Return to Hong Kong Island for a Century

Chapter 275 A Successful Start (5000 words)

In front of Li Song, Amin is just a well-behaved girl next door. Amin overhears Li Song talking to her about things related to comics.

Li Song has a deep understanding of the entertainment industry and its future development directions; he is quite professional in this area.

Because I spent over a decade in my past life reading comics, novels, watching anime, watching movies, and playing games—I was extremely familiar with all of them.

What Li Song said now was like a royal decree to Amin.

Because of Li Song's current social status and identity, Amin had no reason to doubt him.

Amin is now a chubby-cheeked young girl.

Phoenix TV's various departments are making preparations in a tense but orderly manner.

The Star Mercenaries animated series will begin airing at 6 PM today.

So at four o'clock in the afternoon, Li Song arrived at a recording studio of the TV station.

Here, Li Song, along with Liu Jiale, some TV hosts, news anchors, and some well-known celebrities, will give an opening speech.

At 5:30 p.m., Li Song saw the Phoenix TV logo on the roof of the TV station building.

Black text appeared on the white background, which was today's program schedule!
At 5:45, the TV station began broadcasting its opening remarks!
From 6 to 7 o'clock, two episodes of the Space Mercenaries animated series will be broadcast.

From 7:00 to 7:30, local and international news.

From 7:30 to 8:30, the first season of auditions for The Voice of China.

From 8:30 to 10:30, the popular TV series Romance of the Three Kingdoms will be broadcast.

From 10:30 to 11:30, complete the challenges and win prizes.

Midday news from 11:30 to 12:00.

From 12 o'clock to 8 o'clock in the morning, some old movies are played.

Phoenix TV broadcasts 24 hours a day.

Some of these films are from overseas, some are from Hong Kong, and some are from mainland China!

Phoenix TV has obtained their authorization.

At 5:45, Li Song, along with Liu Jiale and others, gave a speech to everyone at the TV station!

Good afternoon, everyone!

"We are delighted that you are watching Phoenix TV. All of us at Phoenix TV are doing our best to present you with satisfying programs!"

"The animated series Star Mercenaries, which will be broadcast later, is a science fiction animation that has already been broadcast on more than 60 television stations in more than 20 countries in Europe and America."

"And it has been translated into six languages." Li Song was wearing a Zhongshan suit. He was over 1.8 meters tall, and the close-fitting Zhongshan suit made him look tall, long-legged, and very handsome.

Of course, Li Song's square face is considered handsome now, but in a few decades, he would be considered a second-class disabled person.

Decades later, the idea that a handsome man should be effeminate is out of the question; a handsome man without a pointed chin isn't considered handsome.

People on Hong Kong Island have long been familiar with the animated series "Star Mercenaries".

This person didn't expect that Wonder Magazine had already expanded into the European and American markets so early.

The news that Phoenix TV would start broadcasting at 6 o'clock had already been released.

TVB also prepared a variety show at 6 o'clock.

The show is called "Entertainment at Six O'Clock," which is actually a copy of the TV show "Tonight Without Defense" on Feng Li TV.

It's basically about inviting some celebrities over for casual chats, and then leaking some gossip or scoops during those chats.

Before the cartoon started at six o'clock, text appeared on the TV screen, along with the host's words and a voice-over praising the achievements of the Star Mercenaries cartoon!

"The animated series 'Interstellar Mercenaries' is adapted from the novel of the same name by the famous science fiction writer, Mr. Star River Ghost!"

"This animated film was first broadcast on Ami's cable TV and achieved high ratings!"

"Then it was introduced to Europe and translated into German, French, Italian, and Greek."

"Played in more than 20 European countries!"

"This animated series is still ongoing."

"Please watch the first episode of Star Mercenaries."

People on Hong Kong Island may have heard of the achievements of the Star Mercenaries animated series, but they have never actually watched it.

The animated series "Star Mercenaries" uses a 2D format. The series begins with a mecha performing various actions, followed by an opening theme song.

The page contains information about the animated film.

Then the animation officially began. The animation started in a huge warehouse-like place, with mechs on shelves on both sides of the warehouse, and storage compartments on both sides containing all kinds of mech parts.

Footsteps approached, and a boy walked in the middle of the warehouse.

The boy carefully looked at the mechs on both sides. When he looked in the direction of the mechs, some text appeared showing the model and performance of the mechs.

The animated film has officially begun!
Phoenix TV did not have high expectations for the ratings of its 6 o'clock cartoons.

Phoenix TV has high expectations for Romance of the Three Kingdoms.

However, the current ratings statistics are relatively slow; they are only collected by phone after the anime has started airing.

Of course, the statistics from phone calls do not represent all the data, because many households do not have telephones.

The method currently used is the diary method, which involves selecting users with televisions and recording what TV programs they watch at what times to collect statistics.

However, such data is often unreliable and has a large margin of error.

Of course, there are also measurement methods using specialized equipment, but these are too expensive nowadays!
An animated film is twenty minutes long, and after the first episode ends, there's a commercial for Ah Long's BMW motorcycle.

There's also an ad from Wonderful Magazine!

Then it was another twenty minutes of animated film!

Then came more ads!
The news from 7:00 to 7:30 includes both local news from Hong Kong Island and international news.
Of course, the news also reported that Li Song was blacklisted by Taiwan, and these are the things Li Song said in an interview.

The evening papers on Hong Kong Island had already published what Li Song said that morning.

Other television stations also broadcast related news.

The Voice of China Season 1, airing from 7:30 to 8:30 PM.

Classic swivel seats, classic jet propulsion.

The host came on stage to explain the rules, and then the three judges began to test the rotating chair.

Then the three judges turned around, and the first girl went on stage. She sounded a little nervous, and at that moment, the three judges' expressions were shown in close-up.

It's basically the same formula as The Voice!
The Voice of China is already a household name in Hong Kong, as the music auditions have been published in newspapers for some time.

"Boss!" Liu Jiale arrived at Li Song's office on the rooftop at this moment.

"Brother Le, is something wrong?" Li Song knew that Liu Jiale must have come at this time because of an emergency.

"The music publisher we had originally agreed to work with in Taiwan terminated the contract due to force majeure."

"Taiwan is the mainstream music market, which might have some impact on our 'The Voice' program." Liu Jiale rushed over!
"You should assess the situation first. If it doesn't work out, we can set up our own music publishing house!"

"It's all about who's offering us help in our time of need, and who's kicking us when we're down!"

"I've long been prepared to leave the market in Taiwan!"

"They're blacklisting me now, which gives me a perfect excuse to enter the mainland market!"

"Don't underestimate the mainland market!" Li Song knew exactly how many pirated tapes were circulating in the mainland.

Selling in mainland China might mean earning less, but the customer base there is much larger.

Even if you don't make money from music, can't you make money by producing your own cassette tapes or buying your own tape recorders?

Software doesn't make money, and neither does hardware!

Music cassette recorders and other similar devices complemented each other, leading to MP3 players and then music players.

So for Li Song, losing the Taiwanese market seems like a huge loss now, but the mainland economy will continue to develop, and the market size will continue to grow.

In the past, if Li Song had taken the initiative to enter the mainland market and made some demands, he might have ended up owing favors or repaying favors to others.

But now that I'm blacklisted by Taiwan, if I make this request again, it won't be about repaying a favor; it will be about supporting the mainland.

At that time, I don't care about other people's music, but I'm sure not many people in mainland China will dare to pirate my own music.

So what if it's pirated? As long as we can sell some genuine copies, we can sell the rest of the tape recorders. Once the chip comes out, we'll make our own high-tech tape recorder, the kind that can read English.

Then get the CD and VCD out.

"Okay!" Liu Jiale was also startled, because Taiwan is the most important market in the entertainment industry.

Since Li Song said that, it proves that the boss had already made preparations.

"Go ahead and get busy!" Li Song waved his hand.

Then Liu Jiale went off to get busy!
"Hmph!" Li Song knew that the reason why Taiwan had blacklisted him was definitely not that simple. They blacklisted him on the very night before his TV station was about to start broadcasting!

Someone must be sabotaging things, after all, some TV station owners have a very good relationship with Taiwan.

Li Song finally understood why Boss Shao later wanted to build so many school buildings on the mainland—it was a matter of current stance. And the reason they didn't call the mainland authorities after such a major incident today was mainly to give them time to react.

My remarks today have certainly reached the mainland.

The mainland will definitely take some action and response.

Li Song wanted to see how each party would react to this incident.

This time, we'll be able to distinguish between friend and foe.

The Voice of China has successfully attracted a large audience.

Because anyone can go on stage, and the three mentors' evaluations are very fair.

However, this is just the preliminary selection. There are ten rounds of preliminary selection each month, and those selected will compete for the monthly championship at the end of the month.

Then the monthly champions for the three months will compete to produce a quarterly champion, and the quarterly champions will eventually produce an annual champion.

The winner of the quarterly competition will be recommended to major music publishers and receive a reward of HK$200,000.

The annual champion will receive a reward of HK$500,000.

To be precise, the preliminary rounds in December 1980 would culminate in the annual championship competition at the end of 1981.

Of course, there are also many funny moments, and some people sing so badly that it's unbearable to watch!
The judges, audience members, and hosts all burst into laughter while singing.

Seeing this, Li Song was reminded of the Avenue of Stars, which is a talent show.

Then I took out a pen and paper and wrote down the idea for the Avenue of Stars.

Phoenix TV's ratings are actually quite high because it has been preparing for a long time.

Moreover, the format of The Voice of China is inherently very appealing.

Soon we arrived at the Romance of the Three Kingdoms, which begins with the poem "Linjiang Xian".

Li Song found it somewhat amusing that some people later thought the "Linjiangxian" poem was poorly written.

Then, some of the grand scenes that appeared in the film instantly caught the audience's attention.

The city walls were tall, and soldiers stood on them.

The camera pans from one end of the city wall to the other.

And the smoke of war still lingers.

In addition, there were soldiers from the construction site below, charging forward in dense formations carrying ladders!

The camera pans past these soldiers to reveal even more soldiers and the central army camp behind them.

In any case, in terms of props and the number of people, this show has an overwhelming presence that surpasses all current TV dramas!
And then the first episode is about the Oath of the Peach Garden!
Mr. Shaw, the boss of TVB, knew they had lost again just by seeing the opening sequence of Romance of the Three Kingdoms.

Lost again!
Li Song refused to believe that such a large-scale production would lose to others.

Moreover, Romance of the Three Kingdoms can be considered a fan fiction, which naturally attracts a following and an audience.

What are the Four Great Classical Novels?

This is it!!!
It just made these viewers feel that these actors were a bit unfamiliar.

Of course, there are some familiar faces in it, but there are too many actors from Romance of the Three Kingdoms.

The viewers in Hong Kong Island have never seen a TV series with such a grand scale before, except for the opening scene of the siege, where the dark, boundless expanse stretches out.

This doesn't resemble a martial arts drama at all; there are thousands of soldiers but only a dozen or so people.

Hong Kong viewers, who have always eaten coarse grains, are finally getting to eat fine bran.

The TV series is in Mandarin, which was also Li Song's idea, but it was stated in advance that the rebroadcast the next day would be in Cantonese.

"Boss, the ratings for The Voice of China are out. It started at 35%, and peaked at 75% later." Liu Jiale arrived right after the first episode of Romance of the Three Kingdoms finished airing; this was the result of a phone interview.

"Okay, tell everyone that I'll give everyone a big red envelope at the end of the year." Li Song was very happy to hear this.

"Boss, our phones have been ringing off the hook since The Voice of China started, and people started calling as soon as the TV series premiered," Liu Jiale added.

"Great, a successful start!"

"Boss, actually, when we saw the finished product, we knew this TV series was going to beat the other TV stations," Liu Jiale said excitedly.

"Boss, your suggestion is absolutely brilliant!" Liu Jiale couldn't help but flatter him.

"Haha, Brother Le, just wait for your year-end bonus."

"thank you boss."

"Go ahead and get busy!" Li Song nodded.

The TV series "Romance of the Three Kingdoms" was extremely popular, with the first episode achieving a peak viewership rating of 89%!

The second episode achieved a 91% approval rating.

The quiz show hosted by Arlene also had good ratings, especially the cumulative format, which put a lot of psychological pressure on both the participants and the viewers.

One thousand, three thousand, five thousand, ten thousand, thirty thousand, fifty thousand, one hundred thousand, three hundred thousand, five hundred thousand, one million, ten questions, answer all of them correctly and you'll get one million.

The person who won the most tonight was 30,000, and they knew when to quit while they were ahead. The rest of them were empty-handed, meaning they failed the quiz.

The ratings were good, so it was decided to start airing every Monday, Wednesday, and Friday.

The show airs on Tuesdays, Thursdays, and Saturdays, featuring a challenge where viewers can win prizes. Viewers can also call in to choose their favorite person, and if that person wins, a prize draw will be held at the end, taking all the phone numbers that supported the winner.

The prizes are different each time; the first prize was a 125cc BMW motorcycle.

As for TVB's "The Legend of the Condor Heroes," which had a 53% viewership rating last night, I wonder how high it will be tonight.

TVB, disregarding martial arts ethics, premiered its show early last night.

At midnight, a small number of staff members on duty at Phoenix TV came out, while the rest went to the cafeteria for a late-night snack.

"Today I am announcing that all employees of the television station and the magazine will receive four months' salary as a year-end bonus," Li Song said, picking up a glass of orange juice.

"thank you boss!"

"Thank you, boss!" The employees were incredibly excited; it was four months' salary!

In other words, the higher the position and the higher the salary, the higher the year-end bonus.

Those artists who switched from TVB were especially excited.

Phoenix TV's artists are paid a base salary plus performance-based pay. The base salary for artists is lower, a guaranteed minimum wage, while the base salary for staff is higher because artists have additional income from filming and movies.

Li Song is rich!

This is everyone's perception: if the boss has started building airplanes, how could he not have money?
Not to mention the many motorcycles they sold.

Li Song didn't go anywhere else today; he just rested at the TV station.

The next day, Li Song went to the TV station's cafeteria for lunch. The employees greeted him happily, and everyone was very excited.

After finishing his meal, Li Song went to his office, where his bodyguard had already delivered the newspaper.

The New Evening Post, Ta Kung Pao, and other newspapers praised Phoenix TV's success, and many people commented that the Three Kingdoms was a truly magnificent historical drama.

Of course, some newspapers also tried hard to label Li Song as a mainland Chinese, saying that the Three Kingdoms TV series was produced in mainland China.

The actors in it, and so on.

Some people are also calling for Hong Kong Island to ban TV stations like Lee Chung's.

The newspaper also launched a tirade against Li Song for his remarks about Taiwan yesterday, even claiming that Phoenix TV would be finished if it lost the Taiwanese market.

It was also revealed that Taiwan's music publishing house terminated its contract with Phoenix TV's "The Voice of China".

Li Song was certainly aware of the biases of these newspapers, and many of them went out of business after 97.

Li Song wasn't worried at all about these people who were badmouthing him. He thought it was good that they were badmouthing him; the more they were badmouthed, the easier it would be to negotiate with the mainland.

"boss!"

"You should set up a music publishing house here."

"I'll talk about the rest when I get back to the mainland tomorrow," Li Song said.

"Okay!" Liu Jiale nodded.

"The rest is up to you."

"Don't worry, boss!" With Phoenix TV achieving a great start, Liu Jiale was naturally confident.

“That TVB program has good ratings. Have someone investigate it, and then we’ll go against them,” Li Song said.

"it is good!"

Escorted by bodyguards, Li Song left through the back door of the TV station, refusing to give interviews for the time being, waiting for the dust to settle before making any further comments, and waiting until he had made arrangements in the mainland.

Back at Federal Garden, Li Song pondered his music plans in mainland China, and this was a very opportune time to enter the mainland market.

Li Song was alone in the Federal Garden that night because Arlene had a show tonight.

The next day, Li Song returned to the mainland and met Ma Shengli at the motorcycle factory. Li Song then made his request: "Mr. Ma, I would like to develop a music business in the mainland. Could you please give me your advice?"

(End of this chapter)