(By Paige Nienaber) During my formative years at Emmis’ WLOL, we had a historic morning show called Hines & Berglund. They had a huge fan base that followed everything they did. Once a month, they would do a Breakfast Broadcast somewhere topical.
For example: on the first day of classes they broadcast from the front steps of the student union at the university. The first day of Summer? Lake Nokomis. It wasn’t a “remote broadcast” like you might hear at a client’s location; it was a full-on broadcast of their show with all of the contests and games being done in front of whoever showed up for the show and free food.
For the Promotions Department – people who weren’t used to 3:30 am wakeup calls that required going to the station – getting the equipment and then going somewhere to set up was arduous. But at 9 am, as they wrapped up they would thank me and the engineer and the interns who showed up to help do the broadcast.
That was cool. I’d run into people from high school at things like the State Fair and they’d comment about how they heard me on WLOL. It was so simple and required no effort on their part.
From Hines: “It was always the support staff that made us better than we were. Thank you for doing that.”
It’s the little stuff that can go a long way, like acknowledging the members of your team who put in the extra effort to make you shine.
Hurricane Hugo tore through Charlotte a month after I arrived there to work at Kiss 102. I was from Minnesota and the engineer was from Michigan, so an impending hurricane got our attention and we began to prepare in earnest. In return, our efforts were openly mocked by the locals because, “Damn boy, don’t you know that hurricanes don’t get this far inland?”
They were wrong. Kiss was the only FM to stay on the air continuously and we were first with a relief effort. Later, once everything calmed down, the GM sent out a nice memo to the staff thanking us for our work and excellence as broadcasters. I still have it.
So don’t forget that for people who are doing multiple jobs, acknowledgment means a lot. And now on with the Dumpage.
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Gold Over America
If this tour is rolling through these are great tickets, so please have some fun with them. KyXy in San Diego has just started “Double Twist;” ID two songs played backward to win.
School Lunches For A Year
93.1 The Wolf in Greensboro was the first station to dip their toe in this pool when they got $300 a day to give away. It’s kind of a weird amount so we did the math and figured that you could buy your kid lunches at school for $300. The phones blew up.
Mix in Cincy has a $750 grocery store gift card and has branded it as school lunches. Cool idea.
High/Low Grocery Cart
In any economy, free groceries are an amazing prize. So what would Bob Barker do? Well, one of the stations had $250 a week to give away at a grocery client. They did the High/Low Grocery Cart.
The PD went to the store every Sunday evening, walked the aisles, filled the caret until it was almost overflowing, and then with the assistance of the manager, scanned it all and got the total, ie: $318.52. He then took a photo of it. (The manager got stuck with restocking the shelves.)
Starting on Monday morning they would do High/Low to guess the total value of all the food to win the $250 gift card.
Back To School Reboot
What do people do during the last couple of weeks of August? They post pics of their kids heading off to school. HANK-FM in Lexington had their listeners post their old-school pics for prizes. I’m listed as “Paige – World’s Oldest Intern”.
Pro & Consequences
What good is a competition between the morning show if one of them doesn’t have to go and do something stupid and embarrassing? This is what Jimmy at Hits 106.3 in Lexington had to do after losing Headphone Karaoke.
Travel Swag
First, the Best Name For A Prize Pack goes to 93.1 The Wolf in Greensboro where they’ve referred to them as Fun Bags.
96.1 NOW-FM in San Antonio has started sending trip winners off with personal flyaway packages for the travelers. A clear bag from a place like the Dollar Store, a neck pillow, totes, and then some branded merch like a station shirt.
Win A Dog!
When Hot 89.9 in Ottawa first debuted “Win A Baby!”, that was how it was presented: you could win a baby. And as they’d hoped it blew up, they got all sorts of Mad Press™ and then they finished the reveal and announced that you would be winning about $17,000 in invitro services.
We’re in August. The Dog Days Of Summer. And for the second year, Mix 99.5 in Wilmington is doing “Win A Dog”. Here is the imaging:
Voice Guy: This Summer, Mix 99.5 wants to give you the prize you’ve always dreamed of. Sleek. Built for speed. Four on the floor, it comes in a choice of colors and it moves!
Listener: COOL! I want to win a car!
Voice Guy: Car? Who said anything about a car? A dog!! Yes, it’s the Mix 99.5 Dog Days Of Summer
[Insert contest deets]
Finish with a quick legal read: “This is Lawrence Mahanney, legal counsel to Mix 99.5. No. We’re not giving you a dog. That would be stupid and unethical. We’re giving you store credit at the Humane Society for you to pick out your own dog. Please. No more calls. There are not going to be any transfers of living breathing items between the radio station and contest winners. I need a drink.
Here is last year’s promo.
Cone Zone
A CHR I know is doing a thing with McDonald’s for back-to-school. Because different districts have different first days, the station will be out at the McDonald’s closest to whatever school is opening that day with a dial position number of free cones. Parents and kids can swing by when school lets out and get a first-day treat.
Dentists
This came up yesterday: one of the stations did “I’m dreaming of a white toothmas” with whitening as the prize and “Listen, win, and grin” as the sell-line. You never want to come off as being, well, your parents. Or anti-fun. But there ARE candy buyback programs in a lot of markets that you could look at and maybe give some prizes to.
Speed Dating
Another sales request from a station that has a speed dating promoter that has run dry for hooks and new ideas.
- What if you had the audience make suggestions for the questions?
- What if you found the listener with the most divorces to be the couple’s coach who walks around and facilitates the Q&A?
- What if you did it in October and every woman got a pumpkin that a dozen guys helped her carve while they asked/answered questions? It’s hard to NOT be yourself when carving pumpkins.
A Literal Heatwave
The appropriately named Hot in Phoenix has Mariah Carey tickets. When the temp hits 97.5, they sound a horn on the air and that’s the cue to call and win.
Paige Nienaber insults/consults more than 100 radio stations on Fun ‘N Games (Marketing & Promotions). Find him at CPR Promotions. Read Paige’s Radio Ink archives here.
