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Thursday, May 8, 2014

DJ Daniel Haight - Independent Corner on Indie 104

DJ Daniel's rise to Internet Radio Popularity



I began my young radio career back in the summer of 2007 as an intern for now former Production Director & Midday DJ, Terry Christensen, at a block of terrestrial radio stations in Joliet, Illinois owned by NextMedia Inc. During my internship, I voiced tag lines for some commercials like Nordstrom, The Illinois Lottery, a GMC Dealership and Merlin's 200,000 Mile Shop. I made my on-air debut in early February of 2008 on WCRX 88.1 FM during the Spring Semester at Columbia College in Chicago, Illinois. It was there that Independent Corner was born and it gave Independent Artists & Bands from the U.S and around the world the opportunity to showcase their best music. It was only a week into the show that Cindy D'Adamo called me and there we established a business relationship that has been on the up-swing for the last 6 years. With the guidance and tutelage from Cheryl Langston, head of the Radio Department, and now former Station Manager, Tony Kwiecinski, Independent Corner became one of the popular weekend shows on WCRX. During my tenure at WCRX, I began incorporating Top 20 countdown shows. It would be based off of listener voting and the number one voted artist/band would take the title of “Best Artist for (current season and year we are in).” I also interviewed artists and members in-studio and also on the phone.

After graduating from Columbia College and staying on the WCRX roster. I heard from Cindy that she and her older son John had a radio show on an internet radio station based out of Lake George, New York called Radiougly. In early July of 2008 I made my internet radio debut. Not only was I playing Indie Artists who specialized in Rock music but I also played well-known Rock artists like Nirvana, REM, etc plus spotlighting an artist & band for a whole week. I left WCRX in early February of 2009 and put Independent Corner on hold to concentrate on developing my personality skills. While doing so I became the Midday DJ. Things were going well till the Station Owner, Ken Lytle, announced to the DJ team that he would be shutting down the Radiougly stream mainly due to lack of listenership and the high costs of maintaining the site. But he was gracious enough to let me broadcast for the final time in early June of 2010.

It was only a few weeks after my final broadcast that I found out that my broadcast colleague, Peggy Murphy, aka DJ PJ, was on Indie104 – iRadio LA; an internet radio station based out of a Los Angeles suburb Covina and I quickly got back on the internet airwaves in early July of 2010. I also brought back Independent Corner better than ever with songs not only being submitted from Ladylake but also from The Organic Media Network, Deuce Management and Indie104's Sponsor, Liquid Audio. Ever since I joined up with Indie104, Independent Corner has been gaining popularity around the world.

I am on every Monday at 4pm U.S Eastern, 1pm Pacific Time. All broadcasts are done live, recorded as podcasts and uploaded to my Mixcloud Page. (http://www.mixcloud.com/djdaniel_ic) I also own the Independent Corner Facebook Page (http;//www.facebook.com/independentcorner) where I post links to artists' websites, music pages, etc. plus announcements to any of my major shows or events artists have going on.