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06/07/2017 08:30 AMOnce Dave Williams worked in an office building at the corner of Dopey Drive and Goofy Lane. Okay, so that was in Disneyland in Anaheim, California. Now he works at the studios of iCRV radio in Ivoryton, the Internet radio station that he started with his wife Ibby Carothers. The station, which went on the air in May 2015, has just celebrated its second anniversary.
And so, after some 3,200 air segments over the past two years, what has Dave learned about a start-up business?
“I learned doing a start-up in your mid-50s is exponentially more difficult than in your mid-20s,” he says.
Problems were exacerbated last September when a mistaken release of 600 pounds of fire-suppression powder at the Cumberland Farm in Deep River, engulfed Dave and Ibby, who were filling their car with gas. Both suffered lung problems.
“The accident disrupted our lives, disrupted our energy,” says Dave, who adds that he still fatigues more easily.
On a recent visit to iCRV, Dave, seated in front of the large control panel, looked comfortable with the electronic gear. He is in charge of advertising sales and the technical aspects of the station while Ibby concentrates on programming, but technical gear was new to him two years ago. He had always been in communications, but in marketing and business development. Then, as he described it, his last employer seemed “to appreciate younger people.”
Dave got his initial radio expertise from a friend who ran an audio engineering business. Another friend created the software that was necessary to run iCRV.
“I learned the technical stuff. Its doable, but it definitely takes patience and practice,” he says.
The station is now on the air 24 hours a day, rebroadcasting some segments that are still timely along with new programs. When he is not at the station, Dave checks to make sure everything is all right about 11 p.m. and then again at 4 a.m.
“Well, it’s a good five hours of sleep,” he says.
Although iCRV is heard through the Internet, Dave says that Internet radio is the way all stations now broadcast.
“The only difference is we don’t have a big aerial out front,” he says.
Many true Internet stations are what Dave calls horizontal, devoted to one area such as music. What distinguishes iCRV is that it is what Dave terms a vertical station, exploring many different areas from wellness and real estate to local theater and sports.
What Dave and Ibby, who was a former television weather caster and media producer, brought to the project, besides their professional skills, was their curiosity.
Dave grew up in Washington, D.C., and always knew he wanted to be involved in media. When he was at college, he was part of a group that syndicated student-made radio programs on public interest subjects.
“I was fascinated by the world of engagement, by how people tell stories and how critical information empowers them,” he says.
He worked on the business side of broadcasting at everything from network news to the Disney Channel, where his office really was located at the corner of Dopey Drive and Goofy Lane—but it wasn’t a Disney themed structure.
“Just a building,” he says.
According to Dave, iCRV now has some 20,000 listeners on a monthly basis. He says software can determine whether that number represents repeat listeners or, as in the case of iCRV, a total of 20,000 different individuals. The average time people tune in is 25 minutes. For some programs, the listener base goes well beyond the target audience in the Connecticut River Valley. Dave says that listeners from neighboring states tune in regularly to Muster Radio, a segment leading up to the annual Deep River Muster on Saturday, July 15 this year.
To mark the anniversary, iCRV has just debuted a new web page and a new cell phone app, which gives users the ability to search through iCRV program archives, to save the dates and times for favorite programs to personal calendars, and to get information on special deals from advertisers. The app, which is free, is downloadable from Google Play and the App Store.
The radio station started out in Chester before moving to its current location in Ivoryton, but with its tiny house on a trailer, it becomes a mobile platform traveling to events. The tiny house has an Internet connection, a chemical toilet, and air conditioning.
“I guess I could live in it—at least for a short time,” Dave says.
Live music broadcasts from the studio have been very popular, and iCRV is about to launch a new live music series from The Blue Hound Restaurant in Ivoryton on Monday, June 19 with Cosmos Sunshine, a New York musician originally from East Haddam. Steve Dedeman and Friends will follow that on Monday, June 26.
Dave says the station welcomes both ideas and volunteers.
“We hope community members keep helping us create content; people at any stage of life that have the passion and perspective,” he says. “We want to be part of the community; to embrace it and help shape it.”
For more information on iCRV radio, visithttp://icrvradio.com.