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Class 95’s Yasminne Cheng and the cult of personality

Small, compact, generally fun-loving, but can be aggressive at times. That’s how Class 95FM’s radio DJ Yasminne Cheng describes herself.

Small, compact, generally fun-loving, but can be aggressive at times. That’s how Class 95FM’s radio DJ Yasminne Cheng describes herself.

Hang on. Aggressive? Is this the same Yasminne Cheng who used to share tales of romance on the late-night radio show Love Songs? The same Yasminne Cheng who handles herself with such poise when she’s on The 5 Show (compared to her co-host Chua Enlai, anyway)? The same Yasminne Cheng who called her two previous cars Gertrude and Babycakes?

Well, yes, said the bubbly DJ. “I do love having a fun moment and I am generally quite congenial, but I can be quite aggressive when I need to be,” she asserted. “Never judge a book by its cover.”

We’re not going to put that statement to the test. Then again, she could well be describing her latest drive, the new Audi TT.

“I like smaller zippy cars. It’s comfortable but it can be aggressive when you want it to be,” said Cheng.

The car — and yes, she calls it Emerick (“because the lines are more angular, more male”) — seems to be a perfect match for the appointed brand ambassador for Audi Singapore.

“I had an A3 convertible, and another was a TT Roadster. I love convertibles because I like to take my top down — I mean the car’s!” she said.

While she’s honoured to be brand ambassador, she said it’s even better “when you have an affinity with the brand”. “You’re not doing this just for the sake of money — you actually do like it, you know? I mean, if I didn’t like it, it’s like a vegetarian trying to endorse bak kwa.”

 

BEING ZIPPY

 

Of course, the Yasminne Cheng of today is different from the Yasminne Cheng who had decided to join radio after working in a public relations firm.

“I know who I am now. Before that, I felt that I had to listen to people to tell you what you should or should not do. That comes with age too — the being centred, the confidence,” she said.

“I didn’t come into the business that young, you know. I’m a lot older than I look! The newbies join when they’re 18 or 21; I came on board after working in PR, which was after I did my Masters.”

(She holds a Master of Arts degree in Transnational Communications and the Global Media from Goldsmiths College, University of London.)

Back then, she was a little intimidated by the “veterans” of the scene — people like Glenn Ong, The Flying Dutchman or Jean Danker — but she was nonetheless happy to land the job.

“The people there are all more experienced than me but I didn’t feel I had to like compete with them. We’re like a family,” Cheng said.

“I was already working part-time with radio, and I felt that I could do it full-time, so I decided to leave my PR job. But after I did that, I was offered a well-paying job in another PR firm. It was a very good offer but I was torn because I really wanted to try radio. I told them that I wanted some time to think about this first, and they were good enough to let me do so. I thought that, since I was still quite young, if I didn’t like the radio job, I could leave and do PR again.”

Luckily for her — and, we daresay, her fans — Cheng decided she did like being on radio and has been piloting the airwaves ever since. Starting out at Passion 99.5FM (as it was then known), she moved on to 987FM and, later, Class 95FM, where she conceived the idea of the popular Class 95’s Blinddates, a dating show tailored for radio; Class 95’s Pillow Talk, where celebrities shared their thoughts on love and life; and Love Songs Confidential, where listeners were invited to share their deepest secrets.

During her Love Songs stint, Cheng had the distinction of having the highest rated radio show according to AC Nielsen. Not a bad feat, considering the highest ratings usually went to the morning shows.

“I wanted to do Love Songs. It was like a dream job,” she said.

She not only played songs for her listeners but also played counsellor and confidante to many of them, who would call and share their hopes and fears. Sometimes, she would also play matchmaker. “There was a divorcee who wrote letters to his ex-wife via the show. After a few times, they finally got back together. These are the kind of nice moments you have.”

Nevertheless, after seven years, Cheng felt she needed a change, so she moved on to Lunchbreak. “I wanted to do something different. I also wanted to show a different aspect of myself. Many people who listened to Love Songs think I talk in that mellow voice all the time!” she said. “But people who meet me may be a little surprised that I don’t sound like that at all. If you ask people who know me, they’ll tell you that I can be quite zippy at times.”

And she means that literally. “I do zippy things every day. I do about 10 million things while I’m on-air,” she said. “I have done eight voice-overs in a day. You have to understand: Sometimes it takes 15 minutes to do one, sometimes an hour. I budget for time, figure out how long it takes to get from one place to another, give a little extra time just in case I can’t find a car park. And this is from Ubi to Chinatown to MediaCorp — eight different places.

“I try to find the fastest route to where I need to go and how to use smaller routes to get there on time. I do get around to where I want to be quite fast. My hubby is quite slow so if we need to be somewhere on time, I’ll be the driver.”

 

BEING HAPPY

 

But despite all the “zippiness” that life may bring, Cheng said there’s no one whom she would rather be than herself.

“I’m happy, grateful and enjoying the moment. I think I’m in a very good place right now. I’m happy with the way my life is going. Sure, there are things that can be a little better, but there are also things I could have a little less of. I’m more balanced and more centred,”said Cheng.

“Not that I was a psycho chick before,” she quickly added.

Cheng does seem to be living the good life. She has been happily married since 2009 and she’s doing what she loves for a living. Still, for Cheng, life isn’t just about what you have, but sometimes, it’s also about knowing that you can get what you want if you made the effort.

“I always say behind every dark cloud is a silver lining. And I believe that. It’s just that sometimes you need to look a bit harder for it,” she said.

That sounds like the kind of advice she used to spout on Love Songs, but even then, she said: “I don’t say things I don’t believe in.”

And where does Cheng go from here? Plans to have children perhaps? “I’m not going to say that I will have children, although I’m not against having children,” she said, adding that there has been no pressure to get in the family way. “My parents are not putting pressure on me to have kids. They’re quite supportive of my choices. Before I got married, they said, ‘Don’t get married just because it seems like the thing to do, do it because you really want to’.

“I believe things will happen, whether it’s good or bad. You just have to know how to deal with it. That’s the important part.”

 

Lunchbreak is on weekdays from 10am to 2pm on Class 95FM. The 5 Show airs every weekday at 8pm on MediaCorp Channel 5.

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