When you see photos of 987 jock Chris Mak, chances are, the first thing you would say is, “Isn’t he too good looking to be a DJ?” Sure, long gone are those days when radio DJs are only to be seen and not heard — have you not met hotties like 987’s Sonia Chew and Class 95’s Jean Danker? — but Chris is a different specimen.

The 25-year-old, who got his start on radio just five months ago, looks like a puppy dog but is built like Thor. We were surprised to see how strapping he is in person — which we later find out is the result of him hitting the gym hard at least five times a week — when we meet him after his 2-4pm shift. In fact, he looks like he had just strolled off the set of Riverdale or something and into the Mediacorp lobby.

He is half-Chinese, half-English and all Singaporean… except when it comes to pronouncing local words but more on this later. His Chinese dad who was formerly in the air force, now works at ST Kinetics and his English mum teaches autistic kids. He also has an older sister who is 28, and who we can see from Chris’s IG, is as fetching as he is.

His surname Mak is pronounced ‘Mack’ but he tells us that the real pronunciation sounds more like ‘Muck’. “My grandmother is English and she says it as ‘Mack’ and so everyone in the family says ‘Mack ’cos of her,” he says.

FYI: ‘Mak’ in Chinese is ‘Ma’ (or ‘horse’) though Chris’s proficiency in the language is sadly limited. “Yi dian dian,” he replies when we ask him if he can speak Mandarin.

He has an easygoing, laid-back vibe about him. After our chat, he tries calling for a Grab ride but upon seeing the crazy surge pricing, decides to walk home. In the slight drizzle. Sure, he doesn’t live that far from work — we’re not telling you where — but still.

He also has a likeable, self-deprecating sense of humor. He admits to not being “academically-inclined” and jokes about his “embarrassing” audition process where he ended up recording 40-50 “cringey” talksets in the span of an hour, adding that the reason he got hired was ’cos his boss “felt bad for [him]. .

The former Canadian International School (CIS) student returned to Singapore last May after spending two years studying sports management in Bond University on the Gold Coast. (“The best years of my life,” he smiles.) Before that he spent two years studying sports science in Douglas College in Vancouver but left ’cos he wanted a change in environment. He had gone to Canada ’cos his CIS pals were going to college there. “But we all went to different colleges and we didn’t end up meeting… so it was really bad planning (laughs),”he says.

He came back home eager to start a career in event hosting, that is until he met former radio DJ Mark Richmond, who… You know what? Let’s just have Chris tell you himself in his first 8days.sg interview.

[PHOTOS: Kevin Lau unless otherwise stated]

8 DAYS: So how did you get into radio?
CHRIS MAK: It was a huge coincidence. I didn’t know I wanted to do this. I wanted to host events, like be an emcee for events.
Why?
I think it’s ’cos it’s always changing, it’s always a different event. I like the energy of it, to get everyone hyped up. When I was studying sports management, we did a lot of event management type courses which I loved, and that’s why I knew it was something I wanted to get into when I got back. My dad had a friend who knew Mark Richmond so I met up with him to ask if there were any event-type jobs he could get me in touch with… and he got me in touch with Erina [Cook, Assistant Lead — English Radio at Mediacorp]. And that was how it all started.
Were you interested in radio at all?
The only people I knew on radio were The Muttons and that’s ‘cos everyone knows who they are. But besides that, radio was definitely not on my radar.
So what was on your radar?
I watch a lot of YouTube. I watch a lot of documentaries on it.
What about social media?
That’s the funny thing… I didn’t have Instagram until last September. Before that I didn’t… I don’t like social media (laughs).
And you are 25?
Yeah (laughs).
You're the second 25-year-old I've spoken to recently who didn't do social media until he got into the biz. And again I've got to ask: How can you not have social media?
I know! That’s the question I get asked all the time. I only used Facebook to contact friends who were overseas. Besides that, I never used Instagram. I was just not interested (laughs).
But social media is such a huge of part of life these days.
But I never considered it until I had to. I actually prefer not being on social media ’cos now it consumes a lot of my time.
So where do you go to see like, the latest memes or viral challenges?
You see I didn’t know what a meme was until September last year. (Guffaws).
No. Way.
Dead serious! I called it a ‘mimi’. I didn’t know how it was pronounced (laughs).
But you’re a millennial.
Yeah I know. It’s ridiculous. You know, I didn’t get my first smartphone until I was 20. (Ed: That’s five years ago).
What did you use before that?
I used a Nokia ’cos I was in the army from when I was 18 to 20. And before that my mum just didn’t want us to have a phone.

You’ve been on radio for five months now. How has it been?
So I was kinda thrown into the deep end at the start. It was kind of a make or break thing and I had to learn everything as fast as possible. So I would go in at 5.30am and sit in with Gerald [Koh] and Kim[berly Wang] and they were really great. I would watch Natasha [Faisal] too and she helped me a lot too. If it weren’t for them, I don’t think I would have survived.
Do you remember what your very first shift was like?
I was so nervous. The first time I ever went on air was a weekend. I was alone and I was sweating bullets… but no one knew. (Laughs) I just didn’t want to mess up, you know.
How bad was it?
I wrote down everything. I still do but now it’s more like bullet points. But then, I would write down everything I would say, word for word. And I would try to make it seem like I didn’t write it which was the hard part. (Laughs) It was nerve-racking.
Have you made any bloopers on air?
Yeah, I stumble over my words a lot. I’ve always had a speech impairment.
Oh, really?
Yeah… I stutter.
And you’re a DJ?
Yeah isn’t that weird? (Laughs) You don’t realise it ’cos I’ve been practicing a lot. I talk to myself a lot in my room (Laughs). And I did a lot of speeches and presentations in school so that helped too. And… being a DJ is good too ’cos I have to think on my feet a lot.
Does being stressed make you stutter?
Yup, so I have to do best to stay calm.
Are there words you find hard to say?
Yeah, a lot of the local words. The first time I said ‘Tuas’ on-air, I pronounced it as ‘Two-us’. And Gerald looked at me like, “What is wrong with you, man?”
But you’re Singaporean! How can you not know it’s pronounced as Tuas?
I am! I just didn’t know it was pronounced as Tuas! I thought I was saying it right! (Laughs).
How did you react when you first heard your own voice on radio?
I didn’t want to hear it. The first time I heard my own voice in a recording, I was like, “That’s definitely not me.” (Laughs).
What did you think you would sound like?
Like not so bad. (Guffaws) I was like, “What is going on?” (Laughs). It’s the system. It’s definitely the system.
What did your parents say when you got your radio gig?
They were really excited. When I told them I got the job, my mum was like, “So when do you go on air?” And I was like, “Mum, it doesn’t work that way, I have to study people first.” And she was like alright. And every day after that, she would be like, “So when do you go on-air?” (Laughs). They all tuned in the very first time, which was good, but I just went into my room ’cos I didn’t want to hear myself (laughs).
What did they say about it?
They were like, “Oh it’s very interesting…” (Laughs). I don’t think that was a compliment. Didn’t sound like one. (Laughs).

What was studying in the Canadian International School like?
It was crazy… a lot of parties every week. The thing is, when you start off young like I did, by the time, you get to my age, you don’t feel like partying anymore. I got it out of my system real fast. Now I’m more of stay home, Netflix guy now.
Just how many parties do you mean by a lot?
At least two or three parties a week. And on school days too ’cos Wednesdays was ladies night (laughs). Don’t ask me how I got into clubs at that age. It just happened.
Why did your parents send you to an international school?
Oh ’cos I have an auditory problem. It’s like a listening disorder, or a comprehension disorder. So basically sometimes when you speak to me, I don’t understand what you are saying until five minutes later. My brain just doesn’t process it. It doesn’t happen all the time but it used to happen a lot when I was younger so I think I grew out of it. So you could be telling me a story and halfway through I would be like, “I don’t know what you are talking about anymore.” My brain just doesn’t comprehend it.
So you blank out?
Yeah I do. I know you’re going to ask me if I’ve blanked out on-air (laughs). But the blanking out hasn’t happened for quite a while.
How did you discover you had this problem?
I was in primary school — St Michael’s Primary — and my teachers used to tell my mum, “Chris looks really clueless, he looks like he doesn’t know what to do.” (Laughs) They were like, “He always has a very blank face.” I think at one point my mum thought that I might have been autistic but nah, I’m not. So my mum brought me to a specialist who said I have an auditory problem. It sounds like it is a listening problem but it’s not that I can’t hear anything, it’s that my brain doesn’t process it sometimes.
And what happened after that?
So I was in St Michael's until I was in Primary 5 and then my family moved to Australia for a year and when we came back, my mum was like, “I don’t think local schools would be good for you ’cos you just don’t understand anything.” And it was really hard being in a local school ’cos the things that are being studied there are ridiculous. The math is crazy. I would have just failed everything.
Has your problem gotten you in trouble before, like when you’re having a quarrel with your girlfriend and you just blank out
Um, I don’t think I blank out when I quarrel with my girlfriend ’cos I’m too scared. I would be like (meekly) “Okay…” (Laughs).
Is there a way to recover fully from it?
Nah. You just have to train your brain to pay attention more. My attention span is really bad though but that probably goes hand-in-hand. I know it’s horrible… My life is pretty funny.
But it would be a good excuse to get out of a fight or when you are caught not paying attention during a meeting.
Yeah, like just own it right? (Laughs)

You’re a good-looking guy. Do you have plans to go into acting?
Thank you… Yeah it’s something I’m open to.
Have people said you are too good-looking to be just on radio?
No! So when I first joined, I was introduced to someone, who said: “You have a face for radio.” And I went, “Thank you!” And five seconds later, I was like, “Wait, what?” (Laughs).

Tune in to Chris weekdays on 987's Ad Free 50 with Chris Mak from 2-4pm .