THINGS have not been quite the same for Elysha Arnold since late January this year. For one, the 26-year-old has been on cloud nine ever since she emerged as the winner of FLY FM’s FLYDOL 2022 competition.
Arnold went home with not only a prize package worth RM60,000, but also an opportunity to finally realise her dreams of becoming a radio announcer. However, Arnold – who came across the contest on Instagram – did not foresee winning the competition.
In fact, she was surprised that she was even selected for the contest. “I joined by putting a little video up to audition. But I did not expect to hear back from them. Honestly, I just thought, you know what? Just take advantage of the opportunity.”
Lucky for her, FLY FM reached out and accepted her audition clip. And for the next few weeks, Arnold competed alongside other contestants in hopes of becoming the new face of the station.
Her innate charisma and vibrant voice eventually scored her first place.
And now, Arnold has the joy of entertaining listeners with her engaging voice from 1pm to 4pm every weekday on FLY FM.
How did you celebrate your victory?
“I went out with my mom and my boyfriend and we had a big dinner. And we had a great time, just kind of soaking in the news and the excitement. It was pretty low key, but it felt good to be around the people that I loved. ”
Has everyone been very welcoming since you joined the team?
“Yeah, it is such a welcoming team. My content manager has been really good at nipping certain bad habits in the bud. The other announcers, like any time I have a question, they are always happy to help and give their advice. And if I make a mistake, they are very forgiving and kind about it.
“And they are like, we all make mistakes when we first start. You know, the point is that you have the passion and you want to get better. You know, do not just be hard on yourself. Instead, just focus on getting better and caring about your show because your show is like your baby.”
What has been your favourite aspect of the job?
“I think my favourite aspect is just the talks, that is when I get to just pick something that I am really interested in and just really have fun with it. And like in the past, I have done stand up comedy. So, I like to bring a comedic kind of spin into things.
“I want to make people laugh and smile when they tune in. So when I have heard back from people like ‘Oh, I listen to your show, I had a really good time and really enjoyed hearing you, it gives me a lot of fulfilment.”
Have you faced any challenges along the way?
“Yeah, I think the main thing is that I am in the zone when I am in the studio. I can say what I need to say but I still have negative thoughts coming in like, ‘Oh, that was bad, or you are not good enough’. And I think it is just fighting those thoughts and realising just because you think something, it does not mean it is true.
“You can prove yourself wrong. So, I think just having that self-belief and encouraging myself has been a big hurdle. I think it has been like a battle every day, but it is a battle that I am winning. Another challenge, I would say is the technical aspect of the job.
“You have to be able to multitask so much and learn how everything works. Like the faders and when to switch to recording mode, not recording mode and having to make sure your talk sets run on time to make everything seamless.
“Because if you miss a talk set, that is obviously going to throw things off. So, I guess that time management and just the technical aspect of the job. ”
What do you hope to achieve with your newfound platform?
“I really hope that first, I can just make a name for myself as someone who is entertaining and has a good personality. Something that people will want to gravitate towards and listen to. And I would really like to spread awareness too about the things that I am passionate about. Like mental health.
“This is especially because I want people to know that we are not all put in a box. We might feel like we are limited because of certain things that have happened to us or certain things we are born with. But there is so much that we can achieve just by giving that push and thinking.
“And I think the most important thing is, and this is why I joined the competition, was not to fear rejection so much because if I did get rejected, there is not much that I would lose because at least I put myself out there. It is not this catastrophe if things go wrong.
“So, I really want to help inspire people to go after what they want, no matter what situation.”
