10 Questions with ... Joy Summers

1. Could you take us through your radio career path that’s led up to your current gig as the “Joy” half of WayFM's CJ & Joy show?

WAY-FM has been my radio home since I got into the industry. I started as an intern at our Southwest Florida station and WAY-FM hired me to do a local morning show with Jeff Taylor there. I then moved on to do middays for the network in Nashville and now afternoons for six years.

2. When did it become clear you were purposed for radio? Had you ever considered another career trajectory?

I still mourn the career I never got to have on the Disney Channel as an actress in my 20s playing a teen. However, radio is okay I guess. In college, I was studying theater and focusing on TV news, but once I stepped into the studio of our college radio station everything changed.

3. Who were some of the people most instrumental and inspirational in helping you get to where you are, particularly in the radio realm?

Jim Leightenheimer is a professor at Cedarville University and he should be your go-to for new hires. He trained me well and connected me with WayFM to get my start. Jeff Taylor was just crazy enough to put an intern on the morning show with him and Jeff Connell was even crazier to move me up to doing a national radio show when I still had so much to learn. These men all taught me so much about how to do a great radio show!

4. Has CCM always been a part of your music background? Who are the artists that you’d say have played the biggest role in your story?

Can I hear an amen from all the other Point of Grace fans out there? As a pastor’s kid, all I was allowed to listen to growing up was Christian music so I’ve been such a fan for as long as I can remember. Steven Curtis Chapman was the soundtrack to my childhood, so when Carlos Aguiar surprised me with him in studio one day I made a face like this:

5. When you walk into the studio each day, what do you decide you're going to do-and who do you decide you're going to be-for your listeners? How do you prepare yourself for that time on-air?

It’s such a privilege that people invite us into their cars and lives so I try to remember that as I walk into the studio every day. There is no deciding who I will be for my listeners because they get as authentic a version of me as possible every day. They can tell when we are forcing it or faking it anyways. I like to be really organized and have all of my topics decently planned out with room for something different to happen when we are live.

6. Now that CJ & Joy is two years old, what are some of the most important things you’ve learned about your co-host? In light of your co-host, is there anything important you’ve learned about yourself?

Working with CJ is such a gift! His comedic mind always amazes me. What I have learned about CJ and from him is that the vibe in the room before you do a break is extremely important and fragile. If we are having fun then the listener will too. He has also taught me that giving yourself permission to fail allows you to try creative things and step out of your comfort zone where some of the best radio lies.

What I’ve learned about myself is that less is more. Less words, less intensity, and less forced laughter has allowed me to settle into a more natural version of me on air.

7. Off the top of your head, what have been a few of your favorite on-air moments between CJ and you so far?

When breaks go horribly wrong they instantly become my favorite because you cannot hide those moments on live radio. Once CJ was suppose to take a sip of water to prove a point and he drank too much and started choking. I instinctive started yelling “Don’t die,” repeatedly and when his coughing subsided we had a hilarious radio break.

8. What are some songs that stopped you in your proverbial tracks, maybe particularly when you were on-air?

Austin French’s new song “Why God” came out at a time when I was really asking big questions about my own faith and struggling over who God really was. Austin so beautifully articulated how hard it is to not know the answers to our questions but also that God can handle our questions. The change in lyrics at the end left in tears because God give us Himself which is enough even when we do not get the answer we seek.

9. How can you see that being a personality for a radio ministry every day has developed your character?

There is a certain amount of pressure I feel to be genuine and authentic with this job. Being a radio personality has made me quick to dig into what I am struggling with or dealing with so I can articulate it and use it as content for those who may feel the same way.

10. You have a lot to look forward to coming up. What do you anticipate could be some of the highlights of 2020?

I am becoming a mom for the first time in June which is scary and exciting all at the same time! I get to learn what it’s like to be a working mom in the industry like so many other mommas who are straight up heroes! It has been so sweet to share this life change with my listeners every step of the way.