Person who conducts a program of recorded music on radio, on television, or at discotheques or other dance halls. Disc jockey programs became the economic base of many radio stations in the United States after World War II. The format generally involves one person, the disc jockey, introducing and playing phonograph records and chatting informally and usually extemporaneously in the intervals -- Brittanica.com
1950-1970: It is generally forgotten that the very first DJs were Jamaicans operating bass-heavy outdoor mobile sound systems. At that time - the late fifties and sixties - the DJ was the person talking live over the records, the 'selector' spinned a selection of American black dance music from the South and East of the United States.
In 1967, DJ Kool Herc moved from his native Jamaica to New York, and while he adjusted his musical selection to better fit the New York party crowd, he stayed true to the sound system philosophy, bringing recorded music to open air venues, playing a loud bass and talkin' over the records.
In the early seventies, the first private after hour clubs , invitation-only rent parties and 'discotheques' give a new twist to New York nightlife. The Loft, hosted by David Mancuso, made Soul Makossa of Manu Dibango the first "discotheque" record - it crossed over and disco was born.
Larry Levan stands at the crossroads of disco and house. He was the legendary DJ who for more than 10 years held court at the New York night club Paradise Garage. Quite a number of today's most successful producers and DJs credit their first exposure to Larry's music at the Paradise Garage as a moment that changed their lives forever and inspired their whole careers.
The eighties were dominated by drugs and DJ cultus. The New York disco scene expanded into Chicago, by way of Frankie Knuckles, who invented house in the process. And while the disco was instrumental in the development of disco, for the nineties genres like house, techno, trance and garage - to name a few - the DJ became the pop star of the dancefloor.