“If you think about it, 50,000 years ago in a small hunter-gatherer tribe, there would be one person with his drum and a bunch of people gathered around him,” Oscar Howe CM ’25 said. “We DJs are essentially that figure but for the campus tribe.”
On any given Saturday night — or if you are at Green Beach, Thursday at 2 p.m. — 5C students can expect to hear the buzz of JBL speakers and see the familiar glow of the LED DJ board. Every poster and every event advertises a DJ. Sometimes even more than one.
DJs have proven to be a mainstay of campus nightlife. What exactly makes them so important?
Luke Weigle CM ’26 has made his name on campus as the electric DJ Bear. As both a DJ and a partygoer, Weigle appreciates the role of a live DJ in making a good party.
“A party without good music usually sucks,” Weigle said. “I don’t think we’re technically necessary, as someone auxing on a big speaker can do the same stuff. However, there’s just something about seeing someone mixing live; it adds a whole other layer to the party.”
Chelsea Luo CM ’25 got into DJing after buying a mixing board off Amazon for her birthday as a first-year student. As someone who started DJing as a hobby, she thinks that new DJs keep popping up because they want to hear music no one is paying attention to.
“People say the scene is oversaturated, but I think it’s great that more people are getting into it,” Luo said.
There is not a clear consensus on what makes a set good. Even 5C DJs disagree over the function of a DJ at a party.
“Of course, DJs should play their own style and not just the hits — but the crowd is everything,” Luo said. “You can be technically skilled, but if your song selection isn’t on point and you’re not reading the room, it won’t land. Especially in college, DJing feels more about picking the right tracks than pulling off complex transitions.”
Weigle agrees with Luo. A good set isn’t just about good music; a DJ should pay attention to what the audience wants to hear.
“A good set is one that, first and foremost, caters to the crowd and feeds off the crowd’s energy,” Weigle said. “A great DJ will play a couple of different genres at the beginning of a set to see how the crowd reacts. If they like it, the DJ will incorporate it more.”
Weigle ends up playing a mix of rap and house music, especially from the 2010s, only straying from these genres when the crowd is unresponsive.
DJ Aaron Wu PO ’25 also singled out 2000s and 2010s throwback hits as a surefire way to play a successful set at the 5Cs.
“Getting into DJing on campus was actually harder than it seemed,” Wu said. “I felt like I was trying to get a job by the amount of emails I wrote to club presidents and organizers.”
According to Wu, consistently getting gigs at the 5Cs is a matter of making connections with event planners and organizers. After the initial uphill climb, it gets easier to stay booked.
Like Luo and Weigle, Wu takes a democratic approach to DJing.
“Only at big clubs and festivals do people expect to hear songs and beats that they don’t know,” Wu said. “What makes a DJ useful in college settings is taking a set of songs that people know and ordering them and transitioning in and out of them in a way that makes logical sense and that will best fit the vibes and emotions of the crowd throughout the night.”
Colin Scanlon CM ’25 — one half of the DJ duo Chiquita Banana — disagrees.
“What I think makes a really good DJ is if they play something I’ve never heard before,” Scanlon said. “I hate going out and hearing songs I always already know because then I feel like I’m just reliving another night I had.”
Scanlon often feels frustrated by musical close-mindedness at the 5Cs.
“If [students] go out and they don’t hear a song that they know, they’re not gonna stay around,” Scanlon said.
Scanlon’s musical style includes a lot of retro, disco and funk music. His tracklists are outside the listening breadth of the average 5C student.
Howe, who performed at last month’s Club Claremont, said his DJing philosophy falls somewhere between Scanlon’s and the other DJs’.
“[A good set is] about, I think, two things. It’s about the independence of your taste, so you need to be able to play things that people both like, but don’t hear too often,” Howe said. “The second thing is being really aware of when to play the right song and when not to play certain songs. So it’s about timeliness and independence of taste.”
When it comes to venues, some colleges curate spaces better than others. Luo, Scanlon, Weigle and Wu had mixed opinions on their favorite places to play.
“Has to be Scripps. They always treat their DJs well: super professional, friendly and great to work with,” Luo said. “Their parties are incredibly well-planned with so much effort put into making it a great experience for everyone.”
“Grove House is really fun,” Scanlon said. “I’ll lock in with Sontag [Greek Theatre].”
“DJs are probably second to, like, doctors, shortly followed by humanitarian aid workers,” Howe said.
“I haven’t really gotten the chance to perform [on all campuses],” Weigle said, “but I’m always willing. Hit my line.”
“Dom’s Lounge is cool, but oftentimes it gets way too packed and sweaty to the point where I’m struggling to keep my equipment on the table,” Wu said. “I really loved doing the Daze festival on Walker Beach and the Scripps Boiler Room.”
Having five different campuses means diversity in setlists and musical styles. This begs the question: Are 5C DJs representative of campus musical tastes? When students go out, can they find what they are looking for?
Not according to Scanlon.
“I feel like the 5Cs also don’t have a mainstream culture where people just go out and dance,” he said.
Echoing the same sentiment, Luo said she is waiting for new DJs to “bring back dancing.”
There is a unique sense of camaraderie among on-campus DJs. They have a collaborative relationship with one another, sharing job opportunities and generating enthusiasm for new talent. There are even formal DJ collectives, like 5C Tablemanners.
A good DJ can not only make or break a night out, but they can also inspire the next generation of campus talent.
“I saw some of these DJs in action and was like, these guys are so cool,” Scanlon said; it’s why he became a DJ.
A culture of connection seems to be growing among 5C DJs, but at the same time, students are observing a fragmented dance culture and vastly different musical styles. It’s up to the partygoer to find their favorite DJs and embrace groupie-hood.
As long as there are parties at the 5Cs, there will be DJs. This heart-pounding, self-sustaining world of strobe lights and soundboards is here to stay.
No DJ? No nightlife. In the rankings of society’s most important jobs:
“DJs are probably second to, like, doctors, shortly followed by humanitarian aid workers,” Howe said.
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