OK, do the math, Donny. If they DID get that much money, $1,000 to $5,000 per job, 20 to 40 hours of prep time, plus a 6-hour job for $1,000. At the very best rate, the DJ doing the wedding is making what we make an hour for a NH job - at the lower rate the DJ makes $25 an hour when you include the prep time. And we can work two to three jobs a day - how many weddings to you sincerely believe a DJ does a month? One, maybe two, four would be tops.

We have contracts for jobs every day of the week, we're not hanging in limbo land waiting for the telephone to ring from some wedding hall looking a a DJ. We know where we will be tomorrow, next week, and some of us know where we'll be working next year at this time. Our prep time is as long as it takes to take a shower, put on some nice clothes and drive a few minutes to the job. We don't have to put up with drunks, arrogant bride grooms, fickle brides, drunken groomsmen and brides maids, etc...

On top of it all, we get booked for those small, intimate parties that DJs and KJs do NOT get booked for. Parties that pay extremely well, often result in big tips, and more often than not lead to more of the same. And, we also get to do some weddings if we want them, but they're easier to do and more fun - they're for seniors. We also get to do the anniversaries for those same folks - the DJs and KJs around my part of the world are all hoping to find a VFW or American Legion job, the competition is high for the few jobs available at those places, and prices have been cut throat for years. I know four KJs here that work three American Legions. They are paid $125 to $150 for a four-hour job. They have to put up with drunks the entire time and get home at 2 a.m..

For all of the above reasons, every DJ and KJ I know, at least in my area of the world, works a full-time day job and DJs ONLY on weekends. Maybe they can live on next to nothing in your part of the world easier than they can here in the People's Republic of Maryland and the District of Columbia.

Gary