Toms River, N.J. – Ask Gregg Alfonso from Allstar Entertainment DJs how he got started in the business and he’ll tell you it was trial by fire.
He had been working for a multi-op in his South Jersey hometown of Toms River, when the owner died suddenly. He had nowhere to turn. It was 2006 and, for the next several years, Alfonso made every mistake possible.
But things did change because they had to. Alfonso told us about his learning curve, and how he has grown to become one of South Jersey’s busiest multi-ops.
DJ LIFE: How did your DJ career begin?
Alfonso: December of ’87, I was a guitar player, played in hair-metal bands. I wandered into a music store and started striking up a conversation with the store owner about a guitar that somebody ordered and they couldn’t pick it up. They didn’t have the money. He offered me a really good deal on it. And I was like, “Well, I really only have enough money for this other one.” And he’s like, “What if I offered a you a job and you work off the difference?” He told me he owned a DJ business and he does weddings on the weekends. I worked for him as an assistant and worked off the difference on the guitar. And then I worked with him and his company until 2006.
DJ LIFE: What happened then?
Alfonso: Bob Panichello was his name – Sound Tech Entertainment. He passed away and I kind of had no option, but to do my own thing. That was the start of Allstar Entertainment.
DJ LIFE: What did you learn from him?
Alfonso: The importance of mixing. That’s the one thing we did that was different back then – we mixed. Even today, a lot of guys at weddings don’t mix, they just kind of fade. He taught me the importance of it – you gotta mix. It’s more energizing when they feel like the music’s never ending. It keeps them on the dancefloor.
DJ LIFE: He taught you customer relations, right?
Alfonso: Bob made friends with everybody. He probably either went fishing, or hung out or something at some point with just about every one of his clients. I mean, look at me. I wandered into a store to pick up a new guitar. I walked out with a nicer guitar… and not only that, he became a mentor to me in this business. He became the godfather to both my children. He was like a father, older brother and uncle rolled up into one… up until the day he died.
DJ LIFE: What mistakes did you make, as a business owner?
Alfonso: Every mistake you could think of. Not charging enough, not gathering leads correctly. Back then, with WeddingWire, you used to get an email in the morning of brides looking for DJs, and you could buy the leads and they would only sell the leads to three people, and then you would bid on the lead and hope that you got it. I just never thought like I gotta get up early in the morning — I just would wake up and then I look for leads and half of them are sold. So I learned the importance of urgency. Now you reach out to me on WeddingWire and you’re getting an email within minutes, not like a day later.
DJ LIFE: You’ve got a multi-op. How do you duplicate yourself?
Alfonso: Right now, I’ve got 18 DJs, and they’re all on a ladder scale, ranked one through 18. And that’s how I give them work. And that work is based on where they’re ranked on that scale, where they want to be. Some of the guys don’t want to give up their own things, so they move to the middle. I’ve got four guys that are strictly subs and all their work is from us. We do everything — sales, marketing, closing, etc. So they’re at the top, those four, who get the majority of the work and then everybody else gets filler when those four guys are full. So if I have six weddings on a Saturday, those four guys get their spots and then whoever else is available gets the work.
DJ LIFE: What’s in your main rig?
Alfonso: For speakers, it’s RCF tops and subs. We also use a Pioneer DJ XDJ-RX3 controller, Serato software, Electro-Voice RE3 wireless mics, a Shure SM58 wired mic, Chauvet DJ FLEXstands, Chauvet DJ Wash FX Hex effect lights, various uplights, a Wolfmix lighting controller, and Danny Max photo booths.
DJ LIFE: Let’s talk about music programming for schools. Are kids just listening to choruses?
Alfonso: Yeah, it’s TikTok. I think it’s made them acquire Attention Deficit Disorder. In the past, by the time you did a mini cocktail, a candle ceremony, a father-daughter dance, you’ve got maybe two and a half hours left to dance. In the past, you could play 40-50 full songs. Now, you’re getting two songs to three songs a minute. You’re in and out. You’re banging them in and out, except for the songs by Taylor Swift. They want the whole song. They want to sing the hook, they want to sing the chorus, and they want to chant it.
DJ LIFE: What’s the best part of owning a DJ business?
Alfonso: Music. I mean who doesn’t like music growing up? You don’t play in a hair-metal band and not want to be a rock star. But becoming a rock star… it’s harder to become a professional baseball player, right? Like there’s no minor league for rock stars. At least in Major League Baseball, you could make it to the minor leagues. So who could love music as much as I did? And I get to do this for a living. I mean, this is what I do for a living!