Jane Linley-Thomas hangs up her mic after 20 years on East Coast Radio

Linley-Thomas will be hanging up her mic for the last time on Sunday, 24 September.

The radio veteran’s journey with the station began when she was a junior in high school. Her passion for radio was ignited while listening to Daryl Ilbury and JVB, the traffic guy, on her morning drives to school with her father.

“I just loved how radio connected people. It was on one of those mornings that I said to my dad that one day I will be on East Coast Radio,” Linley-Thomas said.

Fast forward to 2003, when her dream became a reality and she found herself working with Mel Massyn on her favourite radio station. She started by learning how to handle the radio console’s many buttons and sliders. By week two she was driving the desk solo and before she knew it, she was co-presenting on the weekday breakfast show.

“Can you imagine being 23 years old and being on a billboard and having our own brand of ECR breakfast cereal. It was a year of immense growth and fun!” she said.

From late-night shows averting a listener's suicide on the Umhlanga beach, to warm and happy evenings filled with love songs, dedications, and her husband’s marriage proposal, Linley-Thomas’ radio journey has been eventful.

East Coast Radio’s programming manager, Travis Bussiahn, expressed immense gratitude to Linley-Thomas for her dedication, passion, and the talent that she shared with the station for 20 years.

“Jane’s departure marks the end of an era, but we are excited to see her embrace the next chapter of her life with her family. We wish her all the happiness and success in her future endeavors. Thank you, Jane, for being an extraordinary part of our station's history,” he said.

Radio has been a big part of her life’s purpose, but Linley-Thomas says it takes a lot of courage to know when the right time is to walk away.

She is looking forward to spending more time with her family and is excited for the next chapter of her life.

“I am going home. Home in a sense of a new season and adventure where I focus on my family and create more intentional memories with them. It surely wasn’t an easy decision to hand over my mic after 20 years, but the time is right,” she said.

Don't miss Jane Linley-Thomas' final show on East Coast Radio airing on Sunday, 24 September, 2023, from 2pm to 6pm.

In the interim, Tee Xaba will be hosting the weekend 2 to 6pm time slot.