Are We On The Air?©

Our first quarterly look at the TV shopping industry, shows two very different pictures depending on which TV shopping network you're looking at.  

One of infomercial and tv shopping's top grossing salesmen, Steve Bryant, joins the show today to discuss how to create a successful product demonstration, why covid didn't cause hobby items like guitars to spike in sales on TV, the problem of the "limited universe of products" on TV shopping networks and so much more.  

In this episode, Kathy shares her thoughts on what makes a good TV shopping on-air personality, tells a funny story about the "are you kidding me?" item she had to sell, talks about authoring a book and hosting a talk-show pilot, plus a nice chat about what she's doing presently.  

The woman who helped launch QVC in 1986, Kathy Levine joins the show.  Kathy shares fantastic stories about her initial audition, getting QVC up and running, her friendship with Joan Rivers, traveling the country for QVC, and so much more.  Be ready to laugh and learn, at the same time.  

Take a stroll back to the 1950s when TV shows got ratings in the 60s, and the show sponsor could get what he wanted.  There are many valuable lessons which one needs to know when selling on television today, that are learned in this episode.  Plus, a very esoteric and highbrow look at a problem people had in the 1950s, and have today, and how the marketing around this "issue" hasn't changed.  Atte...

On this episode Manuela takes inside the business as she shares her advice for women wanting to start in the skincare industry, who she looks up to, where she thinks the industry is going, and then just when you think the interview is over, Shawn and Manuela continue on for another ten minutes talking about social media and a day in Manuela's life.  

Manuela Marcheggiani returns to continue the conversation, as Shawn and Manuela discuss how Isomers has survived as the longest running skincare line on ShopHQ, what makes a good show-host, balancing the legal fine line and selling on TV, plus how COVID changed the business.  

Long-running tv shopping guest Manuela Marcheggiani, co-founder and CEO of Isomers Skincare, joins the show to discuss how she started in the TV shopping industry, what caused the birth of Isomers laboratories, the advice she didn't follow, and so much more.  This is part one of a multi part show.  

Marvin Segel is back (with improved audio) to chat about the USA Network series "America's Big Deal".  Executive produced by famed TV shopping guest and inventor Joy Mangano, it's billed as America's first "shoppable competition series that invites entrepreneurs from across the country to sell their ready-made products on-air to home viewers".  Did it work?  Shawn and Marvin will share their thoug...

The millennial has the buying power and the advisers know it.  Find out how the 1990s infomercial is affecting how advisers do business today.  Plus, a look at a 2021 infomercial which hits all the right marks.  

In the final episode with Marvin Segel, the topics range from do we need all the shopping networks we have, to where the industry is going, and a look back on what brought Marvin to Shop NBC.  It's a fascinating interview and Shawn and Marvin are already chatting about what to do next.  

Marvin Segel chats about the importance of a guest to the TV shopping experience, and what makes a good (or bad) guest.  Shawn then has Marvin talk more about his personal involvement at QVC.  Later in the episode, Shawn and Marv begin to discuss the "Y Networks", which could likely be where this industry is heading.  

Shawn continues with some conversation about the early days of QVC, and its buyout of the number one network at the time, CVN.  The conversation continues around Marvins first time as a guest, and what it takes to be a good guest, which gets us into the start of our conversation about what Marvin is working on today, which could change the industry.  

Marvin Segel, founder of The Y Networks and son of QVC founder Joseph Segel joins the show to discuss his fathers upbringing, how he started the Franklin Mint, and eventually QVC.  In part one, Shawn and Marvin discuss all that went into the planning for QVC, and how that first day went.  

Today Shawn travels back to 1939 to examine radio, later television, drama "The Guiding Light" and how that business model of the day, connects to modern day QVC/HSN.  

In the conclusion of the interview with Bob Circosta, Shawn asks him about the traits which make a good host and is it easier to be a host or a guest.  There's a tribute to the man who started this whole industry, Lowell "Bud" Paxon.  Bob talks about the worst items he's encountered and why they were honking horns at people.  The chat ends with a discussion about the future of the industry.  

"Home Shopping Club" is a very different beast than the HSN you know today, and Bob explains.  It is;  however, so successful we discuss the second network they start up.  Competition notices this, and here comes CVN and QVC to compete.  Plus Bob Circosta shares his experiences as part of the "Home Shopping Game" a television game show on the CBS stations.  

The first person to ever sell on Home Shopping Club (later known as HSN) Bob Circosta joins the show today, for the beginning of a multi-part interview about his career and a look at the dawn of shop-on-television, which started on radio.  Bob explains how it all began, strictly by accident, at a Florida radio station.  We follow the progression of the industry and his career, up to the point it w...

In the follow up to episode seven, I answer your questions as posed on facebook.  

QVC didn't invent talking to the viewer at home with a "soft sell", that concept goes back to the 1950s, as we examine today.  We'll listen to one of the greatest salesman on TV and listen to his ability to use his voice in a variety of ways.  After we check out a clip of an announcer recover brilliantly from everything going wrong, we fast forward to the 1980s.  

I asked followers on facebook what questions they would like answered about the TV shopping industry and my career, today I answer some of those questions.  Part two will come later.  

Today it's time to roast the worst infomercials of all time.  These are the cringeworthy wastes of video tape, which somehow made it to air in the 1990s.  Listen, laugh, and shudder along as we give them an examination, in an episode you're certain to remember. 

Today's show looks at three very well known infomercials from the 1990s, and examines what made them so good.  Then a quick look at one of these infomercials attempt to build on its success.  Spoiler alert:  it didn't work.  

Today we examine the three biggest names in the growing world of 1990s infomercials.  As we examine each one, we look at the sales techniques they used, many of which are still in use today.  

In a stroke of ingenious inspiration, the masterminds behind game show productions pondered: "Why not infuse the thrill of home shopping into our already electrifying shows?" Despite the myriad challenges, their audacious spirit prevailed, birthing three groundbreaking spectacles that revolutionized the airwaves. Brace yourself for a riveting exploration of "Home Shopping Game," "Bargain Hunters,"...