Their listeners have been calling them the Regis and Kathy Lee of local morning talk radio. The analogy is not a bad one, except for the fact that they are equal partners in the running of Style 96.5 FM’s morning show.
Each one brings a wealth of knowledge and experience to the table, and the male/female factor is a mixture, which melds into a total package that makes Style’s morning talk show a treat for its diverse listening audience.
Their Radio monikers are Big George and Maya, tags they wear proudly.
When Big George signs for his paycheque, though, ‘Wayne LeBlanc’ is what shows up.
When Maya issues someone else’s paycheque at the Cayman National Cultural Foundation, where she is the full-time director, the name that appears is ‘Marcia Muttoo’.
The Style duo tap into their combined reservoir of communication experience, which totals more than 50 years, to bring Cayman a two-hour morning session of education, entertainment and information.
Style was born of a conversation between Big George and owners Dave and Angela Martins.
George relates how he was saying goodbye to the couple after his stint at Z99 had come to an end.
The upshot of the conversation with the Martins, says Mr. LeBlanc, was their almost on-the-spot decision to fulfil their long-held dream to invest in a radio station.
Big George’s selection as one of the personalities was almost automatic.
Recruiting Mrs. Muttoo, a close friend of the Martins, to be Mr. LeBlanc’s co host on the morning show, soon followed.
Experience pays
While this is her first stint as a radio personality, Mrs. Muttoo brings three decades of public-interaction expertise with her. She is a trained communicator with a graduate degree in drama, and has, along with her husband, Henry Muttoo, been running the Cultural Foundation for almost two decades.
Big George has more than 22 years of radio experience – four of them here and the rest in his Trinidad homeland.
But so captivating is their radio role-play that hardly any of their qualities are hidden by the unavailable visuals.
The morning show’s format is not only about music; it’s not only about hype and celebration, but it’s also about education, George says.
Basically, the radio station was designed to be all encompassing.
‘We talk about things which are significant and appropriate to Cayman, but also things which are Caribbean, or relevant to the Caribbean,’ he says.
Their relationship with their listeners, which they liken to an on-air romance, comes from, generates and sustains.
‘Miss Maya’s Mind-bender,’ the call-in question and answer part of the show, is educational.
A lot of the questions are Cayman-centred, some are regional. According to Maya the aim of the spot is to educate. To ‘help people to learn about important strides that people in this part of the world have made, (things) they might not have already known or might have forgotten.’
Their audience is their main focus, and each morning brings Maya and George a fresh chance to attract new listeners.
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