Daily Herald Newspaper February 15, 1998
Reception entertainment takes a fun step into the future Mixed-media presentations light up the dance floor
by Eileen O. Daday Daily Herald Correspondent
Elmhurst bride Maureen Shannon Carpenter, who now lives in Lake in the Hills, found a way to include her deceased grandmothers in her recent wedding: she included their pictures in a video presentation that opened the reception.
Called a video montage presentation, the footage showcased Maureen and her husband David from their baby photos to the time they met, and ultimately to when they sat for an engagement portrait.
"We've had a lot of favorable comments about it," Eileen Shannon says of her daughter's video presentation. "People enjoyed seeing it; most of the people at the wedding remember them as children. It was a nice touch."
That added touch came by way of their innovative disc jockey service, Spinnin’ Discs, in Arlington Heights. The agency also offers special lighting designs, where they can put a transparency of the bride and groom's name in a heart, and project it around the dance floor.
They also use a low-lying fog machine during the couple's first dance together, to simulate them dancing in the clouds, or in a dream sequence.
"Yes we're a disc jockey company, but we have a lot of romantic twists, too. That's made us something of a leader in the industry," says owner Keith Kokoruz, .
The interactive disc jockey and special effects to an entertainment package, which gives a theme to weddings, and ultimately gives them a memorable spin.
"Three years from now your guests may not remember what they had to eat, or how fancy the banquet facility was," Kokoruz says, "but what most guests will remember is if they had an excellent time.
DJ Times Mobile of the Month November 1997
Top Chicago Jock Learns from the School of Hard Knocks
By Brian O’Connor
Arlington Heights, Illinois- KC KoKoruz is an honorary graduate of The School of Hard Knocks. It was there that he learned the difficult lessons of operating a mobile DJ business, where experience, not books, offered the clearest road map to profitability.
“I have made so many mistakes,” says a candid KoKoruz, who opened Chicagoland’s Spinnin’ Discs in 1990. “You name it: Cassette tape systems, homemade flight cases, Xeroxed flyers, orange extension cords everywhere, band-aiding systems. Basically, I had no polish. I would do whatever I could in order to get the work, but I knew I could be better.”
KoKoruz didn’t realize how much better he could be until he attended the 1992 International DJ Expo in downtown Chicago. “That’s where I opened up my eyes and I met DJs from all over the country who had literature that was 10-times nicer than what I had,” he recalls, “and I also saw that people were out there who were making a lot of money doing this. I discovered I could expand my services into video, for example. I could add better quality lighting- no more cheesy trussing system. After that show, I immediately set to streamline my systems, permanently mounted, consistent, identical systems, to use black cords and black stage tape- no more silver stuff.
At the time, KoKoruz and a part-time employee inhabited a claustrophobic, 8-by-10 office space. “It was a dingy office in the back of a really ugly building, a horrible looking building,” remembers KoKoruz. Today, he occupies a smartly decorated, 4,000-square-foot space in a landscaped office warehouse complex. Clients walk in through the glass front doors, past a ceramic-tiled foyer, then enter a lobby with plush leather couches, bookended by two glass tables. Solid oak doors, grey carpeting, a kitchenette and a conference room all lend an air of professionalism. “It looks like a law office,” says KoKoruz.
Inside these serious digs are six full-time employees, including KoKoruz’s wife, Colleen, who handles the accounting and other administrative tasks. A part-time sales staff feverishly works the telephones, calling brides and other names generated from various purchased lists. With 10 systems and nearly 1,000 gigs performed annually (491 weddings in ’96), Spinnin’ Discs is never at a loss for action.
To maximize his sales staff’s efforts, KoKoruz employs a sliding commission scale, starting at five-percent, with incremental increases based on the dollar value of the job, maxing out at nine-percent. All commissions are payable upon completion of the gig, providing an incentive for the salespeople to “babysit” the account until it’s done. A typical wedding, with a two-person DJ team and a basic lighting package, starts at $785.
“Obviously, we try to get the salespeople to strive toward the higher price with upsells,” says KoKoruz. “It increases their bottom line as well as mine, and with the office space, where clients can come in and see our lighting package, for example, it’s easier to do that.”
KoKoruz began DJing for a mobile company while in college in the mid ‘80s, performing at fraternity parties and other youth-orientated affairs. Upon graduating with a genre in interior design, he took a job as a manager at a local paint store and continued his DJing to supplement his income. In 1989, he left the DJ company and began Spinnin’ Discs with a partner. It was a relationship that proved to be short lived.
Once he was on his own, he drove down to the local copy center and had some flyers photocopied, got some business cards and was on his way. The only problem, according to KoKoruz, was that he didn’t know the slightest thing about treating his company as a business.
“I flooded friends and relatives with my flyers and cards,” he says. “I knocked on the doors of fraternity houses. I went around to industrial complexes, knocked on their doors, and handed the secretaries my flyers. I look back on it now and it seems pathetic, but that’s what I did. Here I was trying to court corporations and businesses, and I didn’t even have a package for corporate affairs. I’m positive that 99-percent of those flyers ended up in the garbage.”
KoKoruz then attended his first bridal show and subsequently telemarketed to every single name on his list of brides. “I marketed that incessantly,” he says. “I called every single client more than twice, just to get the work.”
The work did come, but at the time KoKoruz was still earning most of his DJing income through fraternity parties. By 1992, he had taken the full-time DJing plunge, but was not satisfied relying so heavily on college gigs. “I didn’t want to do fraternity parties forever,” he says. “And I began to realize that there was a lot more money to be made in corporate events, in bar mitzvahs, or with a bit rig at high schools.”
Slowly, surely, KoKoruz polished his image, creating colorful fold-out brochures and instituting a quarterly direct mail campaign to brides culled from the Wedding Pages and the many bridal shows his company attended. He even cultivated a relationship with the producer of the largest bridal show in Chicago, for whom Spinnin’ Discs provides sound and lighting. A real score indeed.
KoKoruz also seeks out wedding planners and party planners, which nets him an additional 100 gigs per year. He’s also joined three barter associations. “The real key is getting these people to know you as a person,” says KoKoruz. “It sounds real simple, but that’s really it. If they get to know you as a person who really takes pride in doing a good job, instead of just handing a card over and saying, ‘Give me a call if you need a DJ,’ it makes a difference.”
Currently, Spinnin’ Discs has its foot in virtually every local market. Last year, their attendance at several Illinois State High School conventions helped them procure 38 senior proms. “You have to reinvent the wheel for high school gigs every year to satisfy the kids, but it’s worth it if you can do it. They’re very loyal.”
Spinnin’ Discs biggest expense, predictably, is payroll, with equipment purchases and maintenance a close second. “We try to upgrade as often as possible,” says KoKoruz. “For example, right now we’re flipping all of our Denon 2000s to 2500s.”
Base pay for a DJ trainee/roadie starts at $80 per event, with the training period typically lasting six months. DJs start at $100 per event, and it increases from there. According to KoKoruz, his jocks usually walk away earning $200 per event.
For now KoKoruz is satisfied staying at 10 systems. “I’m very comfortable right now,” he says. “As it is, I work 15-hour days. To add on would make me crazier. Besides, I don’t believe there is such a thing as ‘high end, high volume.’ There are fewer Lexus’ being sold than Ford Escorts. But I wouldn’t mind one day being thought of as Chicagoland’s premier DJing service.”
Daily Herald Newspaper August 21, 1994
Spinnin' Discs gets people Dancing
Keith KoKoruz had heard that being a disc jockey was a great way to meet girls and he sheepishly admits that it had an appeal. KoKoruz now is owner of a thriving business Spinnin' Discs Premier Mobile Entertainment located in Arlington Heights.
A Wheeling resident, KoKoruz runs the gambit from corporate picnics, trade and fashion shows to bar mitzvahs and, of course weddings.
"Currently, we have more than 40 high schools on our client list for parties, dances, and proms" he said
KoKoruz was hard pressed to name his favorite event but said it makes him happy to see people enjoy themselves and knowing that he had a role in it. " I just love seeing the ring bearer doing the chicken dance at wedding receptions and watching a grandpa's eyes twinkle at a bridesmaid," he said.
Recently, Spinnin' Discs did the sound at a party for the German Soccer Team when they were in town for the World Cup.
Among the special lighting effects offered by Spinnin' Discs is a laser styled light show. " We can turn an ordinary banquet facility into an Excalibur scene by using fog strobe techniques, and confetti cannons," KoKoruz said.
Another unusual offering from Spinnin' Discs is the video dance party featuring interactive dancers.
