HEY MR. DJ | Steve Weddel knows how to throw a good party. His $2 million business is a result thousands of events each year. Photo by Paul Chin, Jr.
By T.J. Prieur
“Las Vegas may be known for its weddings, but Virginia Beach is the Mecca of wedding receptions,” concedes Steve Weddel, president and general manager of Astro Entertainment.
Weddel should know.
Astro Entertainment, the top DJ and party service in the greater Hampton Roads area, provides the entertainment for about 1,000 weddings and receptions a year.
“I believe Virginia Beach is probably the largest resort city, and holds the most weddings and receptions each year per capita of any place around,” Weddel says.
Astro Entertainment, which earns $2 million a year, is involved in far more that just weddings and receptions. You can find its DJs and other entertainers performing at venues ranging from bowling alleys to bar mitzvahs, and from casinos to conventions. You can even find them making music at sea.
“We do 300 cruises a year aboard the Spirit of Norfolk — on two decks,” says Weddel. “We have four guys working full time as DJs just aboard the Spirit of Norfolk.”
While Astro Entertainment is in the business of partying, Weddel is quick to note that it is still a competitive — even cutthroat — business.
“Someone will come in, and we will train them and put them to work,” he says. “In six months they might leave and become a competitor. We understand that.”
Astro Entertainment, in fact, has found its way in a business to the top of the charts since it was founded in 1987 by Greg Chappell.
“A lot of us started as local radio announcers and gravitated to disc jockeys,” Chappell recalls. “Back in the early 1980s, I saw how the radio industry was changing and what was coming. And I was right. The only ones making money in radio today are the owners, not the on-air personalities.”
Astro Entertainment began by providing DJs for school events, weddings and other functions.
“We grew with some talented people,” Chappell continues. “Steve came on in 1991 with his insights and vision. We became more than just a disc jockey company by developing casino and videography divisions. We stayed on the cutting edge of technology.”
Weddel, who started with Astro Entertainment as a regular DJ, developed an interest in the business side and soon moved into and up in management. In 2003, he took over as president.
“Astro Entertainment had a pretty good reputation when I started,” Weddel says. “We had about 20 to 30 DJs — but it wasn’t a place for a career. I wanted people to see Astro Entertainment as a career opportunity.”
The DJs, who originally earned a percentage of each job, soon became salaried employees. Today, Astro Entertainment has about 100 employees, including 40 full-timers. Some have worked for the company for 20 years.
Weddel also worked to build and expand the client base.
“To go to the next level, you have to build up the clientele that have multiple events,” he says. “For instance, we worked with the many military bases in the area and they now book us directly for all their weddings.”
Astro Entertainment also began to successfully target other large clients, such as the Virginia Beach Conference Center and its many conventions.
As Weddel and Chappell grew older, their perspective evolved.
“In our 20s and 30s, we worked long hours to build the business,” Weddel says. “Now that we are grown and have children, we have been able to trim our workloads. We’ve created a 9-5 job for a night-time business.”
Their weekends are really midweek because the volume of their business is on everyone else’s weekend.
“On Saturdays, we might have 75 events — 50 wedding receptions and 25 bars,” Weddel says. “The weddings are very important to our customers — this is their day. We want to make sure it’s a memorable day.”
Having so many events means constantly seeking and developing new talent in bowling alleys and local bars — what they call their farm system.
“We went to a hole-in-the-wall bar just the other night,” Weddel says. “It took us back to our roots.”
It was music to their ears.
