MSR file photo
By Charles Hallman
Staff Writer
Two local radio personalities recently left town, and both are now entertaining audiences in their new locales.
Former KMOJ midday host Georgia Ellyse — “Miss Georgia” — is now a morning drive time co-host at WFXE-FM in Columbus, Georgia. Henry Lake is now a midday co-host at Kansas City, Missouri’s KCSP-AM after 15 years at KFAN-FM. The two local natives – Ellyse of St. Paul and Lake of Minneapolis — began their new jobs earlier this month. In separate interviews, both said that their new opportunities came unexpectedly.
Ellyse sent her résumé and audition tapes (“air checks”) to numerous radio stations around the country for several months, including to “Foxie 105” in Columbus, Georgia’s third-largest city. “They…told me they were thinking about making some changes and was I interested,” she recalls.
After being offered the job, “It really took me a week to digest it all. I didn’t believe it — it seemed so surreal. I decided to get on the plane and go,” says Ellyse, who began her broadcasting career as a University of St. Thomas student in 2009, and then interned at KMOJ for a year before she was offered the station’s on-air midday slot for four years before heading to Georgia about a month ago.
“I was contacted by ‘610 Sports Radio’ [and asked] if I was thinking about relocating,” says Lake. “They reached out to me. I was interested, but I didn’t really know much about [the city].”
The area is “a college basketball hotbed,” proclaimed Lake, with the University of Kansas, Kansas State, Wichita State and the University of Missouri all located in the vicinity, as well as the Kansas City Royals (MLB) and Kansas City Chiefs (NFL). “It’s an opportunity to do what I do best — primarily, cover college basketball and NFL football. It is an exciting time to be in Kansas City, Missouri.”
Ellyse literally hit the ground running as soon as she arrived in Columbus and WFXE, paired with “Baby Jay” on the station’s “The Wake Up Show!” “I’m up at 3:30 am and have to be to work at 5 am. I’m at the station from five to noon. They got us doing events almost every day,” she explains, adding that she recently hosted a spring break event for an estimated 2,000 students.
Lake is co-host with Jay Binkley of “The Day Shift with Lake and Bink” each weekday from 10 am to 2 pm.
During his years at KFAN, Lake was able to develop his versatility in sports coverage: “Five years ago I knew about the game of lacrosse, but now I can talk about the game on radio,” he notes. “I always have been a fan of women’s college basketball, but when I got to ‘The Fan’ nobody cared about women’s basketball, but I could speak to that.”
“First I have to give the glory to God,” says Ellyse. “Honestly, I feel my faith really propelled me forward.” Along with her KMOJ experience, as well as using social media and conducting various in-person interviews, she believes this is “why an out-of-state station wanted to hire me.
“The Twin Cities have been very, very supportive to me, my career and my dream. I am excited about this new part of my career, this journey I’m on, and I hope to continue to have their support,” says Ellyse.
“I just appreciated all the love,” says Lake of his home town. “Minneapolis, Minnesota always will be home. I will be back and forth visiting my family and my friends. I’m just right down the road, trying to sharpen and hone my skills and looking to do bigger and better things.”
For more on Henry Lake, read Charles Hallman’s “Another View Extra” on the MSR website.
Charles Hallman welcomes reader responses to challman@spokesman-recorder.com
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