Harmonie Park Media Group sets up Internet radio station downtown

Harmonie Park Media Group is setting up a Internet radio station and cafe in downtown Detroit, a $300,000 investment that is expected to create at least six new jobs over the next five years.

Brothers Mark and Brian Pastoria and Jeff Holme are creating are rehabbing the first and second floors of 1427 Randolph in the Paradise Valley Cultural & Entertainment District, formerly known as Harmonie Park. The ground floor will house a cafe while the upper floors will be the home to the Internet radio station called UDetroit.com.

"My partners and I have been in the music business for 25 years and have a music studio on the third floor," says Holme. "After speaking to a lot of people in the radio and music business, we felt it was the right time to start an Internet radio station."

Holme adds the Internet radio station will have a Detroit-centric theme. "It's all about Detroit," Holme says. "It's primarily about music in Detroit. We'll talk about culture and sports, but first and foremost it's about music."

Making this happen is a $120,000 grant from the Creative Corridor Incentive Fund, a fund managed by the Detroit Economic Growth Corp that is focused on attracting creatively inclined start-ups to the lower Woodward Corridor. Harmonie Park Media Group will be investing $175,000 of its own money into building the business.

Source: Jeff Holme, partner of Harmonie Park Media Group
Writer: Jon Zemke

Read more about Metro Detroit's growing entrepreneurial ecosystem at SEMichiganStartup.com.