DON'T WATCH ME. WATCH YUHSELF!
We shot the pilot episode for Reggae Entertainment Television at Fully Loaded in the summer of 2002. It was just me and Slicer, the cameraman, walking back stage and through the crowd interviewing anybody who was entertaining. I was already a part of that scene with WHADDAT.com and always in the streets with my little digital cam so when they saw me coming with the video light in tow, people were so curious.
When it came time to air this pilot which included scenes from RETV's signature show, In the Streets where we explored and showcased Jamaica's most notorious ghetto communities, the business plan was to launch it on Logic-One, a cable company based in one of those "name brand" communities, Waterhouse in West Kingston, home to King Jammy's studio.
I had a better idea: Launch it on Telstar, a cable company that provides service in Kingston 6 and 8, where the most affluent communities in Kingston - Millsborough, Jacks Hill and Norbrook - are located. When they see ME in the GHETTO being led through the tight streets by some of Jamaica's most infamous gangsters and celebrated recording artists, they won't be able to take their eyes off the screen. My goal was to force uptown and ghetto to find a middle ground. That middle ground was RETV with ME in your face. The uptown kids will notify their parents who control big business and the news media and that hype will circulate so quickly and blow up so big, we won't know what hit us. So said, so done. RETV went LIVE on December 4, 2002 and was an INSTANT hit. Once the station was accessible to every household in the country, there was no slowing down. Within 6 short months, RETV wasn't just blasting the competition (HYPE TV, Music Plus) out of the water but on it's way to taking top spot in viewership across the board.
RETV was # 1. The close-knit team of 5 soon tripled with more VJs, videographers, producers and editors. I was still the main showrunner and lead VJ. Juggling that role while still working to keep WHADDAT?com at # 1 in it's own category left little room for much else. When YUSH entered the picture, I was all in. All nighters were a normal way of life. It was a good thing I could do all 3 of them at once when I hit the streets every night :)
What a rush! It wasn't the hype and the thrill of being on top that was driving me. It was that these ideas and concepts that I breathed life into were so special for so many reasons. It was that nothing like them had ever been seen before. ALL the people loved it and WHADDAT & RETV brought all the people together. It was really a site to behold.
After I was taken out of commission by a nasty car accident in June 2003, RETV managed to keep going at the same pace for a few years. Deals had been made so that RETV was broadcast on different channels all over the world. They eventually sold out to Radio Jamaica/Gleaner Group in 2006 and that was that.
The End -_-