James Catledge
speaker
208 appearances
1 recordings
1 series
first heard Apr 2025
last heard Apr 2025
James Catledge’s voice in public audio — every appearance, attributed to the second.
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Appearances
And, and I, and for whatever reason, I'm, I'm broke and penniless, but I don't feel like I want to do a McDonald's or a taco, but just, this is just me and my weird way of thinking I want a professional job. Right. And I'm broke. So, I want to work at a radio station because for whatever reason, I think I would be a good disc jockey.
And in my mind, coming from Memphis, Tennessee, there was a disc jockey that was so famous, Rick Dees, that I think in my mind I could be a Rick Dees. And so I want to work at a radio station. So I get the bus to Salt Lake City for an interview at the radio station, and the guy says, look, You know, you don't have any experience in broadcasting. Why don't we put you in sales?
We have this long interview about sales. And I was a missionary, so this is kind of fitting my skill set.
Show me the doors. Right. This guy is hiring me, basically. And I'm so excited because... First of all, there's no salary, okay? Salespeople aren't paid salaries. So this is not, you eat what you kill. Yeah, of course. This is a sales job. But nobody's telling you how much you can make either. No, no. There's no limit on what I can make. I eat what I kill.
And I frankly like that because there's no limit on it, as you say.
Well, he says, you've got a car, right? This is the wrap up of the interview, man. Sure. I said, not yet. And he says, well, why don't you come back and see me when you get a car? And so I left that interview, get back on the bus, and I'm thinking, I got a job here. I got a job here. I have to get a car. So on the way back, I have the bus stop near Mountain Motors in Orem, Utah on State Street.
Now, I didn't know at the time I was headed to Mountain Motors, but when the bus stops, I see a used car dealership. this is where they have cars. So I need a car. I walk into Mountain Motors. This place is run by Persian businessmen, okay, in Orem, Utah. I walk in and I said, look, guys, I need a sales job to sell cars. And the guy says, let me introduce you to the sales manager.
He introduced me. He says, what's your experience in car sales? I said, none, but I'm sure I can sell them. He says, well, okay, we're hiring sales guys. You know, by the way, most people are hiring sales guys. Word to the wise. Most people are hiring sales guys. And I said, here's the little caveat here. I need to buy a car, so I need my commissions dedicated to the purchase of a used car.
And I don't know what that means other than I need a car quick, like, because I'm not going to sell cars. In my mind, I'm going to sell enough cars to get a car to go back and get the job that I think I've secured. Well, I'm there 30 days. I pick out a black Dodge GLH. I have $9,000 now in cash and a Dodge GLH that's paid for. Now, I think the car was $1,200, okay?
So we're talking about a nice car. And it's so loaded with dents down the side. It looks like they had a door opening contest with this vehicle because the entire side, all the way up front and back panel, In the same location, it's been jammed up a lot.
That's literally the situation with this car. And so I talked them into Fort...
my without additional pay like they're going to take care of this car i said i need a body shop to bang this thing out and paint it because i this is ridiculous so they get all that done so i've got 9 000 bucks and this 1200 car and it looks good okay i go back now this this takes a month i go back to that job he goes man i didn't think we'd see you again i'm glad you're back i said i've got an idea and i proposed this now this is my first real hustle
I proposed to him that I'm going to be going to school at BYU. Now I'm not even accepted into BYU yet, but in my mind, that's where I'm going to be. I tell him, why don't you give me Utah County as my territory? Now, Salt Lake City sits in one county, Salt Lake County. Utah County is on the other side of the mountain range.
The radio station is in Salt Lake, but I don't want to drive up there every day. I want to handle accounts in Utah County where I'm going to go to school, where my apartment is. And he says, well, we got a guy down there. I said, what if I outsell him? Will you give me Utah County? He goes, well, you can both be in Utah County. I said, okay.
He says, we also have some orphan accounts in Utah County that they no longer advertise with us. I'll give you that binder full of orphan accounts. And so what I did is I needed the history on how much they had spent. And I built a chart who had spent the most over the longest period of time. Those would be the ones I would start with. And what I did, we had cassette recorders back then.
I wrote the commercial. before I do visit one. And I got the morning announcer who's famous on the radio. Okay, Mark Van Wagner was the guy's name. I'll never forget this because no one knows I'm doing this and you're not really allowed to do this. I get him to record the copy as though it's a sold commercial. I haven't even visited the place yet to try to pitch it.
But I want the commercial recorded by a good, soundy disc jockey. I've written the copy. I like the copy. He likes the copy. Only people who ever approach the morning or afternoon drive car are people who have sold ads. Well, he's assuming these ads are sold. I don't have the discussion about where they are or aren't.
I go down with my cassette recorder that I purchased, play these ads, and I'm getting people to say, wow, who produced that? I say, well, I had a morning guy do it. And he said, we don't even have a contract with you. I said, not yet. I said, but I know if you see it the way I see it, you wouldn't want to do business with anybody else. Who else is writing your ads ahead of a relationship?
And so I ended up having this, Gene Harvey Chevrolet is my very first client down in American Fork, Utah. And they're laying big bucks out for advertising. And it's an orphan. And I'm restoring all the orphans. So eventually, it took six months. I'm the number one guy in Utah County. I go back to my guy and I said, my sales manager, all these names are coming to me, the memories of these fellows.
And I said, look, I need my clothes dry cleaned. I don't have time to iron clothes. He says, here's what you do. Go down and get a 50% cash, 50% trade account under dry cleaners. I said, okay, so basically all his ad dollars are half in trade, half in cash. He goes, exactly. They'll do it for 50% to be on the station. I said, what if I do it at my favorite restaurant? He says, okay, 50-50.
Showing 61–80 of 208 · page 4 of 11
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