My Love Letter to Disk Jockeying

I recently viewed one of my favorite films. I love the movie "Brown Sugar." Each time I see it I get misty eyed at the end when the main characters find their way back to each other. This time while looking at the movie "Brown Sugar", I kept hearing the question "When did you fall in love with "Hip Hop?"

Of course, I do not know one thing about hip hop today. The greatest rappers to me were the early radio announcers who talked or rapped skillfully to the beat of the music and the "Last Poets." At least when they cursed and said the "N" word there was something in their poetry that led a person to think about the social and cultural conditions of Black people as a whole. Wait a minute, before you dismiss me as a "Hater." I'm not making a judgment on the Hip Hop art form today. I've learned to live with it. Reality in music for me though is the Temptations, The Dells, The Impressions, The Emotions and other great groups. I do not have a frame of reference for Hip Hop other than the early artists like Kurtis Blow, Rappers Delight, and Kool Moe D. Now back to the movie.

I wondered why I kept hearing that question then it dawned on me to change the words from "Hip Hop" to "Disk Jockey" And the question became When did I Fall in Love with Disk Jockeying? As I watched the movie I began thinking of what attracted me to radio and the life of a DJ. I also thought about why I no longer listen to the radio. And just like the way the main character quit his job working for the record company. I compared his feelings to my feeling of why I don't listen to radio. As in the movie the main character thought the company that he worked for was not being true to what "Hip Hop" really is. And that's how I feel about radio today. Radio is not true to the people and DJing has become mixing to the beat of beats as opposed to mixing to the beat of life.

Radio is not true to what radio really is. And the Disk Jockey's too, if they are called that today? The DJ's certainly are not true to what Disk Jockeying really is/was. Well what is a Disk Jockey? According to professor Gilbert Williams, The radio disc jockey wakes us in the morning, puts us to sleep at night, and in between, his time, weather and music announcements take us through the day. But the black disc jockey has been more than an announcer. He has transcended his job as a radio station employee and becomes in many cases, a cultural hero, an individual admired and respected for his work in the black community, his concern for his fellow man, and his ability to effectuate changes in society.

By that definition, that is why I fell in love with being a DJ. I thought that I would be able to make a career. When I feel in love with DJing and radio, my dream did not include syndication, deregulation, consolidation, and concentration. All I wanted was to help my fellow man and effectuate changes in the society. When commercialism takes center stage you can forget any lofty ideals. If it doesn't make money! Well it ain't happening! - Back to the question When did I fall in Love with Disk Jockeying?

I guess for me it was when I heard 1450 AM WVON and a talented man on the microphone named Herb Kent. Of course Herb was not the only DJ on the station he was just my favorite. Herb was the "Pied Piper" to the teenagers. I couldn't wait to get older and go to high school and attend one of those "Sock Hops" and a set at the "Times Square." Herb Kent gave the teenagers something to do at night. He would always tell the time like this It's 17 Tilden Blue Devil minutes after 8 o'clock. He gave the time like that with all the High Schools in Chicago. He also gave the teenagers entertainment, recognition, laughter, and encouragement. Who can forget the battle of the Ivy Leaguers and Gousters, the Wahoo Man, the Green Grunchin, the Gym Shoe Creeper and the Rib Supreme Commercials.

Before the Tom Joyner Morning Show, Banks and Company, Bob Wall and a host of others there were the "Electric Crazy People." Rudolph Browner, Orlando Reyes, Little Miss Corn Shucks and many other characters. Mr. Kent ruled the airwaves at night in Chicago. He made an evening show sound like a well produced morning show of today. Then suddenly technology entered radio and FM became the norm and with FM, a storm moved quietly across urban stations all over America.

Cathy Hughes after visiting a conference at the University of Chicago discovered "Lifestyle Psychology" and came up with the idea that "slow music" is what people want to hear at night. And at Howard University's radio station WHUR the "Quiet Storm" format was launched starting with the classic song "Quiet Storm" by Smokey Robinson. Needless to say, the rest is history and I stopped listening to radio after 7 pm. I was not and still am not a fan of the Quiet Storm format only because good slow music should be played within every hour not just at a specific time during the evening. A good party is combination of fast, medium and slow music.

Back to when I fell in love with Radio and DJing, on weekends at WVON, Richard Pegue who took radio to another level with a style and combination that no one other than WKKC's "P.J. Willis" was able to duplicate. Richard performed a unique combination of the classic golden era of radio with contemporary radio. Pegue's "Scandal Report" is often imitated through many of the television news magazine shows. His signature Be, Beep, Be Beep Beep lines and sound of the teletype in background imitated the golden age announcer Walter Winchell. The Scandal Report was filled with entertainment information of celebrities and local heroes. People could not wait for the weekend Scandalous Scandal report by Pegue.

The Quiet Storm format and the superior sound quality of FM along with other variables led to the end of Night Time Morning Style Radio of Herb Kent. The late 70's saw the beginning of the end of WVON, the Good Guys and WGRT/WJPC. Losing AM Radio WVON and WGRT/WJPC was my first heartbreak. I stopped listening to commercial radio and set sights on being my own DJ at WKKC. It wasn't until WBMX surfaced as the front runner in Chicago under the programming leadership of Lee Michaels that I began to listen to radio. FM radio really had good sound and it was competitive. The WBMX vs WGCI FM radio wars were great for Chicago radio. Today the same owner of multiple stations won't allow the stations to compete against one another and ultimately the listeners loose. What's the difference between WGCI and WVAZ?

Like the main character in the movie Brown Sugar, I wanted to "start my own" station because the industry has jilted me several times and forgot about what radio and the DJ really mean to the people. Unfortunately the American Dream was taken from me also and many other wanna be station owners with the passage of the 1996 Telecommunications Act. One must have major capital to start and own a radio station and to compete in the industry today one needs at least to own 10 stations. Where will I get the capital I mean millions to start a station in Chicago? I've always thought I could program a station with the best of them. And now technology affords anyone with a desire to start a radio station on the Internet to do so. The problem is that there are so many available one doesn't know which to choose. It's like a DJ and radio has become a dime a dozen.

Forgive me, I'm just not as excited about all the choices. Many people are reveling in their efforts as owners of an Internet Radio Station however for me it's nothing like the thrill of a real time experience of answering a live phone call, sharing some advice and telling listeners what time it is, the weather or about something that is happening in the community. There is nothing like breaking a new song watching the phone lines light up and people asking "who is that, who is that?" The Internet is great but the thrill is gone/delayed. I like my thrills in real time. The fun is not there for me. Internet radio is a lot of work. And being a DJ is/was something that came natural to me.

So I fell in Love with Disk Jockeying at the home at a very young age when my mother taught me how to play her favorite records on the ancient stereo console. I quickly learned how to operate the 45 spindle and keep the red and yellow record disks available. My mom was truly a party person and I mastered the art of reading her and what she wanted to hear that was the only way I could stay up late past my bedtime anyway. We all know that is a child's desire to stay up late. I took that experience of learning to read my mother and worked that in the Clubs.

I mastered a unique blend of radio DJ and club/tavern DJ. The secret was my voice. I saw "DJ Scotty" perform one evening and when I heard him use his voice as an instrument to make the party. I was hooked on seeing a packed danced floor and people bobbing their heads to the music. DJ Scotty sounded professional and he could relate to people in the Club that was amazing. I fell in love with creating and maintaining the flow of the evening. 25 years of my life I partied not realizing the terrific cost of the journey. I tried to make my life a party.


So today I look at the craft very differently. I respect those individuals that took the craft to another level by making the "turntables" an instrument. More power to you. I can mix but I choose not too. The guys that inspired me used their voices as the instrument. I learned to use my voice as the instrument. I like the combination of good music and good conversation. When a Disk Jockey is on top of his game he makes the party not only with what he plays but also with what he says. As much as some people complain about DJ's talking the reality is Black folks like to be talked to. It's not what you say it's how you say it. Check out the Rappers? That's all they do is talk! And to be on the real some of the very first Rappers were the legendary DJ's of the 60's. Part of my technique on the box has always been talking to the rhythm of the music.

Finally, despite how the art of DJing and Radio has changed in my heart I realize. I miss her, still love her, and if I had the chance I would go back to her.

Real Radio that's what it is all about.