Meet The DJ --
Professor Jam of Tampa Bay
For some DJs, there’s the DJ personality, and then there’s the personal, but for Professor Jam, it’s all one and the same—and that includes his moniker. In fact, at the recent NAMM show, when the esteemed Professor, who currently serves Florida and Georgia, residing in Tampa Bay and Peachtree, Georgia, was stopped at the door by security for not having his “real” name on his pass, other convention-goers stepped in and explained that in Professor Jam’s case, it’s allowed. Not bad for a kid that only wanted to be a DJ because he thought it was “cool.”
Professor Jam started working at his local roller rink as a kid, in 1973, for the sole purpose of getting a chance to be a DJ. He thought that being a DJ would be cool, “You got to play music, and you got to party, and you got control of the crowd.” Within a year, he was doing all of the Saturday night events, and in 1977, he had his first gig outside of the roller rink, at an outdoor skate park.
As he learned how to DJ, though, he found so many more reasons to love it, “As a young kid, you don’t really have a voice and people just don’t listen, but being up there, I needed to develop a strong presence,” Professor Jam says. “That skill is still something I use today, even as an adult.”
Since his days with the roller rink, Professor Jam has built a successful career, and business, focusing less on the “cool” factor and more on the professional. “Business is everything for a DJ,” says Professor Jam. “Even talented mixers or MCs need to present themselves as a professional and have pride in what they do. If not, they’ll have trouble booking events, then paying their bills, then even at home with the family. The stress will begin to affect their performance.”
Still, even after 3 decades, Professor Jam hasn’t become uptight; he just understands there are a time and a place for it. Adaptability is another part of the DJ puzzle, believes Jam. He is a Chameleon of a DJ, being the host that his client needs, from a mixer to an MC to a combination of both. “You can compare DJ’s to nighttime talk show hosts, with different strengths and personalities,” Jam says. “I would be Jay Leno.”
Even the types of gigs that Jam takes vary. “I can do anything,” Jam says, from clubs, to weddings, to corporate events, to celebrity events. “I’m not always the image a club is looking for exactly, they usually want someone younger, but for the corporate or celebrity events that clubs sometimes hold, I’m a good fit because I do look more experienced, which they appreciate, and I can mix well.”
Passing on his experience is important to Jam, because it leads to a stronger industry overall. Supporting fellow DJ’s, rather than focusing on the competition aspect, leads to a more professional community with a reputation that deserves respect. Jam has presented seminars, made demonstrations, and regularly attends conventions as a speaker. In addition to computers, he’s shared his knowledge on mixing, weddings, and even clubs.
Jam is constantly evolving and always checking out the latest technology, just as successful businesses in other industries do. He’s even credited throughout the community—and on Wikipedia—as playing a key role in the DJ industry’s evolution to computers with his Computerized Performance System DJ Summit, a convention solely focused on using computers as a DJ.
But teaching isn’t the only way Jam has given back. He has won many awards for his charity work, both within the DJ community, the Humanitarian of the Year Award at the American Disc Jockey Awards in Vegas, and also from various charities, like M.A.D.D., The American Cancer Society, and the American Lung association.
Helping the DJ community isn’t just something that Jam does, but something he expects others to do. Buying ad space industry publications, sponsoring educational seminars, and working with the community DJ’s have built for themselves are all things that Jam expects to see suppliers doing. “I have a ton of equipment, for the different types of shows and set-ups I do, but I predominantly support the companies that put effort back into us,” he says. “It shows that the suppliers believe in the industry and what they’re selling.”
Check out his website.
http://www.ijamproductions.com/professorjam.htmInterested in appearing in DJ Spotlight?
Send your story to our editor, Jennifer Ramirez (Jennifer@fucinipro.com). 
