The DiscJockey.Com Years
In the beginning, there were four….
Broadcast.com, Spinner.com, Netradio.net, and DiscJockey.com.
Started by the man who had been my District Manager for a year at Coconuts, the ever-resourceful and future-thinking Rich Chadwick, DiscJockey.com was part of the original internet music revolution.
Rich started DJC as a sideline of his internet design and hosting company, Media Management, in the fall of 1997 with one live channel and several hours of prerecorded shows, and one other employee. Three years later, when DJC went belly-up in the dot.com crunch due mostly to the problems that have become a plague to internet broadcasters, DJC had three offices of space in the same building, over 20 employees, and 150 channels, most of which were in the process of becoming live channels.
Rich took a chance when he offered me the job of DJC director of Programming in March 1998. I had to think about it – I was joining a new company and might be in on something really exciting. On the other hand, it might not make it.
With the blessings of my lovely other half, I decided to risk it all and jump on board.
DJC was my DREAM JOB – a chance to build the stations and formats i’d created for years in my head, a chance to host my own shows, a chance to do so much more.
Rich and I would occasionally butt heads on things – he was a radio guy who wanted to do traditional radio on the internet, while I was thinking out of the box, trying to take traditional radio to a new level, trying to redefine it. In the end, together we both made some of our wildest dreams come true.
Over the course of the first year, we launched decade-based live channels Eighties Experience and Sensational 70s, and more would come along as time went on. As we added more and more employees, our programming was growing by leaps and bounds, and when Barry Scott came on board for a time, and as we added a few more people who really knew their fields, I shifted my responsibilities and became Director of Speciality Programming, and later Director of Specialty and Retro Programming, the retro added when Barry decided to leave the company.
Can I just say that working at DJC was two and a half years of stress, craziness, and the most FUN I’ve ever had at a job – it really WAS my dream job.
In the course of that time, I got to work with some really spectacular people, including DJC’s last PD, George Taylor Morris. I’d been a fan of his for years from his syndicated “Reelin’ In The Years” show, and he was a real light in the tunnel in some ways for me. I didn’t hear he’d passed away until about a year after the fact, and I’m saddened – and the radio world is truly dimmer without him in it.
I also got to work with the wonderful and funny Barry Scott, host of “The Lost 45s“. Barry was a real kick to work with, and I still try to catch his show on local radio when I can.
Scott Lucas was doing double duty at WBOS, I believe, when he was heading up DJC’s alternative music department and the promotions area as well. Scott did so much for the company with a virtually non-existant budget that I was always amazed he was working for us. He was truly a cool guy to work with in every sense of the word.
Jackie Sarno had come on-board as an intern and ended up coming to work for us full time, as head of our music news department and also as our entire indie music department. She worked her butt off building indie connections and hosting several shows. She also was in charge of several live stations as well.
There were other great people there too – Norman Hawley, Carrie DiChara, Kelly Jaynes, Brian Kelly, Mike “Sep” Sepavitch, the other two Mikes (I’m so sorry, I’ve forgotten their last names), the wonderful Liz (forgot the last name again, sorry), and others who came in and out who have slipped my mind (sorry guys!), but without a doubt, DJC was the BEST place to work in the world.
It’s too bad Metallica (oh, OK…AND the dot.com crash…sheesh) had to go and spoil everything…:-)
Rich, you remain my friend, and always will. I wish we could have made it work the way we’d both hoped it could be, but it wasn’t to be. Thank you for letting me live my dream – I owe the wonderful experience that was DJC to you!
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June 2019 – It’s been a while since I updated this page. My friend and boss Rich Chadwick passed away in October 2017 after a battle with cancer, he was just 49 years old. We had fallen out of touch over the last few years, as he had started a family after DJC ended, and launched his new company MultiMediaPros. To his ex-wife Tonya and their children Cherilyn and Nathanial, neither of whom I ever got a chance to meet, and the rest of his close family and friends – know that I always considered Rich truly one of the good guys, and that I will always treasure my memories of my friendship with him, working with him, and playing a constant game of musical oneupmanship with him…he was truly one of a kind…I will always miss him, a lot… – TC
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Here’s more stuff from when I was PD at DiscJockey.com:
An article from the Boston Globe about the company:
BOSTON GLOBE ARTICLE
My 1999 interview in trade magazine HITMAKERS:
Hitmakers Cover
Interview Page 01
Interview Page 02
Interview Page 03