The Story of DJ Changez

Before the internet as we know it, there was a different kind of "online" world, a text-based frontier where computer enthusiasts connected with modems and phone lines. This is where the story of DJ Changez begins, in May of 1987, with the birth of a humble hobby BBS called "Club Changez BBS."  

But DJ Changez's journey didn't just start with computers. For three years prior, he was busy with his first partner, learning, growing, investing in and running several businesses, including nightclubs and a restaurant.  One of those nightclubs was "Club Changez" located in San Antonio, Texas.

What Is a BBS?

A Bulletin Board System (BBS) was the social network of its day for computer geeks. It was a digital hangout where you'd use a serial modem hooked up to your landline to "dial up" and connect to another computer. Imagine the screeching, beeping symphony of a dial-up modem—now imagine that sound from the mid-to-late 80s, an era when "slow" was an understatement.

Club Changez BBS started on a snail-paced 300 baud modem, displaying a monochrome text interface. To put that into perspective, 300 baud is roughly 30 characters per second, or about 360 words per minute. While the average person types 40-50 words per minute, this speed was a significant bottleneck.

Since most BBS's had only a single phone line, getting "online" was a test of patience. You had to wait for the line to be free, like waiting in line for a phone booth. Once you were in, you could dive into a world of digital wonders:

Netmail: A text-based email equivalent.
Newsgroups: Early online forums.
File Libraries: Places to download files.
Door Games: Turn-based and text-based games where you took your turn and then had to wait until the next day for another!

The Power of the SysOp

The people who operated these digital gateways were known as System Operators, or "SysOps." They were the gatekeepers and community leaders of the BBS world. Many BBS's had a "Page the SysOp" feature, which would literally send a page to the operator. If they were available, they could jump into a live, text-based chat with the caller—a truly revolutionary and exciting feature for the time!  

The internet was introduced to most people started around 1995.  Club Changez BBS was in operation from May of 1988 until October of 1998.  It was an early example of how new technology can disrupt old technology very quickly.  In 3 years between 1995 and 1998, Club Changez BBS went from more than 400 active daily callers across multiple phone lines and BBS nodes in several cities, to only 3 active users, and 2 of those were the SysOp's accounts!

The First Website

Once the BBS was shuttered, it was time to learn something new, and that was HTML.  HTML, or HyperText Markup Language (yes it was like learning a new language!), is the fundamental language used to create web pages and web applications. It serves as the backbone for structuring content on the web, using a system of tags and elements to define different parts of a page, such as headings, paragraphs, images, and links. Think of it as the skeleton of a website; it organizes the content and gives it a logical structure.  A web browser reads the HTML code and translates it into the visual page that a user sees.  In 1995, to have a web site, you had to become a webmaster.  A webmaster was a true jack-of-all-trades, responsible for a wide range of tasks that are now handled by specialized teams. The role was all-encompassing, often held by a single person who not only designed and coded the website in HTML, but also managed the web server, handled the content, and even performed system administration duties. With websites being much simpler than they are today—mostly composed of static pages and limited interactivity—the webmaster was the sole authority over the entire site, from its technical foundation to its visual appearance and the information it presented.  Sounds pretty much like a SysOp except for needing to know HTML, so it wasn't a hard pivit for DJ Changez.

In July of 2000, Tripod hosted the first Club Changez website <insert screenshots from way back machine>.  In November of 2000 the "Club Changez Live" broadcasted radio show was created and aired with Shoutcast and Winamp streaming audio and a live FTP based webcam that uploaded a new webcam image every 2-5 seconds.  By March of 2003, the Club Changez website had several registered domains and Frag Cafe was born.

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In 2000, DJ Changez founded a little-known on-line radio station called "Frag Cafe iRadio".   Just prior to this, he also founded the "Frag Cafe" gaming clan around a popular PC video game of the time called "Start Trek Voyager: Elite Force".  This game is a "family friendly" Quake III based multi-player first-person shooter game completely set in the Star Trek Voyager universe.  This game still has a small international group of dedicated fans playing it.  Learn more at http://fragcafe.org   Frag Cafe clan members met online on a regular basis to practice and also to have fun competing against other clans.  Frag Cafe iRadio was created to add a musical element to these regular practice sessions.  

Frag Cafe iRadio eventually evolved to become "Club Changez Radio" and in 2005 merged with a sister site called "2DaGroove Radio" to create a site where "Music Has More Muscle".  You can check these websites out (as if you haven't already!) at http://clubchangez.com and http://2dagroove.com respectively.  We are now called "Club Changez 2DaGroove"

Between 2005 and 2014, Club Changez 2DaGroove quickly grew and expanded to include a large roster of LIVE shows and a cast of DJ's that filled the programming schedule.  Fans could tune in 24x7 and listen to LIVE DJ's performing their favorite mixes.  We started including the ability for fans to interact with the DJ's via chat rooms and quickly added video streams so fans could actually see the DJ's performing LIVE.  We then used sites like Stickam (no longer exists) which allowed up to 12 fans to join the DJ on video stream to enhance and even take part in the live shows!  

<this section needs details about all of DJ Changez roles and responsibilities, developments, syndication, teresterial radio in PR and all the DJ's, founders, etc.>

<section for 2014 to current history> - By 2014, the entire scene had changed with the emergence of personalized streaming music services, and DJ Changez received a promotion at work that took away most of his free time.  As a result

To Be Continued.....page is still in development