CHENNAI: Jane Jeyakumar is a very busy woman. At work, she is the head of sales and also the breakfast presenter, but for everyone else in the city she is that friendly voice on your morning radio, making your first cuppa better or getting you through the long commute to work.
Welcoming everyone who tunes into Chennai Live 104.8 FM to a lively morning, Jane’s passion for her job shines through as soon as you meet her. But modesty seems to be Jane’s middle name. She says it’s all thanks to her team that she’s able to do what she loves most and brave many a professional challenge.
The RJ, who has handled all kinds of show-emergencies, met the worst of them during last year’s floods, which also won her and the organisation many laurels.
“My home at Virugambakkam was completely flooded. At such a nerve-wracking time, keeping the show alive was the hardest thing to do,” she recounts and adds how a sense of depression pervaded their studio. “Somehow we had to fight and keep it cheerful and ensure the phone lines going,” she adds.
But she says that her boss’s words rang in her mind when he told her team to pull up their socks. “He said Chennai needs us. So we got down to a crazy, sleepless 10 days in the studio with back-to-back shows,” she says. Pulling superhuman shifts and seeing the worst suffering the city had to offer, this sole lady in a team of men has more gusto and ideas than ever.
Although her team won an award for their service, keeping the phone lines open for aggrieved callers, lost friends and also for family in the city trying to trace loved ones, Jane remains grounded. She believes there is more human content her medium can bring forth.
“I want to do more shows with people who can speak on important issues that affect those in the city… everyday issues they have knowledge and expertise on,” she says.
She adds that these kinds of shows should have content that can help a listener. “We need more of that kind of content, which has a real, human impact,” she adds.