When I received word that QVC, the largest home shopping channel in America,  was holding open auditions for a new host, I thought this would make a great idea for a story.  I pitched the idea to my editor, secretly thinking if I was selected, I’d ditch “The Bucks Courier Times,” and begin my new glamorous new career as a television host.

            So along with hundreds of others, I made the trek to expansive QVC Studio Park in West Chester on March 2^nd.  Each person was instructed to bring a resume, photo, and something to “sell” for the two-minute on-air audition.  I was escorted to a waiting room filled with anxious men and women mostly in their 30’s and 40’s. Jay Cohen, a kitchen designer from Bensalem said he was looking for a mid-career change and wanted to audition after seeing a notice on monster.com.  Another man, who wanted to remain anonymous, said he wanted to change careers and thought his acting and journalism background would help.  Heather MacNair, 24, of Warrington thought she would put her theater degree to work.  Emily Sheldon, 35, of West Chester, a mathematician and mother of a seven-year-old, dropped by the studio after hearing about the audition the previous evening.           

As I interviewed my “competition,” I felt confident that I would be ending my career as television writer for “The Bucks County Courier Times,” and would be selling “Diamonique” and mingling with Joan Rivers in the near future.  After all, I have a broadcast journalism degree and worked at the college radio station.  How hard can it be to talk about a product for two minutes?   

QVC host, Bob Bowersox, who along with some of the other on-air personalities was mingling with the candidates in the conference room said, “to be a host, the trick is to be yourself.  The entire theme of QVC is that this is a backyard fence.  We are like two neighbors chatting.  You need a combination of sales experience, acting, anchoring, and hosting a talk show.  If you try to BE a host, the audience will see right through it.”

I was led to a private room where a video camera was set up to tape my audition which was conducted by Jack Comstock, QVC vice president of television sales.  He said “we are looking for an everyday person, but somebody who has “it,” the gift to be able to talk to the camera like it’s your best friend.  Most people are confident until the camera starts rolling.  Then those two minutes feel like an eternity.”

Armed with my picture frame to sell, I settled behind the desk and started my pitch.  As Comstock said, it was a different story once I began to speak about the merits of a 5x7 picture frame.  I managed to say that frames make great presents at least five times in my two-minute audition.

Though many of the QVC hosts have traditional broadcast backgrounds, the network is always on the lookout for “regular” people, as host Jayne Brown of Media, was selected from an open audition.  Another open audition will be held in Seattle at the end of the month.  Around ten to fifteen finalists will be selected from the open auditions, and a winner will be announced in a few weeks.

And I’ll be writing about the winner for the paper.

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