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Sunni Puric works weekdays apart of the Joe Clair Morning Show on Rhythmic/CHR radio WGPC 95.5FM. Her journey to radio is unlike any other. This marks the first time I have asked what it was like spending your teenage years in a refugee camp in Bosnia. While the world saw a picturesque Yugoslavia during the 1984 Sarajevo Winter Olympics, it was 12 years later that th country fell into civil war. Sunni was open about sharing her times in the camp, and about her family's pathway to America.
In this episode, we spoke about moving from Bosnia to Hamtramck, Michigan where she caught the radio bug listening to WJLB in Detroit. learned English watching Mama's Family, and found her way into WJLB as an intern at the age of 18. Sunni moved to Miami to work at Power 96, then went to New York before landing in the midday spot at WGPC and then on to the morning show with Joe Clair and Guy Lambert. Sunni also does a weekly hit with Fox 5, and is great Twitter and Instagram follow.
Remember that if you are having a hard time with staying inside and self distancing, you might want to think about people who have had it harder in the 40's with blackouts, rationing and being forced to move. Or Sunni's experience about teenage years in a refugee camp. Adversity can really shape someone, and Sunni learned that she was a storyteller. If you are looking for some additional reading.....
The Washington Post wrote a piece on Sunni back in 2014.
Sunni makes a regular appearance on the local FOX 5 in DC. She was also featured in a bio piece on that station.
FROM REFUGEE TO RADIO STAR: You may know
from WPGC radio, but you may not know her inspirational journey from Bosnian refugee to DC radio star.
I've never been a big fan of how the parent company of WGPC distributes their content. It can be pretty tough for an American to access and even harder for a Canadian to listen to these great radio starions. A lot of it is buried in apps and behind walls. I am a believer in being everywhere and creating the shortest route possible to connect to the radio station. I thought it was counter-productive to have all Entercom stations removed from TuneIn, thus preventing recall on smart speakers. Like seriously, we just got the radio back into the house and you want listeners to take a detour? That's not congruent with how they behave. Anyhow, for the purposes of this podcast, I use TunnelBear as a VPN to enter the United States, and registered for a Radio.com membership to listen to all their stations. The VPN costs me about $60 a year but it's my way of jumping the wall.