As featured in Travel Weekly September 11, 2000.

For about $2,000, travel agents and others in the industry can be the focus of a 30-minute, soft-sell infomercial within an educational format, telecast in wealthy Fairfield County, Conn.

The show, called “The Unconventional Traveler,” is owned by Daryl Hawk, a commercial photographer and Explorer’s Club member, who heads Wilton, Conn.-based Hawk Productions.

The show, in its sixth year, is taped in a studio in Norwalk, Conn., and then aired later on Cablevision’s Channel 27 at 9p.m. Tuesdays; repeats are 10 a.m. Thursdays.

Guests, Hawk said, must provide upward of 100 still images of a destination or region. During the show, they interpret the slides, augmented by questions from Hawk, who is the moderator. Al or some of Hawk’s questions can be provided by the sponsoring organization.

This ensures that the firm will get its sales message across, but in a subtle way, such as by telling what services it provides. At the show’s end, contact numbers can be provided.

A retail agent specializing in off-beat destinations, Hawk said, might want to consider the show, as well as one focusing on a mainstream destination.

However, with the latter, Hawk would expect the agent co-host to provide some travel tips about the area that are not necessarily common knowledge, making the show more valuable.

Sponsors, who so far largely have been tour operators, tourist boards and travel photographers, are given one or more videotapes with a release for their rebroadcast on public access TV or commercial channels, or for any purpose, such as sales presentations, trade shows and staff training, Hawk said.

Among operators endorsing the show are Himalayan Travel, Stamford, Conn., which featured slides of Asia and Myths and Mountains, Incline Village, Nev., which zeroed in on Nepal and India.

For more details, contact Hawk Productions at (203) 834-9595, or visit www.darylhawk.com.

Henry Magenheim
Travel Weekly
September 11, 2000