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Wes Hall is a late night radio host of Hot 92.3 in Los Angeles.

He has about 3million listeners. That tune into him throughout Los Angeles.

I met him a few years back and we chopped it up on a few occasions.  I thought he was a real cool dude.  Then I didn’t see him for a while…

Next thing I know, this guy is the late night host on 92.3!  I chopped it up with him at a birthday dinner and we talked in depth about the music game and radio, and what really goes on.  He laid too much knowledge down for me to not get him on camera to speak on it.

All you artists, radio listeners complaining about radio, and potential radio DJs: Take real good notes here.  You are about to get a real lesson.

Part 1:

His story of how he went from actor to radio host.

Part 2

The craft of radio

The guiding path that lead him to radio and to be successful

Good host vs great host

Why are people unhappy with radio right now?

Part 3

How a new music artist gets on the radio

How you can find him

His words of advice

Eve’s question: Why are things so stale?

Check out his page on 92.3 & catch him on air/streaming: Wes Hall

Serious questions and comments only:  weshot923@gmail.com

Most of my musings may be criticisms.  They are an analysis of things going on.  Problems I see.  But I want to take some time to show appreciation for some great artists and great music out there.

One of the things I love to do is watch YouTube videos and read people’s comments.  It really helps share the wonder of the music.  Here are some great songs and some comments I ran across, that I think illustrate the timelessness of them and put some of the things in words I couldn’t express.

Redman- Time 4 some Aksion

Boogers4dinner- “I know this sounds crazy but me and my friends went to the basketball court years back when this rap came out, and I just seen the video seconds before I left the house. I was in a zone when I went to the basketball court. I was on fire. That song was in my head the whole time! They said they never seen me play that well before. This song was in my head the whole time! I was in a zone for real! LOL I didn’t miss a shot that day.”

Superjigga2004- “What gets me all the time is when the song is about to close and suddenly he goes into another lyrical burst. Almost 20 yrs later and I still keep falling for it!”

SOS Band- No One’s Gonna Love you-

trackmanllm09- i luv this group im nineteen and my generation is terrible in music our music is not sincere its just whateva looks cool this is the type of song that you leave on repeat when your at home

J-Davey- Mr. Mister

madhatter536- my hormones ache just looking at her. I have a pool.

WilliamLevi09- Im so irritated that J*DaVeY isn’t as big as they should be! Ive been listening to them for year now and I cant stop singing their music. They need to seriously blow up in the industry asap. I want to see them on tv more often! C’mon J*DaVeY please come out with a new cd and tell BET, MTV, MTV2, VH1, etc. and radio stations all over to play your music! I freakin love you guys! I love all your music, ALL of it!

Rhaegar1- BET, MTV, MTV2, VH1, etc. and radio stations dont play good music thats why J*Davey not on there

Brittany Bosco- Blues for Blue/ Black & White

risas323- Dis is WHaT i CaLl MuZik

Cocomo08- Me too! Love this chick! I need to get this EP again because my computer crashed and away went my music. So sad.

Common- I Used to Love H.E.R.

Fetcha200- Wow I don’t even like Hip-Hop/Rap.
I’m more of a hard rock/blues/acoustic type of guy
but this shit surprised me.
Mad respect for this artist/song
and I mean it.

Yasenifah- my english university prof used this song in teaching us about a form of poetry… deep shit common

JawbolingWoW-  it took me awhile to understand this video.. and now i understand it.. i thought he was talking about a girl but it turns it he was talking about Hip-Hop.. this song really makes me sad thats why i love it.

calm1like- LOL i learned this song in english class last year for grade 12 in the poetry unit… just goes to show how amazing this song is

Dwele- Shady

MisterDynamite-  I just got this CD yesterday and I must say that this was one of the best purchases I ever made.  Most CDs usually have one or two good songs, but on this CD, every song is great.

LVipez- he has an aura wen he sings

kinda like dilla on his production

J Dilla- La La La

FRESHCOOLAIDE- This song sounds like love, and freedom.

Phlexxon- Feels like the sky looks right now in Compton – fresh and alive

joecrow24- do you know where it can be purchased?

Jayedoubleneye – Where can i buy this ?!?!

Miles Davis- So What

2424reservoirdog – I am a fan of Hard Rock and Heavy Metal, but i love Miles Davis. Any fan of any musical genre should be able to appreciate his greatness.

JazznBlues85 – Kind of Blue is a true masterpiece. So full of melody, not a single note is out of place, it is what every album of any genre should aspire to be. These guys sing with their instruments, they talk also. Long live music!

grgtompen- perfection

alisesay- this is the first time n this real jazz song n artist ive ever listened to, nuff respect to the blues n jazz that started the foundation for soul funk n hip hop RIP MILES DAVIS sorry it took so long for man like me to discover your music

TheBee38- Classic class. You know he had a rare condition where he saw colours and shapes when he heard music. Colour to sounds, amazing eh? Wish I suffered this, i’d take it as a blessing.

StormZephyr – My God. I didn’t even know about Miles Davis until last week. It was like stepping out a familiar door into empty space, losing your footing and going into free-float in endless void.

BrzNinja – I’ve been just recently listening to Jazz, but this kind of music made me think in a way I never have. I closed my eyes and got into a deep trance. I forgot all my problems, and by the end of the song, I finally said… “So what?”

Monlisa Murray is more than a socialite.  She’s more like a patron saint of music.

You may see her at any given night at various events.

She may be backstage chopping it up with the headlining act, who’s she’s been longtime friends with.

She may be in the crowd enjoying the show.

She may be on stage enjoying the show.

She may be working the front door.

She may be DJing at the event.

She might be doing all the above at the same time!

You really never know.  But it’s clear, she loves music and she fully supports the art and artists however she can.

I had seen her at many events playing one of the many roles above, and I never quite knew what she did.  I eventually found out she worked at numerous record labels as a promoter, and was right in the middle of the Hip Hop explosion in Los Angeles.  When I decided to make this site, she was one of the people I was sure I wanted to feature.  Sometimes it’s the people behind the scenes who really make things run.  There are lots of celebrities and stars in LA, and she’s one of them, make no mistake.

Part 1

- How she fell in love with music
- How she started DJing
- Her favorite records to spin
-Crate and information digging

Part 2

- Why she left the music business after 15yrs
- Quality of character in music
- How you can find her
- Words of advice

Be sure to download her bangin Hip Hop mix here

Check out her Reggae Mix below!

Connect with her…

On Twitter: @Monalisa7872

On Facebook: Monalisa Murray

BET symbolizes 2 things that I can’t stand:

Uncle Toms (Bob Johnson, Debra Lee, & Stephen Hill)

and Slave-masters (Viacom).

When I found out Bob Johnson sold BET to Viacom, I said “That’s it.  He literally sold us out.”  As much as I hate a slave-master, I expect him to want to keep me enslaved.  But for a house ni@#a to sell me out?  Unacceptable.  In his own words

“I never really embraced that notion that BET was an heirloom that belonged to the greater black society,” Johnson says. “BET was a business that had a great impact on African-American society, but it didn’t belong to it. And so, my thing is that we want to contribute, we want to add value. But we have to operate according to the philosophy that you have to exist in a world where business decisions have to be made based on business, not on political notions or social agendas.”  -Robert L. Johnson

So as he says, it isn’t owned by the  larger community.  So what do we have?  Nothing.

I’m getting tired of execs saying they made business decisions based on demographics and money interests.   It’s a broken record, and I’m starting to not believe it anymore.  It’s not that your demographic is interested in certain things, it’s that you WANT them to be interested in those certain things.

I used to watch BET religiously, especially during the summers, from morning until afternoon, for the music videos.  Now, ALL of their music programming seems to have been cut except for 106 & Park.  As an alternative, I started watching VH1 Soul.  Well I was pretty upset to find out Viacom has plans to cut VH1 Soul entirely, and merge some of the programming with BET’s spin-off channel, Centric (as in Afrocentric).

I had a long chat with one of the folks trying to save VH1 Soul.  Apparently the Slave-Masters believe that VH1 Soul isn’t serving their demographic age range.  Here’s the problem:  People of a certain age range are not all interested in the same thing!  People of the same CULTURE, mostly, like the same thing.  You’re also talking about the age range where most people are trying to “find themselves”, so they are more likely to want to be exposed to various kinds of things.  But of course, Viacom is probably not really thinking about the demographics as much as the advertisers are.  And the advertisers are the ones paying the bills, right?  Well we’ll see what happens as people stop watching.  Personally, I think TVOne is the best channel.

I just say we let BET die.

I had a lot more to say, but once I found this video, it pretty much summed it up.  You know it’s bad when a kid thinks you’re dumb.

At the end of the day,  there’s only a few people pulling the strings.  Remember that.

And for an extra bonus, check this out.

When you talk about dope DJs, Kaleem is known as “Your favorite DJ’s favorite DJ.”

While it may be a description he gave himself, DJ Kaleem is actually right on point with that assertion.  He brings in the spirit of the DJ wherever he goes.  He knows what to play, he mixes it well, and he’s unpredictable.

A DJ’s DJ.

I had seen him around at a number parties before I ever heard him spin.  He’s a local celebrity, especially known amongst the taste-makers of LA.  Anytime I saw him he stood out with his glasses, large stature, and fashion that seemed to be a cross between Old School Hip Hop and Prep.  Anytime I get to see him spin, he never fails to get everyone in the room ready to rock, whether it was Afro-beat, House, Hip Hop, or anything else.

I got a chance to get his story in full.

Part 1:

- How he fell in love with DJing

- His family’s appreciation for music

- How he studied the craft

- The differences in the digital age with Serato

Part 2:

- DJ AM & Roc Raida

- Vinyl in the digital age

- DJs he recommends

- Where you can find him

- Words of advice

And what great timing!

Here’s a VALENTINE’S DAY MIX from DJ Kaleem!

Download it so you can play it while you snuggle that special someone.

OR, maybe you can find a new mate and impress them with your music taste while you wine and dine.

OR, just chill and soak up the sound.  You have at least 3 good options.  You can’t lose.

Be sure to get his other mixes here: http://djkaleem.podomatic.com/