If you’re into Stranger Things, then you’ll know that WSQK “The Squawk” is a radio station in the show’s 1980s Hawkins, IN. Global Radio in London has launched an actual terrestrial WSQK for the next six weeks in partnership with Netflix.
Fans of the show will pick up on every single reference and nuance. They even used an Inovonics FM250 audio processor to get the exact sound. For the season five premiere last Wednesday, Full Power Radio’s Jammin’ 107.7 (WWRX) in Rhode Island rebranded and parodied the upside-down imagery of The Squawk.
Why? Because they could.
And it totally grabbed the attention of the audience on a day when people are usually kind of preoccupied.
No Prize Left Behind
Hot 104.5 in Knoxville did an amazing post-Thanksgiving weekend that parodied the Sarah McLachlan PSAs as the station looked for homes for prizes that had never been picked up. This is your “Last Week of December” contest.
Christmas Spins to Imaging
When done with a modicum of taste, 12-step meetings can be spun for imaging. Like this from 98.9 Magic-FM for something as mundane as tanning certificates. It could be done with an addiction to Christmas music, eggnog, mall Santas, or mistletoe. (Disregard the file name.)
I always disliked “Summer Survival Kits,” if only because most stations didn’t do anything creative with them. Christmas Survival Tips could be traded out for these summer ones.
You can never go wrong with 1960s educational films. From KOOL in Phoenix.
Alternative Prizing
We were once trying to find our way out of a backstage meet and greet with the New Kids, and JoJo Wright stopped, dashed into a Production Office, grabbed a greasy pizza box, and then rejoined the group. The next night, he presented it as being Joey McIntyre’s pizza box and gave it away on the air. Literally the most insane call-in contest that I have ever seen. People were still calling at 3a to see if they could win it.
The Joe Show at WFLZ did their research in 2023 and found out that Noall Horan loves to golf and is the celebrity endorser for Callaway clubs. So… they got a Callaway putter and had him sign it at Jingle Ball. Tommy Chuck said the fans went nuts trying to win it the next day.
“Die Hard”
98.9 Magic-FM in Colorado Springs has some great concert tickets and other prizes that they’ve been hoarding and are having people ID clips from Christmas movies. Homerun. You can never fail with using movies in your contesting.
Pizza Man Confessions
We were working on New Year’s Eve the other day in Moncton. The whole “pizza delivery” thing on the 31st is big. We were talking about ride-alongs. Someone threw out the name Pizza Man Confessions. Like “Taxicab Confessions.”
No one would be in the back of the guy’s Gremlin, but what if you helmet-cammed him and posted all the video of him walking into parties and stuff? Plus, of course, the places where it’s just some sad lonely guy in a Dungeons and Dragons chatroom on New Year’s Eve.
Holidazing Your Website
It’s becoming pretty hard to escape the holidays. You can’t go into a business or office or airport or hotel or restaurant, or Asian massage parlor without seeing tinsel and lights and trees. Which means that if your website is business-as-usual with the Glamour Shot jock photos and Ten Questions and bios, then you’re really, really out of step with what’s happening outside your building.
It doesn’t have to be a total makeover, just something. A Santa hat on the head of the morning guy. Bing. Bang. Boom. An acknowledgement that it’s freaking Christmas. What else?
- Wired in Philly would have cascading snowflakes on the screen.
- How about getting stills of “movie Santas” and doing a “match the Santa to the flick” contest?
- Caroloke. Downloadable lyrics and the music bed to stuff like “Grandma Got Run Over by A Reindeer” and whatever the Simon & the Chipmunks song is.
- Again, it’s obvious, but 95% of stations will miss it: just wrap the main page in lights and garland. It’s not rocket science.
- Replace the jock photos with pics of them on Santa’s lap. Preferably as kids, but even as (stunted) adults.
- Having a Santa radar on the night of the 24th is a no-brainer.
- Followed by a live, webcammed fireplace on the 25th.
- List businesses looking for seasonal employees.
- And charities looking for volunteers
- Have a map feature for tree lots.
- Get the airstaff’s moms to submit printable recipes of their favorite holiday dishes.
- AFHV made Bob Saget a star with videos of trees falling over. Solicit old stuff from the audience.
- Another Wired/Philly bit is the backwards-ticking digital clock to Christmas morning.
- Have an “Adopt A Military Family for The Holidays” section.
- Post ugly Christmas cards submitted by the listeners.
- Create a fake holiday newsletter that your listeners can print and use for their family newsletter. “Cousin Larry was arrested at the Minneapolis airport this Summer and Tina was #1 in her 3rd-grade home taxidermy class!”
- Keep your eyes on YouTube for the vids of insane light displays.
Or you could just operate in a separate but parallel universe and have your standard Topic of the Day and outdated club listings.
The Christmas Fish
God bless the people who dare to be stupid. About to debut somewhere where winners will get a gift card to Long John Silver’s:
Didn’t get your Christmas wish? Don’t worry, all this holiday weekend (station) is giving away a Christmas Fish!
“I wanted a new XBOX”. Aww, too bad, Jimmy, but we do have a nice Christmas fish for ya!
“I wanted my boyfriend to propose to me and instead he dumped me! “Don’t worry, this Christmas Fish will make you feel all better, sweetie!”
“All I got this Christmas was just one sock, sucks.” Well kid, now you have one sock AND one (station) Christmas fish!
Yay, thank you, Santa, er, Salmon Clause! (The sound of ‘ho ho ho’ from underwater…. blub blub blub, Merry Christ-fish-mas!)
Listen all this weekend and win your very own (station) Christmas Fish!
Fire Sales
One of the clusters, looking ahead to a soft 1st Q, was looking at their annual day of sticking the AEs on the phones and begging for dollars.
I was really fortunate to work at a station in the Twin Cities where we did annual staff bowling parties and a big ass annual client party. So, when we started Wild in SFO in January, and there were a whole bunch of advertisers waiting to see what would happen, we put together a bowling client party.
Nothing fancy. Pizza. Beer. Hang out. Every frame was a different contest: get a 7-10 split and get a free appearance. Bowl for lower rates. There were contests for tacky bowling shirts. It was this informal after-work thing. Nothing stuffy. Meet everyone. See that we weren’t Satan. And let us show you that we can deliver.
This Could Be Tough
You’ve got four weeks to pull it off, which might not be enough time, but this “ornament crush” event is one of those things that gets bigger every year.
Dirty Santa
The late and amazing Russell Rush at 96.1 NOW-FM in San Antonio would hoard prizes all year and then do a White Elephant giveaway. You could steal the previous winner’s prize or hope for something even better. His last year he had cash, Shawn Mendes tickets, a PS5, courtside tickets to the Spurs, and a few zonks.
Sleigh All Day
The majority of your listeners will never ever be in a limo except possibly on their wedding day. So, adding one to a concert package or food giveaway or prom contest is a hook. Hooks are good. So, 99.7 DJX in Louisville used one to transport a shopping spree winner around town on their hunt for gifts.
