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The American
Disc Jockey Awards Story
There are so many
questions, opinions and ideas presented; I don't know where to start.
How about the beginning? It will take up some considerable space to
write the history of this event. I want to say "sorry" for
spelling errors in advance. So, what I'd like to do is this, make a
statement of how things happened and if somebody needs clarification
or more information, then I will provide it if I can. This is a long narrative.
Part One:
I've been a DJ
since I was a teenager back in the 1960's and as time went by, I
enjoyed the technical improvements and positive changes made in the
industry. I've been in business as a DJ since 1976 and have attended
a number of trade shows through the years, including BILLBOARD,
WINTER MUSIC CONFERENCE, several CES's, NAMM's, LDI's, NIGHTCLUB &
BAR, the MID AMERICA DJ convention, ten of the DJ TIMES EXPOS, in
both Hollywood & San Francisco CA and Atlantic City, NJ, and all
of the MOBILE BEAT conferences. One thing really bothered me early
on. I had noticed that the evening entertainment for the attendees
was far below where I felt it could, should and ultimately NEEDED to
be. The sound systems were usually poor, people had to stand on
chairs to see what was going on, they seemed to be loosely organized,
etc. There was always plenty of enthusiasm and some original material
exhibited from the attendees though!
I thought that if
pro DJ's were gathering at these events from all over the country to
learn something that we could take home with us and use in our
market, we DESERVED to see "cutting edge" evening
entertainment. I felt it was the duty of the Promoter, especially the
DJ magazines, to provide the best possible entertainment to the DJ's.
I knew there was value in it for us to learn new routines and by
attending conventions the trips would then be "worthwhile".
As a mobile DJ, I know that we NEED to keep fresh, use new gear so we
can perform better or our business will suffer. The good part was
that the magazines did provide us with useful information and their
conventions gave us an opportunity to network face to face amongst
ourselves, attend informative panels and purchase related products
and services. I'll always admire and applaud them for that!
By 1995 I realized
that the magazines are really in the advertising or convention
business and possess minimal large scale "Show type"
presentation skills. Vinnie Testa summed it up best by saying to me,
"conventions are easy, they're simply logistics" during
last year's Atlantic City convention. In fact, most of the magazine's
staffs are made-up of people that are no longer or never were pro
DJ's. Instead of complaining about the sub-par convention
entertainment, I decided to give producing a Show (the way I'd like
to see one) a shot. Nobody asked me to do it; I volunteered my time,
energy and money for the betterment of the industry because I felt it
needed to be done.
With that said as
a pretense, let me begin to tell the story of how this all came
about, because it's much easier to get a feel for where we're going
if we occasionally look back at where we've been. I'll try to answer
some of your questions along the way.
Part Two:
I met John Roberts
and Bruce Keslar (two of the four original founders) of the American
Disc Jockey Association at NAMM in 1992. After I joined the ADJA,
they suggested that I organize a Chapter here in Southern California
that year. I didn't understand the value of doing so right away and
put off attempting it until 1994. At our Chapter founding meeting I
was voted local President and made a statement to the assembled area
DJ's proclaiming that we would have an "awards banquet" at
the end of the year to honor those that had made improvements. The
resulting dinner at a LA harbor area restaurant in 1995 was a
resounding success and we received the ADJA "Chapter of the
Year" award that night from Bruce Keslar's wife, Maureen. She
was also one of the founders of the ADJA and had flown out to LA to
confer the Award upon our Chapter.
The next year
MOBILE BEAT was going to have their first conference in Las Vegas in
conjunction with the NIGHTCLUB & BAR convention at Bally's Hotel.
I suggested to Bruce Keslar (who was running the ADJA at the time)
that we have a national Awards presentation for deserving DJ's from
around the country attending the conference and bestow the ADJA
"Chapter of the Year" Award at that function. He agreed to
the idea and said he would finance a room and spring for the trophies
if I would organize and host the event, promising to pay me back for
my expenses.
I immediately went
to work on the project. Bruce sold $4,000.00 (that's the figure I was
told) in Sponsorships and I contacted DJ's that the ADJA Directors
felt were deserving of honors. We held it at the Maxim Hotel down the
street from Bally's. DR. B (from Milwaukee) provided us with a
turntable demo, and I handed out Awards while those in attendance ate
and drank. Admission was free and everyone seemed to enjoy it. The
Michigan Chapter of the ADJA earned "Chapter of the Year"
honors. However, Bruce and I had creative differences (I wanted a big
video screen so people could see) plus we had disagreements over the
category and Award recipient selection process. For example, I wanted
to give out a "Female Entertainer of the Year" Award and
Bruce refused to purchase a trophy or allow a category for a woman
DJ. I also made a statement at that first national event that I was
going to pursue the goal of getting the Awards Show onto TV in the
future. Bruce never did reimburse me for expenses, of which there was
plenty. I was shocked to learn later during that convention that
Bruce was really running the ADJA all by himself with no accounting
procedures. I soon realized that I could no longer do business with him.
Part Three:
The MOBILE BEAT
conference grew into it's own "stand alone" convention the
next year and was held at the Crowne Plaza Hotel in Las Vegas. I
wanted to produce the American Disc Jockey Awards again. Only this
time without Bruce's constraints (both monetary and creative) and
hold competitions where contestants taught a dance, played a game or
did a DJ related skit in the categories of "Male Entertainer of
the Year", "Propmaster (must use props) of the Year"
and the "Female Entertainer of the Year". Competition
winners were to be determined by a vote of audience members. The
reasoning was that through competition, a fair winner could be
determined. Other categories, where I simply handed out Awards, that
were created the previous year, were to be continued. They included
"Country DJ of the Year", "Club DJ of the Year",
"Technical DJ of the Year" and "Karaoke DJ of the
Year". I hadn't figured how to "compete" for these
Awards yet. A few friends and I came up with the new idea (for our
industry) of a "Hall of Fame" for pro DJ's. I placed
advertisements in the ADJA newsletter and Mobile Beat magazine for
nominations for the Awards to be given out.
So, I started the
process again, except now I had to come up with all the money for the
Show myself. Mike Buonacorrso was very busy with coordinating the
entire convention (a huge undertaking) and suggested to me that the
Awards Show be held at a different location due to the fact that a
"Wedding" was going to take place in the main ballroom. He
pointed out that there really wasn't enough time to re-configure the
same room (it was also used for "panels" during the day)
for the Awards Show after the wedding. I made arrangements for us to
hold the second annual American DJ Awards at the nearby St. Tropez
Hotel. Start time was to be 11:00pm, well after the wedding would be
over. The year before we had gone about 1 and half hours and I felt
Vegas is a "late night" town anyway, figuring we'd be done
around 1:00am.
The Awards show
turned out to be a lot of fun, but we went way too late. Because so
many people (twenty different acts) wanted to compete, we finally
finished up around 4:00am. John Rozz was the first member selected
for the "Hall of Fame" and the honor received no argurement
from anyone. We had the event professionally videotaped for posterity
this time. In order to finance the Awards Show I sold a few
Sponsorships, most notably AMERICAN DJ SUPPLY, without whom we would
not have been able to do the Show. We also sold tickets for $35.00
each, which included some food. The San Francisco Bay area Chapter of
the ADJA won "Chapter of the Year" even though the ADJA
couldn't contribute any money because it was tying to pay off the
ousted Bruce Keslar's various accumulated debts acquired in the
Associations name. The Awards Show lost money and I learned some
important lessons through the experience.
The MB convention
turned out to be a huge success at the Crowne Plaza and needed a
larger venue the following year. I spoke with Mike B. in Atlantic
City during that summer's DJ TIMES convention about producing the
Awards Show again in Las Vegas. He felt that the Awards Show was a
good thing for the MB conference. He would be open to providing
magazine ads promoting it and the ballroom at the Tropicana Hotel for
the Awards Show if I would let in any MOBILE BEAT convention
attendees for free as part of their convention package. I asked him
how was I supposed to finance the project? His reply was for me to
sell Sponsorships and I could use Mobile Beat's name when contacting
Vendors. I agreed and the 3rd annual American Disc Jockey Awards Show
was on again!
Part Four:
I dove in and
worked hard to find sponsors. I found that even using MOBILE BEAT'S
name had very little effect in getting Vendors to commit to giving us
money. The concept of sponsorship was more difficult to sell than I
had anticipated. Finally, I broke through with GEMINI, which had also
spent a sum of money for the first Awards Show at the Maxim Hotel. I
never really knew how much they spent back then and I certainly had
no opportunity to use the funds Bruce had secured previously. This
time I would use the money to improve the Show. Alan Cabasso, GEMINI
Sound Corporation President, pledged $5,000.00 and he also would give
us door prizes and provide the sound system. After putting together
all of the numbers, I realized that in spite of Alan and Mike's
generous support, I was going to need more money if I was to move the
Show up a notch. I spoke with Scott Davies of AMERICAN DJ SUPPLY
about bringing in a lighting rig and he agreed. I arranged for two
jumbo video screens to place on either side of the stage so the
audience could see what was going on. I hired a pro video crew again.
Finally, I came up with another idea (cheesy as it turned out) to
make a "program" to give to everyone at the door on arrival
to the Show. Sponsors understood print advertising better than simply
giving money to a cause. They felt they got something for their money
with the ads. I had no previous experience publishing anything
before. The finished product was nothing more than sponsors simply
giving me their ads on printed flyers and then a crew of volunteers
stapled them together inside of cover designed by Tony Barthel. It
took 7 of us two long nights to assemble one thousand of them.
Who would compete?
Who would we honor? The ads in MOBILE BEAT netted us exactly 3
competitors per category, which happened to be the number of
competitors I felt was really needed. I had learned at the St. Tropez
Hotel that too many competitors would drag the Show out too much.
After a few nominations trickled in from MB and the ADJA newsletter,
I had the people that would be honored.
Now it was time to
put it all together. We had a giant room, a sound system, lights,
contestants, honorees, a program, and an audience. I wish it were
that easy. The first problems arose when we could not get in the room
to set-up the sound and lights until after 5:00pm for an 8:00pm start
because the ballroom was being used all day by Mobile Beat for
"panels". Bernie Howard of GEMINI brought in a large sound
system. Because time was short, he did not have enough time to
trouble shoot the system. It did not sound good all night. The
wireless mics were on the wrong frequency, the CD players skipped
when the contestants, moved around the stage, which was where Bernie
suggested the console be set up. He reasoned that it was a DJ Show,
so we would need to see the DJ. Maybe he didn't realize the DJ's were
going to perform interactive entertainment on stage. Bernie also had
placed the speakers near the front of stage and that caused the front
rows sight lines to be blocked. As we worked closer to Show time I
realized AMERICAN DJ had failed to arrive to put up lights. We had to
suddenly scramble for lighting. Al Lampkin, who was providing the
video screens and projectors happened to have a few par cans in his
truck. He got them out and charged us a nominal fee to use them.
Bernie had us using a DJ mixer for the evening presentation and we
had problems with getting audio out for the video feed. Meanwhile the
competitors were arriving and needed to know when and how they were
to perform. Everything was finally ready after MOBOLAZER was in place
about an hour later than we had advertised the start to be.
My education
continued as the night progressed. Some things went right, but some
important ones went wrong. If we would have had time to set-up and
sound check earlier we could have solved most of our problems. I
realized that we really needed to have a rehearsal or at least a
"walk through", so the talent would know what to do. We
would also have known what the performers were going to do. Yes, this
was the year that Mark Thomas (DJ PEACE) had the infamous bikini clad
girls as his "props" in the Propmaster competition.
Mike Buonacorrso
was sitting in the front row with his family, seemed upset, then got
up and left after the girls left the stage. I felt bad for him
because he had come through with the room; the ads and he also came
through with the actual awards to be handed out. I had contracted
with a person to make original trophies that resembled the American
Disc Jockey Awards logo. When she showed up to give me the final
product, I gagged; they looked like Planters peanuts on a stick!
There was no way I could give those out, so Mike arranged for gold
records to be given to winners. (I apologized to Mike the next
morning for the way things went.) I hosted the Show again that night
and Jon Michaels was inducted into the "Hall of Fame". The
Southern California Chapter was the honored by the ADJA, one of the
smaller sponsors that year, for continued growth. Surprisingly, we
still had a lot of fun despite the problems.
Because the Awards
Show was free, and probably because the lights and sound were
inadequate, the attendees wandered in and out of the ballroom all
night. There were many people talking and little respect was shown
for the honorees while they gave short acceptance speeches.
Originally I had wanted the evening to be black tie event. Once
again, because it was free, some attendees showed up in shorts and
tee shirts. Despite the donations of GEMINI and the other sponsors
that purchased space in our "flyer" stuffed program, costs
outran revenues again. One of the larger expenses was the cost of
Union labor at the Tropicana Hotel. I had to pay the Hotel for staff
we did not really need, to perform tasks we could have done ourselves.
Part Five:
I could have done
a much better job producing if we were doing the Awards Show again
the next night. Problems would have been worked out and everything
would have gone smoother. I had to wait another year though before I
could present the Awards again.
I was determined
to do a much better job this time and the extra effort paid off with
a truly great Event. The fourth annual American DJ Awards were held
at the Tropicana Hotel, (in the same room again) only this time we
had the ballroom all day and night. We used the time to set-up a
concert rig CERWIN VEGA sound system that was awesome! We contracted
out for truss mounted intelligent lighting and had the stage built by
9:00am. We offered prizes, a trophy and $1,000.00 in DJ gear to
competition winners. We then held auditions for the competitions for
the first time and it resulted in us narrowing down the field from 21
acts to 9, which improved the quality level substantially. I placed
ads in Mobile Beat and the ADJA news, advertising the Show and asking
for nominations for Honorees again. GEMINI's graphic artist designed
the beautiful two-page ad and Alan Cabasso paid for them. He could
get a better deal on the price of ad space than me because he
advertises with Mobile Beat consistently. The ADJA was a sponsor
again and to avoid a "conflict of interest", (because I was
now an elected ADJA Director) a separate corporation (Annual Awards
Shows, Inc.) was formed to produce the Awards Show. I now had the
help of a small group of committed people to assist with production.
It was no longer "Ken's Show".
We came up with a
new wrinkle for the "Hall of Fame". We decide to create an
actual exhibit, with old records, DJ gear, clothes and memorabilia
that attendees could actually tour before the Show. A dear friend of
mine, Ray Martinez, was given the task to gather the items and he did
an outstanding job. He and I worked together to build the exhibit and
everyone that viewed it seemed to be impressed with it's originality.
Another new thing was the creation of the "MIKEE" trophy.
This was much closer to what I had in mind when I tried to make one
the year before. We had to pay more for it, but it was worth doing it
right. Still another innovation was the "fashion show" that
was staged by the evenings Emcee, Gary Kassor. Remember that I had
wanted attendees to arrive formally attired and this is what we came
up with to encourage people to pack their Tuxedos and bring them to
Las Vegas. It went over big!
There were a few
more new items. I decided that in order to get enough sponsorship
money I needed to make a much nicer, full color printed
"Program" than the one we did with staples and flyers
previously. My job was to sell ads in the program and hopefully the
added revenue would offset the additional costs of producing the
Awards Show. We needed the extra money because we had to pay for the
ballroom, (Mike B. offered no help this time) the Tropicana Hotel
Union labor and other big expenses. Inside the program was an article
announcing the creation of the Academy of professional Disc Jockey
Arts and Sciences. The Academy was created to offer any DJ the
opportunity to nominate and vote for the people that were to receive
Awards that were handed out. One more Award was added to the lineup,
the "Michael Butler Humanitarian Award". Michael had been
the DJ onstage the year before. In addition to being a mobile DJ, he
also worked as a Paramedic. He died in a helicopter accident earlier
in the year trying to save young girls life. So, the Award was
created for someone in our industry that performed charitable
services. Mark Thomas won the first one for doing Michaels gigs for
free and giving Michael's wife and unborn child the money. He also
sold Michaels DJ gear and music library for her.
Baltimore won the
ADJA "Chapter of the Year", while Al Lampkin and Robert
Lindquist (Mobile Beat magazine publisher) were inducted into the
"Hall of Fame". It was a fabulous Awards Show, easily the
best one yet. In spite of ad sales in the program, sponsorships and
$20.00 admission ticket sales, the Awards Show still lost money. We
suffered from inadequate advertising because we were not allowed to
place an ad in the Mobile Beat convention program. Mike Buonacorrso
had also scheduled an evening at the MGM Grand Hotel's Studio 54 with
free admittance for Mobile Beat convention attendees at the same time
as the Awards Show. Because Mike had to stand at the door to the
nightclub, he never made it by the Show to see the improvements we
had made. A number of people that certainly would have benefited
their businesses by learning new interactive routines while attending
the Awards Show, instead "discoed" the night away.
Part Six:
After the Show was
over, Sid Vanderpool offered to build us a website and post past
winners and photos of the "Hall of Fame" exhibit. Dave
Yantz had me on as a guest to his chatroom and I answered questions
for interested people. Momentum was building, yet Mobile Beat seemed
to be moving further away from assisting us.
When it came time
for the fifth annual American DJ Awards, Mobile Beat agreed to allow
the Show at the Tropicana Hotel if is was staged the night before the
actual convention took place. They didn't want it during the
convention. GEMINI again paid for the two ads we had in Mobile Beat
magazine and assisted us with the ad design as well as provided us
with prizes and some cash to produce the Show. Dave Yantz helped us
get PEAVEY to supply their incredible sound system and convinced them
to be a major corporate sponsor. AMERICAN DJ came through again by
purchasing the back cover of the program and by providing door and
competition prizes. A number of other smaller sponsors, including the
ADJA, also stepped-up by placing ads in the program. We rented a
bigger ballroom at the Tropicana Hotel, plus additional space for a
larger "Hall of Fame" exhibit. This time we needed two full
days to build the stage, setup the sound and hang the lights in order
to be fully prepared before auditions and for the first time a
rehearsal. We contracted with the Hotel to use their intelligent
(huge Union bill) lighting system.
The academy
nominated and voted for deserving people from around the country for
Awards. The nominees did not have to be a member of the Academy or
the ADJA, in fact, membership in the DJ industry was the only
necessary nomination criteria. The auditions yielded some unique
talent and the Show was fantastic. Attendees arrived formally
attired. We started the Show on time and got through it in a little
over two hours. Bernie Howard was inducted into the "Hall of
Fame" and the PADJ of Los Angeles was the ADJA "Chapter of
the Year". The Show was better than all of the previous four put together!
At the end of the
evening I accepted a large check from GEMINI to help produce the 6th
annual event. I then announced that we were going to move locations
to the winter NAMM convention in Anaheim the following year. The
reasons were many. The Tropicana Hotel Union labor bill was
staggering, the logistics of hauling everything for our "Hall of
Fame" exhibit out to Las Vegas were massive and we were not
getting any help from Mobile Beat. After all, we felt we were now
providing convention attendees with a good reason to attend the
Mobile Beat conference and to receive no help from them cooled our
spirits. In fact, they had their own event going on the other side of
the wall during the Awards Show.
Our committee met
after the MB conference and we thought maybe we should try and put
together a sort of "mini-convention" of our own with some
exhibitors and seminars. We felt that in order to get 'out of state'
DJ's to come to the Awards Show, they would want to spend a few days.
Well, when I asked if Mobile Beat would like to get involved with us,
they declined and refused to sell us advertising in their magazine.
By late summer 2000, we realized we could do the Awards Show only and
when I contacted GEMINI about their pledge of support, I was told it
had been suspended. I was puzzled because GEMINI's support over the
years had got us to where we were. Alan felt that NAMM was no longer
a good place to stage our event and said he'd maybe help us later.
PEAVEY was all set to supply a sound system and a small amount of
money to produce the Show. When we contacted other companies that had
supported us in the past, they wouldn't speak with us.
The American Disc
Jockey Awards were created for everyone. It was conceived as an event
to honor those that deserve recognition and as an opportunity to
learn something of value. I spent my savings, much of my time and a
lot of effort to bring respect to our industry. As it is right now,
due to lack of sponsorship support, the 6th annual American DJ Awards
are postponed until further notice.
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