‘C’est Sibon’ era… Choi Dong-wook, who opened the DJ era with turntables, dies

Korea’s first disc jockey Choi Dong-wook
Leaving the world in old age… fans condolences

Choi Dong-wook (87), who was called the first disc jockey (DJ) in Korea, started working at famous music halls such as ‘Metro’, ‘Carnegie’, and ‘Cé Si Bon’, starting with ‘Die Shone’, a music hall in Jongno 2-ga. Mr. passed away

According to broadcasters and popular music circles on the 18th, the deceased closed his eyes the day before due to old age.

Opening the era of DJs playing music on turntables and introducing song titles, he joined KBS Radio’s weekly pop song program ‘Hit Parade of the Week’ as a composer and host in 1963 as the first PD of Dong-A Broadcasting (DBS).

From October 5, 1964, he was in charge of producing and hosting Donga Broadcasting’s ‘Top Tune Show’, and the Korea Broadcasting Disc Jockey Association designated this year as the first year of the birth of a domestic DJ.

‘Dial at 3:00’ was the first live broadcast in Korea to receive music requests over the phone, and ‘Dial at 3 o’clock’, broadcast in 1970, was the beginning of late-night live broadcasting.

DJs such as Choi, Jong-Hwan Phi, Se-Young Park, Won-Woong Park, In-Yong Hwang, Ki-Duk Kim, and Kwang-Han Kim enjoyed nationwide popularity until the 1980s.

In the 1970s and 1980s, he worked as a newspaper reporter for Seoul Shinmun and Sports Donga. He was in charge of leisure and was famous for his columns on cars and driving skills. He has also published more than 10 books related to automobiles.

He moved to the United States in 1991 and served as president of a small radio station at Korean American Broadcasting in Los Angeles. He also served as the first president of the Korean Broadcasting Disc Jockey Association, founded in 2010. In 2019, a grand performance commemorating the 55th anniversary of the broadcast of ‘3 o’clock dial’ was also held.

He is survived by his wife Choi Seung-soo and sons Seong-won and Seong-gi, and the mortuary was prepared at Shinchon Severance Hospital. Funeral is at 5:20 am on the 20th.

Reporter Yumin Kim