Matt Pinfield

Matthew Pinfield, born on May 28, 1961, in Athens, Georgia, established a significant presence in the music industry through his roles as a television host, disc jockey, and music executive. His career began in the early 1980s as a radio and club DJ within the New Jersey alternative rock scene. He worked at WRSU-FM at Rutgers University before moving to WHTG-FM in 1984, where he became music director. During his decade at WHTG, Pinfield was recognized with the Gavin Award for National Commercial Alternative Music Director of the Year in both 1992 and 1993, highlighting his early influence in identifying and promoting alternative music.

Pinfield transitioned to television in 1995, joining MTV as a VJ and host of “120 Minutes,” a prominent alternative music program. His approachable style and encyclopedic music knowledge quickly made him a popular figure on the network. He hosted several other MTV shows, including “MattRock,” “Pinfield Suite,” and “MTV Live,” and was known for “TRL’s Stump Matt,” where his musical expertise was regularly tested. In 1999, he moved to Universal Television to host and co-write “farmclub.com,” a live music show that aired on the USA Network in 2000.

From 2001 to 2006, Pinfield held the position of Vice President of A&R and Artist Development for Columbia Records, where he signed and oversaw albums for acts such as Coheed & Cambria and Crossfade. He continued his radio work during this period, hosting “The Buzz” on WXRK, and also made cameo appearances on albums, including a spoken word track on Limp Bizkit’s “Significant Other.” Pinfield returned to television in 2006 to host VH1’s “VSpot Top 20 Countdown” and HDNet’s “Sound Off with Matt Pinfield,” an interview program. Later, he returned to host “120 Minutes” for MTV2 from 2011 to 2013 and became a DJ on SiriusXM Radio’s Lithium channel in 2015, continuing to engage with an audience interested in alternative and rock music. In 2022, he received the International Rock Icon of the Year Award at the Global Rock Summit.