My husband and I are DJs. Yes, at one time we were on the radio. In fact that’s where we met.
Radio was my husband’s dream and my hobby; that means he was better at it than I was. And for awhile he made our living working his dream. He made it all the way from a tiny Christian radio station in Odessa Texas to the airways of Nashville Tennessee where he worked at just about every radio station in town. All of this in the late 80s thru the mid 90s when radio was a big deal and a highly competitive field.
Country. Rock. Top 40. Adult Contemporary. He did it all. He loved it.
But then I got pregnant with our first child and we needed to make some serious money. So–with the contacts and the skills we accrued in radio–we started our DJ and Karaoke business. It has been good to us and I can honestly, humbly, say we’ve been good to our fledgling industry too.
We’ve trained and employed many DJs. We’ve worked the Bonnaroo music festival, the victory party for Vice President Al Gore, the CMTV Music Awards after parties and Miranda Lambert and Blake Shelton’s engagement party to name a few of the high profile gigs.
But mostly we’ve DJ’d weddings. Literally hundreds of weddings.
My husband and I no longer gig. We manage our collective of DJ’s and cater to an increasingly demanding clientele. As such we are music directors, marketing campaigners and event planners.
I rarely miss “being in the field.” I don’t have time to, but occasionally I get nostalgic.
Here’s one of my old Dinner Music/Cocktail music mashups. It’s not stuffy and it’s not boring if you like jazz and dabble in hip hop, that is.
I liked the jazzy mix a lot.
Nice to read even more about your background. Being a ‘good’ DJ is much harder than it looks, I reckon. Probably why I never tried it. 🙂
Best wishes, Pete.
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It is much harder than it looks. At least it was for me. People are very demanding when they’ve paid you to entertain them. You’d better be very good at it, otherwise you’re going to be lambasted, embarrassed and you’re going starve if that’s your only source of income as it is ours.
Thanks for listening to the mix. I’m glad you liked it.
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Chet Baker. Always a favourite.
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Oh yeah. He was awesome.
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My Funny Valentine. The best version!
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Hey Pam you too super cool. Mixing in the man Biz Markie into the sweet trumpet and sax of Miles Davis and John Coltrane. Proper jams 🙂
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Thank you very much, Mikey. I will not deny that I love being described as cool. In fact, that’s my jam. Ha!
Glad you liked it. And I would like for you to share more of your mixes as they are superior to mine. Cheers.
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There’s your mixtape name right there “Pam’s Jams”.
I haven’t done many recently but did used to do a little podcast radio thing called Mad Mongos Radio Soul Show.
This one went off on a mellow “trip” and features a few you might like, like it’s got Tommy James in there! Plus I reckon you’d love the tune by Donovan “Turquoise”. There’s even, yes, Chubby Checker, stoned!!! And I wonder if you are a fan of comedian Bill Hicks? Did you know he sang? “Moon is smiling” is just so beautiful. Anyhow if it’s pouring with rain one day and you trapped inside maybe give it a whirl. Just ignore the guy who chats I have no idea who he is!! LOL he doesn’t say too much, luckily hehe.
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Mikey, I can’t wait to hear it…Well, right now I’m immersed in research and the incessant background noise of the Trump impeachment hearings but as soon as I get a bit of time for something fun–yes, funner than blogging, or making my own mixes–I can’t wait to hear it. And I will critique it, Mikey. So beware…Ha! Thanks so much for sharing. Cheers.
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Hope it’s not too much of a lambasting I get LOL.
Hehe it’s not really impeachment themed music. Hope that means you are researching for an article on the subject? I’d look forward to reading that Pam.
I’m much more interested in American politics than my own home lands clusterfuckery! Been enjoying watching the Democrats debates as they eat each other through plastic smiles. Though if I’m honest I’m there for Tulsi Gabbard. Oh boy I’m so in love. hehe.
And on the Rep side of the tracks I really like your homeboy with the patch Dan Crenshaw. And I’m total fascinated by the savage Candace Owens. Damn that girl don’t take no prisoners. We just haven’t got any young up and coming fiery characters like them over here.
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No worries Mikey. You know I was kidding about your podcast. I’m looking forward to hearing it.
Yes Tulsi Gabbard is very pretty. I don’t know about her politics though. Some things I like, but for the most part I think she’s more Libertarian than Democrat.
And, yeah, I’m rather partial to Dan Crenshaw myself. He’s quite handsome with his eyepatch and he’s a reasonable. But Candace Owens! I can’t go there. Ha!
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Owens is completely nuts lol.
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Magnificent mix, Pam. Love the blending of the different styles of music.
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That’s very kind of you, John. My taste is all over the place, but I have a special place in my heart for jazz and New Wave. I’ve never made a mix of those styles. Maybe I will.
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The mix is smooth Pam…
Radio really was big in the 80s and 90s. If you liked rock here it was WKDF…occasionally I will see those faded old stickers they had at the time. Radio had personality back then.
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We loved KDF. When we moved here it was our favorite station. Bubba Skynyrd was boss. My husband got to know Carl P him well. He never worked for KDF but he worked for The Fox when it was owned by KDF. He got to know Carl P when he worked for SIX.
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I remember The Fox…can’t remember the DJ name that worked there in the morning but I listened to him…Tom Boodle? Tom something.
Carl P was a major celebrity here…I remember that character well. He was very funny.
I remember when he went country…”I traded my Rolling Stones for George Jones”.
That had to be exciting to be in the business then.
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It was. I was never on the radio here, but I was around it.
Yeah Tom Boodle was Carl P’s side kick during the hey days of KDF. He was an extremely nice guy, but he had a horrible cocaine problem. He was beloved in the industry but he became too much of a liability because of his drug problem. I hope he’s okay.
We were very close to David Hall. Remember David Hall rocks ya’ll on KDF? Sweet, sweet guy. He committed suicide. Tragic.
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Oh no I didn’t know that about David Hall. He was one of my favorite DJs. When John Lennon died he was on the air that night and took calls all night long and did it with class. I told him about me recording that night years later and he wondered if I had a copy but I recorded it on long lost 8 track.
Didn’t know that about Boodle.
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Yeah. It was terrible about David. It hurt really bad. Like you say, he was a class act. Everybody liked him, respected him, in spite of that he was a very lonely person. So sad.
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Trying this again…..
Did you ever keep any of the playlists of the various events and weddings you DJ’d at? I dabbled at it with a cool cat named Paul and I found out just how hard being a DJ really was…
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So you know then…It’s very hard. Most people think a chimp could do it. Yeah, I have some of my play lists saved on my old laptop.
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DJing is a art…..sure you can spin Top 40 and never go wrong but spinning a alternative music set??Yikes!!! That is hard as hell!
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You’ve got to have a vast knowledge of music, I think to be a good DJ. Yeah, there are party standards that work most of the time–but then there are a lot of people who think of those songs as cheesey. They roll their eyes at that stuff or worse. You’ve got to be able to read your audience and accommodate their taste, whatever it is.
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Great post 🙂 I am really loving this mix that you have put up on here. I also loved reading how you reminisce about you and your husband’s time as DJ’s 🙂 Anyway, keep up the great work as always 🙂
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Thanks John. I’m happy that you enjoyed it. Also thanks for being a loyal reader of my blog.
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Awesome post, Pam. Love the Jazz. What a cool career, albeit taxing and crazy to be in the field, I’m sure. It will be a chapter of your life you will remember with fondness as the decades go by. New adventures now, yes? How’s your knee?
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Thank you Cindy. And, yes, our business is often taxing and hectic, but that’s life. Very few jobs aren’t that way.
New adventures? Not so much. I haven’t gone back to school. I’ve been working on a new writing project though, one that requires a lot of research and I’m going cross eyed with that. Ha!
My knee is great. Thanks for asking. It would be even better if I lost some of the weight I gained from not being able to exercise as much. And then there’s the old self discipline thing…Anyway thanks for asking, reading and listening. Cheers.
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Pam, this was a fascinating read. Thanks so much for sharing.
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Thank you so much for taking the time to read it.
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This is such a cool story, love it so much.
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That’s very sweet of you Jay. Nice to hear from you.
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Hi Pam,
How cool! I love the music and the way you weave it together into a piece. And to learn this about your life…cool, cool,cool!
Grace and peace to you…
dw
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You are to kind DW. I’m very pleased that you liked it.
God’s Blessings my friend.
Pam
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Wonderful mix. Some of that music really took me back, ’cause my parents listened to a lot of jazz and at other people’s houses and get-togethers it was very popular.
I can’t imagine being a DJ. I had a short stint in Wyoming for two summers as a waitress, so I know how demanding people can be!
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Oh my gosh! I waited tables for a bit. Without a doubt, the hardest thing I’ve ever done. Harder than being a DJ in most ways. You know, I’ve known professional waiters, that’s what they do, that’s all they do, some by choice, some by necessity. I knew this one coffee shop waitress, she could cover a whole dining room by herself during the breakfast run! She was amazing. And she flat out made the money. Big time money. Three hundred to four hundred dollars a day back in the day. It was her career and she getting on up there when I worked her–meaning she was about my age now. She was no nonsense and a little rough around the edges, but I had nothing but respect for her. Billie was her name.
Anyway, thanks for listening to my mix. I love music and I like to DJ for my husband and friends sometimes but I do NOT miss gigging. I’m not a big people pleaser by nature.
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this is amazing! thanks for sharing.
If you have a chance, I would really appreciate if you could check out my art blog!
https://thehighsnlows.com
would mean a lot!
Lorraine
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