Yazz Q&A

Story Highlight

Yazz likes Calpol a little TOO much, apparently

Name - Yasmin

Age - 31

Five things we don’t know about you - My Gran was a WAG – my Grandad played for Dundee United, I have a strange fascination with cash registers…I still like playing shops, I like Calpol a little too much, I used to play the piano and I went to boarding school in St Andrews when I was 8.

Career History - After leaving school I studied at college gaining an HND in TV and Radio Production. Part of the course was a week’s work placement which I did but then ended up staying at that radio station for 2 years answering calls for one of the presenters. I also helped out at roadshows which actually involved dressing up as an over-sized teddy bear... what you do for your love of radio!

At 19 I managed to bag myself a job at my local radio station in Fife. My job was everything from reception, making up prize packs to presenting the overnight show twice a week. That then led to some weekend shows. I then decided to spread my wings and see if I could get more presenting work. I managed to get a couple of weekend shows on Dundee station Wave 102 which then lead to covering shifts at various stations in Scotland.

My 1st full time show was on a local radio station for Lanarkshire and it was a hefty on-air shift from 10am – 3pm. I look back fondly at my time there making some of the best friends I have in the business and I was gathering great experience doing my own show. This led to me being offered the overnight slot at Radio Forth which was the station I’d always wanted to work at. When I started there at 17 making coffee and dressing up as a teddy bear I never dreamt I’d be back there one day doing my own show. Then with a twist of fate the drive time presenter at the time, this guy called Greigsy (we think you know him), decided to move back to Aberdeen so I was given his slot. This was my dream show on my dream radio station. I remember the day I was offered the job – I was crying down the phone to my Mum and for once in my life not getting annoyed with tailgaters on my way home in the car.

After 3 and a bit years working on the drive time show it came to an end and I then found myself in Aberdeen. I now work alongside Greigsy in the morning and it’s an absolute joy. It would have to be seeing as I have to scrape my head off the pillow at 4.30am!

Career highlight to date Without a shadow of a doubt it would be interviewing Gary Barlow and Mark Owen. I dreamt as a teenager about speaking to them never in a million years did I ever think it was going to happen.

Your favourite Scottish event of the year? - It would have to be T in the Park purely because I love live music and don’t mind getting down and dirty with other revellers.

If you could change one thing about Aberdeen what would it be? - It would have to be the weather. I’m not the biggest fan of snow and since living here I’ve had to strike up quite a friendship with the stuff because it’s made itself quite familiar. It’s just the driving in it I’m not a fan of. I’d also change the Haudigan roundabout into traffic lights and make seagulls smaller. I remember seeing one outside my local supermarket and I thought it was someone’s pet cat…it was humongous!

What gives Aberdeen its edge? - I think it’s because it’s a city that can quickly feel like home. Sometimes when you move to a city you can find yourself rattling about in it because it’s so big and you never get to grips where things are but Aberdeen for me has become home very quickly and I love the place.

What is your favourite band/music act of all time and why? - It would probably be Oasis. I love them so much I actually have a canvas of them hanging above my telly in my living room. They’re actually one of the few bands I’d pay over the odds to go and see and I even camped out overnight outside a record shop to guarantee concert tickets for their ’96 gig in Loch Lomond. I’m mad for it or them!!

Which fashion accessory could you not live without? - Probably my new black tights that are fitted with a nice little girdle so hides some of my lumps and bumps and I can go on a night out and feel confident.

What is Aberdeen best kept secret? - The Bread and Butter Pudding I had the other night. I would tell you what restaurant I was in but then the secret would be out!

Favourite childhood memory? - It would be walking to the local café with my Mum, her in her fake fur coat a la Cruella Da Ville, and my big brother to buy some of the five centred Fry’s chocolate that you got at the time.

Clubbing in Aberdeen – where’s hot? - I like Club Tropicana where the drinks are not free but the tunes are free flowing from the likes of Jason Donovan (who I always request) and Rick Astley. There’s also a massive transformer and rubic cubes everywhere so it’s fab if you’re into nostalgia. I also loved the night I was there and bumped into Ricky Whittle, the guy who played Calvin in Hollyoaks.

Who is your favourite celebrity and why? - It would have to be the singer Newton Faulkner because he is just amazing in concert and he’s actually quite the comedian too. I’d love the opportunity to interview him and touch one of his dreadlocks.

Who is the most interesting person you have interviewed and why? - Don’t laugh but I found Dane Bowers quite interesting because we’re the same age and he had good banter and was very honest about how he felt about his ex Jordan and being in the Big Brother house with her man at the time Alex Reid and I also liked the fact he likes getting older.

If we gave you £1k what would you spend it on? - I would pay for all my friends to come on a Club 18-30 holiday with me. I struggle to tempt them these days seeing as a lot of us are now over 30 but if I was paying they couldn’t argue.

Why do you love your job? - I love sharing funny stories with the listeners, I get to play music and talk for a living and I absolutely love getting the opportunity to interview celebrities.

If you were not a presenter on Northsound what would your dream job be? - I think I’d like to be an agony aunt of some sort of description. Not because I like hearing other people’s problems but for some reason I can give other people good advice just never take my own!!!

What do you do to relax? - I love to get out my memorabilia and photos that I’ve gathered over the years and take a trip down memory lane. Looking back on a time when life wasn’t as stressful and I had less in the way of bills!

What excites you? - I get very excited when I manage to get Glastonbury tickets. I have been known to run squeaking round my living room with excitement.

What do you love most about your life? - I love that I have a Sunday off and I can let my hair down on a Saturday night. I also have an amazing Mum, great friends and the cutest niece Lola.