Chapter 1307: Chapter 1306: Shocking the Federation for a Whole Year
Recently in Bupen and even throughout the entire Federation, two topics have been extremely popular.
The first topic is "Lynch and his television station," and the second is "Lynch and his Wealth Maker."
If there were more advanced electronic network communication in this era, perhaps the whole world would be captivated by these two pieces of news.
But it’s not bad now anyway, people are discussing, first and foremost they are discussing whether Lynch can succeed.
"He always succeeds, it seems like he has never failed, no matter what he does!"
"He’s like the Lord’s illegitimate child, even the Goddess of Destiny, who treats humanity most harshly, needs to lift her skirt and give him a flattering smile."
People are concerned whether this venture of Lynch will achieve success like his previous endeavors.
Some believe Lynch will not succeed this time because he is venturing into an industry he has never been involved with before, completely different from his familiar territory.
Movies can still be said to be closely related to capital, but a television station...
Sorry, the power of capital may have value, but it’s no longer the core element.
This is unlike movies, where capitalists can wield money to hire the best directors, the best actors, buy the best scripts, and then spend money to recreate all the scenes needed in a film!
As long as there is money, capitalists can produce one classic film after another!
But television stations are different, some may think they’re the same, but those who truly understand know that they are different.
Movies have screening times, if your competition is too strong, you can choose to postpone or advance the screening to avoid direct conflict.
There are no such things in television stations and TV productions, all flagship shows never "rest," as long as the ratings don’t fluctuate dramatically, they will continue to exist!
When you attempt to join, it means you are going to compete with the Federation’s most successful television stations and their most successful programs!
There’s no turning back here!
More than one capitalist with certain dreams has stepped into this industry and then... crashed against the wall of the fortress, shattered!
This is not a place where money alone can make things work, creating a hit show requires integrating a lot of information, so much that the birth of a flagship show is often a coincidence or the result of many people working together!
Having money alone is really not enough!
In fact, ever since the inaugural issue of Vanguard was released, the media industry has been extremely wary of Lynch’s Darkstone Capital.
Television stations are not just platforms for broadcasting information; they are media that face the entire society.
Politicians, celebrities, and capitalists, when they need to, they will appear on TV; all consortiums and political groups have their own media companies.
This also predestines most media companies to have antagonistic relationships with each other.
Because of political stances, conflicts between the capital consortiums behind them, or other reasons.
People are unwilling to see Lynch’s Darkstone Television Station achieve success, yet they can’t resort to sabotage.
They can’t demolish the station during renovation, can’t burn the equipment, can’t... Many things they can’t do, so they have to exert more pressure on this television station.
Under immense pressure, once they don’t get it right, to fix things will require a very long time.
Some people are also driven by these interested parties, beginning to speculate whether Lynch can continue to succeed this time.
There’s a group of people persistently believing that Lynch always succeeds, even this time, and that’s enough.
But there’re also those who feel it’s about time he fails once; he always succeeds, perhaps this time he should fail!
That’s what they thought the last time too.
And the second topic is related to the program Lynch revealed, "Wealth Maker," other TV channels have even discussed this program.
A host questioned the authenticity of this program, or emphasized the question "just how rich is wealthy," which has no definitive answer.
For someone with no income, perhaps three or five thousand would be an amount viewed as "wealth" in their eyes.
But for someone in the Middle Class, three or five thousand might just be their most basic annual household expenses, like utilities and fuels, excluding other various value-added and paid services fees.
Therefore, the host believes that there is no need for everyone to have high hopes for the program, it’s merely a word game.
There’s even speculation about whether those selected to become "wealthy" are actors, TV staff, etc.
Such things are quite possible to occur.
As for society, Darkstone Television Station has been steadily promoting the establishment of the station, networking signals, household entry, and more service content.
Some rumors outside seem to have no impact on them whatsoever!
The only indication of their involvement is the surveys commissioned to the top three consulting agencies in Bupen.
They are conducting a massive survey across the Federation involving millions!
And this move has been recorded in the Federation World Record List, marking the first large-scale questionnaire survey in Federation history!
You should know, every survey costs money!
A survey sheet, a pen, a small gift, roughly around three dollars, along with wages for workers and fees for the consulting company, approximately three dollars and fifteen cents—when the base number escalates to another level, labor costs come down instead.
Which once again proves the notion that humans are consumable!
In all, Lynch will pay about four million for a million surveys, an absolute unprecedented event, but it will generate an equally unprecedented investigation on people’s perception of "wealth."
It will be more precise than any before!
On March 22nd, an ordinary Young Man named "Harry" arrived at the broadcast hall of Darkstone Television Station, luckily chosen as the contestant for the first episode.
He lives on the outskirts of Bupen, where poverty, gangs, violence, and crime... these things constantly trouble him and his family.
A while ago, he answered a question on the street survey: "If you have an opportunity to choose to change your destiny, would you do it?" he chose "yes" at the time.
And that became the key to his participation!
He put on his brother’s clothes, clean, neat, a bit long, the only presentable outfit his family had.
The rest were either washed out or patched, only this one looked perfectly intact and clean.
He felt a bit uneasy, none of his family accompanied him.
His brother and father work at the factory, capitalists don’t allow them to take leave.
His mother and sister work at home doing simple handicrafts to help make ends meet.
No one could accompany him, he was all alone!
Holding an ID certified by himself, he entered the hall, then was led into a waiting room.
Under guidance from a staff member, he timidly sat in front of a mirror to begin makeup.
"I will cover some acne on your face, trim your eyebrows, nothing else much. Any thoughts?"
The makeup artist was somewhat... discomforting, a man behaving like a woman.
Harry shook his head, "What you mentioned will do."
Experiencing being pampered by someone else for the first time, he completed the makeup looking at the much more handsome self in the mirror, with certain radiant eyes.
"Very handsome, you can go over there; they will brief you on the upcoming process."
After thanking them, Harry stood up and entered another room where some people were already present; seeing these people, Harry sensed hostility from their eyes.
He stood in a vacant corner, then a staff member explained the next programs to him.
He didn’t hear clearly, but youthful quick thinking allowed him to grasp the gist; finally, he raised a question, "You called and said whether I could go to the end there would be something..."
"Yes, fifty dollars, regardless if you can go further," the staff chuckled, "Don’t worry about that, instead of fifty dollars, you should consider performing better on the show!"
In the room not only were there them but also a guy who looked like a successful individual, yet sitting here with others indicated he might not be that successful.
He raised his hand, "Are there any script lines or prompts, like what I should say at certain times, or how to respond when the host asks?"
The staff smiled, "No, nothing of the sort, we are not that kind of fake show, everything is real and effective."
...
Time passed in dullness; whether after a dozen minutes or half an hour, the door on the other side opened, guided by the staff, they entered the hall.
It was crowded with spectators attracted by "small gifts," as long as they fully participated in the program, they would receive a giveaway prepared by the television station—a voucher from a fast-food place next to the station!
All camera lenses started operating, on a cool stage with fifteen platforms with the host standing in the center.
Everyone found their position, when spotlight beams hit, four "explosions" sounded throughout the broadcasting hall suddenly.
Then, ten thousand one-dollar bills spiraled down amid the contestants’ dumbfounded and the audience’s dumbfounded awareness!
The host’s microphone started working—
"Dreams turn into reality, the future in my hands..."
"Welcome to Wealth Maker!"
