ZBM Radio DJ Julia Pitt is turning heads with her fresh approach to radio and theatre.

Last week the 26-year-old Miss Pitt played a rap song during her two-hour disc jockey shift at ZBM. All the lines lit up. One elderly lady called up and said: "Honey, I like your show, but do you realise this is the 'seniors' station'?"

Nevertheless, she perseveres in trying to sneak something different into the "seniors' station's" daily music regimen, a little Spanish music here, a little alternative there.

Many of the calls she receives are positive. She gets callers who say things like: "I've heard the same set of songs played every day for three years, thanks for playing something different."

Since her recent return from college in the United States, she has quickly made a name for herself in local theatre. She has appeared in a number of local plays including Timberlake Wertenbaker's My Country Is Good and Noel Coward's Hay Fever.

Now she is having a go at writing her own plays - one of which won a local short play writing contest. Her 15-minute play along with several others will be performed at the Bermuda Musical & Dramatic Society's (BMDS) Daylesford Theatre in February.

Miss Pitt, who has a Bachelor of Arts degree in Mass Communications with a concentration in film from Emerson College in Boston, Massachusetts, had a spell in Hollywood but is happy to stay in Bermuda now. This week she spoke to reporter JESSIE MONIZ and photographer TAMELL SIMONS.

Q: What do you think about Tony Fernandes being hauled off and deported for immigration violations?

A: It is just so awful. I met him as soon as I came back to Bermuda. He was involved in everything I was involved in, the arts scene and particularly the Film Festival. He also ran a creative writing group that I go to. When I read that in the newspaper I couldn't believe it. I was astonished. Bermuda is losing a major contributor. He got things done.

Q: How long have you been interested in creative writing?

A: I never thought about writing. I was always interested in acting and the performing arts and things like that. I did this cross-country trip across America with some friends. Somebody made a comment about poetry and I said: "Who writes poetry?"

They were all like: "I do, I do." I sat there in the back of the car and wrote my first poem. It took two hours. Then I had this poem.

I said: "Wow, I'm kind of impressed with myself." I looked at it recently. It was a bunch of nonsense. It was about taking a journey and what it means to see these beautiful places and know you can't hold on to that moment. It was a start. From there I started writing when inspiration struck.

I realised that I love writing. It is an outlet. I started journal writing. I try and write in my journal every night. It helps me sleep better.

Reading some of my older entries I think: "Who is the person who wrote this?" Some of the duller periods of my life are like: I had a major clothing crisis. But when things do get more exciting, especially if I travel, I love to look back on my travel journals. Usually, it is not about the beautiful monument I saw, it's about how much my feet are hurting.

Q: Play writing must have been a natural fit for you?

A: I never thought about it before this competition. Play writing never crossed my mind. But once I started I found that because I liked acting so much it was slightly easier for me to get into the different parts and act them out as I wrote them.

I have written three plays now. The one that got picked was about facing your fears. It is about two people in Norway. They end up both jumping into a fiord and liberating themselves from what they are most afraid of.

Q: That sounds interesting, a play in Bermuda about Norway?

A: The most interesting thing was going to the casting sessions. What a cool experience that was. First of all, this is the first time I have seen so many people turn out for auditions at BMDS. The diversity of the people that turned up was great. It is a shame there weren't ten more plays to cast them in. There was some real talent, but seeing my words being acted out on a stage was so weird. It brought a whole new life to it. Seeing people play it on the stage, it was hilarious.

Q: How many plays have you been in since you came back?

A: I have done a couple of things with the Waterspout Theatre company. The Waterspout productions are fairly low-budget productions, but really good. They pride themselves on being able to pick slightly less commercial material.

Q: What are your three different jobs?

A: I just started deejaying here for two hours in the morning between 10 and 12 on 1340 Radio, the "seniors' station". I blew them all out of the water the other day when I played a rap song. I didn't get any phone calls yesterday. I'm sure they were all sitting at home, offended.

Lately, I have been filling in, because two of the news crew here have been called off to the Bermuda Regiment. After that, I normally work for Creative Construction. For the past two weeks I have been working for the XL Education Initiative helping with their documentary shoot.

It was good to get back into film after having been out of it for so long. I was a film major at Emerson College and then I went and worked in Hollywood for a year and a half.

Q: What did you do in Hollywood?

A: I spent the first three months interning. I worked for a music video production house and a talent management company. Then I got a job working for Edward Norton, the actor and worked with him on the movie Fight Club as his assistant.

It was pretty exciting. It's like a world away now. I think back and think: "Goodness, I was in Hollywood shaking hands with all of those people." I got to meet Brad Pitt. It was worth it just for that.

Q: Does it feel anticlimactic to come back to Bermuda?

A: It was at the beginning. I made an interesting transition after leaving Los Angeles. LA is so comfortable and luxurious. Everything is about convenience.

Then I went travelling through South and Central America. The whole world doesn't revolve around the movie industry.

By the time I got back I was looking forward to some comfort. I did have plans to leave. I kind of still do but it never happened. Every time I thought about leaving Bermuda something would come up to keep me here.

After two years of being back here and doing several different jobs I think I have finally decided that I am not going to fight it. Let's see what happens if I stay here.

Q: There's a rumour going around that you're going to replace ZBM radio personality David Lopes.

A: Oh, God, who could replace David Lopes? My feet aren't big enough to fill those shoes, are you kidding?

David Lopes is an institution and I am not quite ready for an institution. He has decided to stay on. I am quite happy with my two-hour shift.

Q: Are you getting your own talk show?

A: I don't know if talk radio is really my bag. If my shift was longer than two hours I would definitely be into interviewing people and things like that.

But as far as callers calling in and complaining about Bermuda, there is enough complaining going on.

I would rather put something positive out there. I love playing the music. I play two hours of music every day. I walk out of here like I'm walking on air.

Music is a great thing. It can do a lot for you. I play mostly Seventies and disco. I am there rocking away to Abba in the studio. It's a good thing I'm on the radio and not on television.

Q: Do you think it's time for a fresh approach in radio?

A: I don't know if you can get much fresher than Peter Lewis in the morning. He is so fresh he is almost raw.

I would love to model myself after someone like that. He has the type of personality we need here. I think maybe 1340 needs a little bit of a facelift.

It is difficult because you get these niches. Mix 106 does their pop music and Power 95 caters to their public. I have to cater to my public.

My mother listens to the station. I said to her: "Did you hear my rap song the other day?" She said: "Yes, I was appalled. It was horrible." I don't blame them.

Radio is all about audience. I can only thrust so much on them. I try and throw in a couple of new tunes here and there, a couple of alternative pieces of music.

I have had some calls where people said: "I love that Spanish music you are playing."