Music Trade Review

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The
•
Oil
PAHKER, HARRIS
I
IS yCUC EADIC
OUCH!!
Radio
If so— consult or phone us—
and
The
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Dr. Harris
Gomes a-Runnin'
?ARKER HARRIS
R. H. CAMPBELL
HIS is the day of specialization, particu-
larly in the medical profession. We have
baby specialists, throat specialists, nerve
specialists, and now we find the radio
specialist, or radio doctor, as skilled in his pro-
fession of tending sick radios as any M.D. is
in tending sick persons. The radio ha,s really
become an integral part of the home—a per-
sonality. When its golden voice is stilled or
even hoarse with static the owner feels lost.
It must be tended carefully and immediately.
To most people the internal parts of a radio are
as intricate and mysterious as the parts of the
human body—so call a radio doctor.
P. M. Harris, general manager of The Music
Shop, New Orleans, always had a hankering to
be a doctor. He wanted to fix things up, to
help people with their troubles, but as fate
ates anything that they get for nothing and
Mr. Harris makes this perfectly plain to all his
patients.
Mr. Harris, like thousands of other radio
dealers, was losing money by constantly re-
pairing, without charge, the many radios he
sold. He decided to eliminate from the public
mind the idea of "something for nothing."
"Make 'em pay and like it" became his slogan.
Of course, he had to educate the public up to
it, but soon he found that they flocked to his
store, rather than any other in town, for they'd
rather have expert radio repair work that lasts
than get it free and need it often.
A radio repair shop, no matter how expert,
is not a new idea, but The Music Shop's repair
department is run on original lines. They
charge for repairs to all radios—even the ones
they sell. Wait! before you begin to expostu-
late and cry, "Impossible! He must be losing
customers by the hundreds." Let me inform
you that in good cold numerical figures it has
been found that Mr. Harris's clientele has more
than doubled in the years since he instituted
his "repair for pay" idea.
It is specifically agreed by the under-
signed, that THE MUSIC SHOP is NOT
He lias printed what he calls an "Addendum-
RESPONSIBLE for the burning out of
Radio
Agreement" which he attaches to every
tubes and batteries, and any replacements
contract.
This addendum specifically says that
of them will be paid for at current list
the undersigned agrees that The Music Shop
prices—and cash on delivery. Furthermore,
that any service to Radio or any call made
is not responsible for what happens to the
to residence will be paid cash at rate of
radio tubes and batteries, or for any replace-
$2.00 a call, plus material necessary.
ments, etc., which must be paid for in cash
Signed
Also this formula prescribes that all calls to
residences are at the rate of $2.00 cash, plus
Address
all materials used. That, he says, is plain
enough and is like those signs in the offices of
Attached to All. Contracts
up-to-date doctors which say politely that a
fee will be charged for all examinations and
that all treatments are cash.
would have it, Mr. Harris had a friend back
A big sign out in front of The Music Shop,
in St. Louis whose father had a big music store
and he went to selling pianos with his friend in Baronne street, tells us all about the idea.
and has been selling music ever since. But his The sign says: "If Your Radio Is Sick and
old idea never quite got away from him and the You Want it Healthy, phone Ra. 6114." And
first time he had a chance he put this idea into right under this in big type: "We Are Radio
Doctors." Another sign says: "We Service
practice and became a Radio Doctor, and, like
Our Radios. We Charge for Our Time, Our
all good doctors, he has made helping people
Service Is Not Free." That's plain enough, ac-
out of their troubles pay. People like to talk
about their troubles better than anything else cording to Mr. Harris, and he says people like
in the world and a doctor likes to be sympa- it. And he has set up a whole suite of offices
thetic and helpful, but there is no use making just to take care of the unhealthy radios and
any beans about it; nobody properly appreci- to have consultations with patients who want
T
to talk about their radio troubles. Everything
that you can think of is in these offices, all
the paraphernalia, equipment, etc., better than
most M.D. offices. And there is a force of
expert assistants to help, because, as Mr. Har-
ris says, you must have good doctors.
The idea has gone over big and Mr. Harris
is known in New Orleans as the Radio Doctor.
But if you could see the 1,500 to 2,000 persons
outside The Music Shop store, almost any day
in the Summer time and on many days in Win-
ter, you would realize that Mr. Harris has not
A ddendum-Radio
Agreement
P. M. Harris
neglected every other form of publicity. A
big feature is his huge Scoreboard sign across
the second' story of the building where the
scores of the baseball games are recorded for
the public from a wire service. And then there
are his window displays, one of which caught
the eyes of all New Orleans one week, when
he had a hundred of so many colored balloons
dancing around to the tune of a big RCA ma-
(Continued on page 19)