By Kerryn Le Cordeur

From the moment media personality, Zai Khan, answers the phone, you can hear she’s found her niche in broadcasting, with her enthusiastic, clear voice and a passion for her career shining through. And it’s a good thing she’s so enthusiastic – not only is she the co-host of Radio 2000’s popular weekend sport show, she also manages airtime sales for DStv’s commercial channels, has had a stint as a presenter on SuperSport’s Update channel and is a mother of two, who was on her way to fetch her kids from school while I was speaking to her.

So, what got Khan to this point? She explained that she grew up in Durban and completed a BA degree in Communication at UNISA before doing in-store announcements with another prominent sports media personality, Kass Naidoo, and then moving on to join SABC’s Lotus FM as a presenter for its youth show. She moved to Johannesburg when she got married and started a family, and then took up a corporate position at SuperSport, as Sales and Sponsorship Manager. It was at this point she was given the opportunity to present on its Updates Channel after auditioning and being told by then-head of production at SuperSport, Tex Texeira, “I think you can do this and we’d like you to present on our channel.” Khan commented, “It was the best day, year, event of my life, because it just rekindled my love for broadcasting and being in sport, and it was a whole new avenue that I hadn’t really been groomed for, because I loved sport, but hadn’t really ever presented sport.”

Excelling in sports presenting, four years ago, Khan was offered a show on Radio 2000 to do its weekend sports show, every Saturday and Sunday from 12:00 to 15:00. She explained that it is “a very sports-oriented show, but it’s also female sports-driven, and it’s helping Joe Soap to understand sport without the jargon – because sometimes sports fanatics get carried away with all the jargon. We just tell it like it is, which is good, especially for women, because there’s a growing number of women who are watching sport, and when guys talk sport most women tune out, but if other women talk about it, we don’t just look at the technical side, we also notice if a player is sporting a nice hairstyle – the lifestyle side of sport; ‘sportainment’.”

With experience in both TV and radio, which does Khan prefer? She answered that there are many aspects of each to consider, but radio is her first love. “It’s so immediate, there are no double takes, it’s exciting, it’s theatre of the mind – I love it it!” she explained, adding that radio is also an intimate, warm and connected medium.

And, top of mind for all South Africans currently, what does the sports presenter think of our cricket team’s performance in the Cricket World Cup thus far, especially after our win against India over the weekend? Khan’s excited reaction was: “What an inspirational performance! The boys pulled the rabbit out of the hat and it just showed we have what it takes and are world class – that trophy’s coming home!” Let’s hope her prediction is correct…

Let’s hope, too, that Khan is someone we’ll see in the media industry for years to come – certainly an inspirational and driven female figure, showing that women really can have it all.

For more on Khan, click here.