Interview with Chris Elkington, Managing Director of EmCan Media, incorporating
Oasis Fm, Canarian Weekly and HFM Ibiza.
Q. How did The Entertainment Awards come about?
A. The idea was born out of a brain storm. At the turn of the year the
morale of the island was quite low, the island appeared quiet, the weather
was not great and venues had just received changes to the smoking laws.
As a company we looked at what we could do with different events, competition,
promotions etc throughout the year. Now one of these ideas was to launch
The Entertainment Awards, as the island has changed a lot with new acts
and venues since the last David Alexander Awards some years ago. Having
myself been involved in the David Alexander Awards I felt if we did it
then we needed to include Craig, who writes the entertainment page for
Canarian Weekly, as part of the team and more importantly a different
voting system than previous awards to ensure fairness.
Q. Is it not quite contentious that there is category for best
radio DJ and yet it is being jointly run by Oasis Fm?
A. No, on the contrary. This category is open to all Radio DJ’S,
whether they broadcast on Power Fm, Gold Fm or indeed Oasis Fm. The only
stipulation is that the DJ has to be Tenerife based.
Q. Many sceptics would say that the voting which begins on Friday
21st April is open to abuse, what would your response to that be?
A: Of course, some people will think that but voting by text is simple.
Our SMS system will accept as many texts as you wish to send and a proportion
of that money goes to charity. However, the beauty of the technology means
that only one will be counted, we are able to eliminate duplication. All
voting data will be available following the event if anyone wishes to
view it. It’s key if the awards are to have credibility that the
voting is not manipulated and fair.
Q. What will the event itself be like?
A. The Tenerife Entertainment Awards are taking place at Pleasure Island,
21st May 2pm and will be hosted by Nathan Swift. We chose Nathan as host
as he is well known on the island, but, no longer lives here so he’s
neutral. The event itself will be spectacular due to the volume of production
work being put into it. It is also a possibility that The Entertainment
Awards will be broadcast live on television - watch this space!
Q. Now there are two categories that can’t be voted for
until the day, how will that work?
A. There are two categories - Best Male Singer and Best Female Singer,
the nominees will perform live at the event and then votes will be cast
by the audience and listeners to the radio and on-line for their favourite.
Q. What other events are Oasis Fm and Canarian Weekly arranging
this year?
A. We have a whole host of things coming up later in the year some I can
share with you and others are so exciting that they are being kept under
wraps for now. As well as Ministry of Sound will be working with HED KANDI
broadcasting at the weekends and at Christmas we will have a special event
for schools and children, details will be released nearer the date.
Q. What would your comments be to those who think The Entertainment
Awards are just a ‘flash in the pan’ and not worth supporting?
A. Potentially it’s one of the largest events that Oasis Fm and
Canarian Weekly have organised as it will be a regular event, but it needs
the support of not only the general public nominating and now voting for
a winner but those from the industry themselves. We would hope that The
Entertainment Awards are fully supported by both the entertainers and
venues alike as it’s for them and it will be a bi- annual event.
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