HomeARC ML 0929
THE "MUSIC WITH MEANING" SHOW!--By Father David DO929 13 December 1979
1. MARIA & I SUGGEST THAT ALL OUR FOLKS EVERYWHERE ACT AS AGENTS FOR THE "MUSIC WITH MEANING" SHOW, whoever's got the faith for it. Whoever likes it & thinks it's worth putting on their local radio station ought to go there & try to get it on. We don't have to hire some full time travelling agent like I was, or some super salesman; we've got plenty of super salesman!
2. ALL OF OUR FOLKS ARE SUPPOSED TO BE SALESMEN. Maria was inspired, I thought that was a very good idea. So far they have been fairly successful, going to the media, on several other occasions: Homecomings, "Guru" Letter & all the rest. We got some pretty good responses.
3. IT OF COURSE BEGINS WITH A GOOD PROGRAM, which he has--judging from the show that I have heard. I don't see why he should have to redesign his format or anything.--Not a bit! I think any one of them would be perfectly good for the purpose. Simon doesn't plug for money. He doesn't pull too hard for mail. He makes little gift offers: "Write in & we'll send you this autographed photo or this poem or this love letter".
4. THAT'S PERFECTLY LEGITIMATE, EVEN ON A PUBLIC SERVICE SHOW, where the station gives a time free & the show is offered to them free. It's a free exchange. You exchange your show with them for their free time. You send it to them on a free basis, & in this case, they can even keep the tapes, because it's a hassle for them to have to repackage them & send them back.
5. I NEVER GOT A PENNY FOR FRED'S SHOWS: We didn't sell'm, but we gave'm away free--both radio & TV--about 300 TV stations & about 1,100 radio stations! We simply offered to furnish the show free of charge & they furnished the time free of charge at least once a week.
6. "MUSIC WITH MEANING" IS A ONCE A WEEK SHOW, half an hour once a week, so it shouldn't be any problem trying to keep up with it. He can use the same ones he's been using for India, with a little change here & there; that's easier than making them completely new shows. I was amazed that he has been paying for time in that station & allowing them to keep the tapes! That is totally unheard of, & when he goes right to that Indian station, he ought to pick up all his tapes!--Or no more contract!
7. THEY'RE GETTING A PRICELESS STORE OF TAPES where they could run the show without him & keep it going in case he decides not to kick in their ante for the time! You can understand him giving them the tapes if they were giving him the time free. But paying for the time & allowing them to keep the tapes on top of it, that's ridiculous!!
8. SO HE MUST ASK FOR HIS TAPES WHEN HE'S THERE, a good time to get them, when he's going to re-negotiate a contract. From the programs that I have heard--& I've had plenty of experience at auditioning tapes--the show, as it now stands, & as I have heard it, is perfectly acceptable as is. All he gives is a box number, an address, & says to write to this box & we'll send you this little trinket or whatever it is.
9. HE DOESN'T ASK FOR MONEY. HE MUST NOT BEG FOR MONEY OR FUNDS. Now on that station he's paying for time on, he has a perfect right to plug for money!--But he hasn't been, obviously! Well, maybe it's of the Lord, because therefore his shows that he has already made are already perfectly designed for public service. (Now 1/4-hr, 1/2-hr or 1-hr!--Any length!)
10. THEY CALL THAT "PUBLIC SERVICE" WHEN YOU SERVE THEM THE TAPES & THEY SERVE YOU THE TIME--both free! So, I don't see any change necessary in the shows. I don't see any necessity at all to tone down the religious feature, but just to stay away from anything churchy. Fred preached the Gospel, a strong Gospel, on his show, both radio & TV, & it was very acceptable, but of course, his was admittedly a religious show. He even got off into controversial issues. Be sure to also stay away from political issues however.
11. I COULD HAVE GOTTEN OUT & GIVEN AWAY THOSE "MUSIC WITH MEANING" SHOWS that he's paying for, & gotten free time with them anywhere! They would have gone like hotcakes in the States, or any other countries with stations that run English language shows, with anybody that was faithful enough to have the faith to approach the stations & say, "Here, you can have the show free if you put it on free."
12. THERE'S NOTHING WRONG WITH TALKING ABOUT JESUS! I mean, you can talk about Him & the happy life He gives in the inside in the context of the show. But I certainly wouldn't start off with a hard sell on it being Jesus & Christian right off the bat. The way his old show was, they had a lot of good modern-style youth music, but with a message.
13. NOW THAT'S THE WHOLE IDEA OF THE SHOW: MUSIC WITH A MEANING, MUSIC WITH A MESSAGE. The whole idea of the show is music!--And the more music, the less talk, the better! I don't know as I even go too much for his long skits. I haven't heard too many of them because* we rarely receive the tapes, but he used to throw in a few little very short, cute skits in the old shows which I thought were good, & just long enough. (*Get'n'm now! GB'M)
14. IF HE'S GETTING MORE LONG-WINDED THAN THAT, I DON'T THINK IT WOULD GO OVER, (unless he wants to make it a special project for the children in the Family) because then you are getting into something which is not only entertainment but usually has a pretty strong message of some kind. Music is the name of the show, & music it ought to be!
15. HE OUGHT TO STICK TO MOSTLY MUSIC & ARTISTS & THEIR TESTIMONIES & things like that. And people are very interested in youth, especially in America where they can't control them & don't know what to do with them, & something that is for the young people & especially something, even like on Sundays, that's religious.
16. THEY HAVE A VERY HARD TIME SELLING TIME ON SUNDAY, especially Sunday morning. Sunday morning is absolutely dead! It's not even classified A-B-C-time, prime time, second time, third time or hardly even 10th time. They just cannot get anyone to buy it, because they figure everybody's asleep &/or in church, one or the other.
17. PEOPLE WHO GET UP EITHER GO TO CHURCH OR ARE OUT WASHING THE CAR or gardening or doing anything but watching TV or listening to the radio--& the ones that don't get up are sleeping late from their hangover from their night before.
18. SO STATIONS HAVE A VERY DIFFICULT TIME SELLING TIME ON SUNDAY MORNINGS, particularly. On Sunday afternoon things begin to pick up, & Sunday night things are in full swing again--everybody's watching TV again or listening to the radio or whatever they are doing. What time does he put the show on there? Sunday morning? And they're selling him time? It is the deadest time there is!
19. I BET THEY'RE TICKLED PINK TO GET THAT MONEY, because that is time that they can hardly sell at all! I know! It's dead time! They just consider it absolutely nothing! So that's why they put on nearly all their public service programs on Sunday morning. They are free shows, they get them free & they run them free because they can't get anything else!
20. AS FAR AS THE CONTENTS OF THE SHOW ARE CONCERNED, lots of music & very little talk & very little skit & even very brief testimonies of the musicians & things like that, & a few little offers, & be sure to throw in the address two or three times, "Write to this address". Or at least at the end of the show, if no more.
21. IF YOU WANT, MAKE OFFERS OF VARIOUS ITEMS; if he does that, that's up to him, what he's got available & what he wants to offer. "We'll send you the words to this or we'll send you the music or we'll send you the picture, photo of the artists", or whatever he does.
22. I WOULD SUGGEST THAT IN EACH AREA WHERE THEY TRY TO GET IT ON, THEY GIVE THE CPO 220, Athens, Greece as the address, & have him then even take the old Indian shows, & just time the announcement & erase it & superimpose a CPO 220 address there for it instead.
23. ALL HE HAS TO DO IS DEVOTE HIS TIME TO THE SHOW, make it a good show & give good service. He's going to have to make sure that he is able to produce tapes in quantity because it takes a lot of tapes. If you can imagine servicing 1,100 radio stations & 300 TV stations, it was a full time job for a shipping clerk! He was busy all the time.
24. WHEN I WAS WITH FRED, IT WAS A FULL TIME JOB JUST MAILING OUT TAPES & FILMS & making sure he got them back again. Some of them we never got back. Those stations even kept films, because it was an ideal show, & whenever they had a hole that suddenly developed unexpectedly when something didn't arrive for a Sunday morning show, they could always throw his show in & it would just fit anytime, anywhere.
25. THEY ALWAYS LIKED TO HAVE A FEW FILMS ON HAND that they could shove in when somebody didn't show up. So they even kept the films. And of course they kept the tapes like mad because they figured, well, after all, they're giving you the time, the tape is worth hardly anything compared to the time.
26. IN THE STATES, THE AVERAGE TIME ON PODUNK STATIONS WAS $1 A MINUTE. That's dirt cheap time: $15 for 15 minutes & so on. I don't know how much it is now. It's probably four or five times that now, because the dollar is worth one-fourth or a fifth as much.
27. AS FAR AS PRODUCTION IS CONCERNED, I THINK THE SHOW IS FINE AS IS. His appeals & offers & everything else will go over perfectly, legitimately & acceptably, in-offensively, just as is. Any station should be willing to at least allow him to do that, if they are going to get the show free. After all, you are not giving it away free for nothing, if you know what I mean. (It's even better now!--Dad.)
28. YOU EXPECT TO GET SOME KIND OF MAIL RESPONSE. Some of the guys used to balk at having Fred's address at the end of the show. I said, "What do you mean?--Every show wants to have some kind of audience response, or even mail response! You want to know if somebody is out there listening!" I said,
29. "YOU HAVE APPEALS ALL THE TIME TO WRITE IN OR PHONE IN & tell us how you like the show. You get fan mail". I said, "Who doesn't want to get fan mail? Why listen, we're certainly not going to furnish all this just for nothing. We expect to get a little something out of it. We give the address & we get the letters, & you get the free show.--So!"
30. THAT OF COURSE IS ON THE SALES END, & it's just that simple. Programs that he furnishes should have that CPO 220, Athens, Greece address, their most public box number, & something that is safe to give on the air publicly. As far as presentation of the show to the stations, this can be done by anybody who wants to & has got the faith for it & is willing to take a tape.
31. WE'LL SEND THEM TWO TAPES FOR ONLY $5 IF THEY WILL PROMISE TO GO TO THEIR LOCAL STATIONS & try to get it on, & write us back a report of what happened. Just like I used to have to report to Fred. He knew I was accomplishing something, or I couldn't have reported all the details I gave him. For example: If you follow my policy (& since it worked, we might as well),
32. PUT AN AD IN THE FN OFFERING TWO TAPES FOR ONLY $5 TO OUR FAMILY MEMBERS, two sample programs for only $5 if they will promise to go to all the local stations in their area & try to get it on one. Now, remember, once they get it on a station, that station usually wants an exclusive for the area, & they mustn't try to book it anywhere else.
33. THE STATION WOULD ALMOST ALWAYS ASK ME, "CAN WE HAVE THIS EXCLUSIVE FOR OUR AREA?" What you do is simply phone around to various stations, radio stations in this case, & you ask for the program director. He's the guy who handles the actual programming.
34. AFTER TV CAME IN, RADIO THOUGHT IT WAS GOING TO GO OUT ENTIRELY, & they almost collapsed for awhile, but finally they wound up finding how they could operate economically. Frequently I would walk into stations where the owner was the manager & the program director & the disc jockey all rolled into one, & he was sitting there spinning a turntable while I was talking to him.
35. HE WAS A ONE-MAN SHOW all by himself--especially if it was a little one-horse station of 100, 250, 500 or even 1000-watt station. So, you usually will get the right man when you go to these little radio stations. They've got a little two by four studio, & all they have to have is a little tiny cubicle of a room & a couple of turntables & a telephone line & some kind of an antenna, & frequently they use a community antenna with some other stations too.
36. YOU JUST PHONE UP FIRST & MAKE AN APPOINTMENT. You have got to have a sales pitch for the show. I usually had about a one-minute sales pitch. These guys are busy, & the radio guys are sitting there spinning the wheels & talking in between! Often they would say, "Just a minute, hold the line", & I could hear them in the background chattering away giving commercials.
37. AS SOON AS HE GOT THE NEXT RECORD ON, HE WOULD COME BACK & SAY, "EXCUSE ME, SORRY", or, if he was real busy & had a string of commercials to make he would say, "Could you call me back in half an hour?", or "Call me back in 15 minutes, I'm very busy right now." And you realise they are busy men, so you call later & say,
38. "I'VE GOT A REAL GOOD YOUTH MUSIC SHOW. It's got a certain amount of spiritual content, but it's real first class, top notch, modern youthful music. It's completely different, it's not a religious show, it just has little spiritual thoughts for youth" & that sort of thing.
39. "A YOUTH INSPIRATIONAL SHOW TO INSPIRE YOUTH TO BETTER LIVES & to love one another & be of service to the community & good citizens" etc., etc. And "Real great music! They'll love it. Nearly all music!--And it's free! We pay the postage & you keep the tape! You keep the cassette!
40. "ALL WE GET OUT OF IT IS: WE'VE GOT OUR ADDRESS ON THERE & WE WANT SOME FAN MAIL, & we've got our address on the end of it, to which they can write in case they need help, in case they need counsel or guidance or anything. We'll correspond with them & try to help them & guide them etc. That's all we ask.
41. "WE JUST HAVE AN ADDRESS ON THE END, & that's all, & you get the show free, you get to keep the tapes, providing you just furnish the time, any time you want to use it. It's not restricted to any particular time. You can use it on Sunday morning even, when it's almost impossible to sell time.
42. "I'D JUST LIKE TO HAVE YOU HEAR IT--one minute--five minutes--if you can't hear a 1/4 or 1/2 hour of it, why, just hear a little bit of it, to get an idea of the quality."--And I hardly ever got turned down! I almost always got an audition. I said, "Well, listen just a few minutes."
43. ONCE THEY GOT STARTED LISTENING, THEY NEVER QUIT! I never had a guy I think but once ever shut the machine off in the middle of the tape! And we had half-an-hour! They got so fascinated with such good music & everything that they just kept on listening, got so curious!
44. FRED HAD A TREMENDOUS BOTH RADIO & TV PERSONALITY, he made you feel like he was really talking to you, with lots of good music. For Fred's show, I said, "This thing is 20 minutes music, only 10 minutes of talk!" I said, "It's got more music than any religious show on the air! It's just terrific! It's just different!" I used to tell them, (MWM is too!)
45. "IT'S CHURCH-IN-THE-HOME FOR INVALIDS & SHUT-INS & people who can't get out to church. You're going to offer them a TV church service for which they will feel like they are in the audience!--Not one of these church take-offs where the preacher is not even preaching to you at all but preaching to his local congregation, & where TV is a kind of a side-show or afterthought & he's hardly even thinking about you, the TV audience!
46. "BUT THIS GUY IS TALKING RIGHT TO THE TV AUDIENCE, strictly for TV!" Well, I'd say almost the same thing for radio. And if you can just, on the telephone, persuade the guys to give you a date or an appointment to hear the show: "I'd just like you to hear it. You don't have to take it, I'd just like you to hear it. Let me come down & I'll let you play it."
47. (MARIA: GET YOUR WOMEN TO DO THE TALKING.) Yes! Get some nice pretty girl to do the sales! You get a nice pretty girl on the phone & let her do a little sales talk, a little FF-style fishin', & you're not going to have any trouble getting any auditions!
48. I JUST REFUSED TO TALK TO ANYBODY BUT THE PROGRAM DIRECTOR. I had secretaries & everybody else try to stall me off & say, "Well, what do you want? Tell me about it." I said, "No, I just want to speak with Mr. so-&-so". I had one gimmick that really helped out a lot & that was:
49. I FOUND OUT IN ADVANCE THE NAME OF THE PROGRAM DIRECTOR or the manager, so I just phoned up & asked for him by name. I didn't phone up & say, "Uh, excuse me, who's your manager, or who's the program director?" Then they've got you, because they know you don't know him.
50. OTHERWISE, IF YOU PHONE UP & ASK FOR HIM BY NAME, they don't know but what he's a friend of yours, you're a friend of his or an important business contact or a customer, & they hardly dare refuse to connect you with him. Just say, "I'd like to speak with so-&-so", by name. You ask for the guy by name. You find out before you phone who is the manager &/or who is the program director, whoever.
51. YOU COULD HAVE ONE OF THE MEN IN YOUR HOME PHONE IN ADVANCE & ask, "Who is your program director?" After you have his name, then you can have the woman of your choice call & ask for him by name & make her sales pitch. If it is a big enough station, a big station will have an owner, a manager, a program director & a disc jockey & all the rest. A little podunk station, they'll all be the same guy! So either way you need his name.
52. BUT YOU NEED TO KNOW TO ASK FOR THE PROGRAM DIRECTOR IF IT IS A BIG STATION. We found out that even the network stations would have holes on Sunday morning, with no net shows, & where they could use the show, something to fill in. So, phone them up, give them your sales pitch, & the main thing you ask them for is an audition:
53. "JUST LISTEN TO IT! THIS IS DIFFERENT! YOU'VE NEVER HEARD ANYTHING LIKE THIS BEFORE! It's terrific!" And I'm speaking of course of the American situation, but they imitate the Americans all over the world, so it would be virtually the same for any station that does any English-language programming at all. For they have programmed the same type of music, same type of sales pitches & commercials in similar style all over the World:
54. EVERYONE HAS MIMICKED AMERICA! If you listen to European stations, even if they are not speaking in English, they sound just like the Americans, typical disc jockies, the way they talk & use the same sound effects & all the rest of that baloney!
55. SO YOU MAKE A DATE FOR THE AUDITION, when it's convenient for him to hear it or a few minutes of it. Now with TV, they usually sat through the whole thing. On the tapes, radio stations, they usually didn't have to hear too much. Sometimes they would just spot-check it all the way through, because usually the guy is pretty busy. As long as the music & the quality was good, then they would usually accept it.
56. THE TAPES HAVE TO BE GOOD QUALITY & they have to be a good fidelity. Some of them, when put in their machine, even measured the fidelity, how high it went & how low it went, & to see if it was of their station's type of quality recording. But only a few times did I ever run into those who were that persnickety--usually they are FM stations.
57. YOUR FM STATIONS DON'T HAVE THE SAME COVERAGE, they aren't as far-reaching, but they are more popular & numerous now than they used to be, & they really go for music, & on a Sunday morning they might not have much. So they might go for it, especially if it's a small station of some kind. Every little bit counts.
58. GET ON A SMALL STATION & AT LEAST THE LOCAL TOWN CAN HEAR YOU. You get the audition & go in for it looking pretty & happy & smiley & sweet & fragrant & well dressed--boy or girl--& ask for the man by name, tell the secretary or receptionist--if he has one--you may have to catch him between discs--that you are there & ready for your audition.
59. I'D COME & KNOCK OR PUSH THE BUTTON OR SOMETHING. They frequently have a secretary or receptionist to answer the telephone, because that's good for business & commercial ads & whatnot, they often need somebody, they can't do everything. And I'd tell her I had a 4 o'clock appointment with Mr. So-&-so.
60. I WOULDN'T TELL HER ANYTHING ABOUT MY BUSINESS, THOUGH. She wouldn't know if I was a big buyer of time or whatever. I just had an appointment for such-&-such a time with Mr. So-&-so. So she would notify him, & sometimes he wouldn't remember, often he didn't remember. But once in awhile he would say: "Who?" And if he didn't remember, why then, all the more he was afraid not to come out for fear it might be somebody important.
61. I WOULDN'T EVEN TELL HER, "I'M MR. SO-&-SO OF CHURCH IN THE HOME", wouldn't even identity myself that much. I just let him find out, when he came out. And I had one good gimmick that really was a help: We had a beautiful brochure with pictures & description of the show on nice slick paper with photos & everything.
62. IT'S BIG HELP IF YOU'VE GOT A BROCHURE, usually about the length of a typing page, folded length-wise with front cover, name of the show, pictures of the jockey, Simon Peter, he's a nice-looking guy. Be sure you get Jeremy Spencer's name on there, the photos of the artists, describing them, etc.
63. THAT BROCHURE IS A BIG NECESSITY because even if you've told them everything, they've got something to keep in their hand to remind them of the show & with the address & phone number & whatever, so that if they ever do need it, even if they don't need it right now, they can keep it on file.
64. THEY'D OFTEN SAY, "WELL, I'LL KEEP IT ON FILE in a handy place right now, & if we need it, I'll write you later", & they often did! (Maria: They usually ask what organisation is behind it...) You can just say it's independent. Say it's an independent show--& it is!
65. WE'RE NOT CONNECTED WITH ANY RELIGIOUS ORGANISATION. In the strictest sense of the word we're not an organisation with ordained ministers, ecclesiastical hierarchy, some type of seminary or theological college for formal training of ministers, a definite doctrinal discipline, specific places of religious worship devoted to religious ceremonies, etc.--the Govt. definition of a denomination!
66. THAT'S WHAT I USED TO SAY FOR FRED: STRICTLY INDEPENDENT SHOW! Boy, we never ever said anything about the Soul Clinic or ever gave them any slightest hint that it had anything to do with the Soul Clinic or anything like that! Later on, they would find out on the shows, but I kept trying to keep Fred from saying anything about Soul Clinic, because that scared them, that title! (So would ours!--Ha!)
67. ANYWAY, YOU PHONE UP THE LOCAL STATION & you make the appointment for audition, you go in looking nice, & cheerfully introduce yourselves. Hand him the brochure, which has got to be good & make a good impact & impression right off the bat, & the tape. I'd usually have the brochure right on top of the tape box & hand it to them at the same time.
68. AND I HAD A FEW WISE GUYS--USUALLY THESE ARE EXCEPTIONS--say, "Well, I'm sorry, I don't really have time to listen to it right now, but if you leave it with me, I'll listen to it in my spare time & I'll let you know." I'd say, "Well, I'm sorry, but this my only copy & I have an appointment at another station. I have to take it there & they may want to book it". Then, right away, he's worried, thinking,
69. "WHAT IF THIS IS A GOOD SHOW & HE IS TAKING IT TO ANOTHER STATION & they may book it & get an exclusive & I'll lose it!" So he would say, "Oh well, all right, come on." There's a lot of salesmanship & psychology to it. But I never left a tape or a film, because if you do, nine times out of ten they'll never have time to see or hear it, & it's goodbye sample!
70. IF THEY DON'T HAVE TIME TO SEE IT WHEN YOU'RE RIGHT THERE PRESENTING IT, taking all the time & trouble to travel to their city & out to their station, which is often out in the boonies, & you had to hire a taxi to get there & have gone to all that trouble & made an appointment with them & they made the appointment with you & you're there on time, & then they don't keep it & say they're too busy, they'll probably never listen to it, & they might even lose it!
71. SO I WOULD SAY, "WELL, I'M SORRY BUT THIS IS THE ONLY COPY I HAVE & I'll just have to take it with me." I said, "However, if you're busy right now, I'll be happy to sit down here & read the paper or magazine & wait for half-an-hour or so, or even an hour, you know, until you're not busy." Well, a guy can hardly turn down an offer like that.
72. ONE THING YOU CANNOT DO TO THOSE GUYS, IS TO EVER GET THERE LATE! Because they are very busy men, & the slightest excuse will sour you with them. If you don't keep your appointments on time, then you're not going to get the tapes there on time, & you may not keep your word about the program. So you have to set a good example & show that you mean business by being on time!
73. YOU KEEP YOUR WORD, YOU DON'T TELL LIES, you show up not only on time but before-hand, & you don't waste his time waiting for you, but you get there & you're there & the programs are there & the brochure's there &, "OK, now, listen". And they nearly always did.
74. THERE WERE VERY FEW EXCEPTIONS WHERE THEY TURNED ME DOWN, once I got there, especially when I told them I couldn't leave the tape of the show. "Sorry! It's my only copy & I have appointments at other stations to audition it." Right away they are afraid they might lose it, so they want to make sure they hear it, or somebody else might get a real hit!
75. IF IT'S GOOD ENOUGH & THEY LISTEN TO IT & LIKE IT, why, then they ask you, "What's the deal?", & you say, "Well, it's free & you can keep the tapes! All you do is furnish the time, & you can use it any time you like. But it must be a regularly programmed time, not just any time you want just to keep it to fill holes!"
76. THEY CAN DO THAT, TOO, BUT YOU WANT THEM TO SET A DEFINITE SHOW TIME: "Just give me a time, & we'll start them coming." But if they couldn't give a date with a definite time, nothing doing! They have to give a date, when they want the show to begin, & the time, the day of the week & the time of day. If they would give me a date & a time, then we would start sending them.
77. (MARIA: IT WOULD HAVE TO BE FAR ENOUGH IN ADVANCE...) Always, always! Sometimes it was two or three months in advance. Usually a few weeks at least. Very seldom would they want it immediately. Once in awhile they wanted it immediately, & I said, "OK, I'll phone them right away, & you will have it within the week. They'll air mail it out right away, express."--Or, "Use this sample to start."
78. (MARIA: THAT WOULD BE IMPOSSIBLE WITH US. They would have to allow a few weeks...) Well, they are not usually in that big a hurry. Often I would say (& this was sometimes possible if they really meant business & really wanted to start it right away)--I would say,
79. "WELL, I TELL YOU, AS SOON AS I'M THROUGH WITH MY PRINT HERE, I CAN LET YOU HAVE IT, if you want to start next Sunday, & I'll phone my boss to shoot me one express, immediately, he can send it air express, & I get it the next day, a new sample."--And that way they knew they'd have it.--And he had already auditioned that one, so they knew it was good.
80. BUT YOU'VE GOT ONE TAPE RIGHT THERE, & IF THIS STATION REALLY BOOKS IT & gives you a solid time for it, you can afford to leave it with him, because you're not likely to want to book it on any other station, because nearly always the stations will ask, "Can I have an exclusive for it? Is it running on any other place, any other station in town?"
81. IF IT WAS, NOTHING DOING! "We just want our own shows." So, if they are approached just locally by local people, that's the only one they need. You start with that one & say you'll have another one in time for the next show.--And you may have to phone your MWM office to furnish them!
82. IT MAY BE WELL TO HAVE THE CRO OFFICES AS ASST. SUPPLIERS, they'll probably have to, because they will have to be within a fair, reasonable distance of the stations, & they'll have to handle some mailing out of tapes & booking & all the rest. Then, say they set a date & you start'm coming, & they often want to know who you are,
83. WELL, WHAT HAVE YOU GOT TO DO WITH IT?--"Well, we just are local folks who heard the show elsewhere & liked it, & we live here now & we'd like to hear it on our local station." And then you are saying good-bye & you've booked a date & a time & a day & say, "Well, thanks a lot! We'll be listening!" In other words, the station knows they can't get away with it, claiming they're taking the show & claiming they are programming it, & then not doing it. (Tell'm Ur inviting lotsa friends to listen too!)
84. IN FRED'S CASE, WE USED TO SAY, "Well, you know we've got quite a few people already that we know in this area. We'll notify them that the show is going to be on next month on Sunday morning at that time, & they'll be listening & waiting for it!" And the station knew they were pretty much on the spot!--They had to run it!
85. YOU ARE VERY THANKFUL & SAY, "There it is!"--And you can even leave the first tape with them if they need it, & say, "Bye-bye! We'll be listening!"--And then listen, keep after them!--If it doesn't come on when he said, phone up right away, immediately at that time & say, "What happened?"
86. (MARIA: HAVE EVERY MEMBER OF YOUR HOME CALL THEM!) Yes, have everybody there phone up & say, "What happened to the show? We heard it was going to be on? What happened to it?" Well, sometimes, between the time you were there & the time they decided to program it, they have actually decided to put it in another spot. And so they'll tell you,
87. "WELL, I'M SORRY, WE HAD TO CHANGE THE SPOT. We'll program it this afternoon or next Sunday" or whatever. Then you just say--you don't cause a stink or anything--but just, "OK, we'll be listening for it then." But the stationman knows there are people there monitoring & listening to see if it's really going to be used!
88. YOU DON'T JUST KEEP SENDING THEM FREE TAPES IF THEY ARE NOT USING THE SHOW! So, the local folks present it & they get the guy to audition it & book it, & then they monitor it to make sure it is on & stays on! And in some cases, they might even be able to get the D.J. to put in a local plug: "If you would like to contact some local members of the Music with Meaning Club or
89. "IF YOU WOULD LIKE TO GET ACQUAINTED WITH OTHER MEMBERS OF THE CLUB, HERE'S THE LOCAL PHONE NUMBER", & you can give a local phone number that people could respond to, if they would like to do that. And that's the way it is done. (Maria: Do the tapes go directly to the station?) Well, I don't know. We'd have to think that out & think it over, but I think so.
90. WHO IS THE MOST FAITHFUL?--THE STATION OR OUR KIDS? Our people move around an awful lot. I think you are safer to send direct to the station. If the local Family finds out they are not programming it at all & they are stalling, & when they keep after the station they don't do anything about it, all they have to do is tell the station,
91. "WELL, WE'RE GOING TO WRITE TO THE SHOW & TELL THEM YOU ARE NOT USING IT, so I guess they will stop your tapes". Then they should notify MWM immediately in an air mail letter or even a phone call, if it's close enough, to stop the tapes, so they don't waste any more tapes on them!
92. SO, THAT'S THE DEAL & THAT'S THE WAY TO DO IT, that's the way we did it, & we were on stations coast to coast & even some big ones, some of the biggest! I got our TV show on stations like WLW, KDKA & some of the biggest in the country! The only nut I was never able to crack was New York City! Boy, they're a tough bunch! Whew! (All they care for is money!)
93. NOT ONE STATION IN NEW YORK DID I EVER MANAGE TO BOOK! But I booked stations in Washington, D.C., Chicago & everywhere else! San Francisco & L.A. were pretty hard, but we got them on there off & on. Of course the very first station I ever got was Miami, which is pretty good! (It's even better now!)
94. DEAR SIMON SHOULD KEEP HIS SHOW LIKE IT WAS, like it first was. I really liked it that way. Why haven't we been getting the tapes now to monitor, to see what kind of show he's producing? (We do now!)
95. WE WANT TO GET THE TAPES IMMEDIATELY, just as fast as he's got a show finished, send us a copy. We want to audition them, & if there's anything we don't like, we can stop it. This is a mailing ministry, & you've got to be faithful & you have got to feed them, & you have got to fleece them as well, if possible, or you can't afford it! You can't do like we do the Magazine, just put them on a mailing list! You've got to handle each one according to what the need is & what the offer is & what kind of lit they want etc.
96. IT'S GOT TREMENDOUS POSSIBILITIES, if we can make it work. We'll see if the kids take it seriously, & prayerfully try to get it on their local stations, & at the same time try to give their local phone number for fellowship.
97. IT WILL APPEAL MOSTLY TO YOUTH, of course, which it should, young people, & if our local people are interested enough in getting it on the air, then they surely must be interested enough to deal with the results, such as phone calls & contacts & follow ups & lit, etc.
98. IT WOULD BE FAR BETTER, OF COURSE, IF THE LOCAL PEOPLE COULD HANDLE THE RESULTS. It would be to their advantage. We might sell them on that idea, that it's important to get it on the air, then they can reap some of the results & benefits, just like a local ministry. But if they feel like they can't handle it, why, then of course we are giving the "Music with Meaning" P.O. Box number anyway.
99. (MARIA: YES, I DON'T THINK THEIR LOCAL MAILING MINISTRY WOULD EVEN BE EQUIPPED & EXPERIENCED enough to handle it, because they just don't have the wherewithall to do it.) No, we'll be giving the MWM box number anyway on the program, & they would be writing in to the show. The only contact they have locally would be a phone number, that would be the best thing. Say, "If you would like to get in touch with someone locally, a member of the Club, why, here's the phone number!"
100. AND THE ANNOUNCER CAN THROW THAT IN LOCALLY. That's about it! There are a lot of wrinkles & details that will probably have to be worked out, depending on the reception & response & how many stations you get & how much mail you get. We are just going to learn as we go. But we will handle the mail response a great deal the same as we handle our WIM response, with the same type of follow-up & a great deal the same way.
101. SO LET'S GET THIS SHOW ON THE ROAD, FAMILY! Let's put "Music with Meaning" on every English language radio station near where you live! Let's put real meaning into their lives with our music on the air for everyone! Let's get out the message into all the world to every creature!--Amen?--Don't delay! Do it TODAY!
102. SEND FOR TWO SAMPLE MWM SHOW TAPES NOW!--ONLY $50! It's worth $5--But if you book it or not, both are yours to keep!--For many more hours of listening pleasure! So get on the ball & get on the air NOW!--Tomorrow will be too late!--Send for your MWM Show Tape TODAY! GBAKYAMYAB!
MWM SAMPLE SHOW ORDER
!
Enclosed is my $5.00 (U.S. or equivalent).
Please rush me my 2 MWM Sample Show Tapes so I can book it on a Radio Station in my area!
NAME:__________________________________
ADDRESS:_______________________________
STATE:_______________COUNTRY:________
--I understand that if I book it on a station or not, I get to keep both tapes & will receive another free for each additional Station I book!--Thanks! (Each tape contains 4 different shows--1 hour-play for friends!)
--Send to: Music with Meaning CPO 220 Athens, Greece.
(Allow two weeks to a month for delivery.)
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Copyright (c) 1998 by The Family
