Our DJ's

When it All Started (Early to Mid 1970s)

The earliest memory I have of falling in love with music was in the mid-70s. Our family traveled a lot as kids, and my father would play the Cruisin' Sampler Series on 8-track. Each album was hosted by a different radio personality. Each album highlighted a different decade, spanning from 1955 to 1967. Every morning was filling with ABC News Radio’s Paul Harvey and his “Rest of the Story,” followed by the Cruisin’ 8-tracks, and if lucky, we’d also get to listen to Wolfman Jack’s syndicated radio show. When I got to ride in the front seat, it was always an extra treat because I was in charge of the music. 

Eventually, I got one of those plastic record player suitcases and played my 1975 K-Tel Goofy Greats and 1976 K-Tel Kooky Tunes records constantly on it. Our relatives lived all over the country, and we traveled all over the nation from the early 1970s to around 1985, visiting every national landmark/area there was too. During our early trips, I found a deep love for the music of the 50s and 60s, including Elvis and Phil Spector-produced artists. My grandmother loved Elvis and had seen him multiple times, which made it easy to listen and learn so much about him when we visited her.

The Grade School Years (1974-1980/5-11)

Sometime in grade school, I got my first individual component system consisting of a JVC receiver, JVC tape deck, and a Technics turntable. I remember sneaking down to the basement late at night, where my father kept the majority of his records, and grabbing ABBA and The Beatles to listen to them. He had their complete collections. Almost immediately, I knew that I was listening to some of the best music ever created. It was emotional, it was so special, it was unbelievable.

I remember begging my parents for Queen’s 1979 Live Killers album because it showed their stage on the cover. I wouldn’t realize till later why I loved seeing a stage so much. I think this might have been my first true LP. Between 1979-1980, I would get to see Alabama, Daryll Hall & John Oates, and The J. Geils Band in concert. I only really remember seeing Alabama and honestly had forgotten about these till I started researching about writing this music biography. We had a lot of great friends who would take me to shows if my parents didn’t want to attend. I was so incredibly fortunate.

The Junior High Years (1980-1982/11-13)

It was December 8, 1980, and everybody knew exactly where they were. I was quietly staying up late to watch the Miami Dolphins and the New England Patriots on Monday Night Football when Howard Cosell said that John Lennon had been murdered. It was the first time I had felt an incredible wave of sorrow and despair overcome me for someone I had never met. I cried. I couldn’t sleep. I’ll never forget that tragic night.

Once I got into Junior High, my friends and I started widening our 70s artist listening with Pink Floyd, Led Zeppelin, and The Who, among so many others. Getting high and playing Pink Floyd records backward became a common weekend occurrence.

I didn’t realize it at the time, but I was forming a special love for early punk and new wave. By the time MTV played their first music video on August 1st, 1981, of the Buggles 1980’s “Video Killed the Radio Star,” I was hooked! I was only 12. When MTV started, it was only really New Wave artists that had these new “music videos,” so the love only deepened.

My father’s an Anthropologist, owned his own Archeology company, and a retired Anthropology professor. As a kid, I would work for my father’s company on these “digs,” as we would call them. One such “dig” was a good distance away, and two co-workers drove me there. I remember it was a VW Rabbit with an awesome cassette stereo system, and they had cases & cases of cassettes. On that trip, I further expanded my love of David Bowie, Roxy Music, Lou Reed, Slade, and The Ramones, among so many others. Best road trip ever!

The Senior High Years (1982-1986/13-17)

By this time, I already owned thousands of records (LPs and EPs), but starting in 1985, I began purchasing CDs. At first, it was slow going because the average domestic price was $30, and the import price averaged around $40. I also perfected the “fine art” of making awesome mixtapes during this time too. I would make three new ones every week: one for me, one for my best friend, and one for my girlfriend.

My best friend and I would go to the late movie every Friday night at the local movie theatre. He worked on a farm, so by the time he was done with chores after school, the late show was the only showing we could make, and they were so much fun. He and I would also go to all the metal, rock, and hair band concerts we could squeeze in.

My girlfriend and I would go to all the New Wave concerts, but sometimes I went with other friends who also loved New Wave if she couldn’t make it. We had made friends with quite a few fellow New Wave fans who lived in and around the Pittsburgh area, so there was always someone to go to a show with. And before I could drive, my mom would drive us and actually drop us off; seriously, it was such a different time during the 80s.

As we still struggled to find out about New Wave music, we did have a shining light every Sunday night with the syndicated Rock Over London show that was broadcast on Pittsburgh’s WDVE. Around 1984, I learned of Jim's Records from one of our Pittsburgh New Wave friends. Jim ran a Pittsburgh import music store on Liberty Avenue, and he was one of the coolest dudes I ever met. He opened my world to so much more great New Wave music and great UK music sources like NME, Smash Hits, Melody Maker, and Q. I eventually got a subscription to NME and Q, and they were crazy expensive since they were imports. NME is the only one still around today, but only in digital format.

It was July 13, 1985, and everybody knew exactly where they were, and it was awesomely unforgettably epic! I was in Illinois at our aunt & uncle’s home, glued to the TV for 16+ hours.

You couldn’t get away from the great artists and songs being produced by the awesome Stock Aitken Waterman in the 80s, but in 1986, two great things happened besides graduating. MTV created 120 Minutes, which focused solely on New Wave music from the 70s and 80s, and even better, a Pittsburgh radio station flipped formats and became WXXP, Double X 100.7, and their format was New Wave! This is when I met my DJ friend I’ve talked about in other stories.

I was on stage crews from 6th grade to my senior year of high school, which continued with Theatre in college. I often talk about how I got to meet so many artists. My most successful method was to start a tech conversation with someone on the artist’s stage crew, and after a while, I would ask if we could meet the band, and every single time, they would simply let us backstage so we could. The smaller the venue, the better. It was just awesome! It would probably never happen today with the security needed for artists now, unfortunately.

The College Years+ (1986-1993/17-24)

My fascination with the stage led me to be a theatre major in college. I commuted, which gave me the ability to work part-time in multiple music stores while attending college, which I did from 1986 to 1993. I met so many cool lifelong friends and won so many display contests, making it the best working experience I ever had. The manager and I became instant friends because of our love of The Beatles and New Wave. He exposed me to the more obscure New Wave that I quickly fell in love with, too. 

I would semi-regularly co-host a New Wave show on the college radio station every few weeks. I would bring milk crates of records to each show. I was always doing improv in theatre, so DJing seemed to come naturally to me. I was very fortunate to feel so comfortable on live air.

We had many artists that actually came to the campus to perform, and the tech theatre students would always work the shows, and I was one of them. It was easy work, and we had a blast, plus, we typically got to meet everybody that ever played there.

I graduated with a Bachelor of Arts in 1990 but didn’t pursue that career even though it was four incredible years of my life.

By 1989, the domestic average CD price had dropped to about $15, and imports were about $25. So my purchasing was out of control, and soon I had thousands & thousands of CDs, far surpassing my vinyl collection. Then I started re-purchasing my fab albums on CD that I already had on record.

Beyond the College Years (1994-2025/25+)

In 1994, the Herald-Standard newspaper developed a 24/7 television channel, HSTV, Herald-Standard Television, which we operated for 14 years as HSTV Studios. This included original programming, including an Internet tech TV show my best friend and I produced and co-hosted for almost a decade. HSTV Studios also produced a 30-minute daily news program for which I was the technical director & editor.

In 2008, as newspapers continued to suffer from the instantaneous news cycle on the Internet, several of us decided to leave the newspaper and form our own company, and Striped Shirt Media was born. I would eventually buy out the last partner and now run the company as a sole proprietorship. I’m a video producer/editor & website designer for local businesses. https://stripedshirtmedia.com 

Present Day

I host Doren’s Dare to Be Different 80s New Wave Show every Friday & Sunday night at 7 pm ET, 6 pm CT on CJ's Awesome 80s.