Since its move from the volatile community of De La Vega City, Spanish Town, the twin entertainment entity, House of Hits Records and MDTV, has seen a dramatic spike in its commercial business and general accessibility to the public.

"We are more central now. For a while, we moved to Portmore for a few months, and before that, it was De La Vega, so everything is more central now. We are located in a popular entertainment hub where there are other studios, so people will just drop by. We have more walk-in customers as well," Kalila Anderson, programmes manager of MDTV, said.

"It is just more convenient, I remember Digicel said they were trying to find MDTV and couldn't, so people who wanted to send us letters and invitations find it easier to find us now," she said.

New location

House of Hits Records and MDTV are now located at 3A-5 Upper Sandringham Avenue in St Andrew. Both House of Hits Records and the local cable station MDTV fall under the umbrella organisation, Mac D's Group of Companies.

The recording studio recently released a new Yardrock rhythm project which features a constellation of local stars as well as the label's in-house artistes, Droop Lion, Prophecy, Nesbeth and Stream, who were all signed this Summer.

"The Yardrock rhythm has been getting a lot of rotation on local radio stations, especially Nature's Rasta Tek Over Her Heart, and the Prophecy and Stream collabo, Summer Rain, is getting a lot of buzz. We are doing the medley music video next week. We are doing collaborations with major international artistes. We are open for recordings and for rehearsals. Persons wanting to contact House of Hits call 622-0737 or visit mdtvmedia.com," Anderson said.

Anderson said that it is clear that the stigma associated with the community created a stumbling block for a thriving business model.

"Spanish Town has a colourful history and the regular flare-ups of violence was intimidating to many people. So there was a stigma attached to De La Vega City. However, our experience with them is one of good virtue, we had a good relationship with the law-abiding residents. Unfortunately, the best business decision was to move up and relocate, and it was a wise decision," she continued.

The MDTV cable station has hired a new staff complement, and House of Hits has retained the services of the legendary producer Clive Hunt.

"Clive Hunt is always there overseeing projects for House of Hits. He is working on a one-drop project with Jah Snowcone now. Sasha Bling is on staff, lending us her expertise. Things are definitely looking up," Anderson said.