The Rest of the Story

The things I have learned. The highest paid radio personality today? That would be Paul Harvey and he is paid $10 million a year; all part of a $100 million/10 year contract with ABC. And he is now in the seventh year of that contract. At the age of 87. There is already some talk of another 10 year contract, starting in 2010. And at the age of 101, Paul would have to look for another job.

Why is that interesting, besides the fact that he gets paid a lot to do very little? After all, that is what sports/music and film stars do every day. Well, what interested me was the fact that he makes that kind of money because he sells things. He sells radios and he sells vacuum cleaners among other things. And it’s his style, his folksy and personal touch that sells. You just know that he has a Bose radio at home and listens to it while he vacuums the floor with his Oreck vacuum. I don’t normally listen to his program and yet I know that is what he sells. Powerful.

The advertising industry is in flux at the moment; looking for the magic formula to consistently sell things on the internet. Pop-ups irritate and we all have ways to deal with them. Whenever I Google a product, I always avoid the ‘commercial’ selections at the top of the page and on the right hand side. I’m looking for an unbiased source; a ‘Paul Harvey’ source. If I go to the sites that offer product reviews, I’m usually turned off by the poor writing skills of the reviewers. And the vast numbers of reviews. It’s simply too much to read.

So now I segue from that story to… I just received my latest issue of Cook’s Country magazine. A real favorite. I love the format; a real magazine! It’s 10” x 12”, a size that used to be common. It has great photos, the recipes are simple and the writing is done in the style of ‘common folks’. And there’s no advertising. A real plus.

Now, if someone wanders across my flog here; will I sell them on the magazine? Will they rush out and subscribe? (Maybe ‘rush’ is the wrong word) I would bet that hearing good things about a product from a person, who appears to be unknown in the media sense, would motivate that someone to believe and to try the product. I know I would.

Let’s say I just sold 10 subscriptions to Cook’s Country. Can I get paid? And how do I do that, again and again? Michelle?

And the rest of the story? Fred Thompson is slated to be Paul's replacement if he doesn't get that other job. So let's make sure we all get a chance to hear Fred selling vacuums and radios.