Most people think of retirement as a time to slow down, but one South Florida grandpa is proving it can also be a time to turn things up. Heather Walker shows us how DJ Stan is shining in our 7Spotlight.<\/p>\n
By day, he\u2019s doing things you would expect from any grandpa, spending time at home reading the paper. But when the sun goes down, he turns up the volume.<\/p>\n
At 71-years-old, Stan Heiblum is trading slippers for sneakers and starting a whole new career.<\/p>\n
Heather Walker: \u201cThat\u2019s wild!\u201d<\/p>\n
Stan Heiblum \u201cYeah, and it worked and it\u2019s working out.\u201d <\/p>\n
He got the idea to start DJ-ing when he was at a music festival three years ago.<\/p>\n
Stan Heiblum: \u201cI said, you know what I think I can do this. And I really enjoy music.\u201d<\/p>\n
So he decided to give it a try.<\/p>\n
Heather Walker: \u201cHow did you learn how to DJ?\u201d <\/p>\n
Stan Heiblum: \u201cSo I really just started learning by myself. For the first year, I was terrible. So I took lessons online, I went to one studio.\u201d<\/p>\n
He also started going to DJ sets to watch, and then after a year of practice, he booked his first gig under the name \u201cDJ Stan\u201d at 69-years-old.<\/p>\n
Stan Heiblum: \u201cPeople will always ask me, \u2018Are you the DJ\u2019s father?\u2019 So they think we are the DJ\u2019s parents, that happens almost every time.\u201d<\/p>\n
He has a good sense of humor about it and admits that starting a new career later in life has come with some challenges.<\/p>\n
Stan Heiblum: \u201cA lot of these clubs start late, so I have to make sure I take my nap, get ready. But once the music starts, the energy is there.\u201d<\/p>\n
He credits naps and Cuban coffee for keeping him going. And says his age actually helps him to be a better DJ.<\/p>\n
Stan Heiblum: \u201cWhat I try to do with my musical mixes is appeal to everybody. So I want to bring new music they have never heard, but I want to bring familiar stuff to get them hooked.\u201d<\/p>\n
Mixing disco, techno, and house to get everyone on the dance floor.<\/p>\n
Stan Heiblum: \u201cEvery time you look up and people are dancing, you know you are doing the right thing. I bring in older crowds so people, my friends. People in their 60\u2019s and 70\u2019s are coming. So I have people from their 20\u2019s to their 70\u2019s.\u201d<\/p>\n
In just a couple of years, he has performed at clubs and festivals from Miami to New York.<\/p>\n
Stan Heiblum: \u201cPeople come up to me and say it\u2019s very inspiring. Especially some older people who say I never thought of starting new and you are starting something new at an advanced age, and so that means that anybody can do it. So it seems that it\u2019s very inspiring to people. I didn\u2019t start it off to be inspiring to people, I just wanted to have fun.\u201d<\/p>\n
That\u2019s exactly what he\u2019s doing with his family behind him, literally, you will see his wife and kids in the DJ booth.<\/p>\n
Stan Heiblum: \u201cMy wife, Lisa, is my biggest supporter. She wears my shirts to the club and it\u2019s really a family affair.\u201d<\/p>\n
About a year ago, he welcomed his first grandchild. And just like that, DJ stan became DJ Pops. <\/p>\n
Proof that the moments we never plan for can turn into our greatest hits. <\/p>\n
Heather Walker, 7News.<\/p>\n
If you know of a person, place or group that you think we should highlight, email us at 7spotlight@wsvn.com.<\/p>\n
Copyright 2026 Sunbeam Television Corp. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.<\/p>\n
\tJoin our Newsletter for the latest news right to your inbox<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Most people think of retirement as a time to slow down, but one South Florida grandpa is proving…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":245151,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[17],"tags":[249,251,250],"class_list":{"0":"post-245150","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-fort-lauderdale","8":"tag-fort-lauderdale","9":"tag-fort-lauderdale-headlines","10":"tag-fort-lauderdale-news"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/245150","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=245150"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/245150\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/245151"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=245150"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=245150"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=245150"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}