KISS DJ Charlie Hedges will be on familiar territory when she heads to Beckenham for a DJ gig in July.

The breakfast show host, who broadcasts to over 4million listeners a week, is as used to listening to tunes in the area as playing them.

She said: “I always play over that side of London to be honest.

“I used to go out socially out there. I liked to go somewhere different – obviously I’m from Essex and I’m DJing all over the place anyway but I just like the people, I like the venues, I like the bars and stuff there – it’s just a different scene really.”

Though best known for her radio work, Charlie also loves playing live and has gained an impressive reputation as an electro house DJ.

She said: “Radio is like therapy. I use radio to talk about everything – I’ve got no secrets. Everything comes out on air.

“The DJing side is like a weight gets lifted off your shoulders. You just forget everything, it is such a buzz, it’s unreal.”

Away from work, Charlie said her tastes are broader than people think.

She said: “I love my house music, but out of work I really like my indie stuff as well. I love bands, I love going to Camden and just seeing unsigned people but a lot of people don’t know that side of me.”

The twenty-six-year-old’s career to date has been extraordinary.

As a teenager she dreamed of a career in radio or journalism and, shortly before starting a university journalism course at Harlow, had a work experience placement at Kiss.

She must have impressed because she was offered a job as an assistant on the breakfast show.

She said: “It was only making tea – I thought, sod it, I’ll do it.”

Before long Charlie was among the presenters.

“I used to do the breakfast show in the morning, leave there at 9am, drive to Harlow and do my uni course.

“I’d finish there about 8pm sometimes, get home about 9.30pm or 10pm, go to bed and get up and do the same thing.

“I did that for three years. It was crazy.”

Charlie may not still be off to lectures after work, but the days are still as long as she DJs every weekend and often during the week – sometimes going straight to work from a gig.

She said: “I get up about 3.45am, leave about 4am. I’ve got getting ready down to a T.

“The eyelashes are semi-permanent so I haven’t got to worry about that, the hair’s extensions so I haven’t got to worry about that. I get up, have a shower, put clothes on and go.”

And Charlie said finding energy is not a problem.

She said: “I have a coffee and a red bull in the morning and that’s it. I just love my job, I love getting up and I just love working.”

When you look at the list of people Charlie has worked with and interviewed it is not hard to see why she loves her job; Will I Am, Daniel Craig, Jennifer Aniston, Britney, Kanye West and, her favourite, Justin Timberlake.

She said: “He is just awesome. I used to listen to him when he was really young in his N’Sync days so it is weird to talk to people you were actually into. He’s very nice, absolutely lovely.”

With radio and TV work and a hectic DJ schedule, you would think Charlie would just want to put her feet up, but she is hard at work on her next project – making her own music.

Her first track Trip is also done in an instrumental version and there is more to come.

She said: “We have got some exciting news about that track – I’m working with someone else – but I’m not allowed to say.”

Charlie Hedges will headline Layfields at Club Langley in Hawksbrook Lane, Beckenham from 2pm to 3am on Saturday, July 27. The show features 20 DJs playing house, hip hop, dance, dubstep and trance as well as a barbecue, bars and complimentary sweets.  Tickets £10 at layfields.fatsoma.com