Radio is in his blood
Elliott Danker joins ONE FM 91.3
When local DJ Elliott Danker was young, he was too afraid to sleep in his own room.
So he insisted on sleeping in his parents' bedroom in their five-room HDB flat until he was 13.
He only agreed to sleep in his own room when his father bought him a hi-fi set to keep him company at night.
And it was no coincidence that after he moved out of his parents' bedroom that they gave him two more siblings.
Said Danker: "When I was young, I'll admit that I didn't know what giving my parents' their privacy meant.
"My younger sister and I would sleep on mattresses on the floor (in their room). It was also nice there as it was the only room in the whole house that had air-conditioning.
"After I moved into my own room at 13 (with my younger sister), my two younger brothers came along."
Apart from getting two younger brothers, Danker also discovered something that would eventually lead to his current profession.
He said that the DJ who came on the radio every night in his room eventually became his companion. That was when he realised how much value he could bring as a DJ.
After his first outing on the airwaves in 2006 on WKRZ 91.3 (as it was known then), he hasn't looked back since.
In 2008, he joined Power 98 FM, till he quit in February.
But Danker has come full circle.
Today, he joins ONE FM 91.3 to jazz up its morning show and talk about his passion - sports.
YOU STUDIED LAW. SO WHY DIDN'T YOU BECOME A LAWYER?
My dad and mum got divorced in 2004 and at that time my mum had engaged lawyers but my dad hadn't still.
I helped him handle the divorce in the sense that I educated him on his rights with the background in law that I have.
It was an extremely stressful period, and I felt that practising law, even under those circumstances, wasn't something that made me happy.
HOW DID YOU COME TO JOIN ONE FM?
When I quit my previous radio station in February this year, I wanted to give up being a DJ altogether.
Then one day, I was in a car with my friend and Whitesnake's Here I Go Again - a song released in 1982 - started playing on ONE FM.
We stopped and just listened to the song. That, in its essence, is the power of radio to me.
I have that song and I could have played it myself but there's just something about hearing it on the radio.
So I called up ONE FM, where they play my favourite 80s rock songs, with songs from the 70s creeping in sometimes.
To think that in February I was ready to leave radio. Radio wasn't ready to leave me.
ARE YOU RELATED TO DJ JEAN DANKER?
When I used to listen to her on the radio when I was 13, I had no idea that we were related.
It was only after I read an article in the papers that revealed her dad's name that I asked my dad if we were related.
My dad said that her dad is his cousin.
So we did meet up and chat after a mutual friend introduced us and after I first became a DJ in 2006.
It was a nice surprise to find out that she was indeed my cousin.
SPORTS IS YOUR PASSION AND YOU CAN DISCUSS IT AT LENGTH. IN WHICH SPORTS DOES YOUR EXPERTISE LIE?
The top two that I can go on and on about are football and F1.
Then I would say that tennis and golf are the next two sports that I can discuss at length.
The rest of the sports that I have reported on are baseball, hockey, rugby and even skiing.
TELL US SOMETHING ABOUT YOURSELF THAT PEOPLE WILL BE SURPRISED TO KNOW.
I have a black belt in taekwondo.
"It was only after I read an article in the papers that revealed her dad's name that I asked my dad if we were related. My dad said that her dad is his cousin."
- Elliott Danker on how he found out he was related to DJ Jean Danker
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