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Local Guides
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BREAKTHROUGH VISION
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by Bill Adams
JULY 2 – 8, 2009 |
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In hindsight, sometimes an idea seems so simple and obvious
that it’s almost comical. Sometimes the element that’s absent
from an equation is just so plain that no one actually notices or
thinks of it but, when someone does finally clue in and brokers its
availability, the surge of interest is staggering. As a case in point,
just less than a year ago, two radio DJs noticed a hole in the local
music market, took it upon themselves to fill it and, ever since,
they marvel at the continuing (and expanding) success of the
company they started, I.R.I.S. Entertainment. “I.R.I.S. started as
the amalgamation of two radio shows, [current I.R.I.S co–founder]
Todd Donald was the host of a show called The Indie Invasion
over on 88.3 CJIQ and had been covering a lot of independent
acts,” begins company co–founder Carrie Humphries as she
recounts I.R.I.S’s Cinderella story. “I had taken a couple of years
off of broadcasting, but I was asked to co–host a show over on
100.3 CKMS and, in doing that show, the programmer heard me
and said that there wasn’t enough female broadcasters at the
station and so offered me my own show. I was really interested in
working with the independent scene because I had been a
volunteer at Rogers Television for a while and had actually picked
them a show that dealt with independent artists. Because it didn’t
pan out there, I decided to bring it to the radio and I started The
Rock Show on Monday afternoons from 3 to 4 pm on 100.3.
“Two weeks after I started doing the show, I was lucky
enough to interview the president of the Go! Music Festival and he
offered me a couple of passes to go to the festival,” continues
Humphries. “So a friend of mine and I went and we were just up
on King Street – I didn’t really know anything about the scene at
that time, I was just getting into it – but my friend introduced me
to Todd. I learned that he was doing his Indie Invasion show and
that we had a lot in common as far as our formats were
concerned and we ended up becoming like the brother/sister
show to each other – he was doing Friday nights, I was doing
Monday afternoons – and we’d co–host each other’s shows once
in a while. Through meeting Todd, I got the opportunity to do a
lot more interviews and I got to meet a lot more bands and at the
end of the first year of the show, I discovered that I had profiled
52 independent artists in 52 weeks.
“By then, The Rock Show was really beginning to take off and
Kevin Doyle – who owns The Boathouse and was once a part–time
programmer for CKMS – suggested doing live shows with all these
bands I was interviewing. It sounded like a really good idea, so we
started doing The Indie Invasion and The Rock Show Present. It
started in January of 2008 and it was done the second Friday of
the month at The Boathouse and [shortly thereafter] we started to
get involved in a lot of other things; The Circus Room asked us if
we wanted to do their Thursday nights and Mongolian Grill asked
if we’d be interested in doing their Monday Night Martini nights.
Just as that was starting to take off, the referendum happened at
CKMS and Todd and I amalgamated our shows on 88.3. The very
last Rock Show happened to be on June 30 and it just seemed
perfect to unveil this new, amalgamated show on Friday, July 4,
Independence Day. We called it The Indie Rock Invasion Show – we
realized after that that the short form for that was I.R.I.S. and
then the concept seemed even better because we had our eye on
the independent scene. We launched our first broadcast on July 4
and we followed it up on July 5 with a huge show at Maxwell’s
Music House. The reception was fantastic and that was when we
knew that there was going to be some momentum that was
growing behind it. To keep things legitimate, I opened I.R.I.S.
Entertainment as the sole proprietor to specialize in
management, bookings and promotions and, in addition to the
established shows we had going at Mongolian Grill, Boathouse
and The Circus Room, we’d started doing shows for Fat Cats in
Kitchener, Maxwell’s Music House and even The Starlight and they
were coming out at a very high quality. The emails just started
pouring in from artists around town that saw what we were doing
and wanted to help out. Everything has just conti nued to grow
faster and faster since then, and now we’re looking into
syndication opportunities of the radio show on other stations
elsewhere in the country.
“I’ve always maintained that, if I.R.I.S. wasn’t a necessity in
the Tri–cities, it wouldn’t have fallen into our laps like this,” says
Humphries with a noticeable and significant hint of satisfaction.
“There was clearly a need for what we were doing and that has
been the greatest joy for me because people have really
responded to it.”
And so began the most surprisingly lucrative musical
enterprise to blossom in Kitchener/Waterloo. According to
Humphries, the stream of shows put on by I.R.I.S has not slowed
down as still more acts continue to awaken to the possibilities
afforded by the company, but the Cinderella story isn't over yet;
in fact, it’s only a few days less than a year old. Humphries
envisions will be another year of firsts but, even as she says it,
she also says that as much as year two will be business as
unusual (it is the music business after all), the more they’ll be
changing too. “Todd is still the host for the I.R.I.S. radio show and
I come in as a co–host on Friday nights,” explains Humphries,
“but he’ll be retiring from I.R.I.S. at the end of August to focus
more on his musical career. In addition to that, he’s also got the
iTodd Lounge, which is a videocast where he has different artists
come in and do a live set as well as an interview which he then
shrinks and puts up on his YouTube channel. He’s also just
started the Todder – like iPod and Twitter – which lets people
follow the shows he’s done and the shows he’s playing. He’s also
in the studio right now working on his third album so he’s
definitely going to be busy for the next little while.
“I’m still really interested to see where we can take I.R.I.S.,”
continues Humphries. With her drive and resolve, it’s easy to
believe given what she and Donald have accomplished so far. “My
five–year goal is to have I.R.I.S. in syndication on every campus
radio station from B.C. to P.E.I. if I can. It’s a big goal, but
considering what we got done in the first year alone, I’m not
deterred by that. It sounds trite, but I believe anything is
possible.”
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