Kyle Santillan Feels it’s Important to Put Yourself in front with Social MediaKyle Santillan has been an industry hustler for several years. I was getting constant videos and segments from a radio show at WJMH. Santillan was on a hustle to do greater things.
I ran the segments because it was almost unheard of for black Radio DJs to promote themselves and as an industry news trade it made my job very difficult but I understood the resistance. Many urban radio people, including PDs (still), feel it’s better to maintain a low profile to maintain a more neutral stance with their respective corporations. I also understand the corporation’s need to protect its branding.
Nevertheless, Santillan found a way to slip through the cracks and do what he needed to do. The industry took note including industry vet Derrick Brown who took a chance by bringing the vet to a major market to do the morning show after a previous morning show at GCI failed. Before that WGCI had been running syndicated shows. Kyle Santillan was born in Philadelphia … and raised in Franklinville, New Jersey, a small rural town about 30 minutes from downtown Philly. He started his radio career in 1999 as an intern at WJMH (102 Jamz) in Greensboro, NC. while he was a Junior at Winston-Salem State University.
He was then promoted from intern to promotions assistant. Promotions assistant to part-time on air. Part-time on-air to full-time nights in 2001. He hosted nights for two years.
Then he hosted Mornings from 2003 to 2014….amazingly all at the same Radio Station . After that, his 15-year run at Jamz, ended and he was unemployed for about six months then he landed at WGCI doing mornings in Chicago.I remember before the WGCI gig your online hustle was hard. You were obviously determined.
How did you motivate yourself? KYLE SANTILLIAN: I was just motivated by not wanting to be a failure. Not wanting to be a person who lost their job and was never working in radio again. I was using the only outlet I had at the time, the internet. Did/Do you have any mentors? Absolutely! I would say my first mentor was Kendall B most recently of KS 107.5 in Denver. He was working Nights when I was interning at Jamz.
He was the 1st person to allow me to touch the board and even run his board for a portion of his show. From there, I’ll just list some names of some people that have given me great advice and have been an inspiration to me at different times in my career. D’ Cherie of WNAA 90.1 Greensboro (Rest in Peace) Brian Douglas of WJMH Greensboro Uzi D of WPEG in Charlotte Sammy Mack aka Buckwilde formerly of 95.7 Jamz in Birmingham BJ Murphy of Charlotte What has been the greatest asset to your career?
I personally believe that it’s the ability to be a “real person.” I was trained from day one to be a personality…be who you are on air, rather than just a “liner Radio DJ.” Let your personality show & don’t overemphasize your words. What has been the greatest challenge?Sometimes the challenge is maintaining the balance between work and family. I try to do my best to handle both accordingly. Sometimes there are conflicting things on my calendar but overall, I think I’ve done pretty well with it. It’s not easy though.
Many radio people say that syndication sucks but if they are offered the chance to do it, they will jump at it. Is that fair? Kanye West Breaks Down During WGCI InterviewIt’s a catch 22.
I’d be lying if I said I didn’t dream of one day having that national audience as well. What’s a typical day like in your working world? A typical day starts at 4 am. On air from 6-10 am. Depending on the day, after work is either meetings, recording promos or commercial/sponsor reads. Hopefully get home with enough time to catch a power nap, before the kids get out of school. Juggle their after-school activities and helping with homework, dinner, family time. Then spend a couple of hours on prep for the next day, searching the internet for tomorrow’s news, topics or soundbites. After all that, some nights there are evening events to attend and sometimes I can just shut it down, but it just depends on the day.