Crossword Genius

Bring to life musical pair on the air (7)

Ross

I believe the answer is:

animate

I'm a little stuck... Click here to teach me more about this clue!

'bring to life' is the definition.
(I've seen this before)

'musical pair on the air' is the wordplay.
I cannot quite understand how this works, but
'pair' could be 'mate' (synonyms) and 'mate' is present in the answer.
The remaining letters 'ani' is a valid word which might be clued in a way I don't see.
This may be the basis of clue (or it may be nonsense).

Can you help me to learn more?

(Other definitions for animate that I've seen before include "Invigorate; alive" , "Living" , "Fire" , "Provide inspiration" , "get lively" .)

I've seen this clue in The Telegraph.
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