Triple major Jessie Mendoza knew he wanted to become a DJ since 1999, when he visited his first record shop.
He walked into WP records where he saw Eric Dlux, a huge SKAM artist and local Power 106 DJ who mixes live.
SKAM is a top DJ talent agency.
“I was like a kid in a candy store and just hearing the different transitions, scratching the whole DJ culture and seeing people coming in and out of the store made me fall in love right there,” Mendoza said.
Mendoza uses the name DJ Tism and plays a variety of different genres such as hip-hop, top 40, electronic dance music (EDM) and latino music.
At the beginning of every semester the campus holds a Club Info Day where club presidents and club members set up tables and provide students with information about the club and try to recruit new members.
Three years ago Mendoza got recruited to join the colleges’ Broadcasting Club, Where People Make a Difference (WPMD).
“I was walking and the president at the time DJ Demo, who is now currently on K-Day, pretty much opened up the doors for me.”
Within that first year of joining WPMD, Mendoza and Demo started their show “Spinning out of Control”.
Local artists and DJs are guests of the show.
There is usually a live 15-20 minute mix which is geared to create a theme for the day. Since the show has a time slot from 3 p.m. to 4 p.m. on Thursdays, the theme is ‘Throwback’ Thursdays.
Mendoza refers to his show as to what you would hear on-air in the local industry in LA. It has the gossip, celebrity birthdays and the ‘who’s doing what’ scene.
Casey Piotrowski, co-advisor of WPMD, said, “Spinning out of Control is a great show, [Mendoza] has a co-host and the two bring up what happens in everyday lives and it’s hilarious.”
Having the radio show has given him opportunities off and on campus.
His off campus opportunity came when he was able to DJ for rapper Too Short.
“It was awesome because everybody was there to see this iconic artist so when you’re that guy on that DJ booth before the main show, you got to do a lot of work to get them pumped, ready and excited to see this artist”, said Mendoza.
He also has had the opportunity to DJ on campus outside of the studio at WPMD.
He was the DJ for the Cerritos College 60th anniversary in September 2015.
Mendoza said the crowd was diverse but he was able to adapt and felt privileged to be a part of the celebration.
There are times when managing school and DJing gets difficult but Mendoza said his passion is still there.
Mendoza joined the Commercial Music program, taught by Professor Andrew Maz. The program provides students with knowledge in production, publishing and promotion.
He mentioned how Maz explained to him, how it is in the real world so either you get it or you don’t it’s up to you and you’ll be successful if you want to be successful.
Mendoza received his AA in Commercial Music. Although he has his AA, he can be heard on WPMD Thursday’s from 3 p.m. to 4 p.m.
“[Mendoza] is president of the Broadcasting Club. His enthusiasm and his goal orientation to get us to number one motivates me,” expressed Piotrowski.
From being in the Commercial Music program to being in the WPMD studio waiting for that on-air sign to turn on, Mendoza can now flourish within his passion for music and technology.
He also expressed a fundamental saying of a DJ, “The biggest thing that a DJ can have is his crowd and if you don’t have a crowd then you don’t belong on any platform.”
