Happy Birthday to Us!

Everyone has a few special dates or milestones that become lifelong memories. I have a long list of them – plenty of conversational fodder for get-togethers over a beer or a coffee.

8 June 2020 is one I will never forget.

To set the scene, COVID-19 has been spreading through the country since the first week of February and lockdown is imposed on 15 March. I spend 2.5 months trying to work from home and produce virtual (online) events. As a hobby, I start Radioweekend – a web radio station and a way to socialise with friends, mimicking the pirate radio stations of the 80s and 90s and reliving a former role as a radio producer at Volos Municipal Radio (96-99).

For those of you new to the terminology and practice, a web radio station, AKA internet radio or online radio, is an audio broadcasting service that transmits continuous, live or on-demand audio content over the internet rather than through traditional AM/FM airwaves. Listeners tune in using web browsers or dedicated mobile apps instead of standard physical radios. And instead of sending out electromagnetic signals via physical radio towers, internet stations convert audio into digital data formats, such as MP3 or AAC, and use streaming technology to transmit the content.

Back to the story. Out of nowhere, the company I have been working with as a production and installation manager for several years suddenly dies from the effects of the pandemic. The news is broken to us on a Friday afternoon. I spend the weekend broadcasting on Radioweekend and thinking about the future. Working in events, broadcasting and entertainment since 1995, I have experienced many, many changes in this industry and one vital lesson I have learned is that flexibility and a willingness to adapt and adopt new trends and technologies is key to survival.

On Monday 8 June 2020, I make my decision: I am going to become independent. I will build my own company. It will be called Crowdlink. The name is hugely relevant. ‘Crowd’ equals people, audiences, attendees, communities, participants; ‘link’ equals connection, communication, bridges, bringing people together, engagement. I create a Facebook page. I ask the designer Sego, a very good friend of mine, to come up with a logo. And so it begins.

Fast-forward 6 years. Crowdlink is now a limited company with full-time technical, development and administration teams; a fleet of vehicles; a warehouse stocked with an inventory of road-ready AV and IT equipment; an editing suite; a live-streaming studio; and crew and resources to cover any size or scale of production project. We have established relationships, longstanding clients and trusted colleagues. Theo Zioutos is a name the industry turns to for advice and expertise.

So, we are celebrating Crowdlink’s birthday. As a token of our gratitude for putting us where we are today, we are gifting all of our clients, old and new, a 10% discount on full-service RFPs received this week. We hope you’ll join us in our celebration. Here’s to Crowdlink, here’s to you, here’s to the next six years and the changes they will bring!