TORONTO-LIME.com exclusive interview with Synergy CEO, Peter C. Lewis
It is a small screen callaloo that leaves the sweet taste of Caribbean diversity sizzling on your tongue. Synergy TV is three years old, and it is stronger now than ever.
Trinidad’s only TV station committed to locally developed music programming first flooded the airwaves like a much needed downpour in March 2004. Since then, it has grown from a repetitive reel of primarily foreign-produced music videos, to a veritable benchmark for quality home-grown entertainment.
The thriving cable channel is the brainchild of former Xtatik frontline vocalist Peter C. Lewis. In decades past, Lewis was a member of the San Fernando vocal group Bread Boys, before recording his first hit Susanna with Atlantik. For Lewis, Synergy TV is a long-time dream finally become real. The visionary CEO says he has always believed that in regards to audio and video, one ought to accompany the other.
The word synergy means cooperative action. Drawing on insider experience as an artiste, combined with eight years as the owner of the film and television production house, Bread Boy Entertainment, Lewis’s career demonstrates some synergy of its own.
With songs like Tay Lay Lay, Gone Clear and Big Truck fading with the drunken memories of carnivals gone by, many have speculated that Lewis has kissed his singing days good-bye. “No, not really. [I could] never personally do that,” said Lewis “Every now and then I still run and jump up and do that kind of thing. You never really lose that. When de time is right I’ll do de live thing again.” In the meantime, he describes his relationship with his former band mates as ‘cool’, sharing that he recently returned with them from a trip to Jamaica carnival.
Synergy has become top priority. Lewis takes an active role in the operations at the studios on Tragarete Road in Port of Spain. Whether conceptualizing original show ideas or hosting Pete’s Picks on-location at home or abroad, Lewis is a necessary ingredient in the stew.
“To be honest I been missing the travelling with the band, but I travelling right now with Synergy. We’re trying to go a lot of places and do a lot of things,” said Lewis regarding current cost analyses underway to make the station available in North America via satellite. At present, only select Synergy programs are available in the United States on the Caribbean International Network in New York City.
One such program is season two of the wildly popular Synergy Soca Star. Similar to its US counterpart American Idol, Soca Star leaves the fate of talented hopefuls up to both the opinions of the viewing public and the judgment of industry professionals. The choice to limit the competition to soca music came easily for Lewis. “Trinidad is soca. We have soca artists who go out on the circuit. Is a big ting for us. I mean look at how people making a living out of it, living comfortable now. Soca is our ting. I can’t teach nobody how to be a reggae artist and even though reggae picking up in Trinidad now, it’s not our thing. Soca is we ting, so we have to deal with it from that perspective,” said Lewis.
Umi Marcano reigned supreme in season two, but Lewis says the real measure of the program’s success thus far is derived from season one. “We actually did make Fireball a star. He came to Toronto recently. That is the whole trick of it,” said Lewis. “You have to get these kids into the mainstream and ting. They have to be able to want it as well,” said Lewis. In June, the station hopes to create the same kind of buzz over the next Synergy Super Model.
Beyond developing new talent and beauty, it is clear that Lewis is committed to helping Caribbean culture as a whole penetrate the mainstream. Lewis, however, is not the only one vying for eyes in this pursuit. In 2006, multinational conglomerate Viacom introduced MTV Tempo to the list of cable options for Caribbean viewers. In the shadows of a broadcasting giant, Lewis’s wry optimism glows brightly.
“Someone could come with a next channel in the morning and people would watch that too. You hadda understand that you’re on cable and people will always want to watch something,” said Lewis “and competition is good, because it gets you into thinking and doing the things you have to do to always be on top. If it affected anything, it’s just in terms of making us be better at what we do.”
For more information on Synergy TV visit www.synergytv.net
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