National DJ Day takes place on January 20th each year. The day celebrates amateur and professional Disc Jockeys who spin the records and play the best music. The most common types of DJs are club DJs, radio DJs, party DJs, and turntablists — who scratch and manipulate sounds by playing records on turntables.

The first disc jockey session was a live radio experiment on airwaves made by 16 years old Ray Newby in 1909. He was an Engineering and Wireless student under the supervision of Charles Herrold at Herrold College. These experiments that started in the Garden City Bank Building sparked a musical movement that spread from California to the entire world. Twenty-five years later American radio commentator Walter Winchel coined the name “disc jockey” to describe radio announcer Martin Block, who was the first person to gain fame for playing the most trendy music at the time on-air.

A few years later, DJ Jimmy Savile claimed he was the first to use dual turntables, organizing the first DJ dance party by playing a series of jazz records in Otley, England in 1943. Then in 1947, the Whiskey a Go Go became the first discothèque with its very own DJ. Subsequently, more people began learning the craft of turntables and mixing, and at the turn of the century, new technological advances made new sounds and styles possible.

On January 20, DJing and influential DJs are celebrated, but the day also marks the death anniversary of one of the world’s most iconic disc jockeys — Alan Freed, aka “Moondog,” who was famous for promoting rock ‘n’ roll music and popularizing the art of DJ’ing.