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Meet Grady Taylor III of DJ Grady Baby Radio in Southern Atlanta

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Today we’d like to introduce you to Grady Taylor III.

Grady, can you briefly walk us through your story – how you started and how you got to where you are today.
I’m the Founder and Creator of DJ Grady Baby Radio. I was born in Atlanta, Georgia at Grady Hospital. I lived across the street from the Grady Holmes Housing Projects and attended Grady High School.

One of my first influences was the Television Show, Sanford and Son. I would watch the shows and then take a recorder and tape myself telling jokes. Since I was the Class Clown the teacher would take me out of class when she went on break. I would leave the recordings with my classmates. I could hear them laughing down the hall. It was at that moment that I realized I had the gift of laughter.

I continued to record during High School. By the late 1980’s, I had begun volunteering as a Coach at the Martin Luther King Center and would record myself and a friend doing comedic play by play commentary on the Players from both teams. Again, the next day, I would take the recordings to school for the teachers and students to listen. By this time, the Teachers were appreciating my comedic gifts and would allow me to tell jokes at the end of class. They would even stop me in the hallway in order to tell jokes. That was confirmation that Comedy was my niche’.

In 1995, the vision in my left eye began to fail and the vision in my right eye was not good. Instead of being depressed, I chose to rely on comedy to make others laugh. One of the sources for my happiness was to make others laugh.

A friend suggested that I perform at Open Mic. Of course, my nerves got the best of me at first, but it didn’t take long for me to become comfortable being behind the Mic. After a while, I noticed other Comedians selling their CD’s to make extra money. I was offered the opportunity to have my routines recorded for free. It didn’t take long for me to fall in love with the studio and mixing board. I asked someone in the studio to teach me how to mix. He advised me to come back in two days. I did and he taught me the basics of how to open sessions and where to find the mixing plug-ins.

He was impressed on how I’d mixed all of the sessions that they had in their collections and offered me a position as a recording engineer. I grew from engineer to studio manager.

In 2003, I approached a Man wearing a lot of Platinum jewelry. I asked him what his occupation was and he told me that he owned an Internet Radio Station. I told him that I was a Comedian and wanted to have my own talk show on the radio. We met for lunch and worked out a deal for me to pay one hundred dollars per uploaded show…until it became too expensive for me to continue.

In 2006, I lost my Stepfather, Mr. Grady Taylor, Jr. He was the man who raised me, adopted me and gave me his name. He was such a great influence in my life and I wanted his name to be known all over the world. I researched how to record my podcast for free and created the podcast on BlogSpot. I used a conference line to record my first show, The Grady Taylor Show.

I became a Military Spouse in 2007 and began traveling every few years. I kept the show going via the phone recordings with my co-host living in 3 different states. We kept the show going for three years until the company that I was using was sold to another company and all of my archived shows were lost. I had to find another way to record the show and be able to keep the possession of my shows.

In 2010, I had a website created and was taught how to maintain the site. By this time, my loss of vision caused me to be put on permanent disability. I was losing my sight, but not my dream and I continued to press forward.

One night while watching videos on Youtube, I ran across a video instructing listeners on how to set up a radio station. The video also listed the type of equipment that I would need to broadcast my station. I researched music licensing and saved the money to buy what I needed to continue to nurture my gifts. I learned how to market my website through Google, Facebook and other streaming sites.

Currently, I am the Creator, Owner, Disc Jockey, and Producer of DJ Grady Baby Radio. My Co-Hosts are Gerren Clark (Photographer), also known as G-Clark, Best Selling Author, Dwon Moss-Johnson, Chef Tiffany Renee and Comedian Juicy.

Other shows on the station, The Grady Taylor Show, are Dwon After Dark, Hosted by Dwon Moss-Johnson and In The Kisser, with Host Tiffany Renee also known as Stoney Montana. Our station has a total of 6,929 listeners, Us 1,105, Worldwide 5,824. We are heard on a total of 86 countries and growing. Listeners can tune in by downloading the DJ Grady Baby App from their Playstores.

Overall, has it been relatively smooth? If not, what were some of the struggles along the way?
No. It has not been a smooth road. I’ve had the obstacles of moving from different states by being a Military Spouse. It was often difficult finding C0-Hosts that were willing to record in my time zone. I’ve also faced the challenges of having to press on, even while losing my sight.

Finances have also been a challenge, but if God has given me the vision, he has equipped me with everything needed to bring it to fruition.

Please tell us about DJ Grady Baby Radio.
I’m the Owner and Founder of the Grady Taylor Show. I’m a Disc Jockey, so it’s obvious that I’m good at running my mouth.

I specialize in Live Remotes, Comedy, Producing, and Engineering. I’m also a Songwriter and Scriptwriter.

What sets my show apart from others is that it’s Format Free and it’s a non-judgmental show. We also highlight Independent Musical Artists and Authors. We are looking for new shows and personalities for Broadcasting.

If you had to go back in time and start over, would you have done anything differently?
I’ve taught myself everything that I know. If I had to start over, I would’ve gone to school for Broadcasting and Mass Media.

Contact Info:

Image Credit:
Photos by Grady Taylor III

Getting in touch: VoyageATL is built on recommendations from the community; it’s how we uncover hidden gems, so if you know someone who deserves recognition please let us know here.

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