“Radio is a fickle business and you can be here one day and gone the next, but if you’re talented, there will always be a spot for you somewhere.”
Shelby Sos: Got The Radio Sauce
Written by: Miss Perry
“My journey has honestly had more downs than ups, and there were so many times I wanted to give up. I’d call my mom crying, saying I was going to quit and go to grad school. Being a woman in the boys club is hard, even when you’re one of the boys.”
Shelby Sos ( last name is pronounced “Sauce”) is the infamous Night Jock for Z104.3 for iHeartMedia Baltimore. But before she was Shelby, she had a couple nicknames as an intern. “When I started my career in radio, I was called “Intern Shelby” or “Wednesday Addams” because I wore a lot of black. Within weeks, everyone at work started calling me “Sos”. When I would get called in to be on air, it was a reflex to call me by my last name so listeners started to call me by my last name as well. When I started my night show six months ago I had to decide if I wanted to be “Shelby” or “Sos”. Since the market I work in, was the same market as my old job it made sense to keep going by my last name, since that’s what the listeners know. Is it the safest idea? Definitely not!”
Like most of us women in radio, Shelby Sos describes radio as being one of her wildest dreams. “I had been wanting to start my radio career for a while, but kept hitting road blocks. When I was in college one of my classmates was an intern for the Kane Show, and told me they were hiring. I applied in April 2016, and kept sending e-mails to the producer of the show until finally I was called for an interview in July 2016. The date they picked for the interview, I was supposed to be on a work trip in another state. I canceled the trip, lost hundreds of dollars, just for the interview. It worked out, I got hired out of hundreds of applicants as a Kane Show intern!”
Her resilience and persistence has allowed Shelby Sos to grow and become the dynamic personality she is now. We concluded interview with advice about being an upcoming women in radio and what she would leave for aspiring women in the industry. “Keep going. There are going to be times when you feel like giving up because you don’t see yourself succeeding, but that just means something big is about to happen! Everything you’re about to do is right. Keep advocating for yourself because if you don’t, who will?”
Cyn City: Weird, Awkward, Funny
By: Maya Perry
“I pretty much knew what career path I wanted to take back when I was a teenager. It was either going to be a meteorologist or work in radio. I hate math, so radio won the coin toss!”
Cyn City not to be confused with “Sin City” proclaims that she is a combination of three simple words, “Weird. Awkward. Funny.” She further explains, “I’m just me. I try to be as authentic to myself as possible. When I look around and see what flows through social media, it makes me sad sometimes because I feel some of us radio head’s, we forget what we truly started out in radio to do. Move people. Entertain. Make them forget about their worries while they listen to us. I feel as if we have turned into these social media clowns doing every “challenge” in order to go viral. Or do things in order to pump up on our followers count. I need substance. My purpose in radio is simple. Entertain. I want radio to move folks the way some legendary jocks moved me when I was younger.”
Cyn City tells a short memory about growing up around radio. “Growing up, I would see my dad talk with people all around the world using his HAM radio. The original Facebook! Lol. He’s had one since the 70’s or 80’s. I loved sneaking into his “radio room” and would turn it on and see if I could talk to someone in another country. He would get post cards from his “friends” all over the world. I found it fun and exciting! When the time came to pick what I wanted to do in life, radio came naturally.”
When speaking to Cyn City, I loved reading her name. Something so simple as a play on words, yet intriguing. I had to ask, how did she come up with the on air name “Cyn City”? She clarifies, “My real name is spelled Cintia. But, my whole entire life no one could ever spell it correctly, not even my own mother at times! Since I worked in sports radio and it was a boys club, all the boys had nick names. A dear friend/coworker of mine, Zach Krantz from 560 WQAM in Miami, he gave me the name Cyn City on air one day. The boys used just call me “Cin”.Cin turned into Cyn City and well...I ran with it. Cyn City was born!”
You can catch Cyn City on air at Power 96 in Miami as well as cohosting “Not a Basic Podcast”. When I asked her what piece of advice she would give to upcoming women in radio, she concluded “Learn! Learn! Learn! Every department. Every job position. Learn it. You never know where your radio journey will take you. Absorb and learn as much as you can. Toughen up faster. It’ll help face disappointments that WILL come along the way.”
Kat Carter: The Radio Nerd
By: Maya Perry
Like most of us, Kat started out doing a job that wasn’t what she wanted to do, but she recognized her talents. “I started off in the promotions department then slowly started to gain more responsibilities when it was clear I was passionate about radio. At my first radio job, I ended up being the Music Director for three formats (Hot-AC, Country and Classic Rock) plus doing the mid-day shift on the Hot-AC station, I was in my early 20s at the time. When I initially started in radio, I went by my real name ‘Emily Carter’ but after my second radio job in Vancouver, I went by Kat Carter instead. At the time, we had two Emily C’s at the station and since I was the new girl in town, my PD asked if I could change my name. It took a while to choose a name until a co-worker asked what my middle name was...I responded “Kathleen” and he said to go with “Kat Carter.” She has been Kat Carter ever since.
“I found my purpose in radio after trying out almost every job at the station to see what I enjoyed most. I tried production, news, copy, promo, on-air and music. I quickly realized that my goal was not to be on-air, but in the music department, programming the station. You’ve got to have a certain focus and attention to detail to program music and I knew that was one of my strong suits. I also made sure to continue to be on-air, that way I became more valuable to the station. It’s harder to let go of someone who is doing multiple jobs. If I had just been on-air, I probably would have been canned numerous times.”
Concluding our interview, Kat left some sound advice for future women in radio, “If I could speak to my younger self, I would tell her that you’re more talented than you think. Stop doubting your abilities and don’t compare yourself to others. Have more confidence in yourself. Don’t be afraid to take chances, it will help you grow personally and professionally. Take that job in another market, try out a different position at the station, network as much as possible and don’t be afraid to fail. We all fail but the successful ones get back up and try again.”
Phoenix Kaye: Rising From The Ashes
Written by: Maya Perry
Phoenix Kaye’s personal slogan is, “A Phoenix ALWAYS rises from ashes”. She further explains how to maintain your power within the industry, “self- advocacy. Don’t diminish your voice to make those of others resound better. Advocate for yourself! You are your own best advocate, not worst enemy.”
Phoenix Kaye gave a brief history of how she got her start in radio. “I started as an intern. Once they let me in the door, I never allowed them to forget me. After my internship was completed, I would constantly show up at the station, just to touch base. It worked because when a position became available, I was fresh on their minds and they extended a job offer to me.”
Assuming she was from Arizona like most, she explains how she got the name “Phoenix Kaye”. “So, a really good friend of mine gave me the nickname Phoenix. I initially started my on-air journey using my actual name, while I was producing and co-hosting a show for our Hip Hop station, K97.5,in Raleigh. When I switched over to our R&B station, Foxy 107/104, I decided to mix things up. I love the symbolism of a Phoenix and got a kick out of the nickname. So, I kept Phoenix as a first name and paired it with my given middle name and Phoenix Kaye was born.”
Branding is defined as the promotion of a particular product or individual by means of advertising. I asked Phoenix Kaye what she thinks her brand is and she explains, “The funny thing about branding, for me, is that I feel there is a certain fluidity in what I hope our listeners perceive my brand to be. I can be upbeat, goofy, informative, and sincere. I really want them to see me as someone they can relate to. I want them to feel like I’m an old friend from way back.”
The advice Phoenix Kaye would give to upcoming women in radio is, “Stay consistent and try to learn all facets of the radio business. There are so many components to radio that I didn’t know anything about before I started. You may have your mind set to pursue radio for one specific role, but then find that you fit another role better. Be adaptable. If you love it, it won’t feel like work and it will also keep you focused and centered when the going gets tough. It may get tough, but you have to WANT to grow and succeed. Please, don’t compare yourself to others. Find your niche and be fabulous! You have to be relentless, resilient, and passionate about this craft. It can feel like a one-sided relationship, at times.”
