Chapter 156 Mutually Beneficial Cooperation with Jin Yong
Chapter 156 Mutually Beneficial Cooperation with Jin Yong
"Jin Yong? Did you say what it was? Have the time and place been decided?" Yang Wendong asked back.
Qin Zhiye shook his head and said, "He didn't say what it was. As for the time, he said it's up to you. As for the location, you can decide, or just go to the hotel."
"Okay, let's go to the hotel tomorrow morning." Yang Wendong said.
The Grand Hotel is the favorite hotel of Hong Kong's wealthy groups and is also one of the earliest luxury hotels in Hong Kong. Most of the more famous hotels in Hong Kong in the past were built in the 60s and are nowhere to be seen now.
The next morning, Yang Wendong came to the hotel and met Jin Yong in a private room.
"Hello, Mr. Cha." Yang Wendong said with a smile.
Jin Yong also stood up and said, "Hello, Mr. Yang, please sit down and have some tea?"
"Okay." Yang Wendong nodded. Generally speaking, Chinese people prefer to drink tea rather than the foreigners' coffee.
After Jin Yong sat down, he made a cup of tea for both of them. After chatting for a while, Yang Wendong asked, "Why did Mr. Cha ask me out?"
Jin Yong smiled and said, "Two things. The first thing is that I read "Sky Sword" in your newspaper and thought it was pretty good, so I wanted to find an opportunity to meet the author, Gu Long. Maybe we can have some exchanges."
"Okay, but he's not in Hong Kong now. When he comes back in a few days, I'll ask him to visit you at Ming Pao." Yang Wendong naturally didn't care about this kind of thing.
Communicating with Jin Yong would also be beneficial to the younger Gu Long. With his current level and popularity, Gu Long is still far inferior to Jin Yong's.
Jin Yong smiled and said, "The second thing, I heard that you got the new commercial radio station in Hong Kong?"
Yang Wendong's expression did not change, and he said with a smile: "Chasheng is really well-informed, isn't he?"
"Haha, after all, we are a newspaper company, so we should have some information." Jin Yong said, "To a certain extent, the influence of radio stations is greater than that of newspapers.
It’s a pity that I don’t have much money, otherwise I would also like to participate in the auction.”
"Well, the second thing that Cha Sheng mentioned is related to the radio station?" Yang Wendong asked again.
In an era dominated by television, the role of radio has been almost ignored, unless it is a car radio, which still has some role.
This is just like in the past when mobile phones became popular, the role of television was greatly weakened.
But in this era, televisions are expensive, and radio is the first carrier for receiving fast information. In some aspects, it still surpasses newspapers.
Jin Yong said: "It is somewhat related. I actually hope to promote my novels and advertise through the radio station, which can also stimulate the sales of my Ming Pao."
Yang Wendong said with a smile: "Mr. Cha, can we be said to be competitors?"
"Yes, but no." Jin Yong shook his head and said, "Although we are in the same industry, our sales are far behind those of the big newspapers. How can there be any competition?"
"That's right." Yang Wendong nodded.
If a company does not become a big company in an industry, it is not worthy of being a competitor to its peers.
Jin Yong asked again, "Does Mr. Yang agree? Don't worry about the advertising fee. I will definitely not reduce it."
Yang Wendong nodded and said, "Okay, but I have a better cooperation plan."
"What plan?" Jin Yong asked back.
Yang Wendong said, "I think we can put your novel on the radio, just like it is in the cinema. What do you think, Mr. Cha?"
Jin Yong immediately understood what he meant: "You mean, put my novel on the radio and read it?"
Yang Wendong shook his head and said, “It’s not just a simple reading, but a professional announcer with emotional descriptions and dialogues, trying to present the content and plot of the book in an emotional way.
It’s like a movie, but without the picture.”
Before getting the radio, Yang Wendong also took some time to listen to the programs of Hong Kong Public Radio and found that the programs broadcast there were really uninteresting and boring.
It's either news from a few days ago or a lot of commercials, and the announcer doesn't have much emotion, it's just like reading.
Maybe it’s also because it’s the only Chinese-language radio station and there’s not much competition.
After comparing the entertainment programs of later radio stations, Yang Wendong decided to make some changes in the future, but the specific details would have to wait until the radio station was established.
Nowadays, there are some similar story programs on general radio stations, but they are all very short. This reminded Yang Wendong of Himalaya in his previous life. For many people, listening to novels is more convenient than reading them.
"So that's how it is. But with such a long plot, it will take you a long time to finish reading it?" Jin Yong asked.
Yang Wendong said with a smile: "It will take a long time, just like publishing a novel in a newspaper." "Hahaha~" Jin Yong laughed: "It seems that Mr. Yang is not only a great inventor, but also has a great business mind. The Hong Kong Radio has been established for so many years, and no one has ever considered putting a novel on it for reading."
"Maybe it's because of the monopoly. What's the need for innovation after the monopoly?" Yang Wendong said with a smile.
In fact, there are already radio stations overseas doing this at this time, but Hong Kong obviously hasn't kept up. Why bother? Anyway, this is the only one, you can listen to it if you want.
Even the Hong Kong government's introduction of the third radio station license is intended to break the monopoly and force these service companies to provide better entertainment to citizens. Otherwise, if too many citizens' lives are boring, social problems may occur.
"Okay, I can give you the copyright, but since it's a long novel, I'd better sell it one by one. It will take a long time for you to play one copy anyway." Jin Yong said with a smile.
"No problem, what about the price?" Yang Wendong asked again.
From a business perspective, he also knew that Jin Yong sold one book first, obviously just to see the performance of the first book. If the performance was good, then he could wait for the price to rise.
There is no way around it. This is the advantage of copyright and patents. Yang Wendong’s success also relied on these.
Jin Yong asked back, "Which one do you want to buy first?"
"The Legend of the Condor Heroes," Yang Wendong replied.
The first book naturally has to be a hit. Among the several books that Jin Yong has written, the most popular one is The Legend of the Condor Heroes, otherwise he would not have written the second book, The Return of the Condor Heroes.
Jin Yong nodded and said, "I need to think about the price carefully. But don't worry, Mr. Yang, it won't be much. I just need to calculate the true value of the audio copyright. After all, I haven't thought about this before."
"Okay, I hope to get a reply sooner." Yang Wendong said with a smile.
In fact, he also planned to adapt Gu Long's novel "Sword of the Sky" into a radio show, but in terms of popularity, it is still far less than that of The Legend of the Condor Heroes. The greatest heroes serve their country and their people. The value of these eight words cannot even be described by a price.
Relatively speaking, Gu Long's novels are more about the open and secret struggles in the world of martial arts. Even if they involve the court, they are relatively rare, and most of the protagonists are free and easy playboys.
However, each has its own advantages. There are millions of audiences and everyone has different ideas.
Time soon came to mid-December, and with Tian Yunjian's permission, Zhang Hui resigned from Hong Kong Public Radio in the shortest possible time and brought with him three other people who were not from the public radio station.
The grass-roots team of Hong Kong’s third radio station was officially established.
After getting to know each other, the other three left, leaving only Zhang Hui and Yang Wendong.
Yang Wendong took out a document and said, "Lao Zhang, I won't interfere with your professional matters. You have the final say on how the radio station is operated and the content is arranged. I only look at the final results.
But this is what I need the radio station to play, take a look.”
Zhang Hui took the document, took a look at it and said in surprise: "The audio copyright of The Legend of the Condor Heroes? Mr. Yang wants to play the novel on the radio?"
"Yes, but it's not just simple reading." Yang Wendong nodded and said, "It has to have emotions, just like the voices in some good movies, which can make people immerse themselves in the story, rather than just reading the plot according to the novel."
After a week of consideration, Jin Yong sold the audio copyright of The Legend of the Condor Heroes to Yang Wendong. The copyright was valid for ten years and the price was HK$3000, which was not very high, after all, it was a household name novel.
After listening to it, Zhang Hui nodded and said, "I see. In fact, in normal radio broadcasts, announcers should also have emotions. It's just that the radio stations in Hong Kong are not doing very well in this regard."
Yang Wendong smiled and said, "It's normal, a monopoly enterprise? But since we are a latecomer, we must do this well.
This is the case with novel reading. In the future, short stories must also be told with emotion, and this is even more true for novels. The Legend of the Condor Heroes is very famous, and this can be said to be the best and fastest way for our radio station to gain fame.”
"Okay, I will try my best to recruit the best people in this field." Zhang Hui nodded and said, "In fact, there may be people with such talents in society, but there is rarely such demand, so they have not been discovered."
Yang Wendong said: "Then we should raise the benefits appropriately and recruit the best candidates. As long as they are talented, capable and willing to work hard, they should naturally receive high benefits."
In Hong Kong society, the current labor costs are really not a big deal.
"Okay." Zhang Hui continued, "Mr. Yang, there is one more thing. A Japanese company called Sony has formed a joint venture with a Chinese company and is preparing to produce radios in Hong Kong.
This is very good news for us. If we produce in Hong Kong, we won’t need to import radios in the future, and the price will definitely drop.”
"Oh, that's good news." Yang Wendong said with a smile.
The 60s of Hong Kong were about to arrive, especially in the fields of electronics, watches, toys, and ready-made clothing. It was even so exaggerated that in the 70s, the presidents or prime ministers of Switzerland and Singapore came to seek advice from the then Governor Murray MacLehose.
However, this has nothing to do with the British. It is basically the efforts of the Chinese themselves that created the Hong Kong industrial myth.
Just like Taiwan 30 years later and the mainland 40 years later!
……
(End of this chapter)