Avia Collinder, Outlook Writer
Patrick Lafayette with wife, journalist and counsellor Indi Mclymont-Lafayette, daughter Leila and son Djvan. - contributed
A chat with broadcaster Patrick Lafayette is a rollicking ride, a tour de force of delight and a conversation layered with laughter. Lafayette seizes every opportunity to poke fun at all and sundry, but also, always, he speaks from the heart.
Lafayette's internal life, from the way he tells it, is so rich with reward that one envies him the new vision acquired since he lost sight in both his eyes.
A crack to the skull during a game of stick ball at age 11 could have been the beginning of sorrows if a male with less mettle was the recipient of that blow.
By age 16, a diving accident led to a detached retina and complete blindness, but by then he was well on his way to creating for himself another way to look at life.
The boy who has always loved the radio was a teen curfewed to the precincts of home because of his lack of sight. The radio, when at home, was his primary means of entertainment.
calling radio stations
Patrick spent his time speed dialling on the old-style rotary telephone with joyful abandon, calling Fae Ellington and Marie Garth. The teenager was banned from radio (he was winning all the competitions) on four occasions, each time using four different names and his gift of mimicry and impersonation to dominate these afternoon radio shows.
Later he was to use this gift of mimicry to produce, single-handedly, the three-part docu-drama Mas Joe - The Christmas Adventure, which is still available on CD.
Today, known for his velvet smooth and undeniably sexy voice, the broadcast announcer, who has been in the business for 23 years, hosts his own weekday show, Kool Rhythms, which airs on KOOL 97 FM from 1:00-5:00 p.m.
The 46-year-old also produces - collaborating with several valued radio colleagues - audio biographies which chronicle the history of the Jamaican music and which have been aired to significant acclaim abroad.
Lafayette produced his audio features for XM satellite radio, the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC), Choice FM in London, as well as for distribution to over 50 stations in the United States and Europe.
reason forsuccess
His disability, Patrick says, initiated for him from the teen years a lifelong study in human nature and how to relate to people. It's his best-kept secret and the reason for his success.
"I take a little more time out to listen to people. You pay more attention to things," he explains.
Any hope that he could see again was summarily squelched soon after his blindness. His parents had asked his eldest brother, Cornell, then doing medicine at the University of the West Indies, to leave school and take Patrick to the United States to see what could be done about his eyes. The brothers departed, but nothing was found to reverse his condition.
While there, the teenager was fully rehabilitated and instructed in the survival skills of the blind.
Patrick and Cornell remained in the States where Patrick attended Marist College, Poughkeepsie, New York, between 1980-84, completing a B.A. in mass communication.
Lafayette says he had wanted a career in medicine. Blindness put paid to that, but he was to discover that it was no hindrance to his love of the radio and all things technical.
In New York, he discovered audio books and read voraciously, sometimes as many as 56 each month, popping novels in and out of his player, experiencing a world in which the imagination reigned supreme.
His blindness, he said, also had the effect of exponentially increasing his reading. Made to feel exquisite pain while the Internet lines were knocked out by Hurricane Dean, a blackout in communication is something he would rather not experience again.
read the classics
On the Internet, Patrick also eviscerated the Gutenberg Library, a free storehouse of knowledge with information from Aristotle to Zulu kings. "I have gone through the top 1,000 classics of literature, from Treasure Island through Uncle Tom's Cabin to the Greek classics and French literature," he says.
Later he was to also access and fully enjoy the Library of Congress with its extensive data base.
JAWS (Job Access with Speech - the voice to speech technology which enables the sight-impaired to read and communicate with high levels of efficiency), he said, has changed his life. It empowered him to communicate with efficiency equalling any sighted worker.
Using this technology since 1989, he brought it back to Jamaica and trained many individuals who have subsequently succeeded as visually impaired professionals.
It was in 1984 that, fresh from finishing his communication degree at Marist College in Poughkeepsie, New York, Patrick first returned to Jamaica to start work at Capital Stereo (the name was later changed to FAME FM).
Lafayette launched his broadcasting career as an announcer/engineer/producer with such duties as announcing radio programmes, station breaks, commercials and public service announcements.
He also commented on musical selections; conducted interviews and moderated panel discussions of interest to audience; observing indicators and adjusted controls to maintain constant sound modulation, cueing sports and news announcers; maintaining a log of programmes transmitted; and selecting recording to be played based on programme speciality.
Wife Indi Mclymont-Lafayette, journalist and counselling psychologist, who first met her husband as a production assistant at FAME in 1997, notes that soon after working with Patrick one quickly forgets that he is blind.
On many occasions when problems arise with equipment he is often only one of several engineers present, he is the one called to troubleshoot.
In 1989 he moved on to KLAS radio, KLAS FM, in Mandeville, as announcer/engineer/producer, then Lafayette took a brief break from radio to pursue computer training and to reconsider his priorities.
A lover of computers, Lafayette worked at Communications Associates in Miami, Florida, between 1990-1992, where he analysed the computer needs of current and prospective clients.
creative director
He then went on to Mike Jarrett Communications in Kingston in 1992 where, as creative director, he oversaw copywriting; produced commercial jingles, infomercials and documentaries for radio and television.
Lafayette left Mike Jarrett to complete certification at Baruch College in Manhattan between 1992 and 1993, in WordPerfect and Lotus Applications.
This was the springboard, in 1994, for his engagement at Chuckles Resort in Negril as a senior computer analyst. There he established computer network; organised front office/back office reservations programme and instructed staff on the use of applications.
Although he had allowed a brief disenchantment with media to separate him from radio, by 1997 Patrick was back in its arms, returning to Fame FM radio.
At the same time, he was also working at the Abilities Foundation in Kingston where he was information technology instructor, instructing students with combined disabilities in the use of computer applications.
Lafayette was one of the founding persons at Kool 97FM in 2001, where he hosted a daily show and worked as operations coordinator. In 2004, however, he acted as station manager until 2005 before resigning from the post to start his own production company, Twin Audio Network.
freelance broadcaster
Today, the broadcaster is s a freelancer. His show on Kool 97 FM features a delicious riveting blend, including reggae, Latin and gospel - as the spirit moves.
"I have had the experience where a track was about to come to an end and I just reached into my pack for another disc and it was the perfect fit," he reflects.
He has refined his 'sensing' abilities to a high art.
Indi states that her husband can describe the features of individuals when they speak. Quizzed about this ability Patrick simply states: "God is great, he has taken one and given back a thousand."
He labels discs, he notes, in Braille, but has no need to list every track. He knows them all by heart. His memory, though unassisted by sight, is photographic.
"If you tell me a list of 50 numbers now, in 50 years you can come back to me and I will repeat them to you."
Indi giggles at this boastful claim, but she agrees that her husband is an astonishing man who, she says, she fell in love with because of his compassion for his listeners.
Patrick comments: "My tutor in radio at Marist, an extraordinary man, told us that ego had no place on radio. Radio is about people. It's not about you."
He says he met and married Indi (she made him wait for three years) at a time when he was jaded about relationships. "Indi was different," Patrick recalls. He was impressed by her marked intelligence. "She was also a bit old-fashioned and deeply spiritual." According to Lafayette, while he waited for his bride-to-be, he received only pecks on the cheek.
The couple are now parents of six-year-old Leila and five-year-old Djvan, and celebrated seven years of marriage and 10 years of togetherness in August of this year.
Indi states that Lafayette taught her to cook some dishes, but she has had to lay down the law about cleaning up after sorties into the kitchen.
research together
The couple is also a working pair, doing research together for his audio biographies and developing counselling programmes to reclaim the lives of Jamaicans, old and young alike, who feel alienated.
Patrick, along with Indi, who is currently the administrative manager and editor for the PANOS Institute, work with children who are affected by HIV/AIDS.
"We need to do something for these children," Lafayette states, noting that sometimes all they need is a "hug".
Lafayette is also challenging the telecoms sector to remove the charge for SMS text messaging for the deaf, as this is the only way they can communicate.
Indi Mclymont-Lafayette says that as a couple, they would also like to extend their counselling services to couples in mixed marriages, many of whom are pressured by society for their "strange" choice of partner.
For Patrick, prejudice is a spectre long laid to rest. He is primarily concerned, he says, about getting rid of certain ideas Jamaicans have about growing children and also in developingpersonal self-esteem in everyone who hears him.
"My greatest yearning is for Jamaica and Jamaicans to realise the great gifts we possess. We are a blessed and gifted people. This refers not only to talent but also to bonding and unity. If we had this unity we would see the strength that we possess."
Lafayette's youngest listener recently celebrated her second birthday, calling his show every week to babble happily to 'Patick'. He babbles right back.
The broadcaster's melodious voice, his wicked wit and his intuitive style in sharing music enthrals listeners and have also won for him a dedicated following who very willingly and very quickly forget that he is blind.
By all indications, Lafayette is no less dedicated to them, collecting 'sons and daughters' whom he keeps as 'mentees' as long as they need to be.
In addition to training several noted radio personalities, Lafayette has also mentored young men in the computer field (he is a computer professional), prevented a number of suicides and saved numerous marriages.
The broadcaster concludes, "I was given a break, so my thing in life is to give another guy a break. If you even affect one person, the ripple effect from that is a great thing."
