Anthony Alvarez has the coolest job ever – overseeing all elements of radio programming and managing/running studio sessions for DJ Skee who is a modern day media mogul. DJ Skee is a DJ, radio personality, television host, music composer, video producer, record label owner, and entrepreneur. Other divisions of his business include: a creative marketing and branding agency, record label, music licensing, management company, as well as a retail lifestyle store chain, Tradition.

DJ Skee has a radio show on both Sirius XM and 102.7 KIIS fm. Anthony’s role in overseeing all the radio programming include editing content, chopping up mixes, loading in the tracks, selecting music, and choosing imaging for between the songs. Skee’s ever expanding roster of artists he hosts on the show include Crooked I, Caroline D’Amore, DJ Fingaz (Xzibit’s DJ) and so many more. You can also find executives from YouTube, Amazon, AT&T and more dropping in to conduct business.

Initially Anthony started out as an intern with duties like cleaning the studio, however was ambitious enough to step out of his comfort zone and ask the guys in video production if they needed any help. They did in fact need help and asked him to edit an interview they did with The Cataracts. Anthony had no experience whatsoever in video editing, but took the time to teach himself Final Cut and edited the video to their liking. He continued to edit more videos and once a position opened up for overseeing the radio programming, it made perfect sense to bring Anthony into that position. He proved himself competent enough to run the studio sessions and edit the videos, so that in addition to his audio engineering background made him the perfect candidate. He jumped right in to the new job title and has been loving it ever since. A lot of sacrifices were made to get to where is now, however. Anthony admits to having “practically no social life” and only getting “about two to three hours of sleep a night.” Not only was he a full time recording student with an internship, he also was working full-time at the YMCA in Torrance. He admits to also almost quitting despite having only one month left, but “stuck it out since it was only one month,” and is happy he graduated and obtained the degree. What he learned here has helped tremendously. “Be on time, take initiative and take away those intangible skills, not just editing skills but things about quality of character.” Anthony notes as some of the most important things he learned. How Anthony even ended up the Recording Arts program is almost pure luck – one of our admissions rep Christiana Swain went in to check out the YMCA Anthony was working at and when he noticed her email said @lafilm.com he inquired about her job there. She invited him to come down to tour the school, and once he did the rest is history. He immediately signed up for classes and started excelling right away. Anthony did music before, but not at the same level, so once he was equipped with the proper tools and instruction, he was able to move forward in the right direction. “If you’re not driven in school, you won’t be like that out of school. If you don’t ball out in the minors, you won’t make it to the majors,” Anthony says with a laugh.

Working with DJ Skee on a day to day basis is “very inspiring” and Anthony sees himself growing along with the company and brand. Qualities such as staying calm under pressure, keeping your game face on, being all about business, being aware of how to interconnect people – all those qualities that have made DJ Skee so successful, Anthony is observing first hand. Plus there is also great value in the people who work for Skee, as “It’s like family and there’s plenty of communication between departments. People always bounce ideas off each other and find ways to make new connections happen.”

Anthony’s advice for those still in school:

"Don’t complain, do the hard work, and make the most of your time. Be careful who you piss off because you never want to burn any bridges either."

Recording Arts Alum Anthony Alvarez Working with DJ Skee