Ode To The Clown!

In my early 20’s I bought a small AM radio station in New Port Richey Florida (just north of Tampa) the station was about to go dark, in broadcasting means go off the air due to financial trouble.  I went to the owner and said, “I would like to buy the station.  However, I don’t have any money to give you, but I’ll take over the debt service.”  He laughed me out of his office...two weeks later he and I made the deal. It’s amazing how things change over time!

I borrowed some money from family (don’t ever do that by the way) to pay the attorney, buy new stationery, change the locks, etc. The station was located at 1500 AM the worst end of the dial.  It was a 250-watt day timer, meaning it could only be on the air during daylight hours.  I was the owner, general manager, general sales manager, program director, on air talk show host, grass cutter, bathroom cleaner and so on.  The one great thing the station had going for it was this off the wall new talk show by some guy named Rush Limbaugh. Rush started out with 56 stations and my station WPSO AM was one of them.  I’ll write another blog on that story some other time, in any event, a month after I bought the station Rush took off!  His show became a national hit and the syndicator wanted a bigger market so, Rush moved down the road to WFLA in Tampa.

The station had a long history in the area and had a loyal following however, the demo was 50+ in that part of Florida that’s really young!  Like the pervious owner I too found getting advertisers to be challenging (to say the least).

The guy who owned the local Chrysler dealership was really tough.  He would spend tens of thousands of dollars in advertising but I could never get him to spend a dime on my station.  It was always the same old line “nobody listens to AM,” “your signal is too weak,” “your demo is too old.”  I would smile and offer evidence to the contrary including showing him hard facts that my listeners buy more Chrysler’s than any other make of car outside of Lincoln.  Nothing worked.

His office was what everyone thinks of an old time car dealership.  Smokey yellow tint on the walls and clowns everywhere.  I’m not kidding, there were pictures of clowns, paintings of clowns, statues it was full of clowns.  

I returned back to the station and sat in the chair across from my desk totally worn out thinking about what’s next.  As I sat there I’m looking at this awful picture that was mounted behind my desk, it was this huge painting of a clown crying over unpaid receipts.  The painting along with the office furniture came with buying the station.  I hated that picture…it was depressing!   Then it hit me!

I took it off the wall wrapped the thing in brown paper and told the only other sales person I had to drive it down to the Chrysler guy and deliver it to him along with a note.  The note read “I’m not clowning around…I really want your business and I’ll work harder than anyone to keep it.”  Within 30 minutes he called me and said get my backside (not really that word) down to his office!

I received the order that day and every month forward until I sold that station.  The Clown helped however, my desire to truly serve his needs was evident.  Help others achieve greatness and yours is guaranteed!