Expanding on the popular ‘5 with…’ section of our newsletter, we present to you the first of our new ‘Spotlight on…’ series of blog posts, where we bring you a bit more of an insight into some of our DJs.  We kick things off with Doobie J…

When it comes to DJ Doobie J (Jason to his friends), it’s fair to say that he’s become a part of the furniture at SSRadio, and his long-standing relationship with the station has grown from professional to personal after nearly 8 years of hosting his own show.

The collaboration has allowed Jason to watch the station grow and evolve from a small venture, to a social network of sorts, connecting likeminded people all over the globe.

Jason was asked on board after getting in touch with the station and expressing a mutual love of house music and DJing; it seemed like a natural progression for him to then get his own show up and running. Despite being initially overwhelmed by the new fangled technology used at the station, Jason persevered and eventually became a staple part of the team as a DJ with roots in soulful and vocal house.

Jason said:

“A friend of a friend called Mark J, who had his own show on SSRadio, suggested I email the owners and get my own show up and running.

“I put it off after being unsure of the Internet radio technology used at the station, but Mark kept pushing me and so I eventually went for it. It turned out to be a life-changing experience for me, and I’ll be eternally grateful to Mark for sticking with me on it.”

It was the pioneering radio station Kiss FM first that first opened Jason’s eyes to dance music. He eventually went on to save up his £15 a week paperboy wage to buy a set of second hand decks, and hasn’t looked back since.

Jason added:

“At first, the decks weren’t as entertaining as my Nintendo, but I was fascinated by the concept of bringing two rhythms together and manipulating the music in the mix.

“After that I was hooked on dance music, and once I could mix, I went on to DJing house parties which I was throwing when my Dad went away on business. These parties lit the fire in me to DJ, although they must have made me a pain in the ass to raise!”

As his years of service at SSRadio rack up, Jason has had the privilege of playing some massive events to thousands of people – something which every DJ dreams of doing, yet only a few achieve.

Counting Andy Ward’s Vocal Booth Weekender, where he extended his set by 2 hours due to request, as one of his favourite events to have played, Jason says that a pivotal moment working with SSRadio was Sunbeat 2011 in Croatia, an event that he thinks is a significant milestone to both him and SSRadio.

Jason said:

“Watching Matt and Dave (Soultronic) open up their set on a beach stage on a beautiful hot day with the sea breeze cooling, waves crashing on the shore and the SSRadio flag flying high above the dancefloor, was a statement of success.

“It is recognition that is well deserved and I was very happy for Matt and Dave at that moment.

“I’d now like to see the station regularly streaming and recording more DJ sets and live acts from events. An annual festival would be great, too!”

In an era where new kids on the block are aspiring to be a part of sell out Guetta-esque arena tours, Jason has an attitude to DJing that is humbling and very organic to where dance music started. His inspiration? The listeners. Plain and simple. He doesn’t insert a generic answer like ‘Daft Punk’, and it’s refreshing to hear a DJ that doesn’t aspire to be ‘cool’.

Jason concluded:

“I think all DJ’s start out aspiring to climb to dizzy heights of DJ stardom, DJing to large capacity audiences in glamorous venues. I continue to do that now and then and enjoy it, but I’ve looked deeper over the years.

“I’ve aspired to simply being respected and recognised by my fellow peers in the house music community. DJ’s, Producers, Musicians of all levels of status are responsible for pushing the music forward and out there to people, evoking those positive feelings that bring us to the dance floor in unity, regardless of how commercially successful we are.

“Feedback I receive from people who’ve enjoyed my sets is very important to me. Not to boost the ego, but to inspire me to continue DJing. Knowing I’m making people feel so positive through the music is the most inspiring reason to continue DJing for sure.”

You can catch Doobie J alongside a whole host of SSRadio DJs spinning at our summer party in Guildford on Saturday 24th August.  Visit http://ssradio.com/invitation for more information.