10 Disc Jockeys Who Barricaded Themselves in the Studio

A disc jockey is in charge of playing music for a specific audience on the radio, and it is also their job to entertain that audience. Some disc jockeys have a natural ability to keep listeners’ attention, but sometimes, it takes a clever stunt to engage the crowd.

One popular stunt performed by DJs involves locking themselves in the studio and playing the same song or record over and over. These disc jockeys are usually on the edge of being fired, not in agreement with a change made by management, or are just trying to spread their personal views to listeners. Here are ten disc jockeys who barricaded themselves in the studio.

Related: Top 10 Songs with Lyrics That Are Literally Nonsense

10 Bill Cameron

In 1993, a disc jockey from Beaver Falls, Pennsylvania, locked himself in the radio station’s studio and continuously played Def Leppard’s “Rock Rock (Till You Drop)” for 42 hours. Bill Cameron, a WKKS DJ, played the song to help promote the station’s switch to hard rock. He started playing the song on a Wednesday afternoon, and it played through part of the day on Friday. People believed Cameron had taken full control of the radio station, but the story was quite different.

Cameron had set up recorded announcements to play among the repetitive hit song. Then, he went home for the evening once things were on autopilot. The station began to get flooded with calls wondering what was happening, and word got around that he had barricaded himself in the studio. The promotion for a music switch was going better than expected, and the studio managers ordered Cameron back to the studio.

They quietly ushered him through the back fire escape and then nailed boards over the door to make it appear that it had been taken over. More people tuned into the station, and newspapers and television stations started reporting on the situation. Listeners would bring food and supplies for Cameron and hoist them up through an open window. The station received more attention than they could have ever believed, and their switch to new hard rock was successful.^[1]

9 Steve Ross

In January 1984, a radio disc jockey barricaded himself in the WXTU-FM studio and played records for about six hours after he was fired. Disc jockey Steve Ross and the station’s general manager, Dennis Dougherty, began arguing on air, and Dougherty called the DJ tasteless and obnoxious before firing him. Ross did not accept that he was being fired, and he told Dougherty,” I’m prepared to stay here all day to get my job back.”

Ross barricaded the studio, continued playing music, and encouraged listeners to call in with their support. The studio’s phones rang all day, and other DJs threatened to quit, too. At about 4 p.m., Dougherty caved and agreed to give Ross his job back with a possible pay raise. The FCC believed this may have been a stunt, but Dougherty denied their claims.

In March 1984, the station switched from Urban Contemporary music to country, which it still plays today.^[2]

8 Joe Kohlhofer

Sick of hearing “Last Christmas” by Wham! during the holiday season? Imagine the song playing 24 times in a row! Austrian DJ Joe Kohlhofer barricaded himself inside the studio and played the holiday song repeatedly. Kohlhofer played the song for two hours straight, ignoring the calls that flooded the station pleading for him to stop. He played the song until his four-year-old daughter called the station, telling him that she didn’t like the song.

Kohlhofer claims it was all in good fun, and he just wanted to get the listeners into the Christmas spirit. After exiting the studio, other employees had a little fun by tying him to a chair and placing caution tape over his mouth. The program director said the stunt was not sanctioned, and there would likely be consequences for his actions.^[3]

7 Dave Moore & Jeff Singer

The Dixie Chicks were being censored on radios around the nation after a member of the band made a hostile comment towards George W. Bush in 2003. Two disc jockeys in Colorado Springs, Colorado, decided to play their music despite the boycott placed on the music by management. Dave Moore and Jeff Singer locked themselves in the studio and continuously played Dixie Chicks songs for six hours, starting at 6:15 a.m. and lasting until noon.

The station’s general manager called the two DJs and gave them two options, either continue playing the music and lose their jobs, or leave the studio immediately and receive a few days of suspension. The DJs chose the latter. Both Moore and Singer made it clear that they supported the president, the military, and also the right to free speech.^[4]

6 Joey Reynolds

Joey Reynolds was a Top 40 disk jockey early in his career, but his career would grow even more as he ended up in Buffalo for WBNY. He started collecting large audiences in several cities, such as Cleveland, Hartford, and Detroit, and he was recognized as Billboard Magazine’s DJ of the Year three times. Reynolds is also seen as the originator of “shock-jock radio.” He pulled many stunts that gained widespread publicity, but one stunt will always stand out against the rest.

Reynolds locked himself in the WPOP studio and played “Sherry” by the Four Seasons for several hours. The authorities were even called to do a welfare check on him. As a thank you for promoting their songs, the Four Seasons recorded a special radio jingle of “Big Girls Don’t Cry” for Reynold’s radio show introduction. He continued to stay friends with the band for years following the stunt.^[5]

5 Guy King (Tom Clay)

One guy riding the Buffalo airwaves in the 1950s was Tom Clay, who went by the air name of Guy King. He was in control of the afternoon show that played rock’n’roll, and he had a spectacular stunt in mind heading into the July 4th weekend in 1955. King climbed atop the WWOL billboard that towered above the Palace Burlesque building at Shelton Square and broadcasted his show to a crowd below. Many teens and young adults gathered to see the stunt in person, and they tuned into their radios to listen.

King didn’t exactly lock himself in the studio, but he was in control of the radio in a place where nobody could reach him. He repeatedly played “Rock Around the Clock” by Bill Haley & The Comets and encouraged the crowd to honk their horns as they drove by and say hello. The stunt went on for over two hours before the area became gridlock. The Buffalo Police Department and Fire Department were not pleased with the prank and decided to step in. They finally talked him into coming down, and King spent a night in jail for his antics.^[6]

4 Larry Justice

In 1962, WPGC disc jockey “Barefoot” Larry Justice locked himself in the studio at the beginning of his shift and continually played the same record: Len Weinreb’s Prez Conference. Justice played the tune over and over until his demands for a pay raise were met. He claimed he was promised a pay raise, but since he never received the raise, he took matters into his own hands. He attempted to reason with the station’s general manager, Bob Howard, over the air, and he also had conversations with others.

Listeners began calling the station, and Justice’s fans congregated outside the station as management pleaded for no violence. Howard fired him live on the radio, but Justice refused to leave as he barricaded himself in the studio and began playing the record continuously. Two hours later, Howard agreed to let him keep his job and raise his pay. The whole situation may have been a stunt, but it gained the station national attention.^[7]

3 Paul Nush

In 1989, an Allentown disc jockey locked himself in the studio and played polka music for six straight hours. Paul Nush was the host of “Mr. Paul’s Polka Express” at WKYW-AM, and he called good polka “happy music.” His show originally aired from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. on Sundays, but management wanted to move up his show to fit the slot from 8 a.m. to 10 a.m. on Sundays.

Nush wasn’t happy about the time, and he told management that many of his listeners complained because they would be in church during the new time slot. He then locked himself in the studio and played polka music for four hours past his sign-off time. Management finally agreed to move the show back to its original time. Nush said the stunt was his own idea, but the listeners helped encourage him to make the decision.^[8]

2 Billy Jack “B.J.” O’Bryan

Ray Charles’s hit song “Hit the Road, Jack” was played repeatedly by a DJ on KTON radio station. Disc jockey Bill Jack “B.J.” O’Bryan took over the control room in 1990 and locked the doors to the studio over stuffy programming and his firing. He started to play the same song for 55 hours straight.

A nearby McDonald’s parking lot is where O’Bryan’s supporters started gathering, honking their horns, and reports show that hundreds of people showed up and crowded Interstate Highway 35. General manager Tom Weaver eventually talked with him on the airways and agreed to a less stuffy format than what was planned to end the coup.^[9]

1 Mark Sebastian

Mark Sebastian was one of the disc jockeys at Q102, a popular Cincinnati radio station for teens in the 1980s. Sebastian made the decision to play Billy Squire’s “Everybody Wants You” for more than an hour straight. The general manager eventually called into the show, asking him, “What are you doing?” He told Sebastian to stop playing the same record, but Sebastian said it was his show, and he would play whatever he wanted, whenever he wanted.

He told the GM that he had the door locked in the studio, and he could try to kick him out. The GM didn’t sound happy over the air and told Sebastian that he didn’t want to argue about it over the phone. The whole incident was most likely a stunt to gain listeners, but Sebastian ended up on “suspension” the next night.^[101]