Chapter 43 - An Insane Listenership Count! (1/2)

Friday.

As Zhang Ye had woken up early, there was plenty of time. Zhang Ye was not in a hurry to take the subway to work. He stopped by a kiosk for some time as he browsed through the morning’s papers. He wanted to see if “Little Bunnies Be Good” would be reported.

Beijing Times? None!

Beijing Morning Post? None!

Other tabloids in the capital? Also none!

Zhang Ye was depressed. Could it be because the polls ended too late yesterday? These newspapers probably had to begin printing at 4 A.M., so they could not publish it in time? That would be bad.

He was planning to use this to pull up his listeners.h.i.+p rates. Without any promotion, how was he going to pull it up?

Hai, I’ll leave it in G.o.d’s hands.

What could be done had been done by Zhang Ye. He had put in his best efforts. Today, he needed to see if the listeners.h.i.+p rates would still be at the bottom for “Old and Young Story Club”. Just rising up a bit to the 19th or 20th spot would be good; at least, it wouldn’t be so embarra.s.sing. Only then could Zhang Ye carry on thinking of a method to pull the segment up. There was not much time left.

This time, Zhang Ye was really placing all his hopes and bets on the Education Ministry’s official Essay Compet.i.tion event. “Old and Young Story Club” depended on this bet to be revived!

Zhang Ye’s goal now was very simple and that was to use his fastest speed to do the segment on his hands well. By obtaining the best newcomer broadcasting host award in the shortest time possible, especially one that was quite authoritative, then he could say goodbye to this screwed up unit. This place was just a springboard for Zhang Ye. It was a pit stop before he went to an even higher stage. After obtaining the experience and qualifications, Zhang Ye would be like a free bird. Just using a niche late-night program like “Ghost Blows Out the Light” was insufficient for buffing up his resume!

From today onwards, he wanted to develop towards being a television host. That was a place that required good looks. Their looks and height requirements were many times higher than a radio station’s for a broadcasting host. How was he to convince the Leaders, Directors or Program Producers to ignore his appearance, so as to get them to hire him? He was a newcomer with average looks and height, and he did not have any background or connections.

Women could rely on makeup if they did not have a pretty face. Without makeup, they could use their bodyline!

What about men? What could men with poor looks rely on? There were only three things that they could rely on.

First: Fake it to make it!

Second: Being good at faking it to make it!

Third: Must be able to be good at faking it to make it!

Alright, let’s be serious. Actually, for a person like him who was lacking, he needed ability and records of service!

Zhang Ye was currently not lacking in ability. The only thing he lacked was his record of service. He had to cause a segment’s listeners.h.i.+p to explode, so as to establish his foundation!

The unit.

It was business as usual.

He had reached the office on the dot. The moment he arrived, Jia Yan had already begun announcing the listeners.h.i.+p ratings rankings. Zhang Ye already knew that his segment was still last in place yesterday, so he did not give any face by listening to the ratings. He did not listen to it at all, as he went to the recording studio to record the day’s program.

“h.e.l.lo, children. Recently, there have been many heinous cases of people abducting children and burglarizing the house when parents are not around in Beijing. Hence, I’ll be telling everyone a short story. Its name is “Little Bunnies Be Good”. I hope everyone will not open the door to strangers from today onwards!”

“Mommy Bunny had three children. One was called Little Red Eyes, one was called Long Ears, and one was called Stumpy Tail.”

“Little Bunnies be good; open the door.”

“Come open quickly; I want to come in.”

In terms of singing ability, Zhang Ye was like an ordinary person. He had no foundation, but neither was it too bad. After all, he was a student of the Broadcasting major. In terms of volume control, voice control and lung capacity, Zhang Ye was not that bad. It was actually pleasing to the ear when he sang the children’s song.

“Not opening, not opening. We’re not opening!”

“Mommy hasn’t returned yet. We won’t open it for anyone!”

After singing it a few times and having re-recorded it a few times, Zhang Ye was finally satisfied. He called a.s.sistant Xiaofang to help him arrange the recording tape.

The moment Xiaofang came in, she stammered, “Teacher Zhang, your…your segment’s rating…”

“It was last, right? I knew about it yesterday. It’s alright.” Zhang Ye did not make a fuss.

Xiaofang was even more worried than him as she said, “But tomorrow and the day after, it will be finished over the weekend. ‘Old and Young Story Club’ will be taken off-air; then, you would not have any segments after that!”

Zhang Ye said, “Isn’t there another two days? No one will know what the outcome would be until the end.”

At noon, the program was broadcast. Zhang Ye did not go to lunch, as he was worried over his listeners.h.i.+p rating. However, Zhao Guozhou and two other Leaders of the channel did not come to work, as they seemed to be having a meeting somewhere. It was apparently for the Mid-Autumn Festival’s Poem Meet next week, organized by the Beijing’s Writers a.s.sociation and the Beijing Radio Station. It was even going to be broadcasted live. Since the Mid-Autumn Festival was approaching, everyone was busy preparing for it. As such, Zhang Ye had no way of knowing the rating beforehand. As there was no news of the promotion of “Little Bunnies Be Good”, both on the television and the newspapers, Zhang Ye felt a chill in his heart.

The next day, Sat.u.r.day.

Today, most of the colleagues had come, as they collectively worked overtime.

“Teacher Jia, have you finished recording the first episode?”

“I’ve finished recording the first two episodes. What do you think?”

“It was very good. The quality was very high. I think it can enter the top ten.”

“Teacher Jia, you sure are awesome. The station will belong to you young people from now on.”

The moment Zhang Ye came to the office, he saw Jia Yan mingling with his colleagues. He was in the middle, being complimented. Jia Yan seemed to enjoy that feeling.