We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Jaymie Knox a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.
Jaymie, looking forward to hearing all of your stories today. Let’s start with the story of your mission. What should we know?
I started WJMS Radio back in December of 2015 with the idea that I wanted to focus on the little guy and the underdog. I hi-lighted business owners, companies, individuals and organizations that were making a difference in the community. We discussed relevant issues in the community in a way that explained impact on a local and personal level. And in our peak we had about 13 radio shows airing throughout the week with various niches. In December of 2018 I was diagnosed with Stage 4 Lung Cancer out of the blue. I am not a smoker and have no known history of cancer in my family. I began to do a lot of advocacy work in the community and began to try to educate people on the stigma and seriousness of this disease. I decided in 2022 to expand WJMS Radio into WJMS Media to capture the work that myself and others were doing while also hi-lighting other important health and wellness issues in the community. We are able to bring our message on any platform we access now, which was a challenge before when it was just an online radio station.
Awesome – so before we get into the rest of our questions, can you briefly introduce yourself to our readers.
I got my start in radio at my college, Arcadia University. I interned for 2 semesters with Wired 96.5 in Philadelphia and after graduation ended up putting radio on the back burner. I went back to school in 2012 and graduated from Connecticut School of Broadcasting in July. From there I began interning with 900am WURD until I moved to NY for a job opportunity. Once in NY I was offered a chance to host an online radio show with Phillyhottradio remotely from NY. I accepted that opportunity which then morphed into me having my own station, WJMS Radio. I launched in Dec 2015 with the idea in mind that I wanted to focus on the little guy and the underdog. I hi-lighted business owners, companies and organizations that were making a difference in the community. We discussed relevant issues in the community in a way that explained impact on a local and personal level. And in our peak we had about 13 radio shows airing throughout the week with various niches. For a lot of authors, businesses, artists and individuals we were the first outlet to give them an interview or to really show support and for that I am proud.
We have remained consistent over these 7 years in the industry and though we are still small, we are growing and we are a mighty voice. Now, I use WJMS Media as a platform to educate and erase the stigma around lung cancer and other disease by advocating and having true conversations about them, while remaining transparent in my own journey. We still have a few of the original podcasts that came over with us, but we are looking at new and unique ways to boost followers, engagement and connections within the community and the world at large
Let’s talk about resilience next – do you have a story you can share with us?
I was 32 at the age of diagnosis. Just got married and was really just getting to the good part of life. A Stage 4 Lung Cancer diagnosis could have been crippling to me. But I decided to keep a positive mindset and keep moving forward. I always tell people “I may have cancer, but cancer does not have me.” It is my way of sh0wing and telling people that Cancer is not the ONLY thing I have going on in my life. I am a living, thriving and dynamic individual and I refuse to let cancer take that away from me.
How about pivoting – can you share the story of a time you’ve had to pivot?
I have always had to pivot. No one taught me how to run a business or a radio station. I just knew it was what I wanted to do at the time. My glass ceiling was always to work for SiriusXM, until I realized that owning the platform would be better! But a lot of the initiatives, programs and content that WJMS has came from trial by fire. i would try things, and pivot if they didn’t work and then try something new. But at the end of the day, we never stopped trying. We always have great ideas and just because they don’t work at one specific time, it doesn’t mean they wont work down the line. So we are always pivoting in one way or another.
Another way I pivot is in media overall. 10-15 years ago podcasting wasn’t really a thing and neither was TikTok. Now-a-days it is weird if you DON’T have a podcast and TikTok is the #1 social media platform. Things in the media industry change. You have to be fluid to move with it. With us expanding into WJMS Media, we have set ourselves up for success for whatever this next chapter of media looks like.
Contact Info:
- Website: www.linktree.com/wjmsmedia
- Instagram: www.instagram.com/just_jams
- Facebook: www.facebook.com/mzjams
- Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@wjmsmedia
- Other: www.knoxcustomgifts.com My ecommerce site for custom gifts that gives back to Lung Cancer orgs quarterly.
Image Credits
Tori Bronston – (wedding picture)