Turns out his TV show was a bit of a sham too - it was just a media outlet for anyone who wanted a bit of publicity and had the money to pay for it.  It worked like this.  You'd get some record company with a once famous band who's sales were now sagging and they'd say 'Jim we need to get on the TV, can you fix it for us?'  So he'd say yeah sure, I'll just get someone from the office to pop down to the local school and get the kids there to write a few begging letters, and we'll put the best one on air as an intro to your appearance.  Ker-ching.