destined to influence

Alysse Stewart, Radio Host and Program Director, Magic 106.9

Zairis T. Miles

So when did you or how did you become a radio host? Like what made you want to do that?

Well, I know a lot of times when kids are small, they call out certain things that they want to do. Radio was not something that was on my mind. I reached the 12th grade in high school and didn’t have a game plan. I knew I wanted to be an actress, I didn’t have a game plan. So the guidance counselor called my mom in, like, what is she gonna do? She needs something. So I applied to college–I didn’t want to go to college– St. Augustine’s College. And they said, “Hey come on, we got room for you.” I didn’t go to class a-lot, I didn’t graduate. Let me just say that. But when I got there, I went looking for the drama department because I said, well, you know what? I can prepare myself for this acting that I wanna do in that eventual move to New York or LA. So I went to where I thought the drama department would be. There was none. So I left the building. I’m like “OK, so what now ?” I’m walking on this campus, and I walked past a radio station. I can’t remember what they called it right now (WAUG - editors note). They’re gonna be upset with me. So I walked in and I just said, “Can I have a tour?” And there’s this news journalist out of Raleigh, Eric Curry. He asked me if I wanted a tour. I said yes and did a little walk-through, and he allowed me to also do what they call a weather capsule. Back then it was like 20 seconds. You (would say something like said, hey, it’s gonna be sunny today, blase, blah. All day, my voice was on the radio. I’m hearing myself do the weather, but I’m like, hey, I like this. So that kind of sparked my interest. And I don't believe

that we're just in this world and we plan everything, and that's how it flows. I think some things are kind of predestined. A lot of people aren't into that. But when I look at how I fell into radio, it is.

So I had that chance moment, I wasn’t doing good in school, so I transferred to Shaw University, trying to leave some of those “F’s” behind, and when I got over there, they did have a radio station that was geared towards students being on the air. So I did that. I was in the communications department, FOXY 107.104 out of Raleigh came in looking for part time talent. I believe I was the only one to put together a reel and submit it. Terrible it was, and I got the job. And that’s how I fell into radio. FOXY didn’t give me the job. I kept calling and calling, “Yall aint like me in the interview, like what’s going on?” So I said, and defiant. I’ve always been defiant since I came into this world. I called to K97.5 in Raleigh. Cy Young was a program director, pulled me in for an interview, gave me the job on a Tuesday. FOXY called on Wednesday to say you got the job. I said no, I’m gonna go with the bigger station, and that’s how it all started.

an influencer here in Fayetteville?

I don’t typically think about myself like that, but I do know from when I meet people and I call them family in the streets that I do have influence on people. When I’m on the radio, I choose to go a transparent route. I’m not like an announcer, “Hey, this is going to be going down, blah, blah, blah.” I do drop a lot of myself into what I do. And I’ll do something personal, like, and I want to talk about this because I want other people to feel free to talk about it. I was molested when I was a little girl. And every now and again, I’ll talk about that on the radio station particularly, if there’s something in the news. There’s always something in the news where a woman or child has been violated. In particular, people of color, our family (say’s) don’t put that dirt in the street, that type of thing. So I put my dirt in the street so that I can be an influencer on that page and empower people. To say, hey, this happened to me, it’s not my fault. I didn’t do anything wrong. So I’m starting to feel a little emotional right now. But I think

I influence people that way through my personal journey, my personal story. So that's what's important to me, not whether or not I have the latest

Photograph by @zairistejion

fashions ‘cause. I don’t. I don’t know what’s hot right now. I’ll go and buy what I like. If that influences someone that’s OK. But that’s from an influence standpoint, that’s what’s not important to me. It’s making people feel stronger in their skin. So yeah, so I feel like an influencer from that angle.

So what is a typical day for you like here? What would you say?

Well let me see my first five jobs- no let me stop. The obvious thing is I am a radio host. I’m on the air weekdays 10:00 AM to 3:00 PM. I’m also the station’s Program Director, and that pretty much means the person that selects the music that’s played on the radio. If someone has a community announcement, I review it and make sure it truly is a community event and not someone trying to throw a party on the side. So anything that’s flowing through the speakers that falls on me. So that does entail a lot of conversation with my peers as well. Like the promotions department, people reach out to us and they wanna do contests or have us on site. So I meet with them. There’s conversations all the time to determine if that’s a good fit for the station and if what we do and what we provide will also benefit the person that’s reaching out to us. So my day includes a lot of stuff like that. Just what sounds like

small decisions behind the scenes, it really is something big because it's what's going to come through the radio (speakers) station and it's our brand. It speaks as to who the station is and

Photograph by @zairistejion

my day and probably at the end of the day the most important thing. The radio side it’s fun, but then there’s the other stuff that keeps the wheels of the station rolling or the needle on the record spinning, you know.

Yeah, sounds interesting. Sounds like a lot, but I know that you keep maintaining it everyday, but it sounds like a good bunch. I’m not sure if I can handle it, but it just depends.

You could, and I’ll tell you I have been in radio since 1990 and I worked in Charlotte for, I guess I wanna say nearly eight years and I think it was 2008. Where we had like the market to crash. People were getting houses and stuff that they couldn’t afford, the mortgages and stuff. So I was a part of that whole layoff thing. And unfortunately, it was like when I was pregnant too. I went out on maternity leave, came back, I wanna say, 28 days later. I ain’t have a job, you know, ‘cause, it was just bad out there. I will say that anything is possible because I never set out to be a radio host. I never set out to be in charge of a radio station. When I saw this job listed, it was after I’d been laid off. I was pregnant at the time. Some time passed and it just didn’t like click, click, click. So when I’m checking the trades and looking for work, I saw a position posted for this company, Cumulus Media, and it was (for) Assistant Program Director. I didn’t have any experience in that and I was like, I ain’t gonna apply. So I went on about my day and something told me to just go back and apply anyway. And I did. And after I sent it off, I reached out to someone that would be known as the big man over programming. I said, “Listen, I sent you my package. I want you to take a little look see at it.” And I think it was that call that got me in the door because that prompted him to call here to Fayetteville to the person in charge here. And I’m telling you, this thing just unfolded. That’s why I believe in destiny. It’s like my things kind of click click for me. I ended up down here and it was the way they were treating me during the interview. I said “Oh I got this.” So this is my first programming job I learned from the bottom up. Not gonna say it wasn’t stressful. And it was many a-time that I had within the three weeks that I was in my hotel. I was like, I should just go to Owen Drive and get my stuff and go on home. But here I am nearly nine years later, so anything is possible.

Glad you stuck with it. That says a lot. So tell us about your recent event you hosted this past Juneteenth and what motivated you to do it? Well, Fayetteville is a small town, but you know, it does have its own vibe. It needs a little more. So that's kind of like what got me thinking about Juneteenth. We shouldn't have to travel down the road to Durham, to Raleigh, to Charlotte when we can do those same

things in our town. And that’s just kind of like what it was. I know on a smaller scale people have been approaching Juneteenth, but being that I do work for a radio station, obviously our platform can be utilized to really do something big. And that’s how it unfolded. I just wanted Fayetteville to have its own Juneteenth celebration and because

I include gospel programming on the radio station. It just all unfolded so nice. Having the inspiration there and my goodness people out there crying and everything, I cried. I’m so glad and thankful to everyone that came out and supported it. I just couldn’t have imagined what unfolded out there that day. So yeah that’s why because Fayetteville has the power and our people have the love of good things too. So that was really the reason I wanted to do it, why not?

Yeah we had a chance to actually go out there and experience it for ourselves and it was by far like one of the best experiences here in Fayetteville that I actually have been a part of or went to so I thank you for actually hosting that and having that here.

You know what I really like is how people have expressed when they walked into the park they could feel the energy of what was going on. And I want to shout out one guy that was there. I don’t know his name, but I had come down off the stage and I guess I can call it the pit, and I don’t know what this man has gone through in his life, but I know it must be something, something serious, something that was heavy ‘cause you could just see it on him. And he was crying and I guess Donnie McClurkin came down and I guess prayed for him out there on site and he ended -and I’m not really a church person, but he ended up being on the ground and what-not. And then he just took me someplace, my tears flowing. I looked up on the stage. I saw some of my coworkers. Their tears are flowing. Whew, nothing like that. I haven’t experienced anything like that here in Fayetteville. Looking forward to round two.

Oh yeah, hope so. So are there any organizations or agencies you like to shout out that you work with?

One in particular, and this is one of my personal stories again. Light Up Fayetteville Pink, Gladys Hill, she’s a woman that has experienced breast cancer scare too. The whole thing. And I’m a woman of that age. I went in for a mammogram here, I think my first series of them started here in Fayetteville. And my information wasn’t delivered properly. I went for testing on a Monday and then I got a call on Wednesday from the lab saying that I needed to come back. I said they must be mistaken. I had already gone in. So, between my doctors officeand it wasn’t the lab, it was my doctors office-and I switched from them and I was supporting them because they were black-owned. I make a point to do that. And I’m just gonna say, I don’t feel like they showed me love. They didn’t treat me the way I should have been treated, as a patient, as a person and I communicated this. I’m not talking behind their back. So I was scared all week, you know, waiting for my next appointment. And I talked about it on the radio, and Gladys reached out to me and basically embraced me through the phone and eventually in person. And she is taking it upon herself to reach out to me and remind me, “Hey, it’s about time for you to go for your checkup.” The whole nine and I went through the same thing again this year. Believe it or not I remained with that doctors office and I said enough is enough but I do encourage people to look her up, Light Up Fayetteville Pink because she sells these pink light bulbs and the money that she raises she donates that to Cape Fear Valley Hospital so that women that can’t afford mammograms and things of that nature can get that done and it can be expensive. I have insurance and I still, my mouth fell open because I had to go back for the additional test and then probably will for the rest of my life, black women, we just have a different thing going on with our tissue. And as I say on the radio, Google that.

So what job would you want to do if you were not in radio any longer?

Whew, Anna Nicole Smith married this old guy right? No, let me stop. I think…I don’t…Writing is a passion for me. I don’t think any other job is gonna make me happy, so I better get my book done. I announced in the second grade I was gonna write a book, so that’s something that’s like over my head. I’ve tried working outside of radio in between the times where I quit or there was some kind of layoff. And a lot of places, I don’t know why companies do it. The walls are always gray, gray walls make me sleepy, so I tend to sleep on those jobs. And I remember I was leaving my (desk) light on this insurance company I was working at with my jacket on the back seat ‘cause I would get to work late. I just didn’t like it there. Came to work they had moved my cubicle to the front aisles. They were on to me and eventually they let me go. But if I could write and travel in support of my creation, that would make me happy and I can’t really think of anything else that I would

want to do. Being my son’s mom is a job. So that job I keep and I accept that. But yeah, I think I like working with the public from that standpoint, so. I don’t think I would be happy behind a desk.

Yeah, well you definitely chose the right thing, just stick with it. I’m pretty sure you will.

Yeah I’m feeling inspired, specially since I’m putting it out here.

Yeah it seems rewarding already so far.

Can I tell you... I’m gonna tell you one more destiny story. My brother was murdered and this is gonna sound weird and I’m maybe I’ll put this in a book one day. My dad was married twice. My mom was his first wife. She gave him two children and then I had three brothers and a sister from my father and his (second) wife. Three of them murdered. Believe it or not. The child that my mom had, he chose to sell drugs and there was a setup. They called him to the park. He was murdered and it really affected me and I kept waking up around the same time, like 3:00 AM. So I said “Let me just grab some paper.” And I thought I was writing my story and I was going to send it to the black newspaper in town. I was living in Winston-Salem then. But I didn’t. I sent it to the regular paper and they printed it. So I was like, “Wow. Well, maybe I should send it to ESSENCE?” So I made it a little longer and I sent it off to ESSENCE Magazine, and that’s when Susan Taylor was in place and danggonnit ESSENCE wrote me back saying they wanted to use my story. But then life gave a little funny little twist. Susan, you know, so eventually she left there. Heads changed and all of that. My story never got published. But I still have the letter saying that they thought my writing was worthy. But that right there was also the ding ding ding, girl when you gonna write your book? So I have like all those little moments in my life, I’m over here in therapy right now, ‘cause. I’m like, I really do need to go home tonight and do something ‘cause I keep getting my little signals and talking to you right now…

All it does is take that one step and that one step is right now.

Yeah, yeah, I gotta get refocused. This is helping me right now.

So what is your perspective on the power of media and voices here in FAYNC? From a personal standpoint. The power of media. I love being on the radio because I have the opportunity every day to be an influence or to touch someone's life and maybe change the course of their lives.

A lot of times I’m on the air and I’m talking about, hey, how’s that New Year’s resolution going? Just a little reminder. And if you’ve dropped the ball, this is your opportunity to start again. Every day can be your day one. It’s a chance to kind of like reset. So for me, that’s the power of media, again, empowering people to do the things that they know they should be doing or to open themselves up to more opportunities and the way I look at it too I talk about dreaming and embracing that. I use media for that. We check into our jobs. The checks may be good, may not be good. But you think about the CEO of that company, the managers in that office, that’s their dream. You’re just checking in to help them keep their dream flowing. But what about you? So that’s what media is for me. That’s how I’ve chosen to use it. And I don’t know if I at any point in my life I said this is how I’m going to utilize this platform. I didn’t even know I was gonna be in radio. Or that I wanted to be a radio host, but this is how I’m being used with this platform .So media is powerful that way. I don’t think it should be all about the glam, glam and just the things that don’t really matter at the end of the day. You know, and talking about people, I do celebrity news, I do it because people want it. But I’m not gonna do the ugly stuff, stuff that I know is malicious. I can’t validate that it’s true. There’s no point to feeding that out there into the community. I know people want it, so I have to

I agree. So, what’s the worst interview you have ever experienced?

I’m gonna say Sunshine Anderson and I like her song…yeah, I like Sunshine Anderson. But many years back, she had the opportunity to be on Steve Harvey’s Morning Show before he was Steve Harvey, the syndicated man. And I don’t know what happened in her life or what happened to cause her to turn the interview down, but he never forgot it. So he was in Charlotte during the CIAA, doing his show live, I think it was called the fan experience. That portion of it is free. She was there and she wanted to go on the show. Why not? He’s on all these radio stations. Steve was like, no. It changed her energy and I had to interview this lady. I’m the local jock. Of course she wants to be on with Steve. So, like, literally I’m facing her. This is her body. [turned away] You, me and I’m Sunshine. Talking to me like this. [turned away to the side] And I was just like…and I’ve been told in radio that the celebrities are not better than me. They’re just people like me and don’t ever allow them to mistreat you. That’s what I learned, you know, once I came into radio, so I just kept on being me and I think she eventually relaxed. But it still bothers me to this day that she did that to me. You know I’m just as important as Steve Harvey. I don’t have the same large platform, but my voice is just as powerful too. I’m gonna say she’s a tie with Faizon Love. He was gonna come here and perform, do a comedy show, and I looked on Wikipedia ‘cause, you know how they’ll be like such and such died and they send everybody into an uproar. It was out there about Sinbad and someone did it about him, so I mentioned it earlier on, it was about 2 minutes. Just to kind of like relax, get a little laugh, kind of get us a little bond. There was somebody in the room. He was like, “Man, she wishing death on me.” I put him in the wrong place by mentioning that. And he started going into something about, “Well if you believe that, you believe anything.” And he gotta bridge that’s for sale. I said, “Well, how much is it?” Click. It was a phone interview and he hung up on me, so that was it. And I blocked Faizon Love on social media. He doesn’t know it, but I’m done with him. [Laughs]

That’s a crazy story. So have you ever been attracted to or dislike someone right away in the interview setting?

I don’t know if I ever liked someone or disliked someone right away. I have felt that I don’t really like a person, I won’t call out their names. I will say this one rapper back in the day, that’s when I was in hip hop radio and that’s when gold fronts were popping. He had terrible breath. I just couldn’t concentrate on the interview. It was first thing in the morning. I was like, why are people wearing these things? So, I ain’t like him in the moment. I won’t say who it was. In terms of attraction, I like all flavors of men and I like a little bit of everything. So yeah, people have come into the studio that I find attractive. I haven’t like really, like went there with anybody… Well, I didn’t initially, but eventually, yeah. Durrell Babbs Sr., AKA singer Tank ‘cause. My son is Durrell Jr. that’s why when I’m on the radio I’m like I’m Alysse Stewart. Durrell Jr.’s Mom. He is his father, we kinda clicked. And I remember, like the number exchange. I remember when I got the first call and I’m like, “OH” you know I was kinda pumped. And the funny thing is, I won’t say this is a destiny thing, but I’d gone to a play. He was in it. I don’t remember everybody feautred, but he was walking through the hallway with his people and I was standing with my people. And I know we made eye contact for a second didn’t mean anything then they were at the radio station the very next day. So that’s how our conversations kind of started. And I wanna say of that situation, that is my story. Some people have tried to make it theirs and tried to rewrite it for me. Social media can be a good thing, and it could be a bad thing. We kind of fell out one time off social media and it carried over online as it does with a lot of people, and it’s just not a good thing ‘cause it remains there forever. And I must say, more than 14 years ago, people still “Well are you still mad at him?”… Are you like? Does that make any sense to you, that’s my child’s father? I’m gonna do what’s best for my child, which is to have good communication with him. So I’m just kind of disappointed when people approach me from that

Photograph by @gifted1enses

aspect. And I'm just gonna say officially, that is my story and what you think you know, you don't know, you know

what I tell you. So if you approach me and say I wanna talk to you about it, I may be open to it, but I don’t even have to do that. So I think, thank you for giving me the opportunity just to go on record with this just because it’s in print. Even Wendy Williams talked about me when I was pregnant. As the girl down in Charlotte. Pregnant. That kind of thing. And I remember one of my coworkers coming down the

hall, “Wendy Williams talking about you.” And I’m like “But you and I don’t really talk. Why are you down here?” So, Yeah, so was there an attraction? Well yeah, there sure was.

So are you currently involved in a relationship now? And if so what type of guy are you attracted to?

I am single. I’ve only dated a few people since I’ve been in Fayetteville. I’m not gonna say they’re slim pickings. I’m not gonna say that I’m choosy. It just hasn’t unfolded when I leave here, though. I went all the way to Cancun. Met someone there and like we vibed. I don’t know what’s going on with me here. I know people like all the soldiers there, and I’ve never dated a soldier. And again, I’ve been here going on like 9 years. So right now mama is open. I ain’t gonna say she’s available ‘cause I’m just gonna wait. I don’t wanna pull the wrong thing towards myself, but I don’t have like a set type of person that I like, like dark skin, light skin, whatever. I just like people that are going to treat me well. That are on a good path. Got some sense about themselves. Financially stable. Just the things that make a person good. So I’m open. Not saying I’m looking, but I don’t wanna put the wrong message out there.

Hey y’all heard it! So how has being a single mom affected your career and personal life?

From a personal level I think I’m handling being a mom really well, but maybe I don’t know if it’s had some kind of impact. Maybe people choose not to approach me because I am a woman that already has a package. I don’t know? But I don’t bring people around my child if I don’t feel like it’s gonna be leading somewhere. Particularly with boys I feel like they get a little more attached to people. So for us, it hasn’t affected us. Not that I know of, but it very well could have. Some people don’t want women that have children, but I’m a woman of a certain age more than likely somebody my age is already gonna have some kids. From a professional standpoint, I’ve been lucky enough to have a mom that holds me down. My mama didn’t start driving till she was 37.

Oh man. She started late.

Yes, she did. And I was scared for my mom when I went off to college. ‘cause I was doing all the driving for her. But when I became pregnant, snow started coming down the week that I was supposed to have my child. My momma got herself in the car. She’s not a comfortable driver. She don’t like driving at night, any of that. She drove from Durham to Charlotte to make sure that she was present and she’s always been in my son’s life since he came here, so I’ve never, like, had to leave him with someone that I was, you know, might be doubtful about. I’ve done some daycare, but I’ve just never had the horror stories. Not having people there available for me since he’s been here. So, thank God everything is working out. And particularly with radio having to be in nightclubs sometimes and just strange hours. It’s been an easy ride.

It seems like you’re balancing it though. You’re still here so that says a lot.

Shout out to my mom again ‘cause I don’t know what kind of ride it would have been without her.

So what advice do you have for someone that wants to work in radio?

Don’t do it. [laughs] Radio has changed a lot. Now there are a lot of departments that people can work in. So, I’m gonna say don’t just focus on being a radio talent. I’m not gonna tell you not to pursue it, but it’s not what it used to be. There are less jobs, there’s more syndication. And I don’t think it’s a certain voice that you have to have to be in radio. Sometimes it’s just being in the right place at the right time. Like it was for me. I know a guy that I was in the grocery store talking on the phone and a

former supervisor turned around and was like, “I like your voice.” And that’s how he fell into radio. But the pay is different. It’s more work. You’re not just going to get on the radio and be smiley, smile all day and walk out the door. You’re gonna have other things that you have to do. It used to be numerous people in the building, your copyright. Just a lot of people and it’s just downsized so much so the opportunity

Photograph by @gifted1enses

Photograph by @zairistejion

is a little bit slimmer. So jokingly I said don’t do it. But really, think about it. It’s almost like I wanna get my record on the radio at this point. Trying to be on the radio. It’s not the same.

Wow, I didn’t even know that. I’m glad you shared that.

‘Cause. I think, like, let’s say, if Cumulus was to downsize right now, it’s not like I’m gonna be able to go out and find a job in 30 days probably. It could be a long wait trying to get it back in, it’s not the same.

So do you have any advice for people looking to become more involved in the community?

There are a lot of organizations already established and I know this from just being out in the community and from the public service announcements that come into the radio station. I really wish

people would stop trying to invent the wheel and maybe decide to support somebody that already has

the train in motion. You know, join that organization and learn from the ground up, and then maybe consider going out and doing your own thing. There are a lot of events here that are duplicated. Like the back-to-school programs that do school supplies. It’s a beautiful thing, but do we need 40 of them every year? And no disrespect to anybody, but just imagine that taking place at Festival Park and all these organizations, kinda teaming up and just working together. So that’s what I would say. Investigate what’s already present and let people know that you’re available and that you’re ready to get some work done. So that’s what I would say.

So lastly, to wrap up the interview, how can people reach you on social media?

OK, I use my name everywhere, Alysse Stewart. That’s Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, the whole nine. Right now I have my Twitter page on private ‘cause I just said I’m gonna take a break from there. But you could still request to follow and I’ll let you in. I feel like Twitter is changing like the vibe is different. It’s not as engaging. Like you could say “I’m on fire right now. I really wish someone would come and bring me some water.” and I think Twitter would do just like this [scrolls up]. Instagram is a little more engaging. Facebook is still there too, and a lot of our listeners will not leave Facebook. But yeah, I’m on all the platforms, even Snapchat. I don’t snap a lot, but yeah.

So thank you for sitting down with us and having us interview you here at 106.9 here in Fayetteville. Everyone, make sure that you listen to the radio show. This is a fabulous person here at this radio station here in Fayetteville. So make sure that you listen to this show. Her voice is powerful and as of right now, her voice is touching me just by hearing the stories that she has told us. So y’all can see how she is, how she really is, what she agrees with, what she likes, what she doesn’t like, different scenarios, things she’s been in, and a lot of clearing things up too. I’m glad that you actually sat down with us and we got to talk and how we actually crossed paths, and now that we’re here actually sitting down talking and getting to know each other more and the people get to know you more. So this is good. It’s a great opportunity and thank you for sitting down with us

Well, I definitely appreciate it and come again, the doors open, no doubt about that.