History of radio disc jockeys

For the history of club disc jockeys, see History of DJing.
Disc jockeys at WMCA (AM) New York in 1964

The history of radio disc jockeys covers the time when gramophone records were first transmitted by experimental radio broadcasters to present day radio personalities who host shows featuring a variety of recorded music.

For a number of decades beginning in the 1930s, the term "disc jockey", "DJ", "deejay", or "jock"[1] was exclusively used to describe on-air personalities who played selections of popular recorded music on radio broadcasting stations.[2][3]

The term "disc jockey" first appeared in print in a 1941 issue of Variety magazine,[4][5] although the origin of the term is generally attributed to American radio news commentator Walter Winchell who used it to describe radio presenter Martin Block's practice of introducing phonograph recordings to create a Make Believe Ballroom experience for radio listeners. The term combined "disc", referring to phonograph disc records, and "jockey", denoting the DJs practice of riding the audio gain, or alternately, riding a song to success and popularity.[6]

Culminating in the "golden age" of Top 40 radio, from approximately 1955 to 1975, radio DJs established a style of fast talking patter to bookend three minute pop songs.[7] Unlike the modern club DJ who mixes transitions between songs to create a continuous flow of music, radio DJs played individual songs or music tracks while voicing announcements, introductions, comments, jokes, and commercials in between each song or short series of songs.[8]

During the 1950s, 60s and 70s, radio DJs exerted considerable influence on popular music, especially during the Top 40 radio era, because of their ability to introduce new music to the radio audience and promote or control which songs would be given airplay.[9][10]

  1. ^ Michael C Keith. The Radio Station: Broadcast, Satellite & Internet. Taylor & Francis; 13 December 2006. ISBN 978-1-136-02777-2. p. 52–.
  2. ^ Shelly Field (21 April 2010). Career Opportunities in Radio. Infobase Publishing. pp. 2–. ISBN 978-1-4381-1084-4.
  3. ^ Harris, Arthur S. Jr. (November 1961). "How To Become A Disc Jockey". Boys' Life. Boy Scouts of America, Inc. pp. 27–.
  4. ^ Ben Fong-Torres. The Hits Just Keep on Coming: The History of Top 40 Radio. Backbeat; 2001. ISBN 978-0-87930-664-9. p. 22–.
  5. ^ Marc Fisher. Something in the Air: Radio, Rock, and the Revolution That Shaped a Generation. Random House Publishing Group; 2 April 2009. ISBN 978-0-307-54709-5. p. 13–.
  6. ^ John Shepherd (8 July 2003). Continuum Encyclopedia of Popular Music of the World: VolumeII: Performance and Production. A&C Black. pp. 187–. ISBN 978-0-8264-6322-7.
  7. ^ Weingarten, Markk (9 May 2002). "Radio Patter From the Past: Vintage D.J.'s Rock On". The New York Times. Retrieved 2 January 2017.
  8. ^ Higgins, Terry. "Club Features New Breed of Disc Jockey". Milwaukee Sentinel. Milwaukee Sentinel, June 29, 1984. Retrieved 7 July 2016.
  9. ^ Cite error: The named reference NYTBooks was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  10. ^ Battaglio, Stephen (10 March 2002). "Television/Radio; When AM Ruled Music, and WABC Was King". The New York Times. Retrieved 8 July 2016.