I was reflecting on some calls I went on to sell blocks of time at an AM station I managed.
By this time I was living 30 minutes out from the northwest suburbs. I get a call from a guy that had a show on another station. He was born in Pakistan but his parents came here when he was a child. We schedule a meeting.
I drive in to town and intentionally want to be about 10 minutes early. About 5 minutes from the Starbucks where we are to meet, he calls to say something has come up and he can't make it. He gives no reason and I didn't ask. I get it. Stuff happens. We reschedule for the same time, same place the next day.
I arrive and had been at Starbucks nearly 30 minutes. He's about 20 minutes late. Traffic might be the cause or he might be having trouble finding the spot. I call and it goes to voicemail. About 15 minutes goes by and he calls back explaining his wife was to go to the parents/teacher conference for their son but at the last minute he had to go instead of her. His phone was off for the meeting. I'm thinking a courtesy call to say he needs to move the meeting to an hour later would sure have been nice. He says he is heading there now. In 30 minutes he shows up. We go to order coffee and he says he is hungry. He wants me to take him to a local Pakistani restaurant. There are none in this area of town and I ask if there is something else. He asks what is around there, I point out several restaurants in the shopping center where we are. He spots a barbecue restaurant and asks "Texas barbecue?" I say yes and we head there.
He asks what I'm getting. I say I'll get some fries because I had lunch about 2 hours prior and wasn't really hungry. I made some menu suggestions to him. He ordered fries too saying he really wasn't hungry either.
Sitting in our booth, a rather shy young woman is walking around the dining room with fresh baked rolls offering bread to each table. When the lady speaks, this guy gets really animated and loud saying he loves her accent (southern drawl). He says "Say something else". She blushes and looks at me. I lower my eyes to indicate I'm embarrassed for her as he keeps asking over and over. We were there about 2 hours and this poor girl had to go by our table about every 15 minutes where he kept asking her to say something. And he always took a roll.
The first hour or so was how he had the best radio program in the city and advertisers were begging for spots because he had so many listeners. I finally, out of frustration and worry he'd choke with how much he was patting himself on the back, I say I am not concerned with the size of the audience but his ability to pay for the time.
At this point he berates the last station that cancelled him. It seems he was to pay every Monday but never did. It was usually Wednesday or Thursday and not always the full payment. The GM had to chase him for the money (something he never stated but I know the scenario). He wrote letters stating if he couldn't get to the point his was paying on time he would be cancelled. He said he had to collect from clients and sometimes he needed until Thursday to get the money he needed. Now the truth is told. He really doesn't have all that advertising and can't pay on time. I tell the guy he promised to pay on Mondays and didn't so he was breaking his contract and should not be surprised the GM cancelled it.
I tell the guy he'd have to put up a deposit of the first week and then pay of time, every time. Not a problem he says. We talk rates. It was the usual: give me a break on rates so I can get things going, then I'll pay the going rate. I concede to $1,500 a week to start and then to $2,000 a week at 6 months. He had been paying $1,750 a week at a station with half the coverage of the station I represented.
He says he is ready to start anytime but he needs us to give him the first month free because he has to re-establish his audience and sell his advertisers.
By now I'm ticked off. I say that is crazy and obviously we aren't going to do a deal and no other station would do that deal. I suggest we call it a day. I got up and left as he suggested I sit back down.
For the record, he wanted 7 to 10am weekday mornings.
By the way, of all the stations in town that leased time, he never showed up on any of these stations. Later I was talking to a guy with a really successful Bollywood music program, buying about 40-50 hours a week. I mention the fellow. He looks at me and laughs. He says 'you didn't buy what he was selling, did you?".
By this time I was living 30 minutes out from the northwest suburbs. I get a call from a guy that had a show on another station. He was born in Pakistan but his parents came here when he was a child. We schedule a meeting.
I drive in to town and intentionally want to be about 10 minutes early. About 5 minutes from the Starbucks where we are to meet, he calls to say something has come up and he can't make it. He gives no reason and I didn't ask. I get it. Stuff happens. We reschedule for the same time, same place the next day.
I arrive and had been at Starbucks nearly 30 minutes. He's about 20 minutes late. Traffic might be the cause or he might be having trouble finding the spot. I call and it goes to voicemail. About 15 minutes goes by and he calls back explaining his wife was to go to the parents/teacher conference for their son but at the last minute he had to go instead of her. His phone was off for the meeting. I'm thinking a courtesy call to say he needs to move the meeting to an hour later would sure have been nice. He says he is heading there now. In 30 minutes he shows up. We go to order coffee and he says he is hungry. He wants me to take him to a local Pakistani restaurant. There are none in this area of town and I ask if there is something else. He asks what is around there, I point out several restaurants in the shopping center where we are. He spots a barbecue restaurant and asks "Texas barbecue?" I say yes and we head there.
He asks what I'm getting. I say I'll get some fries because I had lunch about 2 hours prior and wasn't really hungry. I made some menu suggestions to him. He ordered fries too saying he really wasn't hungry either.
Sitting in our booth, a rather shy young woman is walking around the dining room with fresh baked rolls offering bread to each table. When the lady speaks, this guy gets really animated and loud saying he loves her accent (southern drawl). He says "Say something else". She blushes and looks at me. I lower my eyes to indicate I'm embarrassed for her as he keeps asking over and over. We were there about 2 hours and this poor girl had to go by our table about every 15 minutes where he kept asking her to say something. And he always took a roll.
The first hour or so was how he had the best radio program in the city and advertisers were begging for spots because he had so many listeners. I finally, out of frustration and worry he'd choke with how much he was patting himself on the back, I say I am not concerned with the size of the audience but his ability to pay for the time.
At this point he berates the last station that cancelled him. It seems he was to pay every Monday but never did. It was usually Wednesday or Thursday and not always the full payment. The GM had to chase him for the money (something he never stated but I know the scenario). He wrote letters stating if he couldn't get to the point his was paying on time he would be cancelled. He said he had to collect from clients and sometimes he needed until Thursday to get the money he needed. Now the truth is told. He really doesn't have all that advertising and can't pay on time. I tell the guy he promised to pay on Mondays and didn't so he was breaking his contract and should not be surprised the GM cancelled it.
I tell the guy he'd have to put up a deposit of the first week and then pay of time, every time. Not a problem he says. We talk rates. It was the usual: give me a break on rates so I can get things going, then I'll pay the going rate. I concede to $1,500 a week to start and then to $2,000 a week at 6 months. He had been paying $1,750 a week at a station with half the coverage of the station I represented.
He says he is ready to start anytime but he needs us to give him the first month free because he has to re-establish his audience and sell his advertisers.
By now I'm ticked off. I say that is crazy and obviously we aren't going to do a deal and no other station would do that deal. I suggest we call it a day. I got up and left as he suggested I sit back down.
For the record, he wanted 7 to 10am weekday mornings.
By the way, of all the stations in town that leased time, he never showed up on any of these stations. Later I was talking to a guy with a really successful Bollywood music program, buying about 40-50 hours a week. I mention the fellow. He looks at me and laughs. He says 'you didn't buy what he was selling, did you?".
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