BASSETERRE, St. Kitts – A NATIONAL of the Federation, who has been residing abroad for over 30 years has been trying to play a pivotal role in promoting St. Kitts and Nevis and furthering its existence on the map.
Leon Peets, more popularly known as Rico, owns and operates DaFlava Radio which is a 24 hour, seven days a week, internet radio station that features celebrity radio personalities.
Peets is a respected radio personality with over ten years of knowledge in the field. He has created quite a name for himself and has a wealth of experience and achievements.
He launched Natural Vibes Sound some years ago, where he was the featured DJ in the Busta Rhymes and Sean Paul’s ‘Make It Clap’ remix music video, as well as in Sean Paul, Lady Saw and Beenie Man’s ‘Bossman’ videos. Natural Vibes Sound was then featured in the Mos Def and Faith Evans’ ‘Brown Sugar’ music video and was also featured in the Fader Magazine.
Peets, who is a proud Nevisian, said for all his years of living in the US, he would hardly hear people mention St. Kitts and Nevis and it bothers him greatly, because he is very passionate about his country.
He added that even when he tells people where he is from, they often say that they have never heard of it. Therefore he felt he needed to play a role in getting the Federation’s name known.
In the interview, Peets highlighted a number of situations where he was told of many islands, but the Federation was never included.
“There is so much more that can be done… this is the 15th year for the Music Festival and there are so many people who do not know about it, but yet they know about other festivals that have been operating over a shorter period. We have to ask ourselves why,” he pointed out.
Peets stated that he tries as much as possible to use his medium to promote the Federation. He also noted that he recently reached out to the St. Kitts Music Festival Committee and told them that he would air their ads for free.
It surprised them. It was an offer too good to be true. They accepted and his radio station is currently running the St. Kitts Music Festival ad along with their promotional poster on his website.
He indicated that he has also been trying to expose the music of the artistes in the Federation. In an attempt to do so he has reached out to a number of them and have already started airing their songs on a daily basis.
Peets said he thinks there are many artistes in the federation with great potential but lack professionalism and need to learn how to promote themselves better.
His radio station is one of the top stations in Atlanta and it also carries personalities such as DJ Kevy Kev and DJ Choice One, who are also both nationals of the Federation. Some other personalities include Nikki Z who was once a Hype TV host, and popular reggae singer Gramps Morgan of the Morgan Heritage group.
DaFlava radio is an international station which broadcasts not only in the US but as far as Senegal, Gambia and the UK. On Wednesdays DJ Kevy Kev also does a link up show with Freedom Radio in St. Kitts from 10:00 p.m. to midnight while DJ Choice does one with WinnFM on Fridays from 5:00 p.m. to 8:00 p.m.
Peets indicated that he has plans to open a radio station in Nevis in the near future. He said although he has been discouraged by many people he has continued to move forward with his plans.
“I want to change radio as we know it, so I am hoping to get an FM license and it will be a branch of DaFlava radio with some of the programmes coming from the US,” he explained, while noting that he would also like to broadcast to the surrounding islands.
Apart from using his station to promote the Federation, Peets is presently constructing a website called Ricovibes which he intends to use in every way possible to endorse the Federation.
