The Hot Mix 5 on WBMX pioneered radio DJ mixing that compressed the best parts of records rather than playing them in full

The Hot Mix 5 on Chicago radio station WBMX (Scott ‘Smokin” Silz, Farley ‘Jackmaster’ Funk, Kenny ‘Jammin” Jason, etc.) developed a style that played one or two minutes of a record — ‘the meat of the record that you wanted and forget the rest of the garbage that was in there as filler.’ They used razor-blade tape editing and two turntables to repeat breaks and sequence only the best passages. This contrasted with New York DJs who played six or seven minutes of a seven-minute record. The style influenced how producers started structuring records for radio edit density and set the template for ‘selecta’ curation over ‘completist’ playback.

Examples

‘They would play a minute and a half two minutes of the record take the best part out play the break repeat the break a couple times and just give you the meat of the record.’ Razor blade cuts on reel-to-reel tape were used to create these edits.

Assessment

Distinguish the Hot Mix 5 approach to radio mixing from full-track playback and explain how it influenced the development of the 12-inch house record format.