My Story

I was born in 1974, growing up in Queens, NY.  I came as an immigrant at the age of 3.  My parents had no musical history, unlike others my age whose parents were into classic rock music, or motown, etc.  My parents heard of the Beatles and Elvis, and that was pretty much it.  I had no influence.

I remember listening to music on a crummy AM radio in the family car – a Dodge Dart, whose seats were so hot after sitting in the sun you could burn your skin.  I have vague memories of Smokey Robinson and disco.  I remember being fond of the song “Knock On Wood” by Amii Stewart.  I think I recall listening to the Bee Gees and Gloria Gaynor.   I was probably listening to whatever was on pop radio at the time.

Into the 1980’s my memories are more vivid.  I was a fan of Hall & Oats.  I always seemed to prefer the “dancier” tunes, like Joe Jackson’s “Stepping Out”.  Z100 and Power 95 were the heavyweights on the radio, and would regularly play dance music as part of their playlists.  “Jam On It” by Newcleus and “White Lines” by Grandmaster Flash were also favorites of mine in the early 80’s.  “IOU” by Freeeze was another hit.  Who can forget Soft Cell’s “Tainted Love”.

I was drawn to electronic music without even knowing it.  In the mid 80’s more and more songs were of an electronic nature – from Herbie Hancock to Madonna.  But nothing was quite like what I would hear at a specific venue a few times per year: roller-skating birthday parties.  Back then, it was the cool thing to do.   “Laces” was a frequented spot, as was “United Skates of America” in Brooklyn.  I always looked forward to these parties because of the music.  I don’t remember exactly what was playing but I know that I loved it, and I had no way of hearing it anywhere else.

In the local playgrounds the older kids would listen to similar dance music on their boomboxes, as well as rap.  I recognized a few songs – whatever also gained airplay on pop radio, like UTFO’s “Roxanne Roxanne”, or Shannon and Lisa Lisa.  Being in elementary school, I had no resources and no means of doing anything about it, so I just continued on my merry way listening mostly to mainstream radio.

In 1986 my family moved from an apartment in Forest Hills, to a house in Fresh Meadows.  Here is where I discovered Hot 103, almost by dumb luck.  You see, I was still stuck on Z100 and WPLJ Power 95.  The problem was that in my new room, the boombox I used for radio listening could not get good reception on those 2 stations.  No matter how I angled the antenna, no matter where I placed the unit, there was static…except for 103.5.  That station came in very clear.  So I reluctantly listened to it.

Hot 103 had enough mainstream songs that I knew and liked, but also played freestyle.  I was familiar with The Cover Girls, TKA and some of the more popular artists, but Hot 103 featured much more.   They played “hot mixes” of some songs, which were remixes made exclusively for that station.  They also played stuff like “Pump Up The Volume” by M|A|R|R|S and “Do You Wanna Dance” by Bad Boy Orchestra,  instrumental electronic music that I really liked.

At some point, which must have been the following year 1987, I was hanging out with some friends in Brooklyn and we went to a nearby park.  The older kids with the boomboxes were playing music that I hadn’t heard before.  There was some freestyle that I was now familiar with, but also some other awesome grooves.  At the time of course I had no idea what it was but I knew I loved it.  In retrospect, I have been able to figure out some of those tunes:  stuff like “Party People” by Royal House, “Dum Dum Cry” by MAW, “Set It Off” by Strafe and “Fly Tetas” by Jose Chinga.

It wasn’t long before I stumbled upon the Saturday Night Dance Party broadcast live on Saturday Nights and I instantly fell in love with the music: Freestyle, the same stuff I heard in the streets, and some rap music mixed in too.  The radio mix shows featured Jose “The Animal” Diaz, Freddy Bastone and Scott Blackwell.  I don’t recall, but maybe Little Louie Vega was featured as well.  89.1 FM, which was NYU’s station, also played obscure music late at night with a lot more rap.  DJ Red Alert of course was an important figure in the progression of rap and hip hop on 98.7 KISS FM.  They too had a dance music mix show, Tony Humphries was the DJ, but I did not enjoy listening to it because it was not the same as what was on Hot 103.

I grew up very poor and learned at an early age to be a minimalist.  I wanted to record some late night songs that I liked onto blank cassette tapes, but even a $1.50 tape was beyond my means.  I had a couple blank tapes laying around which I used for almost 2 years – recording and re-recording over and over.  That’s why I don’t have any recordings prior to 1988.  All I have are memories, trying to piece together what I heard on the mix shows.  Scott Blackwell and Freddy Bastone on Hot 103 played lots of freestyle, mixed in with some pop songs – I believe Scott Blackwell would feature extended mixing of Michael Jackson’s “Wanna Be Starting Something”.

Over time I will piece together playlists that were representative of what was hot at different time intervals.

As mentioned elsewhere, in retrospect 1988-1990 was an amazing period, sort of a dance music renaissance.  It was a veritable explosion of musical creativity.  Simultaneously, we had rap, underground house and techno make their presence well known both locally and internationally.  Nobody knew what was happening at the time, its only looking back that we realize what a special time it was.