Back in the 80's there was a song that I loved called- Must Be the Music by Secret Weapon. It had a super long intro, a funky beat and ventured into the world of deejays and rap. Man! That song would immediately get my pre-teen legs to grooving and my fingers snapping from beginning to end. If I was lucky enough to press record when it came on the radio- I replayed and danced all over again! I became an expert at predicting which songs a deejay would play next so that I could record the hot songs and ignore those I didn't like as much. The death of the true radio DJ has long been a point of discontent. There was a time when it was the job of a DJ to know what was hot and what wasn't. They introduced us to new artists and had a long repertoire from which to pull. On any given day, you might here KC and the Sunshine Band, Taste of Honey, Brothers Johnson, Natalie Cole, Earth, Wind & Fire, Hall & Oates, Toto, Foreigner, Barry White, Lou Rawls, Luther Vandross, Isaac Hayes, Marvin Gaye, Pointer Sisters, Aretha Franklin or Patti LaBelle. The list goes on and on and it changed based on the era in which you grew up. You got to know the deejays then. You could trust them to share if they actually liked a song and to ask the listeners for their opinions. One of my favorites was Dr. Perri Johnson out of Philadelphia. I missed his flavor sorely when I moved from the east coast to Ohio. His air time came with an announcement: "You’re listening to the good Dr. Perri Johnson, Music Therapist". You just
knew that some good music (old and new) was to follow! Interestingly enough, there was so much good music available that you were more than excited when they finally played YOUR song! Now, it's back on in 20 minutes (deep sigh).
Today, it is rare to hear anyone beyond Beyonce, Nikki Minaj, Rihanna, Katie Perry, Justin Beiber, Little Wayne, Drake, Jay-Z, Kanye, Usher and the like. Even worse, you must listen to their songs repeat so much that if you go out for lunch at noon, when you get back in your car at 1-1:30 the same song by the same artist is likely playing. Current radio DJs have become robots, a slave to the machines that crank out their pre-paid playlists. The most you know about them is if they hit the clubs, if they think the song will be hot at the club and about their apparent passion and enthusiasm for celebrity gossip. But--what about the MUSIC?? In essence- many of them are wack; likeable, but wack. Unlike hip hop, the art of being a DJ on the radio HAS suffered a largely unexamined death. It is evidenced by the fact that nearly every time my local station announces a new song- you can count on it being an artist hyped by none other than- a label. To ice the cake- it is more than likely one of the artists listed in the first sentence of this paragraph! Just the other day I heard them promoting an opportunity to download or delete it by none other than Drake. It’s like… C’mon son!
So, what's wrong with that? I mean, I actually like most of them and will dance (skate and workout) to their music too. But that's not all there is. The saddest part about the death of the radio DJs is all the music WE miss out on unless we're savvy enough to avoid being force-fed the pay-for-play artists. Savvy listeners access internet radio stations or utilize apps like Pandora. I personally love so many genres of music (hip hop, soul, jazz, country, pop) that I seek tunes out in other ways. I often entertained the idea of becoming a DJ and thought I had a voice for radio. I still think of doing it now. I'm not afraid to say a song is terrible. I'm not afraid to close my mouth (and ears) to the spoon trying to force songs down my throat. You shouldn't be either. Some like OutKast have managed to break thru the mold. Some like Pink have managed to make the music they actually WANT to make versus what the labels force upon them... But, you need to discover the good stuff for yourself. Check out talents like The Roots (I mean go back and listen to some of their old stuff- I'm still discovering!), Mint Condition, Viktor Duplaix, Amel Larrieux, Lianne La Havas, Hill St. Soul, Emile Sande, Kimbra, Luke James and heck, Foreign Exchange. Your local radio DJs may not know much about these artists but I sure do! Google them and stay tuned as I share what I've heard! And while you're at it, say RIP and pour out a little likka for DJs!
