DJ Sterf

Citations needed

This article needs cited sources to support its information.

Please edit this page to add citations.

Sterling C. Franklin^[1] (born: April 1, 1983 (1983-04-01) [age 42]),^[2] better known online as DJ Sterf, is an American YouTuber, juggler, gamer and vlogger and an owner of a ministry website called Cross Allegiance.

Early on in his YouTube days, Sterling posted perfect scores on Expert charts from the video game Dance Dance Revolution and nowadays posts a mixture of videos, mostly related to gaming and in-depth game strategy. These videos range from endgame completions and strategy guides for games in the Five Nights at Freddy's series, Slime Rancher, Supraland, and Dance Dance Revolution. Sterling also posts other videos from time to time, including Christmas specials, running videos, sermons, cooking videos, and various multitasking videos done while juggling.^[3][4][5]

History

Sterling created his channel on December 23, 2005 and his first videos were based on DDR. His channel was much lesser-known for some time until he started playing Five Nights at Freddy's 3 in 2015, when he found all the minigame secrets to the puzzle to get the "Good Ending" and was featured in Kotaku.^[6] In 2017, DJ Sterf helped Dawko through the hardest mode on Five Nights at Freddy's: Sister Location. The next summer, he teamed up and helped Dawko get through 50/20 mode on the video game Ultimate Custom Night to get him the interview with Scott Cawthon. Most notably, his Strategy Spreadsheet for Ultimate Custom Night has helped a multitude of people through the hardest modes of the game.

Regularly, he goes through the games and beats the hardest modes in the Five Nights at Freddy's series, also going further by beating many of those modes with ridiculous circumstances, for example, while juggling (or even juggling while playing the game on a DDR pad), or beating the hardest bosses with Level 1 characters, or winning 50/20 mode with no power-ups and over 30% power remaining. He held the record for highest power remaining in multiple games and has been one of the first to beat the hardest modes in all games since he started playing, pushing many world records and the boundaries of what is considered possible in the series.

Etymology

Sterling's YouTube name is not taken from a Dutch language origin. In this case, Sterf is a shortened form of Sterfry, which was a family nickname later shortened to Sterf by an elementary school friend. Sterling has worked in media as a television show host and news anchor, and worked several years as a radio DJ, where his nickname was used. Having started playing DDR during that time, the nickname carried forward, and his YouTube channel has remained with the same name since its inception.

Trivia

• Sterling created his account on the same year that YouTube was created, making his channel one of the oldest channels on the platform.
• Sterling works a full-time job as a hybrid Developer/Tester and has helped Scott Cawthon personally with testing and feedback in some of the latest installments of the Five Nights at Freddy's series. He has also helped ClickTeam, Steel Wool Studios, Mega Cat Studios, and Scholastic Books with their latest installments in the franchise.
• Along with major bug report contributions to the original Help Wanted VR, Sterling is confirmed to have officially tested and/or contributed brainstorming efforts for the following Five Nights at Freddy's games: FNaF VR: Help Wanted 2, Freddy in Space 2, Fury's Rage, Security Breach: RUIN, and Into the Pit. He has been given Special Thanks for his link testing, error checking, and post-proofing work with the following books: Five Nights at Freddy's: VIP, and Five Nights at Freddy's: The Week Before. He has stated on social media that there are more projects yet to be released that he has already worked on.
• Sterling has stated in videos that he doesn't see YouTube as a long-term revenue strategy, so he does YouTube for fun on the side with any spare time he has.
• Sterling contributed the character and minigame concept for Heftin' with Helpules as an Easter Egg minigame to the game Into the Pit, combining Helpy and Hercules into a weightlifting minigame and serving as a nod to the Buff Helpy meme from Dawko's channel.
• Sterling was featured as a sort of Easter Egg in the movie Five Nights at Freddy's as the October Employee of the Month on the wall poster outside of the office.^[7] This is also shown in Universal Studio's official trailer for the movie.^[8]
• Sterling's profile picture was taken when he was feeling at his worst health-wise before he was diagnosed with hypothyroidism. On streams in the past, he has mentioned the importance of making sure your thyroid is healthy and balanced.
• Sterling was published in Guinness Gamers' Edition in 2008, holding multiple world records in Dance Dance Revolution.^[9] One world record that he set in 2010 is the maximum possible score on DDR 5th Mix and can only be tied.^[10] Sterling has won multiple tournaments in national-level DDR tournament series and held the highest number of perfect scores on the hardest charts in the game for about a decade.^[11]
• Sterling was a television show host (Teen Scene), news anchor (News from the Lighthouse), and radio DJ (RezRevolution) in high school and college.^[12]
• Sterling has done charity events^[13][14] with Markiplier, MatPat, and Dawko, and has performed on stage^[15] at live concerts^[16] while playing DDR.
• Sterling has won multiple yearly 5K/10K running series, as well as has won 3-on-3, Slam Dunk, and 3-Point competitions in various venues.^[17]
• Sterling took up Joggling in 2019, which is a combination of juggling and jogging. He entered the Joggling World Championships, held annually since 1981 by the International Jugglers' Association, and has set world records in numerous events, including the 3-ball 600m, 3-ball 3K, 4-ball 200m, and more.^[18][19] Videos of joggling can be found on his channel. Through 2023, he has won more than 40 gold medals at these world championships.^[20]
• Sterling is known for saying "Peace and God bless" at the end of his videos and has referred to himself as a Spirit-filled Christian. He has pastored at various churches and ministries since 2001, and ran a church that met in his home for several years.^[21] As of 2023, he has posted about 150 sermons on his ministry channels online.^[22] Cross Allegiance's Facebook page is still updated regularly with his messages and artwork.^[23]
• Sterling was Valedictorian of two collegiate graduating classes. His first graduation was for a major in Public/Interpersonal Communications and an extended minor in Computer Science, and his second graduation was for a major in Comparative Religion.^[12]
• Sterf in Dutch means Die (imperative), though this is the not the origin of his nickname. Sterf was a shortened form of a nickname Sterfry (spelled this way due to his name being Sterling) given to him by his sisters.

References