Interview with the TMI Radio CEO

Hop Wood, the CEO of TMI Radio has always been drawn to music. He majored in Marketing at Grambling State University. He came up in a time when the most influential artist to start in the South were just making headways like Ghetto Boys and Scarface. He even went to school with some of them. In late 2008, he started True Family Entertainment out of Red Bird in Dallas with his nephew Micah Hopwood. He later met a counterpart by the name of Andy Brown through a mutual coworker and found they had some similar interest and were both alumni of Grambling. They became friend’s overtime and began to look for ways to grow and support one another’s vision. Andy was an author and had started The Online Happy Hour on Blog Talk radio. He said in 2011, Andy found DFWIRADIO and started running his show from there. Hop Wood was the producer for the show and ran the boards. Hop Wood shared two powerful sayings that always stuck with him. Andy advised to never look at money as cash, look at it as value; because then you come to appreciate it more. This changed Hop Wood’s outlook on handling and making money. He said the second thing was to always have an elevator pitch ready. You never know who you will be in front of and you have to be ready to discuss what you are doing. He said this came true as he has meet stars from Master P, D. L. Hughley and others that were in the main stream eye.

As things grew at DFWIRADIO, Hop Wood produced Immense Music in 2012 that focused on independent and up and coming artist. The first hostess for the show was named Leigh. The second hostess was La Bell, known for her musical talent in her own right, was found during a spoken word night at Ten Eleven Grill in Dallas, TX. Her musical genius was easily seen and he discussed her becoming part of the team for Immense Music. Later they were able to add an additional leg due to inquiry called Immense Gospel. Felicia joined the team during this addition and manned Immense Gospel on Sunday’s.

All was going well with DFWIRADIO when he realized there was additional studio space available and started to research the space, cost, etc. As he was looking into it, he figured it would be a good idea to determine what he would name this place to radiate unknown independent artist. He told me he was driving with some friends and saw a billboard that said FYI. He thought this would be a catchy name for an online radio station. As he searched for the domain name, FYI quickly revealed it was not the name for his vision to be born to. He was driving for something unique, catchy, and timeless. As he continued to gander over names, he came to TMI. He searched for the domain name and it was open. He moved forward from there. After all, what a better name meaning Too Much Information for a station that would feature independent artist, clothing, one of a kind radio shows, and top notch advertising commercials. Hop Wood was focused on building the show base and market for these artist for growth and guidance. Immense Music and Immense Gospel did follow him to TMIRADIO. He now had to figure how to grow this new station and gain followers. Hop Wood started with creating a Facebook page and hit the maximum of 5K friends within a few days. He knew then he made the right decision to focus on the market of unknown/independent artist. As he shared, in this day it can be hard for an artist to be picked up by a label or get a contract. So many people listen to music now via computer and mobile devices. He recognized that this would have growth potential with the way the market is leaning and appears to be headed.

The first show that was added newly to the TMI family was The S.I.C show. It stands for Servant In Christ. It is a Christian based show that many times features spoken word. Their show is on TMIRADIO.com on Thursday at 6 PM.

TMI is over a year old and has listeners from the United States, Brazil, Britain, United Kingdom, China, Guam, Italy, Scotland, and Africa to name a few. The station gives callers the ability to call in and share thoughts and on some shows to visit the studio to participate. The atmosphere in the studio is welcoming by all the host and hostesses.

The newest leg of TMI will be starting soon, called the TMI Media Network online. As I discussed this with him, it sounds like a new state of the art idea. It is something you are not seeing everywhere, but I can see this being where additional growth will come. TMI Media Network will allow live streaming of events. I can’t say much, just stay tuned for more upcoming on this addition to the TMI family.

I can’t recall when I meet the brain behind TMI. I only remember running across his path a few times while enjoying myself at Ten Eleven Grill. I believe it was during the spoken word events and a few other events in between. He was a man of few words, polite, and seemed to know everyone. As I began to venture new waters into exposing my passion to write and start a blog. I was directed his way to discuss marketing and advertising. I was nervous as I had no idea what to say. He was very straight forward about his business and advised me to contact him to discuss marketing with him and to make it point to drop by the studio to see and meet some of the radio show host. The first time I went to the studio, my stomach must have been in shambles. I recall being so unsure about going down there. He assured me everyone would be friendly and open to letting me sit in on their shows. This was like traveling to a foreign country and not knowing the language or having a map. This dude has since become a mentor of mine and proud to say a friend. To the one’s with a business or independent artist that are looking to market, you should speak with him and watch your business grow. I have seen my blog grow in areas where his listener base is very strong. I have gone to what he focused on… I have become LOCAL, NATIONAL, and GLOBAL. I can promise you, you may not find another harder working man. Since I have taken up blogging… it was only right to pay tribute to someone that is helping me pave my own way. I bow to you my friend…Hop Wood.

You can tune in to the station by going to www.tmiradio.com. If there is not a show playing currently, there will be music from the independent artist. You can listen to recaps of the host shows by clicking on shows. I have listed below the show line up and hope you will take time to listen in, you won’t be disappointed.

**The times are listed based on CST zones, please adjust accordingly if you would be listening from a different time zone***

Monday

5pm – Ladies Perspective

6pm – Real Conversations

Tuesday

7pm – Online Happy Hour

Wednesday

6pm – Say Something

8pm – C.A.P. Show

Thursday

6pm – S.I.C. Radio Show

7:30pm – Class In Session

Friday Mix Down Friday

Saturday

12n – Immense Music

2pm – Blaq Like That -1st & 3rd

2 pm – Hardcore Beauty-2nd & 4th

Sunday

Gospel Mix Down