Student Spotlight: Silas Kezengwa

One of the best descriptions of Silas Kezengwa comes from his boss, WMSC General Manager Dick Hinchliffe. “When Silas walks in a room, students at WMSC often break into a familiar chant: ‘Silas! Silas! Silas!’ He is one of the most popular student managers and DJs, and for good reason.  He is always offering a helping hand, sharing his many radio skills, welcoming visitors to the station, offering a thoughtful critique when it’s needed, making everyone feel a welcome part of the WMSC family. He is a prototype for everything that is good about college radio — and especially about WMSC. If WMSC has a face, it is the face of Silas Kezengwa.”

When you meet Silas, he’s usually got a smile on his face, so it’s easy to describe him as an outgoing student, but behind the demeanor is a young man who knows exactly what he wants from life, and he’s worked extraordinarily hard to make his dreams a reality.  

Silas is a junior at Montclair State University, majoring in Television and Digital Media, with a concentration in TV Production. He has served as the Programming Director at WMSC-FM since May 2013. But, again, there’s so much more.  Aside from working with all on-air content, coordinating events, and producing specials, supervising teams, he also hosts his own talk program titled “Silas LIVE!.” It seems others have recognized how special Silas is. He is a four-time Intercollegiate Broadcasting System finalist, which includes the category Best On-Air Personality.

As one can tell from Hinchliffe’s remarks, a key to Silas’s success as a leader is his comfort in social settings. It comes from a lifetime of practice.  He recalls that at a young age he would always seek to connect with people and facilitate conversations with them. The other half of his success quotient is his lifelong love of all things broadcast.  He seems to have been tuned in to a broadcasting career for most of his life as well. One of his earliest recollections is coming home from school and turning on Eyewitness News to watch Bill Beutel and Roz Abrams. “I wanted to connect with an audience the way they did,” says Silas.

It was back in those young and formative years that Silas decided he wanted a career as a broadcaster, and he didn’t wait to get started. In middle school, he produced a show for public access television. While the show never made it to air, it was a great first experience. In high school, he hosted, edited and produced his own show, "The Silas Show," which was filmed in front of a live audience and aired on the web.

As the WMSC program director, Silas needs to draw upon his ample people and management skills. He oversees all on-air content, which he coordinates by email, in-person meetings, or over the phone.  He also monitors all programming – scheduled shows, interviews, features, and special events. One of his other responsibilities is recruiting new talent for the station, and in that capacity, he processes the Interest Forms and distributes new members into teams. He also directly oversees his own programming team and works to develop and produce features for his show. Pausing to catch his breath for a moment, Silas also supervises the station’s apprentice DJ Program.  He helps train aspiring DJs, reviews and edits pieces for air, answers general inquiries, and various other activities.  He is truly a multi-talented, do-everything, do-it-all-the time kind of guy.
             
Prior to becoming program director, Silas worked as an apprentice DJ and eventually started his show, "Silas LIVE!" He soon began taking special assignments that included interview opportunities, filling in for DJs when they couldn’t go on, all in order to gain experience and get noticed. When asked to describe what makes him a good program director, Silas responds, “I think it’s my enthusiasm and passion. But, you also need to be skilled in leadership, communication, organization and time management.”

With Silas, the passion percolates right to the top.  It’s on his face, it’s in his voice, it’s in the way he speaks of his work.  While others may be daunted by the challenges of the job, it fuels his determination.  As Silas states, “I’m always working to put out my best.  I’m also good at taking initiative, exploring my creativity and trying new things.”

That commitment has been manifested by the high-quality programming that has been very well received, including Welcome Week, New Artist Alert, and more.

While Silas prefers television, radio will never take a back seat. “I admire the intimacy of it. When on-air, I feel as if I’m having a conversation with my closest friends and listeners feel the same way.”

He also appreciates how radio given him the opportunity to express himself fully and paint pictures with his use of language.  “I love how vivid people can be as they become descriptive through their storytelling and commentary.”

When he’s not working at the radio station, Silas has worked on campus as both a Peer Leader and Peer Advisor for the Center for Advising and Student Transitions. In these roles, he advises freshman and sophomore students with transitional needs; he helps lead orientation programs, and many other activities.

After graduation, Silas hopes to encourage others to take a moment to laugh. “There’s a lot of responsibilities that I have between the station, work, school and like others, I’ve certainly endured many difficult challenges throughout my life. Yet, through it all, there is always a moment where you’ll find me laughing.”   On a serious side, Silas’s career goals include hosting, reporting and producing for both radio and television. His dream job is ultimately have his own television talk show to entertain, inform and inspire.

College has not only allowed Silas Kezengwa to hone his already impressive broadcasting skills, but also his lifelong passion of connecting with people.  There seems to be little doubt that someday, he will have the platform for connecting with a great number of people.