Radio heavyweight Azeal Matsoarelle, better known as Cheeze, said he was in a mourning phase last year when he decided to leave Fresh FM, a place he once called home.
He revealed to VIBEZ! the relationship he built over the years with the station was for him a romantic one that just came to an abrupt end.
“Sentimental reasons weren’t enough in the end. Personally, it has been an emotional rollercoaster these last months, honestly. It’s like I broke up with my girlfriend of 14 years. I am keeping my mental health first and enjoying the time off.”
The station announced on its social media pages on 4 November last year that: “It is with a heavy heart that Fresh FM has to inform you that Azeal Zyla Cheeze Matsoarelle has decided to resign from Fresh FM due to personal reasons with immediate effect. We want to say thank you for over a decade of being real, raw and unapologetic”.
Fresh FM station manager KayCee, popularly known as ‘The Big Homie’, confirmed Cheeze’s sudden resignation.
“We can confirm that Azeal resigned unexpectedly just prior to the conclusion of a disciplinary process involving him. We are not prepared to further comment on internal staff matters. We are sad that Azeal chose to leave, and we wish him well and look forward to hearing him on the Namibian airwaves again,” said KayCee at the time.
Cheeze told this reporter that it was no secret that he was not getting along with his line manager, whom he always been at loggerheads with.
“The passion, love and drive I have for my profession is still there and always will be, but I am not a paper-pusher. I am one of the best, if not the best, out there. But I was not going to allow my brand as a personality to die because, in the end, it all became about the money and not the talent and people anymore in my point of view. I have so much to offer still and Fresh is or was not the place for me to do it at anymore. People want Cheeze, not a robot.”
Other notable DJs also left under questionable circumstances last year, and the station brought in new talent.
The radio personality feels trying to fix what is not broken has cost them.
He promised to be back on the air this year after doing some self-introspection.
“I’m concentrating on my small business endeavours at the moment. But Cheeze, AKA Cheezus, AKA Kbvdp, will be back soon. It just depends on who I choose to go with and share my vision of Namibian radio with Namibians. The king will be back, on a breakfast show, of course,” he concluded.
- slunyangwe@nepc.com.na