Dentist by Trade, DJ During the Coronavirus Crisis
Genaro Romo performing at a fundraiser. Photo provided by Genaro Romo.
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CHICAGO - Before the novel coronavirus led to the closure of much of the city a typical day for Dr. Genaro Romo involved inspecting his patient’s teeth for cavities, doing root canals or filling in chipped teeth. For the past 15 years, he has been the owner and head dentist at Romo Dental. However, with his now offices closed - except for emergencies - amid the COVID-19 pandemic, Romo has taken to Facebook to stream live DJ concerts for thousands of people trapped at home under stay-at-home orders.
During one of his live concerts, Romo stands over his turntable carefully monitoring dials and nobs when to adjust the volume and beat when needed. In the background, a mix of pop and cumbia plays with an energetic beat that makes you want to dance. On occasions, Romo lowers the volume, grabs the microphone and greets new views or reads off a few shoutouts. That is the typical routine for his live concerts that he started doing during the coronavirus pandemic.
Since he was using his phone to stream on Facebook, Romo had no idea how many fans were tuned in live. He recalled his wife signaling the number of viewers with her hands off-camera and he couldn’t believe it as the numbers continuously rose.
“I honestly thought I’m gonna get about maybe 30 people tuning in and [it] went all the way up to 1,300,” said Romo about his first live concert. “Instantly we were like at 500 to 600 people and within a few minutes after that, we were at about 1,300. To me, it was a huge shocker.”
To date, Romo has only hosted three live concerts but has reached more than 50,000 viewers.
A large part of Dr. Romo’s viewership is no doubt due to his skills laying down tracks and advertising on his business pages. The fact that so many people are at home, social distancing cannot be overlooked.
“I was amazed, completely amazed. And in some ways, it benefited me that people are at home because they have nothing better to do,” said Romo. “You know, let's be honest, if people were outdoors they probably wouldn't have been tuning in. So it was a perfect opportunity to have a captive audience.”
However, for Dr. Romo the great tool for his latest success was his career as a DJ throughout the 1990s.
Romo was introduced to DJing at the Boy and Girls Club of Little Village. There he took a class and learned the basics. He continued Djing throughout high school and in 1989 he became a DJ for local radio station 90.5 FM under the stage name Geno Rock N’ Romo.
“Everybody in my age group used to listen to the radio station, so people that used to DJ at the time or a little bit like a celebrity, like it was kind of a cool thing to be a part of,” said Romo about being a DJ throughout highschool.
When he became a dentist, Romo stopped DJing regularly and instead opted to perform at school fundraisers at St. Richards School in Archer Heights.
“Once I became a dentist, I started fading away from DJing because obviously I was working as a dentist and can be really, really busy. And so I just kind of faded away from it for a long time. And I was just doing that in my basement. But a lot of people still knew who I was,” said Romo.
Although Romo doesn’t DJ for a living he still enjoys the occasional fundraiser and his live Facebook concerts. For updates on his next concerts follow the Romo Dental Facebook page.