We recently connected with Jay Wooten and have shared our conversation below.
Jay, looking forward to hearing all of your stories today. Did you always know you wanted to pursue a creative or artistic career? When did you first know?
I’ve always thought that my life was meant for greatness and to inspire others, I just needed an opportunity to show my talents to a person who could actually make a difference.
Growing up in South Jersey there wasn’t a lot of opportunity especially for artistic creatives. So my only options were to fake it until I made it or, become a W2 worker which is fine, but I desired more from my life and realized I was the only one who could change it. I didn’t ask for pity, cry for attention, or quit. I enrolled in Connecticut School of Broadcasting so I could learn more about the career I was infatuated with.
After completing my training with my institution, the Covid Pandemic gave me and my new LLC my 1st opportunity to show and prove what Who Got Next Radio could do.
I was blessed to have a core group of friends that supported me throughout all of the tough times you face as a new small business owner and that gave me the strength to press on even when everything in my body said give up, this isn’t the career for you.
Jay, love having you share your insights with us. Before we ask you more questions, maybe you can take a moment to introduce yourself to our readers who might have missed our earlier conversations?
I got started in this industry as a poet, I was always a great writer. I loved creating stories with my words, expanding the stories and building characters within the story to give them more content.
When I wrote I wanted the reader to feel my emotions from each word they read. Not long after that I joined a high school friend and created a music group called No Sleep Entertainment, and that was the first time that I tried to match my words with a beat.
Rap and Poetry are very different and it was a struggle at first to combine my writing talents with a voice and delivery to make the Rap sound authentic. I’m not going to lie, it was a struggle & I felt insecure about every script I wrote no matter the beat I was given.
After mastering my delivery, my voice, and what I would be talking about I had to create an alter ego to take on this new found personality, and thus Jay Woo was created. He was free from criticism, insecurities, and any standards from society that put a cap on my creative imaginations. I was able to step into who I would become and I felt satisfied with what I created.
Because of my own experiences with gaining exposure and opportunities to showcase my talent, it led me to create a safe place for all artist to come and network, exposure, and be compensated for their work, myself and childhood friend (DJ Dot.Matic) created an event which would turn into the Who Got Next Open Mic.
In the beginning, we only provided each artist thier 15minutes of fame. You got to perform 2 songs and then the next artist g9t their time to shine. The event ran from February 23,2010-April 11, 2011 every Tuesday night from 8pm-2am. Collaboration always beats competition, so to bring all types of artist, DJ’s, producers, engineers, videographer’s, studio owners an etc together in one spot to network was a dream I visualized that became my reality.
After hosting and performing at my first event, was when I got the itch to actually host events instead of being the talent. I loved writing, and performing but I never wanted to be labeled as just one thing. I had and still have a hunger to excel to the next level.
Who knew then what was possible now?
Fast forward a few years and I created not only my current business Who Got Next Entertainment (An audio/media broadcasting company that creates, distributes, and acquires content to share on TV, FM Radio, Social Media Sites and for video games. I also created a Internet Radio Platform for Independent Artist to have their music played in different markets for further exposure called Indie 101.5.
We are a royalty paying station through BMI & ASCAP monitored by Digital Radio Tracker.
With the industry changing each year it seemed like Independent Artist weren’t getting the credit they deserved so with the help of Midtown Radio we set up a 24 hour / 7 day a week platform to consistently play the artist music to build up royalties while also sharing music across the world. We got our big break in 2020 when the world shut down from the pandemic, life slowed down and that allowed each artist the time to be heard.
What we pride ourselves on is guiding artist to the roads they want to journey, we are a platform created by artist made for the artist so there’s no gimmicks just execution.
We provide info on how to market, distribute, register, artist music, we also give interviews to give each audience with an indepth look at who each artist is beyond their specific craft or talent.
This is what separates us from others and why I feel proud of my work. Bringing people together in a world made for separation and individuality.
We can make a bigger impact together versus only focusing on the popular artist, or following trends.
Can you tell us about a time you’ve had to pivot?
It’s unfortunate, but I met a promising raw talent who was extremely curious on what the company was doing and the direction it was heading.
She was a blank canvas and the first person I’ve met that dropped everything to help me get over the hump, and push the company further.
I looked at her hunger for knowledge and that inspired me, I can honesty say that she made me feel good about the work I was doing, it brought back the fun that I had in the beginning of doing good work and putting out positive vibes into the universe. I will never forget Chechi Alvarez.
I spent 4 years training her to be my replacement an become the face of the company, and to bring in a new era of creative artist for Who Got Next Entertainment. We worked closely together as I trained her with her speech, her delivery, how she was viewed on TV, promotions, hosting, interviewing, and how to network with other inside of the industry.
Sadly the tables turned and without any prior notice she quit in the middle of our 2025 campaign and created her own station.
The pivot was rebranding the company and moving forward with the Netflix deal without her with me as the lead, and new co-host Yanique Malcolm.
My plan was to get out of the chair I had been sitting in since 2010 and allow growth to the company by giving others a opportunity to have thier voices be heard.
Being apart of Chechi’s growth was special to me because she was never into Broadcasting Radio, TV and Film when I met her she was a part time Animal Vet Tech. I poured all of my time and energy into her waiting for her to blossom into the new person I was creating, an she wanted to be. Sadly for whatever reason she had different plans and so I wish her well on her new journey.
But we will never know what could have been, only time will tell. I don’t regret the time spent with her, the fact that I took a total stranger off the streets and semi turned them into a professional on air talent was enough for me. The rest she will have to learn on her own an I will always credit Chechi for being the spark that ignited the flame and ultimately propelled us to gain the Netflix deal. Shout Out to you Chechi.
Is there mission driving your creative journey?
I want to leave a legacy for my children.
My father was taken from me too early by a medical procedure gone wrong and I was left watching him take his last breath as the doctors turned on the morphine to comfortably end his life.
I felt insecure was robbed of so much information and what he was supposed to pass down to me.
At that point in my life (2014) I decided to do something about that for my kids, and now I have a company that can be passed down from me to them and to their kids etc, to keep the legacy going even after I’m long gone. This is bigger than me, and was never about me, it’s always been about the platform and what we can do for the culture.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://Indie1015.com
- Instagram: @legacy_jaywoo
- Facebook: Legacy Jay Wooten
- Twitter: @JayisWooten
- Youtube: https://Youtube.com/Whogotnextradio
Image Credits
Photo Credit: Pete Dasilva
Image Credit: Javon Wooten