Two hours a day, three days a week, Kai Nickerson is living out her dream, being a disc jockey.
"I've always wanted to be on air. I've always wanted to play a particular type of music which is neo-soul and concious hip-hop," says Nickerson, better known to her listeners simply as Kai.
In March, Kai answered an online add for Fishbowl Radio Networks, an internet company founded by retired Dallas DJ Sami G.
"I started teaching broadcast to students, and I started seeing that when they'd graduate, they were having a hard time getting a job in the industry," says Sami.
"Because the industry was changing, the economy was bad, they weren't getting that break that I did back when I was 17," says Sami.
For a $100 start-up fee, would-be deejays get training on the high tech equipment, website development and music licensing.
Every show costs fifty dollars, but there's a way to turn an otherwise expensive hobby into a money maker. DJ's own their own airtime which is something they can sell to advertisers.
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"A lot of people are doing this full-time or part-time and making good revenue from that," says Sami.
In less than a year, Fishbowl now features one hundred different radio shows with more than two hundred radio personalities like Kai.
Her neo-soul format has found a huge audience and she's working as a DJ full-time now.
"I know that's cliché, but it's never too late to get up and do anything you want to do," says Kai.
"I've always been one to put things on the back burner, and 'I'll do that tomorrow'," says Kai.
"I don't put anything on hold anymore."
More: Fishbowl Radio Network
