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A&M considered tertiary market
Town
i By RODNEY RATHER
Reporter
tiexas A&M may be considered a
Bid-class institution in the eyes of
Jcators, but it is considered a
Slid world market by the entertain-
Bu industry.
||rograms Director Jim Hurd said
at A&M, along with many other
iniversities, has fallen from the sec
tary market to the tertiary mar-
| which means that it is the last
!e performers choose to hold a
u, Memorial Student Center,
ntertainers look at factors such
jacilities, population, location and
[B>rd sales when deciding where to
pejform, Hurd said.
fMost institutions used to be sec-
^ yfljndary markets because they had fa-
A* allies and money,” he said.
— But now they are considered tert-
markets because they are
Bally located in areas that are not
■ . Bsely populated and that do not
MAQflfle record sales; whereas pri-
>fyiC ma rkets such as Houston and
Dallas have large populations and
J Kstantially larger record sales,
jecause the MSC Town Hall,
Ihich is in charge of entertainment,
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ailing uni:
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Escapee, 39,
turns himself
in to warden
Associated Press
I PALESTINE — After five
leeks of hiding in the day and
loming out at night “like a damn
fampire,” Harry Eugene “Oil
can” Harrison said he’s relieved
the running is over.
I Harrison, 39, escaped from the
jDallas County Courthouse five
Reeks ago after a jury found him
guilty of car theft and recessed
before deciding punishment. His
flight and several narrow escapes
from law enforcement officers
look, him from Dallas to Amarillo
to Palestine.
I Harrison claimed he was inno
tent of the auto theft conviction
feached by the jury July 10, so he
|aid he bolted from the court-
oom through a fire door.
During his absence, he was sen-
Kenced to 50 years and still faces
; on outer|
, and i
of life skJKrther charges,
bookshel® Harrison surrendered in Pales-
nauts shot! i 1 n 'L to J^k Garner, warden of
stne lexas Dept
tigers oil! t j ()ns ’ Coffieid Unit. He knew
mould Deal Garner from a previous stint in
emy. Conj state prison and trusted him, he
igs and cal* 3 ' 01-
defected
what could
!.
t outer-$|
our govern
mey forsfi
need now
y citizen. It
Our slogai
someone!
r your sister
ion
60
ciation
Conference
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at participating Chanello’s
Hall having difficulties
has problems attracting performers,
A&M may follow the lead of other
universities and hire professional
promoters to do the job, Hurd said.
That means MSC Town Hall will
have less control over ticket prices
and over which shows are brought to
the campus.
Besides lacking a prime location,
population and facilities, A&M faces
Because
Hall has problems attract-
ing performers, A&M
may follow the lead of
other universities and hire
professional promoters to
do the job ~~~ Programs
Director Jim Hurd
another problem: money.
Last year’s Town Hall chairwo
man, Julie Plessala, said Town Hall
has been restricted in the amount of
money it can spend to attract enter
tainment,
“For a professional fee, which is
the amount paid to the group itself,
Town Hall doesn’t spend over
$25,000 to $30,000,” Plessala said.
“On top of that, there are sound
and lighting costs, which can run
from $5,000 to $10,000 and public
relations costs and crew costs,” she
said.
One show may cost $60,000 to
$70,000, she said.
Last year, Town Hall had about
$932,000 to pay for the shows, Hurd
said, but only about $32,000 was
hard cash, which was taken from stu
dent service fees. The bulk of the
budget was self-generated through
ticket and T-shirt sales.
Another problem that has bur
dened Town Hall is persuading stu
dents to attend the shows.
Surveys have been conducted to
discover what the students would
like to see, but they have not been ef
fective, Plessala said.
“We found that, for instance,
Toto was second on the survey, un
der Madonna,” she said. “And con
sidering how hot Madonna is, that’s
pretty good.”
Town Hall Vice Chairman of
Concerts for 1984-85 Susan Polarolo
said although all the available media
— including television, radio, news
papers and posters — were used in
promotions, but only 3,600 tickets
were sold for the Toto concert, fall
ing about 4,200 tickets short of sell
ing out G. Rollie White Coliseum,
To get a more accurate estimate
of what students want to see, a new
survey may be used next year, Ples
sala said. It would ask students to list
the types of music they listen to and
their favorite musical artists instead
of having them rank a list of 10 to 15
groups already provided on a sur
vey, which was the method used last
year.
Although Town Hall has had to
deal with such problems as student
attendance, money and the classifi
cation as a tertiary market, Plessala
said most performers have enjoyed
A&M once they come here.
“They know A&M is different and
they treat it that way,” she said.
“That’s what makes it fun for them.”
For example, Plessala said the mu
sical group Alabama liked A&M so
much they returned for three con
secutive years.
Concert promoter to stage
sixth Texxas Jam Saturday
Associated Press
DALLAS — PACE Concerts pres
ident Louis Messina needed to sell
more than 50,000 tickets just to
break even on the 1984 Texxas Jam
concert. Rock fans had bought only
30,000 tickets in advance.
“Louis went into the day losing a
half million dollars,” recalled radio
station KTXQ-FM program director
Andy Lockridge.
But 20,000 people walked up to
purchase tickets the day of the show,
saving the concert promoter from a
financial disaster yet bringing no re
ward for the work of putting on a
large-scale show.
Afterward, Messina vowed to
“never do another Texxas Jam.”
But this year Messina is back, and
he’s put up $1 million to stage the
1985 Texxas Jam this Saturday at
the Cotton Bowl.
Promoters like Messina are willing
to gamble big money and endure the
organizational headaches because a
sellout can yield hundreds of thou
sands of dollars in profit.
The key to a successful stadium
concert is securing the talent that
can sell the show, Messina said. But
since “Bruce Springsteen is the only
person who can fill a stadium,” a
promoter must book a combination
of acts to draw a crowd and keep it
entertained.
Saturday’s lineup includes Deep
Purple, the Scorpions, Night
Ranger, Ted Nugent, Bon Jovi,
Grim Reaper and Victory. T ogether,
the groups will command a salary of
$450,000 plus a percentage of the
gate.
And although PACE’s gate reve
nue will amount to $1.1 million if it
sells 60,000 tickets to this year’s Jam,
entertainment expenses are only
half the bills PACE will have to pay
before taking its share.
Rental for the Cotton Bowl is
roughly $100,000 based on a share
of the gate.
Sound, lights and production will
cost an estimated $71,000, and
rental of the five-story stage another
$60,000.
The backstage crew, which begins
small to set up the backstage facilities
and fence in advance, will swell to
200 the day of the concert and cost
$50,000.
Stadium workers — the folks who
man the gates, medical stations, se
curity posts and clean up — will cost
$150,000.
Advertising, insurance and sup
port services all siphon off a share,
too, Messina said. The cost of about
$1 million must be recouped in tick
ets which sell for $20 apiece.
To make a 10 percent profit,
PACE needs to sell 60,000 tickets.
“The overhead is the same
whether 40,000 people show up or
80,000 people snow up,” Messina
said, explaining why a big show is so
risky.
To even the odds, Stroh Brewery
Co. is the corporate sponsor this
year. In return for promotion, they
help with costs. The brewery uses
the concert to get its message to
young consumers, despite the fact
that beer is not sold inside the Cot
ton Bowl during the event.
Sales of T-shirts, posters and
other “rock paraphernalia” could
bring more than $500,000, esti
mated Ed Campbell, concessionaire.
Each person in attendance should
spend an average of $9, he said.
Early this week, tickets were sell
ing at a rate of 1,200 a day, with
52,705 tickets sold as of Sunday.
“I predict that we will sell between
70,000 and 80,000 tickets to the
Texxas Jam,” Messina said.
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