The Student News Site of Black River Falls High School

BRFHS Paw Print

The Student News Site of Black River Falls High School

BRFHS Paw Print

The Student News Site of Black River Falls High School

BRFHS Paw Print

Dances go DJ-less

Dances+go+DJ-less

After many years of spending significant amounts of money on DJs for all of the school dances pep club advisor, Laura Christenson, decided to make a change and play songs off of a playlist made by the students instead of hiring a DJ.

In the past pep club has spent anywhere from $700-$800 on hiring a DJ including the equipment and paying janitors extra money to stay late after the dances are done to clean it up. By using the playlists made by students, dances have become more affordable droppig the price for music down to only $200-$300, more open to choices, and more fun for the students.

“One benefit of not having a DJ is that students essentially get to pick the songs so we don’t run into the problem of getting a DJ that does not know the current music or play songs that are not danceable,” said Christenson.

There are also things that are not good so great about not hiring a DJ.

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“It’s a little more work outside of the dance personally just because I have to make the playlist on my own time,” said Christenson. “We also rely heavily on the internet, so if the internet is down, we won’t have any music at all.”

Students may get to choose the songs, but they all get reviewed by Christenson in search for certian things.

“I get to review the music a little bit more,” said Christenson. “You might either have this song that is terrible for a dance, kids don’t like, or is inappropriate.”

Christenson gets song suggestions from as many kids as she can.

Sending out surveys for all students to request songs is one thing Christenson has done, as well as sending the lists out to sports teams letting them add songs.

There are only a few things that Christenson is careful of when choosing songs.

“I don’t want to just say, ‘well, it has a swear word in it, we can’t play it,’ but I also am very cautious of what we are playing because it is a school event.” said Christenson.

There is an obvious difference is price when it comes to having and not having a DJ.

“Typically a DJ for Snowball could cost around $700-$800 to rent equipment and the speakers and equipment,” said Christenson.

The jjunior class has decided that they want to continue not having a  DJ at the 2019 Prom.

“The juniors decided on their own that they did not want a Dj for prom.” said Christenson. “Not having to hire a DJ cuts the price for prom in half tremendously.”

The idea came to Christenson because of the fact that a lot of other schools in the area put on dances without a DJ.

“Using your own playlist is financially a lot more sound because you just never know who you are going to get,” said Christenson. “There could be one company with tons of workers, and you might get someone who is really good one year and someone who is really bad the next.”

The first time ever using a playlist for a school dance was a success.

“To be honest, this idea really came into play during homecoming this year because there were no DJs available. It was a crazy weekend with other homecomings and weddings.” said Christenson. “It had such a positive reaction from students after homecoming that I decided to continue doing it for future dances.”

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Dances go DJ-less