Psychology Graduate Turned a Rocking Deejay!

An insightful interview was conducted with Yuvanes Kumar, a Psychology graduate who is a mild mannered market researcher and a rocking DJ on FlyFM at the same time! A recurrent theme that you will find about him is of making the most of what life throws at you and going for your dreams, in the end making it a reality. Here is his story… Yuvanes Kumar started his journey in IMU after his pre-university studies and graduated with a psychology degree in 2013. He recalls his time as a student at IMU as a time with lots of fun, meeting a bunch of very good people (both staff and students), and learning a whole lot of things. He also fondly remembers chasing deadlines on reports and assignments, but acknowledges that at the end of the day, it was a process that he had to go through. One of the highlights of his time at IMU was being the President of the IMU Cup, a multi-sports event that spanned across 3 months, and a huge responsibility it was! The experience made Yuvanes a lot of good friends, many of which he still keeps in touch with today. His foray as a radio announcer began when he auditioned for the Hitz Announcer Search where he reached top 4 out of 9 finalists. The programme was an online reality show on Youtube where the radio station was looking for their next announcer. A daily routine during the 2-weeks-shooting involved coming in at 7am to the studio, fully prepped, with the cameras rolling for the full day. During this time, Yuvanes was also working full-time as a market researcher. Talk about being dedicated! “I went into this whole experience where this opportunity presented itself and I thought, why not? Besides the drama that is naturally part of the package, they really do teach you a lot. Things were moving so fast and because I had zero background in broadcasting, I had to learn everything from scratch.” Despite his limitations, Yuvanes realised that this was something that he could see himself doing and get better at. He realised that many people say they would like to get into radio but never had the opportunity. So, when he was cut, he too thought that his dream was over.” As the saying goes, when a door closes, a window opens. Well, the window that opened for Yuvanes came in the form of a phone call the very next day when the music director of another radio station told him that they had been following his progress and that they were offering him the opportunity to go to FlyFM! Yuvanes grabbed the opportunity without hesitation and trained hard at FlyFm by shadowing other DJs and training on his own time. He had to keep up with the latest happenings in the entertainment world and go in for regular feedback sessions. He basically had dry runs that went on for about 6 months! So why did he do it? “I did it because it was a real chance for me to go on air. It was like having a really long job interview!” smiling widely as he recalls his journey. Needless to say, it all worked out for him as currently, Yuvanes goes on air during the weekends and helps out the other announcers’ shifts whenever he can. He keeps his day job as a market researcher as it’s a job that pays the bills and allows him to take care of life’s necessities. As for being a radio DJ, he shares, “I wake up feeling that this is something that I want to do although it takes up my evenings and weekends but I don’t feel like it’s a job because I genuinely have fun going on air, and I am getting paid for it!” In addition, being on-air has opened more doors for Yuvanes in the form of voice-over ads. These are ads on radio where he described doing them as “speaking with a movie trailer voice.” So how does a person successfully communicate a message without the benefit of having both verbal and non-verbal cues? Yuvanes explains that people don’t want to hear a regular voice on radio but expect an excited one because listening through radio cuts out a lot of the features of communication, and you have to exaggerate the emotions using the voice, without sounding repetitive and monotonous. In addition, he cannot allow a bad day to bring him down while he is on-air. To answer the question of how he sounds like on-air, he replies, “I talk like how I normally do but with 3 shots of espresso!” So, did studying Psychology help him in his career? Absolutely! By studying and applying statistical knowledge in research, he successfully landed a job as a market researcher. When he presents to his clients, he has learned to mirror and match the clients’ tempo and intensity in order to lead and guide them successfully. As for being on-air at FlyFM, he has learned to use the word “You” to speak directly to the listeners. This way, he establishes a more personal connection with the listeners. By taking a more personal approach, he started noticing that he was making an impact when people started calling in and thanking him for playing a particular song which made their day. In fact, at an event, a guy was so excited to approach him as he “knew” Yuvanes even though they had never met before. In Yuvanes’ words, He was so happy and excited because he had met his friend who he listens to on the radio!”. All these experiences have made him appreciate his job that much more. He is also keenly aware of the responsibility of his role in maintaining a public persona and living up to it responsibly because kids do tune in and follow him on social media as well. Yuvanes reflects that his success was due to taking up opportunities as they came without hesitations, and to embrace them fully with openness, despite the uncertainty. And when he did not know what to do, he would dive in and find out what he needed to know to make it happen and that is a great recipe for success! Comments from Lecturer: Yuvanes was known as the class clown who would regularly goof off but all that changed when his father passed away while he was in his 2nd semester. He realised that his father would not be around to guide him and teach him and this drove him to make things happen for himself. He took on the attitude of throwing himself into things whether or not he really understood what was required of him but by being open to the experiences, he managed to find ways to face each challenge by applying himself and learning what it took to beat it. And that is what I have seen in this young man who has faced challenges after challenges and he has grown into a level headed, mature person who really knows how to bring the party but doesn’t let the party take over him. – Alexius Cheang, Psychology Lecturer