Mel Cooke, Gleaner Writer

To veer towards the vernacular and say Denise Hunt is 'pretty focused' would unfairly reverse the order of two of her striking personal attributes which hit The Sunday Gleaner from a bench at Devon House, St Andrew. It would also downplay the level of intensity (tempered by many a merry laugh) which she exudes.

Denise Hunt is very, very focused.

"My passion is really in theatre, media, anything creative," the host of the two-and-a-half-hour D'Sizzle on Newstalk 93 FM, Mondays to Fridays starting at noon, said. "There is no curve in my career anymore. It's just media for now, until I take up what I'm going to do, which you will see me doing summer."

"It is totally unrelated to media, it has nothing to do with hype and glamour and it is going to be my own thing."

Theatre is not getting lost in the mix; if all had run according to the original plan Hunt would have currently been in rehearsals for a production to hit the stage for the Valentine's period. However, the project, slated for a Montego Bay, St James, opening, is still on.

When The Sunday Gleaner spoke with Hunt two Thursdays ago, she was into her sixth week at News Talk and she said, "It's good, it's great. I got to create something, a two-and-a-half-hour something. And I go 'two and a half hours. That should be easy'. I am used to working at a radio station, your shift is four, five hours, six if you are the grunge and you are working graveyard.

"I created something and they (News Talk) seem to like it. And the response out there without even putting an ad in the paper to say this is where I am, it seems to be catching on quite nicely. I am proud of it," Hunt said.

Respect and appreciation

Still, it took more effort than Hunt had anticipated.

"I underestimated those two and a half hours. I underestimated how much I would have to put in, because I produce all the features, I do my own foreground and background work. It's nice. I like it. And they appreciate me, which is (what I) like. To me, appreciation above money. Respect and appreciation above all else," Hunt said.

"It's half talk, half music. The nature of the talk is usually not passa passa, but the lighter side of pas," Hunt said, her voice lilting with a half chuckle. "I like to poke fun at people. And there is music, high-energy music." That is delivered by a DJ. "It is 50 per cent music, 50 per cent talk. In and out, boom, boom," she said, snapping her fingers in emphasis.

There was that time-off, though, when Hunt was off the radar, after hosting the extremely popular Digicel Rising Stars televised talent show for four years. When The Sunday Gleaner asked if she was surprised at the split with Digicel Rising Stars, Hunt made it clear that leaving was voluntary.

"I was surprised to even think I could give up Rising Stars. I was surprised I had the audacity. I was surprised that I thought I was strong enough and I was bold enough," Hunt said. "Because to date it was, in Jamaica - because I have had overseas experiences that, in my mind, were bigger than Rising Stars, but Jamaicans don't know this - it was my biggest local feat. My biggest local project. So I was surprised that I thought 'yeah, y'know, you could not do this'."

"I'll tell you the reason I decided not to do the show. At the end of season four when I evaluated, as I do with every single thing I am involved in, I asked myself two questions. 'Is there anything you could have done different?' The answer came to me, from my soul, no. 'Is there anything you can add?' That was the second question, and the answer again came from my soul, no. So I had given it my all and in my heart I said I didn't have anything more to give. I could have continued to do more of the same. But it would not have been additional to what I gave the year before. And so I said it's time to pass the baton, which is what I did."

Hunt was still on radio, but she soon stopped that as well.

"When I left Hitz in July last year, I kind of hung around for a while, doing some stuff with some private companies. And then I said y'know, it would be really cool if I just wasn't here anymore. Every time I went to the supermarket or gas station it was like hey, what you doing?', like you're supposed to be doing something. Like I wasn't working since I was 16. Like if you're not working you're going to die or you pop down or something," Hunt said. "You have to be really visibly working Denise?"

Back to Europe

This was, of course, when Digicel Rising Stars 2008 was well under way, with new host Yendi Phillipps.

"And then one of the things I have always wanted to do again, I wanted to go back to Europe. I had gone a couple years ago and I promised myself I would go on my own ticket. And so, I just took up myself and I just went for like six weeks. I bounced around Italy for a while and I came back and I thought 'OK yeah!' I came back missing Jamaica enough to want to do great, wonderful things and stuff and with another appreciation of how Jamaicans do things and how the rest of the world sees us, how really special we are," Hunt said.

She said, "When I left here I had myself under a lot of pressure. I don't think any husband or any wife can pressure like how I pressured myself in the middle of last year, going down to when I left. It was crazy. My friends were like you are asking things of yourself we don't even care about."

"It was rejuvenation. Clean my mind," Hunt said.

See THE STAR tomorrow as we continue the series on Denise Hunt's compelling story.