane Katrina in 2005, was this year’s New Year’s Day attack on Bourbon Street, where at least 14 people were killed after a man drove his truck into a crowd of people celebrating the holiday.
“Waking up on 1/1 and learning about the attack on Bourbon was unimaginable!” She says. “Especially with my husband being an NOPD officer, who was tasked with searching for bombs throughout the French Quarter later that morning. The officers were not allowed to have phones, so I was on pins and needles for several hours during the sweep.”
“But New Orleanians are resilient, and we had to go on. I immediately went on air and teamed up with our national breaking news team to update the NOLA community,” explains Angela. “With the Super Bowl and Mardi Gras coming, our citizens were shaken up by this tragedy. Sugar Bowl travelers left the city, and ticket prices dropped tremendously.”
“Many local leaders decided to join forces to support the football teams by attending the game. This was a beautiful moment of resilience as many locals compared this to the first game played in the Super Dome post-Hurricane Katrina. It’s who we are in New Orleans- we will not live in fear but will come together even during our darkest hours.”
“Thankfully, life in New Orleans is now back to normal. Jazz Fest kicks off this weekend, and we are so excited to enjoy the music and amazing NOLA cuisine!”
Follow Uptown Angela on Instagram: @UptownAngela
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Charese Fruge’ is an award-winning Content, Broadcast, and Marketing executive with over 20 years of experience in markets like Los Angeles, San Francisco, Houston, San Diego, and Las Vegas. As the owner of MC Media, she works with radio brands and individual talent, especially young women, helping them grow their brands and negotiate on their own behalf. She is also a Voice Actor and Voice Over Talent as well as a Freelance Writer for International Broadcast Outlets. Find her at @MCMediaOnline or www.mcmediaonline.com.
