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August 2007 The 2 Way Street Between DJs and SkatersRST recently interviewed Rob "Showtime" Hunter (RH) who has been a skate DJ for more than 10 years. Born and raised in Cincinnati, Ohio, the 33 year old still resides there and DJs the weekly adult session at Skatetowne USA. Nationwide, he also keeps skaters rolling at various events throughout the year where his services are requested and often praised, however, there are times when the criticisms outweigh the compliments and pleasing a rink full of skaters is not such an easy task. Many DJs and skaters all across the country can relate to one side of this issue or the other i.e., very few DJs can claim to never have been booed or subjected to the insults and complaints of dissatisfied listeners and by the same token, there are very few skaters who can say they have never complained about the song selections put together by their local DJs. In this interview, Showtime shares some of his experiences and a few of the lessons he has learned over the years that have molded him to become one of the top skate DJs in his area. (RST) - Please comment on your DJ experience regarding complaints
from skaters. What have you experienced over the years and how have
you handled it as a DJ?
I guess it makes it easier as a DJ if somebody wants to hear something they come up and say, 'hey, do you have this?' or 'can you play this?' It's easier to work like that than it is to have people come up saying, 'why are you playing this,' or 'don't play that.' People don't realize that when you're spinning, the average record is 4 minutes and some change long. Once I hit play on that record I gotta start thinking about what I'm gonna play next and possibly what I'm gonna play after that. If I want to play this, where is it, because I use vinyl and CDs so I have to find the vinyl, que it up and if I'm mixing, I've got to get the beats together and just get it all ready to go within 4 minutes. In between that time you've got people coming up requesting songs. There's a couple of skaters in Cincinnati that will bring me CDs every week and most of the time I play [them] or I might have the song myself. There's been a few occasions where I won't play it because sometimes people bring you stuff that's obscure, it might be their own personal jam or anthem but it's not gonna go down for the rest of the people in the rink so sometimes you have to upset or disappoint one person to avoid pissing off several hundred people. As far as skaters, if you have a song that you really want to hear or think is nice, bring it to the DJ and tell him to check it out. Really, that's probably the best way to get your song heard. I've had people say, 'play this or I'ma kill you.' [Well,] I'm not gonna play it. (RST) - You've actually had people say they'll kill you?
I've had people come to me and say, 'I wasn't feeling you tonight because you played too much rap music,' and as DJs, sometimes we get into the zone and it's like boom, boom boom - five, six, seven, eight in a row. Next time, we'll be more conscious of that. That's a relationship and that keeps skating growing, keeps the older skaters there as well as the younger skaters because the younger ones end up learning from the older. It's a 2 way street with DJs and skaters, the skaters really have to respect the DJ and the DJ has to respect the skaters. It's like when you go to work, if you work building parts or building cars and you're next to a guy you don't really like, you still gotta get through the day and do a good job, so you have to work together. A lot of the problems you have with people just being indignant and crazy with the DJ are younger folks who want their instant gratification and it's like the DJ gets a lot of grief. If there's not enough pretty women in the house then it's the DJs fault. I never really had a complaint when the skating rink was packed and there's a bunch of scantily clad women and buff guys. I never had complaints on those nights but the nights when the rink's kind of empty, you hear a lot of complaints on the music. There's a lot of things involved but I just think the DJ, being a DJ is one of the worst jobs because you get paid to get beat up, to be somebody's whipping boy. At skate parties, if anything goes wrong, it's the DJ's fault. I've deejayed a party where the actual sound was messed up, it sounded good through my headphones but coming out the speakers sounded like garbage but people don't say the sound or the speakers are messed up, they say the DJ's wack. I got booed that night. (RST) - Have you had experiences where you feel your efforts
have been sabotaged?
(RST) - Do you have any final words?
(RST) - Thank you. Posted 08/12/07
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