Who was the first disc jockey?
The first DISC JOCKEY on British radio was to have been Compton Mackenzie, but as he disappeared on an island-hunting expedition shortly before he was due to appear, his place was taken instead by his brother-in-law Christopher Stone, who presented his first record round-up from the BBC’s Studio 3 at Savoy Hill on 7 July 1927. Although record recitals had been given before, they had not been presented in quite this way. Stone earned the distinction of being the first DJ by presenting an individual selection of records and giving introductory comments to each title. At the outset he was not paid, but was allowed to mention the Gramophone which he edited with Compton Mackenzie. This was one of the very few occasions on which the BBC allowed commercials. Later the arrangement was dropped and Stone was paid 3 guineas a session. On his death in 1965 The Times said: ‘He endeared himself to the public by the whimsical, human touches with which he extricated himself when occasionally he put on a wrong record or forgot to start the turntable’. One of his whims was making of his will on a gramophone record in 1931. Another was that he never ceased to object to the term ‘disc jockey’, particularly when applied to himself.
