Death at the Trade Show: Target Practice Mysteries 3 (8 page)

Mary opened her bag and pulled out the notebook. “This is what we know so far: you buy time from a network and get money from your sponsors. Then use the money to pay for the time and to produce the show. Is that about right?”

Jillian smiled broadly. “Not a bad start. You make it sound so easy.” She chuckled.

Mary scribbled in her notebook and continued to interview. “Is there just one hunting channel or a couple?”

“There are tons of different ones, and every time I turn around, someone is trying to pitch a new channel.” Jillian waved her hand at the idea of a new channel. “For the article, you’ll probably want to focus on the three big hunting channels, America’s Best Sports, Real Outdoor Adventures, and Wilderness Hunts. They are way ahead of all the rest of the channels when it comes to viewership numbers. A whole different league.”

Mary was scribbling in her notebook. “Wilderness… Hunts… Okay, all caught up. How are the three stations different?”

“There’s a ton of little differences. Do you have any particular area you’re interested in?”

“Hmmm.” Mary tapped her pen on the notebook. “Let’s say that Di and I had a hunting show—what are the pluses and minuses of each channel?”

“Good question.” Jillian leaned forward in her seat. “First off, you’d need a pilot to show the production quality of the show and the basic format. Then you’d try to get a meeting to pitch the show. Depending on your pitch, they might offer you a few timeslots. Their goal is to have as many people view their channel as possible, so they will pick shows that they think people will want to watch. Plus they want a variety: some bowhunting, some gun shows, domestic, international, you understand.”

Mary flipped the page of her notebook and moved it to the table. “Are prices about the same?”

“Not even close. So let’s take America’s Best Sports. They are the most expensive but are in the most households. If you have satellite or cable and get the sports or deluxe package, then you probably have their channel, but they’re not purely a hunting channel. They’ve little blocks during the weekday for midday fishing and hunting shows. The rest of the time, it’s other sports or sports talk shows or whatever. Some people like this because they have a bigger audience, but others argue that it isn’t the right audience to sell their products.”

Mary looked up from her notebook. “Not the right audience?”

Jillian leaned back in her chair. “That’s the theory. Now, on the other end of the spectrum is Wilderness Hunts. They only do hunting shows and they are subscription-only. People pay for that particular channel, so the assumption is that all the viewers are the right demographic to sell the products. Prices are lower, but they are in much fewer households. They only do hunting shows, their prices are cheaper, and you get three timeslots for your price. The idea is that you get one prime timeslot then two reruns during less-prime timeslots.”

This was all fascinating background. “Which station are you on?”

“We’re on Real Outdoor Adventures, which splits the difference between the channels, you could say. Price point, production quality, household numbers, and you get one rerun. Plus, the channel’s a bit more diverse when it comes to programming. In addition to hunting shows, they also have fishing and competitive shooting sports. A real well-rounded channel. Plus, it is the channel that Westmound prefers. A lot of the time, your sponsors make the decision for you since they have a theory on which channel works for them.”

Mary kept writing, and we silently waited. Once she finished, she looked up at Jillian. “Tell me about these theories you keep mentioning.”

“We don’t have any proof of how much hunting shows, or pro-staff contacts, or any of that affects sales, if at all. Because people aren’t going out of business, we assume it’s working, but it’s a bit of a mystery. So in general, companies play it safe; they want something new but still very familiar, basically variations on a theme. They like certain timeslots and certain channels. I met a gal a few years ago that hosted a target archery competitive reality show. Its first season, it had great viewership numbers, but they couldn’t get any sponsors for a second season because it was too different from everything else being done. Wonder what she’s doing now?”

Mary held up her finger. “Hold on. So do you start with the sponsors or the station? ’Cause you need money to buy the timeslot, but you said sponsors prefer certain channels.”

“It’s a juggling act, for sure. You talk to a bunch of sponsors and figure out who might be interested and what they want, i.e., a certain channel or they want to be a title sponsor. Then you go and get the timeslot then go back and try to get the sponsors. Our first year, we self-funded the show with only a few sponsors who mostly provided equipment. We lost money that season. Second year we broke even but didn’t pull a salary, but since the third season, we’ve been able to pay ourselves for the show. We’ll never buy a vacation house in Hawaii, but we love what we do.”

Mary flipped the notebook to a new page. “The sponsors give you money; what do they get? Their name on the opening?”

“Depends on the negotiation. All the stations give you a certain number of commercial spots, so often a large sponsor gets a commercial, a banner at the beginning of the show, product integration in the show, using only their product and describing it. Basically if you can imagine it, it can be done.”

Sitting back, I contemplated the information. While it was useful for this article that we hadn’t even committed to writing, it didn’t tell us much about Cash’s murder. “How competitive is it to get sponsors?”

Jillian grimaced briefly before continuing. “It can get… interesting. Nothing really underhanded, I think, but we’re all competing for the same money. I don’t know what happens behind closed doors. Some people might try to casually undercut another show without being too obvious, like posting online about ‘Our show does this, unlike other shows that do that.’ Or you might see marketing guys, the ones that decide who gets money, being taken on private hunting trips by the hosts of shows. Sometimes it really is an old-boys’ club, lots of chumming around.”

“So potentially, behind closed doors, other shows could be undercutting competitors?” That’s a possible motive.

“Or overplaying their own strengths. Viewership numbers are kept very hush-hush, even by the networks themselves. You can buy likes, follows, friends, views, and such on social media to make it look like you have a larger fan base. It can be a strange business.”

Mary shifted forward in her seat. “What about timeslots? Do people fight over them?”

“Hmmm.” Jillian pressed a finger to her lips. “I’m not totally sure. We found a timeslot we liked, our numbers were solid but the price wasn’t too high, and we’ve stayed there. But I know that other shows are jostling around for position. A few years ago, the
Three Billy Brothers
lost their timeslot.”

“To who?” Mary was shifted so far forward she was perched precariously on the edge of her seat.

“Um…
Hunting with Cash
, actually. People say that he stole it out from under the Billy brothers. And there was something off about Cash’s show after—”

The conference door behind Jillian opened, and she stopped talking as Orion stepped out of the room. “Hey Jillian. Sorry we’re running late. If you want to grab Jack and Vinny, we can meet in this room.” He indicated the empty conference room I’d stolen a chair from.

Jillian stood up. “It was great to meet you both. If you have any other questions for your article, we’ll be around.”

Elizabeth and Connie nodded as they passed, then Liam called out from the room they left, “Di, Mary, can you come in here?”

Mary gathered up her notebooks, and we went into the room to sit across from Liam. Orion hung around the doorway.

Liam pulled out a sheet of paper and slid it across to me. “We talked and came up with a little project for you and Mary. These are two optic companies that make spotting scopes, binoculars, and range finders. We’re considering buying one or both of them. How about if you guys spend some time at each booth, look at the product line, catalogues, and staff, and we can talk about it later?”

“Whoa, you want
us
to do research?”

Liam lightly chuckled. “No pressure. Mom and Connie thought it would be a good project to get you familiar with how we make decisions. You and Mary can make your observations, then we’ll get together and talk to you about what’s important and why. Don’t tell them why you’re there, but don’t lie either. If they ask, say that you’re curious about their products. That should only take a few hours. The rest of the time, you’re free to do whatever you want at the show. Walk around, learn about the industry, become familiar with the companies and products, and try to solve Cash’s murder.”

“What? Why do you think…”

Liam leaned back in his chair with a chuckle. “Come on, Di. I know you and Mary.”

“Plus,” Orion said from behind me, “someone left out their murder notebook last night.”

I chuckled. “But seriously, is it cool if we do some poking around? We’ll stay out of trouble.”

Liam shook his head. “I doubt that. If you come back around noon, we’ll get food for you.”

Orion stepped out of the room. “Come on, Liam, we’re ready for the next meeting.”

Liam grave Moo a scratch on the back as he stepped into the next room and closed the door behind him. Muffled voices came through the thin walls.

Left in the room alone, I turned to Mary. “What now?” Our options were completely open, and I was excited to get started.

Mary studied her notebook seriously. “How about if we find Sarah and ask her to set up some interviews for us? We can continue using the article as an excuse to talk to some people, swing over to talk to the first company on Liam’s list, then come back for lunch?”

“You’re the boss, Sherlock. I’m just here for comic effect.”

Moo and I stepped out of the room into the Westmound booth to stretch a bit. Now that I was free to wander the trade show floor, I was eager to break free. Right across the aisle was Loggin at the Andersson Booth. “Hey, Loggin.”

He had been talking with another employee but looked up. “Hey, Di. Hey, Moo. How’s it hanging, dude?”

We crossed the aisle, dodging a few people on the way. I looked over my shoulder to check that I was still in sight of the doorway to the room so Mary could find me.

Loggin knelt down to roughhouse with Moo, rubbing him hard on the neck and tapping him. “Who’s a good dog? Who’s a good dog?”

Moo was getting wound up and suddenly barked and spun in a circle, hitting Loggin in the side with his butt and sending Loggin down. Moo spun back the opposite direction and flopped across Loggin’s chest, causing him to grunt.

I pulled back on Moo’s leash. “Get off. You okay down there?”

He groaned and sat up. “My brothers would say that I picked a fight outside my weight class
—
Whoa!” He held up his hands and leaned away from Moo. “Dude, he’s growling.”

“No!” I pulled on Moo’s leash. He seldom growled. I followed his stare toward the front of the trade show. From here, the white yeti was visible. “Oh, he’s not growling at you. He has an issue with that target thingy down there.”

Loggin turned and looked down the aisle then patted Moo on the back before standing. “I feel you, Moo. Karma will get you.” He looked at me. “Have you been to the tournament? Do you know about Karma the yeti?”

I shook my head.

“Karma is the last target on the range: really tricky shot, hundred and twenty yards over a ravine. It’s always windy with an updraft. So you’ll be shooting great then hit that target and everything goes wrong. Everyone says ‘Karma will get you’ whenever you start bragging about how great you’re shooting. Hey, you should come this year and bring Minx.”

“Bring Minx where?” said Mary from behind me.

I stepped aside to let her join the conversation and answered her question. “Red Bluff Safari to shoot Karma.”

“If you’re going, then I’m going.” Mary nodded her head at the statement of fact.

“Like I’m ready to jet off to tournaments alone. Isn’t the Red Bluff Safari a compound thing?”

Loggin shrugged. “Kinda. Most people that shoot it use a compound, but you could do it with your recurve. What is the longest distance and target that you guys shoot?”

I turned to Mary, waiting for her to answer. “Seventy meters at a hundred-and-twenty-two-centimeter target.”

Loggin stared at her for a few counts then hesitantly asked, “Uh, how far is that?”

“About seventy-seven yards at a four-foot target. Or three quarters of a football field at a target this tall.” She raised her hand to about bra level.

Loggin nodded. “If you can do that, then you can totally shoot Red Bluff Safari. I’ll come and help get you ready.”

Mary gasped as an idea hit her. “You know what would help us? Have you heard anything about the guy that died in the hotel? Cash?”

“Dude, that’s so crazy. A lot of people have been talking about it. Cold was his videographer after his original guy backed out—did some of the filming and editing. Moose was talking about it, too. He used to work with Cash but had some falling out. As soon as Moose said that, Cold suddenly started backpedaling about working with Cash. Like, ‘Yeah, I knew there was something off about the guy,’ when a few seconds before he had called Cash a ‘smart businessman.’ I just stayed quiet.”