The People's Right to Choose The AddisKetema Show is based on an idea that was born 8 years ago. Producer Mad Marvelous wondered why Ethiopian Music videos were not being shown on the major US video programs like BET, VH1 and MTV. When he didn't get answers he liked, he started wondering about the possibility of opening a studio in Ethiopia and also streaming media content online. There were some early efforts in this regard but it took a while for things to click. Mad Marvelous began to work on other music related projects and Millennium Studios started releasing albums for several unknown but up and coming artists. Still Mad wanted to produce content that could penetrate the major media outlets and felt that if successful, doors could be opened to bring greater exposure for Ethiopian music which would create more opportunities for artists. Mad wanted to create an MTV style platform given that it seemed unlikely that the other shows would pick up Ethiopian music and give it consistent airtime. After opening the Studio in Ethiopia and piloting a beta version of a video show idea called the "Viva la Vega Show", Mad returned to the Washington, DC area and decided to relocate Millennium Studios to Atlanta in August of 2006. He then launched a relatively undercover and small scale talent search to find faces and personalities that he could develop products around. Around the same time, family members pulled some strings to purchase and setup broadcasting time for him on local Comcast and Charter Cable channels. He then discovered the Ethiopian Television Network (ETN) and contacted them about broadcasting advertisements. To his surprise, Mad was also told by ETN that they offered airtime for independent productions. A few weeks later Mad visited ETN's offices in the DC area and was even more amazed regarding their setup and excited about the possibilities of further collaboration. The two negotiated a strategy for the production of 4 possible shows with AddisKetema being the first pilot. Still Mad had not developed a comfort level with the right personality to host the show. This was a difficult challenge given the difficulty of finding interested parties who would take him seriously. Mad is not the flashy type and sometimes that throws people off. He started conceptualizing the format of the show and considered a few candidates as potential hosts for show. The more he thought about it the more comfortable he felt with approaching Beni Kebere, the current host with the idea of hosting it. After learning that Beni was an experienced DJ, Mad began sizing him up as a potential host for AddisKetema. Beni went home to visit to Ethiopia and take care of some personal matters. Upon his return, Mad presented the idea to him and the shy and hesitant Beni agreed. Production started shortly afterwards and the first challenge was to come up with a name for the show. Originally, the two names that were chosen were "Hamoos with Beni" and "And Seat". ETN told Mad that they already had a show by that name ("And Seat") so then the search was on for a replacement. With the submission deadline for the first episode around the corner. Beni and Mad worked hard at coming up with an alternative name. The two that stood out now were "Video Ketema" and "Addis Ketema". Based on additional input from family members, "AddisKetema" was chosen. After that, the first episode of AddisKetema was broadcast on ETN on December 28, 2007