Kaylee Golding is a DJ and award-winning radio presenter. She is originally from Birmingham but is now living in West London. Hence why she follows the slogan ‘Your favourite Gyal From Brum’. Kaylee is gradually building a great reputation in the urban music scene across both Birmingham and London. She has previously DJ’d at some amazing locations including Birmingham Pride, Notting Hill Carnival, and the O2 Institute Birmingham on multiple occasions. She has also done guest mixes on a range of radio stations including Capital Xtra, BBC 1XTRA and Rinse FM. In addition to DJing Kaylee Golding is an award-winning radio presenter. She won “best specialist” at the student radio awards 2018 and 2019. In addition to this, she won the gold and silver award for the ‘best interview’ category in 2019. Kaylee Golding was also selected as one of Radio 1’s Christmas Presenters. With that, she covered Adele Roberts early breakfast show on Radio 1.
You graduated from University of Westminster in Radio and Digital Production, what impact did your university degree have on where you are today?
I would say the actual experience I gained from university helped me develop more than the actual degree. Being able to use the equipment at university and student radio was a great place for me to develop my skills and practice and make the important mistakes I needed to make to be better!
Did you always know you were going to pursue a career in radio and the music industry?
I always knew I wanted to work in music radio. It has been my dream for a very long time. I am very thankful that I knew what I wanted to do from a young age because it has given me a lot of time to plan and work towards my career in radio.
What was your route for landing the job of one of Radio 1’s new DJ’s last Christmas?
So I applied for the radio 1 show online. As soon as they put it out, I started to work on a fresh demo. But I didn’t hear anything back and I was gutted! And then at the student radio awards 2019 I won 3 awards, and my student station won best station. Part of the prize of winning was to do the shows on Radio 1. It was incredible!
You’ve interviewed some mad artists, including Krept & Konan, Afro B, Young T and Bugsey to name a few, what new or emerging artist would you love to interview?
I am very very lucky to say that I have interviewed many of my favourite UK artists. But I would love to interview Tion Wayne. I love his vibe and I have been a fan of his music for a long time.
You also DJ, what music genre has had the biggest influence on you?
I would say UK rap has had the biggest influence on me. I have grown as a DJ and presenter as the UK rap scene has developed. It’s been amazing to watch everything grow.
In regards to networking and putting in work to get to where you are, can you give us an insight to some of the challenges you’ve faced behind the scenes?
The biggest challenge I think is how much volunteering has to take place before getting where you would like to be. Yes the hours are investing in yourself and your experience. But it did use to be challenging balancing, working, education and then also volunteering everywhere I could. But it really was all worth it!
When winning Best Interview at the Student Radio Awards 2019, you mentioned mental health, do you think this is a challenging subject amongst rappers?
Mental health is a very sensitive subject for many people, let alone people in the limelight. In the past couple years we have seen quite a few UK rappers struggle with mental health. Most rappers try to be private about this until they really reach breaking point, and to the point that it is affecting their work rate. It’s a shame that they feel like have to get to that point before speaking out.
“It’s all about networking, if you don’t ask, you don’t get.”
You present on a The Beat London 103.6FM and have presented on variety of other radio channels, how did you go about getting these opportunities?
It’s all about networking if you don’t ask you don’t get. I spend a lot of time making demo’s and making sure my work is EVERYWHERE. And then even more time emailing programme directors asking for opportunities.
What would your advice be for any young person wanting to get a kick-start in the radio industry?
My advice would be to network, network, network. If you really love what you do, and master your craft, someone will spot it and will offer a helping hand.
Have you got any suggestions on where to look for jobs within the radio industry? Websites/schemes etc?
Definitely check out local community stations, they need you as much as you need them. Radio Today is also a great site for both the latest radio news and jobs!
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