When she was young she was known as a bit of a busybody and she just loved to talk. Her mother would reprimand her for being nosey about other people’s affairs. Little did mother and daughter realise that these are the very qualities that would propel the young girl into a career that invites strangers to open up to her, and allows her to talk non-stop!
Roslinda Abdul Majid, better known as DJ Lin – whose soothing voice rules the airwaves of Malay radio station Suria FM – hosts Suria Cinta, a programme she’s been helming since 2006.
The show touches on every aspect of love (cinta) from dedications to sharing of stories or simply allowing listeners to express their emotions. It airs from 11pm to 2am weekdays as well as 8pm to midnight on Sundays.
“From young I had wanted to be a radio deejay and I found that speaking in front of a large crowd didn’t unnerve me!” says the 35-year-old award-winning announcer and Suria FM assistant manager for programme during a recent interview at its studio in Petaling Jaya, Selangor.
Roslinda’s chance to pursue her passion came during her college days at Institut Teknologi Mara (now UiTM) in Shah Alam. The year was 1997 and through the campus radio station, UFM, she found out about a national deejaying competition for university students. She joined the contest and walked away as the best deejay, earning herself a head start in her future career.
Inevitably, the mass communications graduate (who majored in journalism) opted to be a radio deejay. Now, a decade after being in the field, having worked at Best 104 in Johor and Radio Rediffusion (now Star Rfm) in Kuala Lumpur until her present posting with Suria FM, Roslinda has garnered a large fan base.
Her earnest work on Suria Cinta caught the attention of a publisher, who approached her about writing a book on her experience presenting the programme on air.
“I started writing Bicara Cinta DJ Lin (DJ Lin’s Love Talk) at the end of last year. It’s about the stories that listeners have called in to tell over the years, mostly about relationships, which I feel should be shared with more people as one can learn a lot from these real-life accounts,” says Roslinda, who in February won Best Female Radio Deejay at Anugerah Seri Angkasa, organised by the Information, Communications and Culture Ministry in collaboration with RTM, Media Prima and Astro.
The book is a work-in-progress.
From strength to strength
Her popularity gained her further prominence. In April, Roslinda (together with DJ Aanantha of THR Raaga and deejay-actor Jack Lim of MY FM) was appointed by national car manufacturer, Proton, as ambassador for its Persona saloon.
Under a five-month campaign, Persona – Better, Undoubtedly, the trio engage and inspire Malaysians on platforms that are respectively developed based on their life experiences.
Roslinda, a single parent of two, is roped in to lead a programme to empower single mothers. (Lim works to encourage adults to overcome their personal challenges while Aanantha shows the younger generation the importance of learning beyond textbooks.)
Sidik Abd Hamid, Proton Edar general manager (marketing), says in line with the philosophy of Persona, the three deejays are enlisted as they understand the role that self-belief can play in helping people get to where they want to go.
“Radio deejays are influential personalities who reach out to millions of listeners on a daily basis and what they say and do can have an effect on perceptions and attitudes,” he adds.
Interestingly, Roslinda was baffled when she was first told of the ambassadorship as she didn’t own a driving licence.
“I had been travelling by taxi and when I was presented with a Proton Persona, it definitely pushed me to learn to drive!”
The chirpy lady got her licence last month and has been driving to work from her home, making her journey as a single mother and career woman a lot easier.
Love hurts
While Roslinda is synonymous with the theme of love through her deejaying work, she has encountered many bumps on the road of romance. She ended her seven-year relationship with a guy she dated during her student days after finding out that he was two-timing her.
Subsequently, she went through some soul-searching. A month after the breakup, she was matchmade with a childhood neighbour. They courted for a year before tying the knot in September 2000.
Roslinda, who grew up in Johor Baru as the seventh of 10 children, says: “I come from a big and close family, and I’ve always believed in family life, so I wanted to marry and have my own.”
Unfortunately, five years of marriage and two young kids later, Roslinda came to a painful decision to end the union as she “no longer believed in it”.
In remembering that unhappy marriage, Roslinda says mutual respect is of utmost importance in any relationship, where there is no room for selfishness.
“I have my own principles and there is a limit to my patience. I admit that it is tough marrying someone you don’t love. It is important to marry for love, so that when problems arise both will make sincere attempts to make it work.”
Splitting up was hard. “I felt bad putting my young children (then only four and two years old) through it. At the same time I could not cope anymore with the reality of the marriage that I had. Fortunately, I found the strength to make the decision to divorce.
“Had I stayed on in the marriage it would not have been good for me nor our children,” she adds.
She got custody of the children. “I left the house with them and no savings. The house and car were under my ex-husband’s name. So I rented a place.”
Financial worries were at the top of her mind. She was grateful, however, for her family’s financial and emotional support during that difficult period.
Though it wasn’t an amicable parting, Roslinda and her former husband have since found a middle ground. Today, they are neighbours. There was a time when she even refused to grant him access to the children as she was too hurt and disappointed over the breakup.
Life after divorce
Having gone through years of hardship in making ends meet, caring for two young children without family assistance as she relocated from Johor to Kuala Lumpur, Roslinda says she is truly enjoying her independence and her career growth.
Roslinda says that the toughest thing about bringing up kids on her own is “having to answer their repeated queries about when we can all live together like a family again!”
Her daughter and son started asking these questions when they were older. “I would always tell them in a positive way by making them see that they had a choice of two homes to live in, two sets of clothing and everything came in twos, including gifts from Mum and Dad, so they started seeing the ‘benefits’!”
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