Asian Journal- The Filipino-American Community Newspaper

SOMETIMES peer pressure is a good thing.

For FilAm disc jockey John Banaag if it weren’t for a friend pestering him to join a local radio station contest, he wouldn’t be in the situation that he is in now.

The 32-year-old Banaag better known as DJ John Magic is the Number 1 radio on-air personality and DJ in Central California. Since joining Clear Channel KBOS 94.9 (B95) three years ago, Banaag’s Night Show has dominated the 7 pm to 11 pm airwaves.

His energetic, fun-loving personality and enthusiastic, party style are a hit to the number of college and high school students in the area.

Aside from being a successful on-air personality, he’s in his fourth year as the official touring DJ for Hot Import Nights, the largest touring automotive lifestyle event that attracts thousands of event goers nationwide. And he flies across the country to DJ the hottest parties all over the nation. His calendar for this month alone is packed with gigs across California.

But Banaag admits he wouldn’t be where he is in now if it weren’t for a friend’s persuasiveness.

"I’d probably be either finishing college to become a teacher or doing magic tricks at a local restaurant," he said.

Born in Manila, Philippines, Banaag’s family immigrated to the United States when he was six years old.

Growing up in Rialto, about 50 miles east of Los Angeles, Banaag remembers being drawn to the radio at an early age.

"I don’t know what it was [about the radio]," he said. "I would sometimes sit at home and listen and imitate my favorite radio personalities. Sometimes I’d play along and talk during the breaks or before the song was introduced."

A cousin fed in to his love by buying him a small transistor radio from Radio Shack and every Sunday the two would produce their own show.

"The radio would only reach like a mile but it was fun," he said.

But Banaag said what really reinforced his decision to pursue a career in radio was listening to legendary DJ’s Icey Ice and Eman, Fil-Am’s who performed at such high levels in their professions during the early and mid-1990 in LA and have influenced a generation of Filipinos to DJ.

"That’s one of the biggest reasons why I wanted to do radio," he said. "Honestly, because they were Filipino. When they would DJ on the radio, it just made you feel proud and I was like, ‘I want to be that too.’ They were good. They were the big names back then."

He knew then that pursuing a career in radio would be his chosen path but lack of self-confidence and parental pressures forced him to consider other alternatives.

"You know how it is, my parents thought [a career in radio] was just a game or a hobby," he said.

During his early 20’s, Banaag was a part-time DJ performing in weddings and worked as a manager at a Magic shop in Ontario. He was also just a regular college student studying for a Communications degree, hoping that one-day it would land him a gig at a local radio station.

During this time he confided to his DJ partner, Albert Lao, about his ambitions that someday he’d like to work at a radio station.

That same time the number one Hip-Hop station in Los Angeles, Power 106, was promoting an on-air contest, where a lucky winner would host a one-hour show.

Lao presented the opportunity to Banaag but the latter balked at the chance.

"I didn’t really think I would win," said Banaag. "I wasn’t really confident." Lao didn’t give up and continued to pester Banaag.

"He was being pushy like ‘come on! Just do it.’ We were at his house, and he forced me to record a tape." Banaag submitted his tape to Power 106.

A few weeks later he found out he won. Banaag did so well on his one-hour on-air appearance, the manager of Power 106 offered him a job a few days later.

"That one hour show was the best experience of my life," he said. Winning that contest was the launching pad for Banaag’s radio career.

He stayed on Power 106 for a year, hosted at a radio station in Palm Springs before moving on to B95 in Fresno. He’s been offered a number of other radio jobs in larger markets like Las Vegas, Sacramento, and San Diego but he’s staying in Fresno because "I’m waiting for the right opportunity to open."

He advises younger FilAm’s looking to pursue a career in radio to work as interns.

"You’re not going to get paid and they are going to make you do the grunt work…but at least you get to be in the station. You just have to be inside and watch how it works. I really advise that. Really watch and listen. Somehow just get into that radio station… And if you are really serious about it just pursue it. My parents didn’t believe [in me] at first but I actually believed that I was good at this so if you really want to do it, really believe in it and go at it 100 percent."

Banaag wasn’t the only one who believed in him.

"My friends believed in me," he said. "Albert pushed the contest on me."

( www.asianjournal.com )

( Published on January 3, 2009 in Asian Journal Los Angeles p. A10 )