No more weekend special as DJ Sabby takes over Dineo slot
First midmorning male hist in 15 years
DJ Sabby, who joins Metro FM’s midmorning show as the first new male host of the slot at the station in 15 years, will do so in style when he features Isaac Phaahla, the last male to occupy the seat.
DJ Sabby will take over Dineo Ranaka’s The Bridge on weekdays from 9am till noon.
“This is a great chance to display that men can also host this highly competitive slot, and I am excited to be the one to do it,” said the 32-year-old.
Born Sabelo Mtshali, the DJ said that hosting the Top 40 chart, a slot he occupied for 15 months, was all part of the bigger plan.
“With my previous station I only spoke to one province but Metro gave me a chance to suss out a different national market and it was an exciting challenge to prepare myself for a weekday show,” he said.
With this bigger dream in mind, he accepted the Saturday show as the initial buildup but admits that many around him did not understand his move. Instead, they thought he was regressing in his career, especially after dominating weekdays on YFM for 10 years and all the accolades. But when that 10year mark came, at the age of 30, he knew he wanted more.
“I had become a father, I was getting into business, I was thinking of marriage and my mindset was now seeking an audience that resonates with my thoughts as I was slowly outgrowing the platform.
“I knew that the vision was to get where I am right now, even though it took me 15 months to get here. But I was working towards this moment and because I know that once I am given a foot in, I will show you my work because I am all about hard work,” he said.
During his tenure on the Top 40 slot, Sabby’s show gained him just over 1.1m listeners in 12 months and that is the point where he knew he was ready for more.
The radio broadcaster also hosts a slot on BBC’s digital radio station 1Xtra with the 1Love Crew, and believes no step is ever in the wrong direction, as long as the vision is clear. Coming out from being a weekend special, as he puts it, the game plan is to do amazing things on the slot like featuring great guests. The goal is to one day host the Drive slot on Metro before dominating the world.
“I want to do what Trevor [Noah] did for comedy, but in radio. I want to go through this international gate by taking what I have now and putting it on a global scale and make SA part of the global radio conversation,” he said.
DJ Sabby will be on his own, only to be joined by The Naked DJ and Mo G for the popular “Ask a Man” segment.