History of Party Favorz
Party Favorz® officially launched as a podcast in 2007, but its cultural identity was forged nearly a decade earlier in the underground club and after-hours scenes of South Texas. Created and curated by Keith (aka K j A M), the project has evolved from hand-distributed physical media to a global digital archive, documenting the evolution of House, EDM, and Disco for tens of thousands of monthly listeners.
On this page:
- The Origin: 1999–2006
- The 2007 Pivot: Microsoft to Blogger
- The DIY Era: 2008–2009
- The Gay Anthems Legacy
- Signature Series & Sub-Genres
- Curation & Production Style
- The WordPress Transition: 2012–Present
- Live Roots & Evolution
- Technical Evolution & The Final Volume
The Origin: 1999–2006
The name “Party Favorz” began as a tongue-in-cheek play on words within the late-90s club culture of South Texas. During this era, strict Texas Blue Laws mandated that bars and clubs stop serving alcohol by midnight. Like clockwork, the house lights would come up at 12:00 AM, the music was cut, and the “herding” of the last stragglers began.
For those “in the loop,” the night didn’t end at midnight; it simply moved. While DJing at local gay bars and warehouse events, Keith began creating custom-mixed CDs specifically for these after-midnight environments. Guests would often approach him asking if he had brought any “party favorz”. While the term typically referred to illicit substances, in this circle, it became code for Keith’s mix CDs. The nickname stuck, and Keith began branding the discs as Party Favorz: Volume 1, Volume 2, and so on.
The 2007 Pivot: Microsoft to Blogger
In mid-2007, Keith was furloughed from a management position at AT&T. During his job search, he applied for a role at Microsoft that required candidates to build a blog using Microsoft Live Spaces. Captivated by the design possibilities, Keith went “all in”. While he didn’t take the job, the experience sparked a creative fire. Encouraged by friends, Keith moved the project to Google’s Blogger platform in August 2007, officially launching the Party Favorz blog.
The DIY Era: 2008–2009
To transform the blog into a professional archive, Keith taught himself HTML and CSS. This era saw the birth of the core categories that define the brand today, including Club Fusion (originally BPM), Circuit & Anthems, and the Diva Hall of Fame, which launched in 2008 after tribute sets to artists like Sarah McLachlan exploded in popularity.
The Gay Anthems Legacy
Formalized as a category in 2012, this series grew out of a 2009 fundraiser. In 2016, Keith launched Gay Anthems For A New Generation, focusing on modern remixes for younger audiences. By 2017, he tightened the focus to ensure the series remained a pure celebration of queer liberation, making it the brand’s most successful annual tradition.
Signature Series & Sub-Genres
The archive is currently structured to honor the breadth of club music history, including Funky House, Dance Classics (spanning the 70s through the 00s), Legacy Dance Tributes, and the definitive Top Dance Songs of the Year.
Curation & Production Style
Keith reviews hundreds of promos each week, selecting tracks based on an instinctive sense of the “Energy Arc”. The project is managed entirely by Keith, who designs all original cover art and produces every mix using harmonic transitions and a cappella bridges.
The WordPress Transition: 2012–Present
In 2012, Keith migrated to WordPress and adopted the Customizr Pro theme. Over the next decade, Keith “coded the shit out of” the theme to ensure high-fidelity performance and top-tier loading speeds worldwide.
Live Roots & Evolution
While the brand was born in the DJ booth—including major sets like First Splash (2001)—the project shifted following Keith’s diagnosis of Multiple Sclerosis (MS). Moving to studio production allowed Keith to channel his energy into creating a permanent, global archive.
Technical Evolution & The Final Volume
As Party Favorz enters its Final Year in 2026, marking a 30-year legacy, it stands as a definitive record of the “History of the Groove”.