I have my degree in electrical engineering. I went to North Carolina Arts & Tech in Greensboro, NC. I’ve worked in television for a long time from the technical side of things. I was working for an NBC station in Portsmouth, Virginia. I started out as a grip - the guy behind the camera guy with the cable. When I first got into television I was working on the news side, so I had to deal with a lot of grim murder/suicide type stories. When I got the chance to do some freelance work for BET that was a lot more fun. That’s how I got into entertainment television. An opportunity came up with The Box which was almost tailor-made for me. I moved down to Miami to work for The Box.
What was your job at The Box?
I came in as a broadcast engineer. The Box had a lot of TV stations all over the country, so I was the person that would fix those stations, build new stations, and install the actual equipment that ran The Box at the time. It was older equipment, so we’d do maintenance calls a lot. I got to go all over the country. It was great, I loved the traveling. I got to go to a lot of places I never could’ve been to otherwise and meet a lot of people. I left The Box after five years and started my own company, Starline Communications.
Why did you decide to leave The Box?
I felt like I was undervalued. When I left, I was the Director of Broadcast Operations, which is a humungous job. I didn’t even have an assistant. Instead of sitting around and complaining about the situation, I just did my own thing. I always wanted to have my own television network.
Financially, how were you able to leave your job and start your own company?
MTV’s parent company Viacom actually bought The Box. When they bought it, they had to accelerate some of the stock options in order for the transaction to be closed. I had a lil’ bit of financial security, so that gave me the incentive.
How did Starline turn into Video Mix?
Well, Starline is actually the parent company for Video Mix. When I started Starline, the main goal was to get people to more effectively use TV to promote to the urban market. I used a lot of the connections I had from The Box to sell advertising. We started Video Mix in mid-2000. We had a station here in Miami that carried The Box, and it did a lot of things for local artists. [The owner] was getting ready to change it to a home shopping network, and everything I’d worked for was shut down. We tried to come up with something that could still appeal to the audience, so we came up with Video Mix.
The format of the show is mostly music videos, right? Why would someone watch Video Mix, when they could just watch BET or MTV?
For one, we’re a localized network. We’re gonna play music that you’re definitely not gonna see on either one of those networks. BET has music shows, but they’re not really a music channel and that’s our whole concept. When it comes down to music, we play more music than anyone, even MTV. Our Tallahassee station probably plays about 220 videos every week, and our playlist is very expansive.
What would you recommend for an artist who can’t afford a big-budget video?
If there’s a college in your area, there might be a communications department where the kids have access to cameras. They may do it for you as a school project. You might have to roll the dice on something like that, especially if it’s not gonna cost you much money. As far as editing, there’s a lot of people now that can edit videos by computer that’ll come out decent quality. It really comes down to the artist’s creativity. If it’s a performance video, do something that’s different and make it appealing. Even if you’re not shooting on 35mm, your video can still stand out depending on the way it’s shot or edited. It’s gotta be something that you put some effort into.
When does the show come on in Miami?
We’re on broadcast TV, channel 48. We come on late nights from midnight to 3 AM every night. In addition, we also come on from noon til 1 PM on Saturdays and Sundays.
Why did you decide to expand to Tallahassee?
Our Tallahassee show is on 24 hours a day, channel 21. Two of the biggest colleges in the state, Florida A&M and Florida State, are both in Tallahassee so that was a big, big reason. We definitely want to work with a lot of the students up there as interns, and that’s also the audience we’re trying to reach. Especially at FAMU, they don’t have cable on campus so we already have a built-in audience. A lot of people from South Florida have already been exposed to Video Mix. The response has been real good. We’ve got the request line where people can call in, and one guy told me he goes to sleep watching Video Mix every night. That made me feel like we’re doing something right.
Do you play a lot of local artists’ videos?
Definitely. We were playing Jovicious’ “Get Buck” before he became Dirtbag, that was a big video. People used to call from jail and request that. Piccalo’s “T-Shirt” was really huge on Video Mix. Pitbull’s “Welcome to Miami” was huge, and even when [Trick Daddy’s] “Take it to the House” came out, that was a huge local smash. When it comes to the local artists, we play their music more than anybody on the planet. We’ve got Trick Daddy’s entire catalog of videos.
We’re sitting here in your Miami office watching your Tallahassee channel on the computer. How is that possible?
I’ve come up with a way to do some really cost-effective things with Video Mix. As long as I can get to an internet connection, I can communicate with my station. I can watch what’s being played, and that gives me a huge advantage. If someone gives me a video here in Miami, an hour later it can be playing in Tallahassee which is a seven hour drive away. That’s my special sauce.
What future plans do you have for Video Mix?
I’m looking into doing things that aren’t music related in other countries using the same technology. It’ll be more educational television. It’d be a real waste for me to be playing music videos for people that don’t have clean water.
Do you have any advice for anyone trying to start their own company?
Definitely. Realistically, I would advise people to try to get a loan first before you dump all your own money into your project. If you can secure some capital and have a real plan in place, it’ll be easier to endure some of the hardships that you have to go through as a business in order to grow. You have to believe in what you’re doing so much, because there’s gonna be some dark days. Literally.
Any contact info you’d like to give out?
Our website is www.videomixtv.com and anyone who’d like to send us a music video can send it to me directly at 18520 NW 67th Ave. #288, Miami, FL 33015. I’d prefer they send the video in DVD format. Also, anyone who’s interested in advertising can email me directly at jesse@videomixtv.com.
