Kelvin Titley opened Jahphix Integrated Multimedia Solutions in 1995.The company sells and designs banners, graphics and T-shirts and operates a recording studio.The businessman, who has a longtime interest in music and television, received a licence to operate JTV in 2006. The station, which sells advertising, produces nine programmes locally on channel 55 and has several more in the pipeline. It recently released its first documentary, Noel Lloyd: A Patriotic Man.

 

 

How did you get started in your business?

It all started with music. I wrote a song and … I paid for somebody to record it. I liked how it sounded so I decided to invest in a studio.

I just bought some equipment, didn’t really know what I was doing.  … We started messing around recording some stuff and eventually some producers gravitated towards us. We did an album called Jahphix Real Reggae with a number of local artists. And then we had a concert. … It went really well. So eventually at some point I did a song, “Games,” with Krystal (Frett), a local artist, and we did a music video clip and we needed somewhere to play it. So we created a TV show.

 

So the TV show led to the TV station?

We liked the idea of music and being able to share what we did because obviously music can effect change. So we created a programme called Deh Pon Vibes. It was on Virgin Islands TV … and people started to like it. And then we started having some issues with the station — like they started not playing it when they were supposed to play it — and when you have your name on something, you don’t want to have it on something that’s not reliable. … We decided because we couldn’t get what we wanted done we’d apply for a station.

Was it challenging to get that started?

We had a channel and a signal, but for a while all it said was “Coming soon, coming soon.” There used to be a joke: “What do bMobile, U.P.’s Cineplex and JTV all have in common? Coming soon.” … In a way it was frustrating, but it was new, and, you know, you wanted to operate to a certain standard and somewhere in the back of your mind you know you want it to effect change.

What do you mean by effect change? What kind of change, and how does the television station help you do that?

Education. Knowledge. Understanding. A mirror for people to see themselves. … If we could provide a mirror by putting a camera on you and ourselves so we could see ourselves in our own image, how we behave and interact with each other, it makes for a better situation. It makes you behave better. It makes you think about what you’re doing.

JTV produced the Noel Lloyd documentary. How did that come about?

(JTV graphic designer) Andrea Wilson noticed something online that one of the ministries was looking for someone to write a book about Noel Lloyd and she thought that was interesting. So she wanted to pursue that as a documentary. It was her idea, but we all discussed it and thought it was a good idea. We don’t have a lot of documentation about our local heroes and Noel Lloyd was someone who did a lot for the country.

What advice would you give to young people who want to get started in business?

Find your passion. All of us have something we’re better at than anybody else. A lot of times we don’t know what to do with it; we don’t understand what it is we’re supposed to be aspiring towards. But once you can find out from an early age, you’ll have a much better chance of being successful.

Interview conducted, condensed and edited by Jason Smith.