Kavelle Anglin-Christie, Staff Reporter
Winston Barnes, politician, radio disc jock and teacher. - CONTRIBUTED
DOES BEING a politician who is a disc jock/radio host and a teacher sound odd? Winston Barnes has a passion for all three.
If you remember the days when JBC existed and there were only two radio companies, then there will be no doubt as to who Barnes is. For those who don't, he was one of Jamaica's most notable disc jocks and television hosts. He is also the brother of Jeff and Ed Barnes - noted radio personalities.
Barnes left Jamaica in the early 80's after working with RJR and JBC for over 12 years. He started working at RJR as a cameraman in 1968 then left to attend photography school in New York. When he returned to Jamaica in 1970, RJR asked him to audition for a position as a host.
In 1973 he went back to school and in 1976 rejoined JBC for four years. He later went back to RJR before leaving Jamaica in the early 1980's. After he migrated, he continued his work in the media, started teaching and entered politics.
According to Barnes the road was a long one to success. After he left Jamaica, racism was just one of the many plagues he endured.
AUDITION TAPE
"When I came here I had to hear so much garbage...," he said of living in the United States. "I went for an interview and the programme director was so rude. Apparently what they saw on the résumé and what they heard on the tape, the face didn't go with it. So they told me that my accent was too heavy and I couldn't get the job. If that was really the case, why wouldn't they have said that when I sent in the audition tape," he said.
That didn't stop him, however, he went on to become the news director and host of the call-in programme Open-Line at WAVS 1170 AM in Mirimar, Florida.
"I love doing it because I am able to bring a voice to Caribbean people in Mirimar ... It gives me an idea of what is going on in the country (Jamaica) and minds of the people. People call in and talk about anything from the crime to obeah to Air Jamaica, but it's mostly the crime that they talk about," he says.
But radio wasn't enough, and Barnes decided to give politics a try. He first ran for Commissioner of Mirimar in March 2003 much to the chagrin of many.
"Because I was on radio, one of the contenders brought case law against me from 1968 saying that I couldn't run because I had another job. But we won that, because people were saying, "hey, this guy had his job long before he decided to run for anything." So what he was saying really didn't make any sense," he said. Barnes won the seat.
PUBLIC SERVICE
Barnes ran for a second time last year and won the seat again. Yet, he says he ran for office out of a desire for public service, not a love of politics.
"... No one gets more political than I. But the good thing is that at this level you don't have to declare a party, it is equivalent to the parish council," he said. "I really don't see it as a job. I'm into public service, not politics, because I am turned off by the stupid games they play in politics."
As a politician now living in the United States, Barnes has not ignored the reality of crime in Jamaica.
"I have accomplished a number of goals here and I am grateful for that, but I would really like to come back home. I visit at least four or five times a year, but the crime there is troubling," he said.
Barnes says it is difficult balancing his time between politics and being a radio host, but he can't give up his 'special joy': teaching.
He is an adjunct professor at the Florida Memorial University, where he teaches a voice and diction course. "When I came here I realised that the type of training that we got in Jamaica you don't find anywhere else."
Barnes has lived a colourful life but he says his greatest achievement is his two year old daughter. "It was totally unexpected and she is the greatest joy in my life."
