South African actress and radio personality, Relebogile Mabotja recently celebrated her 50th show on Metro FM’s Fresh Breakfast. When her arrival on the show was announced, the former Rhythm City actress told Move! how excited she was for the challenge and was looking forward to growing in the radio industry.
"While I enjoy being playful and fun, my more serious side will get to shine as I also take on the new role of reading the news. I welcome this new challenge with an open mind, and I look forward to growing with the team, the station, and its listeners,” she said.
In just 10 weeks, Relebogile says she’s grown and has loved the experience of being on the show:
Speaking exclusively to Move!, the bubbly Relebogile told us, “It feels humbling, to be honest. I’m doing things I never dreamed I would do or thought I could.” And even though she enjoys it, she insists the nerves never go away.
“I definitely still get nervous, that it will not end as long as I care about what I do. And the most satisfying thing about it all, is the power radio has and being able to change people’s lives for the better in the different ways we do – with the support of the listeners.”
“The biggest lesson I’ve learned so far is as soon as you’ve made the mistake and acknowledged it, move on – don’t linger on it. Learn and do better next time.” She says.
The one thing she still hasn’t gotten used to is all the automatic ads, as well as the system from a technical point of view.
Not everything has been smooth sailing for her though, a tweep recently criticised Relebogile for cutting off listeners who call into the show. They called her her ‘rude’.
“If u gona cut callers off like that then why are u inviting us into ur conversations?!! That was very rude how u cut off that caller simply coz u personally dd nt agree with hm..” the Twitter user said.
Relebogile responded to the tweep by saying, “Are you offering to come here and do our schedule and running order? I’d be happy to hear your thoughts on when we should play everything, how long callers should be given time on air, while we play ads, read messages, reply tweets...Teach me.”
“Cutting people off is never kind. No one likes to do it, especially when they are expressing themselves. However, live broadcasts run on a clock. I will always strive to strike the right balance of being time keeper while being cognisant of guests and callers who don’t know our clocks. It’s part of the job,” she told us.
The radio industry is clearly not an easy industry to be in, but for everyone who dreams of being part of it, she has some advice:
“Be ready for a tough, challenging road with curve balls. That’s live broadcast. Be really passionate about it so it’s all worth it because at any give moment, not everyone will like what you do and how you do it.”
