Msizi James is radio’s new cool kid on the block. From East Coast Radio to 5fm and last week making his debut on 947, it’s hard to believe that before 2015 he didn’t have any radio experience.
Born Msizi James Madinane, he gets candid about his rise to the top, entering Idols SA and popping the question to his high school sweetheart Angela last week.
A week at 947, how has it been going?
It’s been going good. It’s such an interesting change coming from the SABC to a proper run corporate. It’s whirlwind and very busy at Primedia as you can imagine. But it’s been exciting for everyone, including the listeners.
It must be your dream job?
My radio career started at East Coast Radio in Durban. I never had a background in radio and never tried to be on radio. I fell into radio. I was there for two years and then 5fm for three years before I got the call to come to 947. So, I always end up landing what I consider my dream job.
How did you get into radio?
Before I was on radio I was a surf instructor in Durban. I had also done Idols SA in 2013 and I came in at number 17. I always thought I was going to be the superstar musician, which is very hard in this country. So, my year on Idols was won by Khaya Mthethwa and my group was Shekhinah and Kyle Deutsch. When we left Idols, we started a band in Durban called Keep The Change.
I thought we were going to be this big band, but Shekhinah moved to Joburg, Kyle continued being a chiropractor and I was teaching kids how to surf. I got into radio after I won a competition ran by East Coast Radio (in 2015).
How was it like to win that competition?
I was baptised with fire. I had eight shows a week at East Coast Radio from Monday to Sunday – twice on Sunday. I learned a lot of stuff. When DJ Fresh left 5fm, they called me to come join Thando Thabethe.
Take us through your upbringing.
I was raised in a small town in KZN called Hillcrest. I come from what I like to call the best of both worlds. I have two moms – one white and the other black. My white mom Pat is an American missionary. My biological mom Sylvia, who I love to bits, was not in the best situation to look after her four kids after her husband and my stepfather left. So the five of us were living in a one-room house. Along came this American missionary lady, [who] didn’t have kids of her own and was about 50.
We all lived on a farm and everyday when I was about five I used to come back from crèche and she would invite me to her house. She asked if I could spend the weekend one day after she was there for months and she ended raising me until I was 18. She never adopted me because my biological mom was always there. She was a help for my family. She helped me and my other siblings to school.
Congratulations on your engagement. How did you meet Angela?
We dated when I was in matric and broke up before getting back together. We got back together three weeks before I moved back to Joburg in 2017. So we did long distance for about three years and it almost killed us. She then moved to Joburg last year during lockdown. She had finished her degree; she’s a graphic designer, that was the reason she stayed behind when I came here. She moved in, we got dogs and things have been going well. For a long time I knew, and last year I told my mom, then bought the ring.
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