EXCLUSIVE: ‘Working during Covid has been tiring,’ says Metro FM’s Lindi Sirame

Depending on what your radio station of choice is, you’re probably either listening to Lindi Sirame do what she does best by keeping you up to date on the latest headlines or you’re listening to her partner, Sabelo ‘DJ Sabby’ Mtshali on YFM as he entertains you through your afternoon. 

Though their fans find it romantic that they live in a household where both partners are on drive time radio shows, Lindi finds it quite normal. 

“I never know to answer this question, it’s like asking a business person what it feels like to date another business person. We’re both in business!” laughs Sirame before stating that this life feels normal for her because it is all that they have ever known.

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Speaking to the Citizen, Lindi added that she does believe that being in the same industry has made it easier for Sabby to be as supportive of a partner as he is. 

“It helps that we both understand the type of career we are doing and so in our conversations, it’s not like he will say something that is unfamiliar to me.”

“But, since we’re both on drive and we’re each other’s competition, there is a lot less talk about work. I mean we’ll talk about our shows but we’re not going to share which interviews we’re having…” she adds. 

The pair were not always on opposing sides of the radio game, however.

They met at YFM over eight years ago, back when Lindi was an intern at the Y-Academy (YFM’s programme for aspiring broadcasters) and Sabby was making his way through the ranks at the station. 

Both Lindi and Sabby were in relationships when they met but Lindi couldn’t fight how drawn she felt to Sabby, whom she said dressed like an American basketball player. So, one random day at the station, she hinted at the possibility that she may be interested in him. 

Recounting their love story in a past Zkhiphani interview, Sabby referred to Lindi as “a cowgirl” before joking that she used to dress like “a black Taylor Swift”.

Despite their reservations about each other’s dress sense, the pair eventually ended up together and have been going strong for years. 

During that time, Lindi has gone from strength to strength in her career having worked at Kaya FM as a newsreader before landing a job at the newly-established television news station Newzroom Afrika. 

It wasn’t long before she was announced as part of the Metro FM lineup earlier this year in a move that she says was years in the making. 

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“I’d say my move to Metro was a long time coming. I had wanted to join Metro for a while and I had been in conversation with the station manager for quite some time,” said Lindi.

Lindi explained that she kept in touch with Metro FM station manager Anthony ‘Tony’ Soglo after meeting him once and had always made sure to let him know how her career was progressing. This strategy seems to have paid off as she now reads the news on Sphe and Naves’ show The Kings Suite between 3pm and 6pm. 

Lindi adds that the call came at the right time in her life when TV was her only job so she was easily able to fit her radio job into her life. 

In yet another upward move, she was announced as JJ Tabane’s permanent co-host on his evening show Your View.

“When I met him, he wasn’t what I imagined at all. You guys know JJ as the tough-talking, brutal person on-air and as a colleague, he is a dream to work and I love, love, love doing Your View with him.”

According to Lindi, Tabane gives free rein to share her input when putting the show together and that she appreciates that. 

“He wants to hear my opinion. He’s from the old school and his opinions are based on something completely different than my opinions are based.”

When asked what working during the pandemic and lockdown has been like given her status as an essential worker, Lindi said that working two jobs is even worse because she has to make doubly sure she’s doing all that she can to sanitise and limit her contact with the outside world.

“Working during Covid had been tiring and not because of the work itself but the extra precautions that you have to put in place… The constant having to protect yourself because you know you’ve got a young family at home and I’ve got my elderly gran who is staying with us and just thinking that you could be their exposure to Covid because they don’t go out.”

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“And my workplace is fun! You’re interacting with people, you’re on air, you’re using the mics, you’re doing all sorts of things, you know, but you’ve also got to remember that hey, there’s Covid and you’ve got to protect yourself.”  

In addition to worrying about Sabby and her grandmother, Lindi is also worried about her young son, Ori, whom social media users may know as one of many beloved “meme babies”.

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If users are wondering why they may see less of him now than they did when he was younger, that is because of his parents’ decision to limit how much of him they share with the world. 

“When he was younger, we shared a lot more of him and there were instances that would make me as a mom feel uncomfortable. Like going to the shops and people would stare at him. It became a bit uncomfortable. 

“As he has grown you will see that we actually share less of him on social media because I want him to grow and be himself.”

Although his dad keeps an Instagram page open for him, Lindi says Instagram users now see less.

“Stuff that I am open to people seeing and stuff that I wouldn’t mind people having an opinion on because I, mean, it’s whatever.” 

Another thing the pandemic has gotten her thinking about is the class of 2020. 

“Their schooling has now been disrupted. They don’t have people coming in to let them know what sort of careers are out there and I thought, ‘You know what? I don’t know all careers but I do know this career and I know people who would be willing to share their experiences when it comes to where they studied, what they studied, changing career paths, choosing what beat you like, choosing TV over radio, what is a communications degree, all of that…”

So, she decided to rope in the expertise of friends and colleagues like Shahaan Ramkisoon, Slindelo Masikane and Masa Kekana to host discussions via Instagram Live stream with the hopes of reaching these students. 

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She believes the streams have been received really well since her inbox has been flooded with demos from young people who tuned in and would like her expert ear and opinion. 

While many may find such a task daunting, Lindi admits to enjoying doing her part by giving this guidance and adds that she hopes it helps in any way. 

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