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Popular Wedding DJ Builds On a Theme

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By DEREK MAUL | The Brandon News

Published: April 17, 2007

Mike Sean Fernandez
Born: Tampa, 1966.
Education: Graduated from Plant High School, 1985
Married: Darla Benton
Children: Brandon, Alexis and Haylee
Attends: BayLife Church.

Wikipedia's main entry for disc jockey reads, "is an individual who selects and plays prerecorded music for an intended audience." Well, yes, but then there's Mike Sean.

Mike Sean Fernandez is a personality, a natural entertainer, and a shrewd businessman. In other words, he is a multimedia tour de force. Being a DJ may still be at the core of his skill set, but Sean is an entrepreneur, the creative heart of a new Web-based concept which he feels has the potential to generate an enormous amount of business throughout Tampa Bay.

Since its launch in January 2006 Sean's "DVD Wedding Mall" at www.dvdweddingmall.com has grown, signing on new vendors while enjoying increased traffic.

"I provide an avenue for people in the wedding industry to advertise their business through multimedia demonstrations," Sean said, "as well as full-blown commercials on the Internet. It's basically a wedding publication using the technology of today."

Years of gigs at the DJ end of the spectrum taught Sean the potential.

"My idea is to take the old fashioned wedding guide and put it onto a multimedia presentation on the Web, incorporating both the radio and TV aspects," he said. "It is an advertising magazine on-line."
The Tampa native has been developing his product for years.

"I started 26 years ago," he said. "I've been doing weddings and parties, nightclubs and radio ever since."

Sean's love of the art of record spinning started early. As a teenager Sean's father would often ask, "Where are you going?"

Sean's reply would often be the same.

"To the nightclub to DJ," he'd say. And his father would nearly always have the same reply.
"Why don't you get a real job?"

A competitive baseball player as a teen, Sean said he became distracted.

"I got into girls and being a DJ," he said. "I played one season of ball for the Tampa Yankees but then I moved on."

Sean shifted gears to complete 240 hours of firefighter training. Then while he was waiting for his first firefighter job, he beat out 90 contestants for the lead DJ job at Walt Disney's Pleasure Island.

"I had a great experience there," Sean said, "it was a beautiful time in my life."

Other significant jobs have included traffic and weather for WFLA 970, a part-time slot at 93.3 WFLZ, WGNP mid-days, WARM 107.3 (which changed to 94.9 while Sean was there), The Point 102.5, Oldies radio U-92, and MIX 96.

"Radio was OK," Sean said. "I did pretty good at some stations, got fired at others. Then corporate came in and I got tired of being a monkey, reading everything – you couldn't be a personality. I started realizing DJ-ing was a gift and so I made it a true business."

For example, there was the time in 1994 when Sean saved a bride and groom's day.

"When another DJ dumped," Sean remembered. "FOX 13 put it on the air and it was great publicity. Because of that I got interested in the video side."

Sean developed his video production skills through a number of ventures. Soon he was ahead of the curve using non-linear editing systems. Today, his ongoing commitment to creative technology has characterized his career.

As a DJ, Sean offers his services through "CREW Entertainment." As a technical engineer, he offers "Crew Video Production." As a matter of cutting edge business, Sean offers pretty much everything any kind of party might need.

"This is my calling," Sean said. "It's always been there."

He's also optimistic about the new venture.

"I truly believe that this is where I am supposed to be," Sean said. "God's in control and I believe this Web site is a stepping stone to what's in store. There's a reason why I'm learning how to develop, create, and run a business from scratch."

Staying on the cutting edge is a challenge Sean enjoys.

"I was the first in Tampa Bay to own the DVJ X1 (A music video system that allows the operator to do all the traditional music mixing tricks)," he said. "It's the new style. I've got like maybe 40,000 music videos on DVD."

Sean averages 120 DJ gigs annually in addition to video production and managing the Web site.
"It was never supposed to be a career," he smiled. "It was supposed to be for fun. I'm always thinking about where the energy is in the room? What's happening? And do I need to change the pace? There's a science and a method. It is knowing how to play and when to play."

Find out more about Mike Sean's DVD Wedding Mall at www.dvdweddingmall.com.

Derek Maul is a writer who lives in Valrico. You can reach him at derekmaul@gmail.com.

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