We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Shelby Gonzales a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.

Hi Shelby , thanks for joining us today. We’d love to go back in time and hear the story of how you came up with the name of your brand?

Channel 37 doesn’t exist.

Back before Netflix, before cable, when television was broadcast through the airwaves, there were only about 12 TV channels to choose from. In 1952, the FCC introduced the Ultra-High Frequency spectrum, which expanded the television broadcasting landscape to include up to 82 channels. However, flipping through channels you’d see 35, 36, 38… No channel 37. Why?

There was a huge-ass radio telescope built in Illinois in 1959. Its main purpose was to identify odd static noise that was originally identified by Karl Jansky of Bell Telephone Laboratories in the 1930’s while studying interference in radio waves used for telephone transmissions. Jansky suspected that this noise was coming from an extraterrestrial source, somewhere in the Milky Way. With this discovery and subsequent curiosity, the field of radio astronomy was born.

When UHF was introduced as a standard for television broadcasting, this presented a problem for the radio astronomers working with the telescope. Broadcasters were trying to scoop up the frequency that the telescope used, but the scientific community pushed back and the FCC ultimately reserved that frequency – channel 37 – only for radio astronomy use.

Really nothing to do with web development but I think it’s a damn cool story, and a catchy name.

Awesome – so before we get into the rest of our questions, can you briefly introduce yourself to our readers.

Computers and technology have always fascinated me. I spent all my time at home on the computer, learning and tinkering. I was one of those kids that had the most badass Myspace profile, friends at school would ask me how I did something and I’d write bits of HTML and CSS on notebook paper for them. I knew I was going to do something with computers pretty early-on in my life.

After high school, I started at a community college majoring in computer programming. During that time, I was working full-time and climbing the ranks in the pizza world. It was tough juggling life and work, so school had to be put on hold more than a couple of times. Eventually, I became a general manager of said pizza world. While I am very grateful for that time and all the skills the restaurant biz taught me, I am most thankful that it taught me that I didn’t want to make that my career and I needed to finish my degree and leave my comfort zone to do what I’ve always wanted to do.

I quit that job in 2016 and in 2017, began my first job in the tech world while I went back to school and also launched the first iteration of my business under the name Jumpin’ Fred Flash (an homage to my favorite Rolling Stones song).

Fast-forward to now, I’ve rebranded, and gotten really good at what I do. I have a full-time job as a web developer, along with running Channel 37 Online. My favorite thing about what I do is learning about my clients’ businesses and meeting people as passionate about what they do as I am about what I do. The feeling I get when I show a client the online version of their business and they fall in love with it is truly unlike anything I’ve experienced in any other job I’ve had.

I do it all: from design to building, all the annoying and confusing parts of putting together a website, all the fun parts of putting together a website. This career allows me to put together the artsy design-snob parts of my brain and the tinkering problem solving parts, and make some really cool stuff.

What’s worked well for you in terms of a source for new clients?

Definitely word of mouth. My business is me. I make sure my clients have a great professional experience throughout the process, and after. But I’m also just a fun person to talk to and be around, and I think that personal touch is something you don’t typically get with other web development/design people or companies. So, when I get a new inquiry from a potential client that says “I know ____ and they said you built their website and recommended you” – I absolutely love that.

What do you think helped you build your reputation within your market?

This year I’ve been really focusing on and investing in building brand awareness since relaunching in January. Stickers in dive bars and breweries, merch, ads – anything I can fit into my budget. My target market is local craft breweries and tap rooms, which also happen to be some of my favorite hangouts. So, just being out making connections, and building relationships with people and other business owners is huge to me. Let’s talk about your website and have a beer? Sure!

Contact Info:

• Website: channel37online.com
• Instagram: instagram.com/channel37online
• Facebook: facebook.com/channel37online
• Linkedin: linkedin.com/company/channel-37-online