A Home Shopping Network Dream Come True
Aug. 17, 2004 -- -- Call it a live, unscripted circus of consumerism, a 24-hour-a-day tent revival for the digital age, where the religion is capitalism, and the only faith you need is in your product and your pitch.
It is the Home Shopping Network, or HSN, whose stars include everyone from celebrities hawking their brands to the guy next door, putting everything on the line for that chance to earn thousands in minutes.
Each year 10,000 people apply to the network for a chance to try out their product on air. But only a few hundred make the grade. So what does it take?
Jim Song is one inventor who has been through the experience. His brainchild — that has consumed him for nearly two decades — is a device that steam-cleans toothbrushes. He calls it the "Germ Terminator."
ABC News followed Song and his wife Adi as they tried to make the dream come true.
Velocity Calling
One of the most astonishing things about HSN is just how much product can be sold when, in the words of network president Marty Nealon, "something really resonates with a customer."
She calls it velocity. "Somebody gets out there, and they're able to really explain something. And they get excited. And the phone lines just light up — and all across America — because television is so powerful," she said.
One of the network's biggest sellers is the "huggable hanger" — clothes hangers lined with a non-slip velvety surface. After selling more than 15 million of them, the hangers' inventor, former housewife Joy Mangano, is now a millionaire.
When viewers look at the inventions on the network, "it looks so simple," Nealon said, leading them to think they can do it themselves. "And that's what's exciting," she added.
Doing Their Homework
The Songs' first step was an audition, where they had to convince HSN executives to buy some of their products.
The stakes were high. The Songs have a family of seven, and they spent their savings and mortgaged their house to bring the Germ Terminator to market.
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