East Coast Radio (ECR) has announced that it is bidding farewell to Jane Linley-Thomas after two decades on the airwaves. Linley-Thomas will be hanging up her mic for the last time on Sunday, 24 September.
The radio veteran’s journey with the station began when she was a junior in high school. Her passion for radio was ignited while listening to Daryl Ilbury and JVB, the traffic guy, on her morning drives to school with her father, says the station.
“I just loved how radio connected people. It was on one of those mornings that I said to my dad that one day I will be on East Coast Radio,” Linley-Thomas says.
Fast forward to 2003, when her dream became a reality, and she found herself working with Mel Massyn on the station. She started by learning how to handle the radio console’s many buttons and sliders. By week two, she was driving the desk solo, and before she knew it, she was co-presenting on the weekday Breakfast show.
“Can you imagine being 23 years old and being on a billboard and having our own brand of ECR breakfast cereal. It was a year of immense growth and fun,” Linley-Thomas adds.
East Coast Radio’s programming manager Travis Bussiahn has expressed gratitude to Linley-Thomas for her dedication, passion and the talent that she shared with the station for 20 years.
“Linley-Thomas’s departure marks the end of an era, but we are excited to see her embrace the next chapter of her life with her family. We wish her all the happiness and success in her future endeavours. Thank you, Linley-Thomas, for being an extraordinary part of our station’s history,” Bussiahn added.
Linley-Thomas says that radio has been a big part of her life’s purpose.
“It takes a lot of courage to know when the right time is to walk away. [I am] looking forward to spending more time with [my] family and am excited for the next chapter of [my] life,” Linley-Thomas says.
“I am going home. Home in a sense of a new season and adventure where I focus on my family and create more intentional memories with them. It surely wasn’t an easy decision to hand over my mic after 20 years, but the time is right,” Linley-Thomas concludes.
Listeners are encouraged to tune in for Linley-Thomas’ final show on East Coast Radio, which is airing on Sunday, 24 September, from 14:00 to 18:00. In the interim, Tee Xaba will be hosting the weekend 14:00-16:00 timeslot.