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
