The Disc Jockey

DJ is an abbreviation of Disc Jockey which was the initial term used for an individual that selected and played prerecorded music for an audience. The first on air radio broadcasting began in the 1910’s and was a combination of discussion, prerecorded and live music. It was in 1935 the term disc jockey first arose in the United States and ‘Make Believe Ballroom’ was the first radio show to continuously broadcast prerecorded music to the audience. In the UK in 1945 Jimmy Saville launched the first ever DJ dance party and later that year he became the worlds first DJ to use two turntables to produce a continuous ‘set’ of music.

By the early 1950’s television had overtaken radio in popularity and the format of radio became closely related to what we see today – music, news and sports. By the mid 1960’s disco’s and nightclubs had begun to spring up around the world calling for DJ’s to entertain the crowds and it was at this point that more specialised equipment began to appear on the market allowing DJ’s to become more seamless in their transition between tracks. The 1970’s funk, disco and soul became very popular and the introduction of Technics SL-1200 turntable which evolved into the SL-1200 MK2 and is still industry standard today. The 1980’s saw the MTV generation evolve but also the advent of the compact disc, all of which was increasing the digital audio revolution. By Mid 1980’s techno music began to appear and in 1990’s the rave scene hit the UK with a big impact changing the perception of DJ’ing forever.