Sometimes putting the cart before the horse works just fine. Danny's Guitar Shop began life as a media entity, morphed into a brick and mortar store on the Main Line, and now Danny's Guitar Shop is also the title of a new television show.
"It came to me in an epiphany six years ago," says Danny Gold, proprietor and host of the 30 minute series. "In the wasteland of cable TV, where there are whole stations about food, golf, and cars, there was nothing of substance about guitars." Sure, says Gold, there are plenty of performance videos and interviews with rock stars, but there's been no nutritional value about the instrument itself.
At that time, Gold was a rep for Fender, and saw a marketing opportunity in a media product. With the help of Bruce Warren, Gold created the
radio series Danny's Guitar Shop for
WXPN more than two years ago. While the budget starved series came to an end after four episodes, in its ashes rose the
actual guitar shop in downtown Narberth, a bustling location that offers personal service, lots of lessons, and corny jokes to the Main Line and beyond. It's the only store of its kind for miles.
That quirky personality has been translated to the boob tube, thanks to the creative production team of videographer Ron Stanford and sound recording engineer Larry Friedman. "Danny is a natural," says Stanford. "He's able to speak in complete sentences in front of a camera."
Rather than make
sizzle reels until the end of time, says Stanford, the team opted to create a complete 30-minute show, starting with a VIP tour of nearby Nazareth, Pa.'s
Martin Guitar factory. "It gives the viewer a real insider's glimpse," says Gold. "It's a privileged look inside the world of music that's appealing to music geeks as well as a general audience." Stanford and Gold's proudest accomplishment is the new episode featuring a talk with Wilmington, Del.'s
David Bromberg, whom Gold calls the popular kid on the block.
The series now airs on the web and on the Lenfest owned WMCN, also known as
Get It On TV. It's got four sponsors:
Old City Publishing,
Union Transfer,
Onion Flats and
Yards Brewing. "We're responsible for filling the whole 28:30," says Stanford. It's like old time TV."
As it is, the team, which donates labor, goes so far as to create ads for those sponsors. "Our goal is to become an economically viable TV series," says Stanford. "It's a chicken and egg thing. No one will believe it until they see it on the air."
With three already in the can, eleven more shows are slated for this first season. You can catch Danny's Guitar Shop on Saturdays at 6:30 p.m. beginning Oct.1 on WMCN, which is carried on cable stations from the Jersey shore to Reading.
Source: Danny Gold, Ron Stanford, Danny's Guitar Shop
Writer: Sue Spolan