1977: The beginning of the blind date with the daughter of the king

Chapter 563: Zhang Guorong is under his command?

"Fuck, Xiao Baosheng took over Rediffusion Television and changed the name to Asia Television?"

On the bus, a man in a suit who was sitting on the bus and reading a newspaper couldn't help but speak loudly at this moment.

His words naturally attracted the attention of people around him.

The famous ATV announced that it was sold, and the one who took over was Xiao Baosheng?

“It’s also in my newspaper.”

Someone next to him also said this while holding a newspaper.

Soon, some passengers who had other newspapers also began to look for them.

Sure enough, all kinds of headlines appeared in major newspapers.

"Rediffusion Television was suddenly sold and renamed Asia Television!"

"Little Baosheng is targeting British capital again. After Hong Kong Land, Rediffusion Television has changed hands to Bao's."

"Is it a competition or cooperation for Zhejiang businessmen to control TVB and ATV?"

"Shaw's father and son are competing against each other. Rumor has it that Shaw Wai-ming will take charge of Rediffusion Television!"

On the bus, a group of people started talking. Even though they didn't know each other, it didn't stop them from discussing it.

The main reason is that this melon is so interesting to eat.

One is Xiao Baosheng. After he acquired Hutchison Whampoa last year, there has been almost no serious news about him. Now he has taken over ATV.

For them, this is another victory for Chinese capital.

For many Chinese people in Hong Kong, it was an inexplicable sense of honor that Chinese businessmen took over the British businesses.

After all, who among the Chinese in Hong Kong Island, especially those of a certain age, has not suffered from the contempt and oppression of those British foreigners?

Not to mention the foreigners, even the Indians under the British have a higher status than them.

Many people are naturally angry about this.

Since last year, the Pao family first acquired Hutchison Whampoa and then swallowed up Hong Kong Holdings. A series of business wars directly drove the famous Jardine Matheson & Co. out of Hong Kong Island.

For most ordinary people, in addition to enjoying the show, many people also developed a good impression of the Bao family.

They don't understand the specific twists and turns of the business war behind it, nor do they know the elements involved.

They only know that the Bao family took action and wiped out the largest Jardine Matheson Company in Hong Kong Island in the past hundred years. This is truly amazing strength!
After all, before this, the assets of Hong Kong Island were only acquired by British capital and Chinese capital, but Chinese capital never dared to acquire British capital, especially when it came directly to the leader of British foreign companies, Jardine Matheson.

Just nine years ago, Jardine Matheson & Co. unscrupulously used stock-for-share swaps to forcibly acquire the Dairy Farm Company without spending a penny, leaving behind the nickname "Jardine Matheson Drinks Milk"!

You should know that the owner of Dairy Farm International at that time was Sir Chow Sin-nin, who was from the Chow Wing-tai family, one of the four major families in Hong Kong Island. This was a top wealthy family on par with the Lee Hiu-shin family and the Ho Tung family at that time.

Zhou Xinian himself had close relations with many people in the Governor's House and even London, and was one of the first Chinese tycoons to be allowed to live on the Peak.

But even so, facing Jardine Matheson's plunder, he was still helpless in the end, and Jardine Matheson forcibly acquired all the shares of Dairy Farm International.

Therefore, Bao’s series of actions last year showed the Chinese people in Hong Kong a courage to be the first in the world.

Especially Bao Zeyang's acquisition of the famous Hong Kong Land Development has made many people excited. This is the ace star enterprise among the entire Hong Kong real estate companies and the core of Jardine Matheson.

"I said that Xiao Baosheng was definitely not a puppet pushed by Baochuan Wang. This time, he took over ATV. It was his own work."

"It's all in the newspapers. It was Shao Weiming who went to negotiate!"

"Who is Shao Weiming?"

"Shao Weiming, you don't know? Does TVB know? Does Shaw Brothers Films know?"

"Shao Laoliu is his father, and Shao Weiming is Shao Yifu's son!"

This kind of discussion is not only happening on the bus, but also in many morning tea shops, in front of newspaper stands, and even inside many commercial buildings.

Nowadays, television is very popular in Hong Kong Island, and TV stations are also an important medium for them to obtain news on a daily basis.

For the people of Hong Kong Island, the most important things are nothing more than two: one is TVB and the other is ATV. As for ATV, it has little presence.

TVB is more familiar to them and more down-to-earth. Since its inception, it has mainly broadcast Cantonese and Mandarin, and many Chinese elements.

In contrast, ATV is far superior to them.

The other party mainly operates an English channel, broadcasts international current affairs, and even has always been a paid model. To put it bluntly, it has never lowered its posture to the public from the beginning.

It was only in recent years that it lowered its head and became free, and gradually entered the vision of the general Chinese community.

To many people, TVB is like the common school belle, while RTV is more like the cold and aloof school goddess belle.

But today, the goddess has returned to earth!
Therefore, it attracted the attention of many people in Hong Kong Island.

Among these concerned people, there is a very special person, Zhang Guorong!

It’s nothing, just because he is a contracted artist of ATV!
After waking up early in the morning, Zhang Guorong's expression changed slightly when he saw the newspaper.

Rediffusion was actually sold?

What should he do?
Should I continue to stay at ATV or the newly-born Asia Television, or go elsewhere?
Leslie Cheung was a little confused at this moment.

However, what Zhang Guorong didn't know at this moment was that his name had now appeared in front of Li Changhe.

In the office of the Landmark Building, Li Changhe was looking at documents.

These are the asset documents transferred from ATV, including various information about ATV.

You have to know that a TV station has many other departments besides news, TV dramas, and various variety shows.

"They also held music competitions?"

Li Changhe looked at the information on the document and asked in surprise.

"Yes, Rediffusion Television held a music singing competition before and signed a group of singers, but the response was mediocre."

Shao Weiming nodded and said at this time.

Li Changhe looked down at this moment, and then a gleam of light appeared in his eyes.

Zhang Guorong?
"Is this Zhang Guorong also at ATV?"

Li Changhe asked in surprise at this moment.

When Shao Weiming heard the name, he smiled and nodded: "You mean him? I happen to know a little bit about him."

"Yes, he is an artist of Rediffusion Television, but his music contract is with Polydor Records."

"Hmm? Rediffusion artist? Signed to Polydor Records?"

Li Changhe was a little surprised when he heard what Shao Weiming said.

Shao Weiming explained, "Because ATV doesn't have a record company, when they held a singing competition, all the winners had to sign a contract with ATV, but it was a film and television contract."

"There are no restrictions on record contracts, so after the competition, Zhang Guorong signed with Polydor Records."

"But Zhang Guorong didn't become popular. Polydor released several albums for him, but the market response was mediocre."

"How do you know so much? It seems like you know him quite well?" According to Shao Weiming, Zhang Guorong should be considered a flop singer nowadays. How could Shao Weiming know all this?
Shao Weiming smiled and said, "He always sings English songs, which I like more. I can be considered one of his fans."

"But English songs are not popular now. I think he should sing Cantonese songs instead."

Shao Weiming then said casually.

Li Changhe nodded: "Yes, I also think he should sing Cantonese songs."

"Ok?"

"Boss, are you also a fan of Zhang Guorong?"

Shao Weiming was a little surprised at this time?

"That's it!"

He quite likes the song "A Chinese Ghost Story", so he is both a fan of the song and the movie.

"This reminds me that nowadays, we already have a TV station and a film company, but we are still lacking a record company. Isn't this a ready-made one?"

"Rediffusion didn't set up its own record company, so we will do it."

Li Changhe said casually at this time.

In the 1980s and 1990s, in addition to the booming film industry, the music industry in Hong Kong also exploded.

In the words of later generations, the only thing that time has not treated unfairly those born in the 1980s and 1990s is music.

Compared with the music market in later generations, the music scene in the 1980s, 1990s and 2000s did produce a number of high-quality songs that are still classics even thirty years later.

What's more, he knew that Zhang Guorong might explode soon.

He didn't know the specific situation, but he knew that there was a phrase in the Hong Kong music scene in the 1980s called "Alan Tam and Leslie Cheung Contest".

It is talking about the glory of Alan Tam and Zhang Guorong in the music scene. The two of them dominated their own field and were even stronger than the Four Heavenly Kings of later generations!

Now that the person is in my hands, there is no reason to let him go.

"Establishing a record company? I'm not very familiar with this boss."

Shao Weiming was a little confused when he heard what Li Changhe said. He was indeed not familiar with the record industry.

Shaw Brothers didn’t have this business before?

"This one is easy!!"

"Let's talk about the songs first. I'll tell you the easiest way. Go to Japan and buy them!"

"English songs are not popular now, but Cantonese songs are. The easiest way is to go to Japan to buy songs, add Cantonese lyrics, and let singers sing!"

"Japan also has Confucian culture, and many of its melodies are consistent with what we like to listen to. Songs that are popular there are basically popular here!"

Li Changhe gave some pointers casually.

Everyone in later generations knows that Hong Kong’s musical heyday depends half on Hong Kong people themselves and half on the Japanese music scene.

Miyuki Nakajima supports half of the Hong Kong music scene. Many people's classics are covers of Miyuki Nakajima's songs.

Among the songs that Li Changhe remembered, there were "Thousands of Songs", "Sad Pacific Ocean", "Later", and "Fruits of Midsummer".

Due to the poor communication tools of that era, few people in Hong Kong have heard these songs. This is a smooth road.

"As for the singers, it's easy too. ATV has a ready-made template. Let's hold a singing competition!"

"Well, of course it's better to make it something new and novel. It's boring if it's too traditional. I think we can make a "Voice of Hong Kong"

"Choose a few mentors, get a few chairs, put them facing away from the singers, and create a gimmick. The performance will be determined entirely by the singers' voices, and some personal introductions of the singers will be inserted in between."

"Also, let the audience participate in the selection. For example, select 500 audience members and give them the right to vote, and then select a professional jury to comment on it."

"First, we'll have auditions, then we'll divide into teams and compete, and finally we'll decide the champion and runner-up."

"I think singers selected in this way will have a lot of fans when they debut. If they have a few good songs, they can become famous overnight."

Li Changhe casually told Shao Weiming the idea of ​​"The Voice of China", and Shao Weiming was stunned.

In just a few minutes, the boss came up with a record variety show?
"It just so happens that TVB has the Miss Hong Kong beauty pageant. If we copy the pageant, we will actually be inferior."

"I think it's better to find another way and focus on music. You know, the charm of a singer is no less than that of a beauty."

"Besides, I think those beauties who can sing will have more influence than those who are just pretty."

“This in turn can strengthen our station’s appeal to viewers.”

"If we just follow TVB's footsteps in our competition, we won't be able to succeed at all."

"Just like Miss Hong Kong, even if we also have a beauty pageant, believe it or not, many people's first choice is still TVB, because everyone has a preconceived impression that TVB is the most recognized."

"So, our next direction is to be the first TV station to try out new things in many aspects, rather than being the second one in the same category."

"For example, if there's a football match broadcast in the UK, can we start a program specifically to broadcast this?"

After listening to Li Changhe, Shao Weiming gradually came up with an idea in his mind.

"I understand, boss. What you mean is that we should avoid following TVB's strong direction and start from other directions first, achieve a leading position, and then compete comprehensively."

"Just like Tian Ji's horse racing, we should build our own superior horses first, right?"

"That's about it. You can think about the details yourself."

"By the way, you can also contact Universal Music Group and ask them to send someone to provide guidance to your music company and use their influence to promote their company."

"Let's name our music company Universal Music, so it looks more classy."

"Let's call it Asia Music Group, so it will be consistent with Asia Satellite TV."

After Li Changhe finished speaking, Shao Weiming reacted immediately.

Yeah, he forgot everything.

Our own boss also has a relationship with MCA in the United States. Isn’t Universal Music Group an MCA subsidiary?

Thinking of this, Shao Weiming suddenly felt that starting a music company was not that troublesome after all.

"Understood. I'll get ready now."

Shao Weiming left with full confidence, and he also had confidence in running Asia Television well.

Just as Shao Weiming left, the phone on Li Changhe's desk rang.

Li Changhe picked up the phone and his expression changed slightly when he heard the content.

The call was from France.

The reason is very simple, something went wrong in Cannes!
"I understand. I'll be there as soon as possible."

Li Changhe put down the phone and couldn't help rubbing his eyebrows.

I originally thought that the selection at Cannes was a simple matter, but now it seems that it is not at all.

As expected, the entertainment industry is full of shady dealings!
(End of this chapter)