Is it just me or is there a serious lack of good promotional giveaway's on radio call in contests lately? Big whoop, one DVD for getting throuh on the contest line and also for having listened to the contest and knowing the answer. One DVD, A CD, Football, coupon's for Blockbuster (worst video rental chain IMHO), etc etc. Then I have to burn one of my lunch hours to drive to your location to pick it up! Give the keys to the station promo "Hummer" "VAN" whatever and let them deliver to people if local. Take photo's and promote contest winners on your websire....you know give it the human touch! Where the hell are the concert tickets, tickets to local bands at local venue's, local events, trip's for two on the Cabo Wabo Party Boat....(ok..that last was a little reaching) but you get my meaning. Make these contests worth my time to lift the phone and call in. Did the gift fairy die or something or is the budget for this year just not there? I does not matter about the promotion's as to which station I listen to but that stuff is a NICE bonus for your regular audiences.

Vent Vent Vent

Show Me The Loot!

I thought of a great promotion, that wouldnt cost too much.

A station such as khits gives a 4 GB Ipod away, loaded with 1067 of the greatest hits from the 60's and 70's.

And they do it by playing one off it at random,
and the contest is to pick the song it will play.

Speaking of khits promotions, if you hear Lucy in the Sky with diamonds, if your the correst caller you get diamond ear rings, if they play Judy in Disguise, if you call in, think you could get some cubic zirconiums?

Not bad Nwokie...I like it! The station would have to list the songs on the website. Very cool idea for a "Jack" or CHR station. Really any format that has enough younger listeners to it.

A Million Dollar Las Vegas Getaway with a chance to win one million dollars. A promotion with a long drawn out build where multiple winners and a guest win the oppurtunity ro party for a weekend in Vegas with a station personalilty. Weekend would culiminate in one of the trip winners actually hiting the Jackpot so to say in the form of a station sponsered and sanctioned peker or slot tournement.

I liked the promotion that Entercom Seattle's the End did a couple of years back where they gave away a tricked out apartment lease for one year that was totally pimped out with furnishings and all. Might be time for something similar in the Portland market ie a promotional marketing tie in with the coming soon IKEA store.

Now that HD radio has arrived give away a PD for a year type situation where the winner gets to program for one year one of the stations HD channels along with the salary and station vehicle.

Well in little ole' Coos Bay, Oregon we have been promoting a Hawaiian Honeymoon for nearly a month. Includes air fare, deluxe accommodations on the Island of Kona, and some spending cash.

People register all over the listening area at local merchants. Winning couple will be announced on Valentines Day.

We don't do many giveaways to begin with, but when we do, we go big.

Buzzkill... (and perhaps why the Sacramento/Entercom disaster happened while top management was out of town)...

The iPod promotion is set up with a 1 in 1067 chance to guess the correct song on the iPod and win it. Listeners are not going to hang by the phone for a chance at playing a contest which itself has a 1 in 1067 chance in winning a prize worth less $500.

The Lucy in the Sky promotion is designed to emphasize repetition. You are asking your listeners to pay attention to you playng the same 2 songs over and over. Subliminal negativity.

Million dollar Vegas -- you may really want to think twice about having listeners partying with your jocks in Vegas. Personal liability, sexual harrassment, .... Can you say "a lawsuit from the desk of..."? If legal, I really love the idea of a rock/classic rock/country/urban station giving away a seat in the World Series of Poker. (its a 25K prize, but I think it has buzz.)

The apartment/IKEA contest is a definite winner with sales department appeal. totally relates to the audience and their needs.

PD for a year -- way too inside. Most stations' listeners don't have a clue about HD, don't particularly want to work in radio. And again the legal department would go bat####. You give away a job (without vetting) you give away health insurance and unemployment that goes with it, you put the company's reputation and license on the line to a "winner" for a year, giving a random stranger a station vehicle could be devastating...

Bottom line for contesting is, most listeners don't play and don't care. Contest pigs are just that. (TomParker, MikePhillips and I worked for a station in SF that gave away a Mercedes 450SL. Less than 12 hours later the winner won a contest on a competing station!) So the contest has to be built on non-contestant fun/entertainment. The prize itself is important only as it contributes to the station's image. In the era of 250 million dollar passive lottery drawings, no station can compete on quality of prize.

Chris, I hope you're not promoting "Island of Kona" on the air. There is no Island called Kona.
Kona is on the BIG Island called Hawaii.

WHY NOT THE IPOD PROMO? Sure no way you could do it with 1067 songs so take and publish a 20 song playlist for the contest. Place one song into numbered envelopes 1 - 20. Then on M-F have the contest line open up and let the listener guess from the 20 songs, open the envelope and if it is a match then they win the IPOD pre-loaded with 1067 songs. The key will be that you must listen and scratch off the ones that people did not get right. If a contestant guesses one already named from the 20 they bomb out so do not publish the already opened tunes....make the listeners keep track and pay attention. The closer you get to the end the better the odds if you keep track. It will obviously last longer than 20 days because you will get the you who's calling in with no clue what has been guessed or what the playlist actually is! It could work!

I've actually been turned around Tdanner on the idea of contesting after seeing the PPM data from Houston. On the days the rock station gave away tickets to a big concert, both cume and TSL were up. The same rang true for other formats in Houston and Philly. Do most listeners play, no...but for the ones that do we can just hope they have a diary or PPM!

And you're right about the iPod thing...I didn't think that far ahead.

Here's a thought too...research shows the best contests are experiences the listener could never buy. The dinner and a movie with an artist, the "surfing with a jock" thing an LA station did, etc. I actually have a question in the field here in Seattle right now relating to this.

say what you want:

THERE'S NO BETTER FEELING - LIKE WINNING!

Dex:

One of my major concerns about PPM data that is being extrapolated from the Houston study (and usually by a vendor working in conjuction WITH Arbitron) is that causality hasn't even remotely been shown yet. We will need a couple years of data, or multiple markets, for validity. Just because you clap your hands and Mt. St. Helens explodes, doesn't mean you caused the explosition by clapping.

Both cume and TSL can increase because one or two people with meters got into a station's contest. You say "do most listeners play, no...but for the ones that do we can just hope....." I'd hate to base my promotions on diary/PPM placement hopes. The contest MUST be compelling for those who will never actively enter. The prize must relate strongly to the needs (rent or mortgage), wants (week in Hawaii) or dreams (backstage/insider stuff) of the core audience.

And darktemper -- still a no go on the iPod contest. 20-30 days of keeping track to win a $300 prize????? And you're still giving away a prize that screams "with an iPod and 1067 songs, you don't need us at all!"

Good Point....did not think of that. Well then let's just go with my other idea. A trip for two on the Cabo Wabo party boat and the DJ gets to go as well!

Would that be better?

****Just because you clap your hands and Mt. St. Helens explodes, doesn't mean you caused the explosion by clapping.

This is why TDanner rocks.

booze - listeners - DJ!?
Not better.
Doesn't matter how well you know and trust your airstaff. It's liability and lawsuits waiting to happen.

chris taylor...i have a problem...island of kona???

you mean big island and the city of kona...right?

So there's the answer to your thread-title question, Darktemper.

An overly litigous society, and the lawyers who are more than happy to accomodate.

Yep, that one more or less sucks.

And I agree, BTW. Was reading this thread with interest. Thinking, "Hmmm... if I could do a promotion, what would I do?"

Nearly everything, but saying, "You win! Thanks!" has potential pitfalls.

Hey....most of the cruise is in international waters and Cabo is most defineately out of the country so all rules and laws out the window! But I get your drift....kind of like the waiver thing...even though released from responsibility still responsible!

OK so forget sending the DJ and just send a good looking Babe intern to represent the station! LOL

Would give new meaning to the "Manajatwa" weekend for sure!

Where is FatBoy Roberts to explain how he earned/won his job and eventually forced Boomer to the curb?

FYI KISN-FM did a similar contest about 5-6 years ago.
You had to listen to all the songs in a given hour, then guess which of those songs would play next in the KISN JUKEBOX. You had to be very lucky to win. No skill involved. Just the 9th caller and random luck.

I have always liked contests that test your knowledge. Identify this song clip. Who sang the song with this lyric in it? Who was the guitarist for band XYZ? The entertainment value is, I could "play along" even if I don't call in to win. As stated above, sometimes the prize isn't worth calling in for.

If a station has to run a contest that pays people to listen to them, then they must not be all that great of a station.

KISN's morning show always had three or four different contests to test their listeners knowledge and let them win prizes.

Rock Hit's used to do the jumble contest. They would take an artist and mix 3 song clips and play a small sample. Your task was to identify the artist and the three song's involved. sometimes was easy but sometimes was a real brain drainer! Miss that along with Wood's nightly trivia challenge!

BTW...
It was Stacey's contest before Wood and in all honesty...(sorry Wood) Stacey was way better and much harder than you dude! LOL

I'm with Dave. The skill contests can generate some great calls -- win or lose. Contests with long build-ups or tireless promotion sometimes come off like "beg week" in public radio. When any individual contest is promoted ad nauseam for months without a winner, I think all momentum is lost.

Years ago, I called KGW and won one of the John Williams red telephones by knowing how many herbs and spices were in Kentucky Fried Chicken. A great laugh was had when he found out that I was, in fact, a vegetarian. I still believe that a loyal listener, even a pubescent geek, can provide some good laughs to a morning show for a small investment. I didn't have to sign a waiver or jot down my next of kin.

I think that little trinkets like mugs, tee-shirts and gift certificates that are given away every day are far more valuable to the station than six months of buildup to a rapidly depreciating and listener-loathed SUV. Yes, the Fan, I am talking to you. Back in the day, tiny little KLIQ gave away nosebleed Winter Hawks seats and was loved by the listeners for it. Give away a steady stream of Beavers and Timbers tickets and people might give a hoot again. Give away a small pile of game used jerseys that you can get for peanuts at the "year end clearance" and watch the folks come running.

"Where is FatBoy Roberts to explain how he earned/won his job and eventually forced Boomer to the curb?"

Via promotional giveaway, of course. I think Daria O'Neill got her job the same way, didn't she? I mean, there was more to it than that, but the initial foot in the door came via contest.

Not that I'm comparing myself to Daria in any way except to say we both got in the door via contest, from what I understand. Obviously the careers take very different paths from there As in she's a legitimately recognized and respected media commodity, and I'm a snarky sidekick on a night show.

I can't remember the last time I heard a really good promotion that made me go "WOW"!

DT, great thread.

One thing I forgot to mention about the KGW contest is that my prize was, revolutionary as it may seem, mailed to me. I did not have to go down Jefferson, I simply provided all of my information over the phone.

Why is it that radio stations often want to invite folks to the facility? Most winners are cool, but isn't the receptionist happier flirting with the UPS guy rather than trying to make sense of a muttering fellow who won't take off his headphones?

I know, on some prizes it is the time factor. I know, stations always have to give the tickets away at the last minute. Why? Because somebody thought it would be bright to give away concert tickets at the last minute? Genius.

You can't give away something you don't already have I suppose, but most promoters are usually more savvy than that, aren't they? Besides, these days, even airline tickets can be sent to an e-mail box. All the information one needs from a winner can already be filled into a secure form on-line at a lot of stations.

Here's an idea. Instead of making winners take emergency leave, spend $75 on their third choice for a babysitter or cancel their flight to see Aunt Edna, why not give them away during the very first week or two that they are available?

You are a radio station. You are promoting a concert. The concert is in six weeks and they want you to hype it the whole time. The tickets are about to go on sale and you say, "Be among the very first to have tickets...!" See, that has a zing to it.

Now, after two, or at most three weeks, you have a selection of winners that you can check in with all the way up to the day of the concert. The few who weren't planning on it -- until you offered the tickets in a contest -- will have time to make arrangements, tell their friends and enjoy the show. Most of the winners were going to buy tickets anyway, so you caught them before they had a chance. Now they kinda owe you a favor.

The idea is to build momentum for the concert and benefit the station, so make the winners work for it. Perhaps they earn it in some kind of promotion leading up to the concert. Or each one answers a few questions each day like, "Who are you taking? Who aren't you taking? Why do you love this artist? Wanna sing (or murder) another tune off that record for me?"

Since you caught them early, there are some hardcore fans and they are gonna be enthusiastic almost every time. You can pick and choose. This is especially important if the performer isn't a superstar. A pathetic, "gee gosh wow" over the airwaves is not what you are seeking. You want them to tinkle themselves.

Out of a dozen winners there has to be one good personality. If you hit the jackpot with a winning listener who is truly unique, isn't it better to have a couple weeks to build a word of mouth cult following to go along with the event? Folks love to tune in to hear something different (or embarrassing).

Why would you promote for weeks only to deal with a thinning herd of passive winners at the end? Why not cause a mad scramble right away and roll with it? If it sells out early on, perfect. Early sellout or not, the winners still got their tickets from you and you can still take that to the bank. Pluggity plug.

Rumors, gossip and heresay are free and plentiful in Portland. Use them to sell the station. Give people enough time to tune in and buy tickets. Don't give people the false hope that they will win at the last minute when you should be sending them to the box office the entire time. Only give away last minute tickets as a surprise or because a sellout makes them attractive.

If both the concert and contest are legendary, all of your hard work will be in the collective memory for a while. Reinforce that by having the winners talk about what a good time they had at the show the day or week following the event. Don't just get the initial, "Thanks" and let them off the hook.

You did them a favor, get it returned. Most are eager to provide you with what amounts to free programming and free advertising. Listeners around here are active, like to be involved and everyone should be aware of, and in a nice way, take advantage of, that fact. Give your on-air talent every chance to be connected to the audience.

Just a thought. I am sure a lot of this is obvious, and I have witnessed some of it in practice, but like DT, I had to get it off my chest.

TY
I have some good one's occasionally for this side of the board but am usually on the "DARK SIDE" of the board. This one is from the listener side of the dial. I really mean that there seams to be a lack of good contest's since the first of the year. Were there budjet cuts in the promo department for this year? If you pick up a paper (I know that is old school when you can surf it on the web) and read the entertainment section there are all kinds of local band's around town. Why not give away dinner and tickets or passes to see some of PortTown's great local talent instead of giving away a CD here and a DVD there? You can still promote those if you want, just include them with the bundle. This would not cost much as I am sure these venue's would give them away for the airtime in promoting the contest! Someone is giving passes to the sportman,s show and that is cool for the dudes.....here is a thought.....offset this by not just giving ticket's away for 2 to the sportsman show, include 2 movie passes for some chick flick that the SO can enjoy while the hubby is drooling all over the Camo 4-runner at the show. Or is it the model sitting on ot.....oh well you decide! LOL
Anyway least he can drag her there then she can drag him to the flick later....2 winners in one and a happy marriage....well....at least doing things together!

Just My 2 Cents.

Radio stations don't mail prizes because they don't want to pay the postage, which for giveaway-intensive stations, would be significant.

Also, a signature is needed to verify that the person who won the prize received the prize. Otherwise, you deal with losers who call up and claim they never received their prize in order to get another prize or they'll badmouth the station. When I was in a small market, I mailed out any envelope-size prizes and dealt with this on a regular basis, and finally went to the "pick it up at the station" policy.

In addition, SSN's need to be verified for many prizes for tax purposes.

Okay everybody has missed it. The CC, Entercom, CBS Radio and others are all to blame.

As I said earlier they paid at least 30 times to much for every station in the Portland Market. General Managers were then brought in to tell corporate that they could cut costs and increase revenue to justify the millions spent to buy up every station in Portland.

So what did the stations do wrong:
1. Bartered time became worthless. Stations use to take gift certificates in exchange for 20 mentions in week for $150 in gift certificates.

Now it's more like stations are asking for $500 in gift certificates to get the same level in spots. (Gee has inflation increased by more than 300% in 12 years?)

2. Stations are not hitting the projected revenue streams, so more costs must be cut, say bye bye to contests as you now have fewer barter clients and ther is "no" money for contests.

3. Radio has fewer live DJ's (another cost cutting item) so who will answer the phone for contests?

4. Fewer and fewer people are listening to any radio,again reducing revenue streams, due to programming and lack of contests.

So finally,
5. KISN had it right in the evening about 15 years ago music between each contest, ratings went up by more than 100%. So lets go with 100% contests with commercials and no music, oops that contradicts the suits and programming directors who say listeners are stupid and will listen becasue of the programming. I feel however almost 100% of the PD's in this market suck, and they won't admit it, and the only thing left to save radio is to get rid of the PD's and suits and go back to the all contest format that KGW had when they had Craig Walker in the 80's.

But that won't happen as the big three don't have the money to attract listeners and satisfiy the debt.

not missed it, just tired of rehashing the same thoughts that those on the in don't want to hear and those on the out already know. I like these other thoughts.

When did radio quit being about serving up what the listeners wanted to not caring about what they want at all? It seems they pick a format and programs that really do not even fit with the demo or area they are being played into. So since it works in Seattle or LA lets just cram it down PDX listeners throats and they will like it or else!
NEWS FLASH.....I don't do OR ELSE.....now you listen to me Mr Radio Corporate Bafoon....I am your listener.....play what I want to hear or I am gone......have promotions that support the local community or I won't take part in them......keep me informed of local events or I will tune to those who will......Quit serving your own interests first and serve that of the community that supports and pays your salaries!

Vent Vent Vent

I like radio with live and entertaining talent....provide that or go away!

L8R

"I like radio with live and entertaining talent....provide that or go away!"

The brutal thing is that's an empty threat. It's either what you hear, or you pay, or you build your own music selection and carry it with you.

As long as the ownership remains as it is, there will be no solid alternatives, and you will still use your radio...

Nope...Got 150 CD's, 8 live concerts, and three movies on my ZUNE.....entertain me and I will listen to your programming otherwise I am gone! I am not a demanding sort...well not really ...but I like what I like and realize it may be different for other's but hey....it's my choice and I still choose the live and local over my own carry with me tunes. Once the entertain me factor is gone......so am I. There are way to many choices to have to suffer through crappy progams and pre-recorded non-local shows.

I agree with Darktemper- There are too many different options and choices, I usually choose the IPOD since radio is doing A VERY POOR job at being LIVE AND LOCAL, and entertaining.

To be honest.
There is no morning show I really like to listen to. So my ZUNE which can link with my car stereo is playing on the morning drive. Zune is synced with Pc at work so I play that once there until M&B are done laughing at each other! I listen to KGON regularly form 10:00am until sometimes as late as 8:00pm. BTW.....Shannon's block party rocked tonight! Anyway enough plugs, all I am saying is without an audience what do you have? Corporations seem to care more about what they want instead of what the listeners are telling them they want. Then they wonder why the ratings are so poor....well DUHHhh.

Please don't take this wrong. I am not bashing the station or the people there but I am very thankful 107.5 plays music as early as they do in the morning. I have my clock radio tuned into it for my alarm in the mornings. I have not found a better more annoying music that will wake me up like that will! LOL
Again just a music preference and no malice to the station! I understand it is not my demo but I find it funny that I wake up to it!!! It is so annoying I have to walk over and turn it off...I cannot lay there and listen to it the way I can with music I like!

Bad information, Save It Now. Or dumb speculation.

1. New regulations required barter spots to be treated exactly the same as paid spots, with a "unit rate" per bartered spot calculated on the actual (not inflated) value of what was received for those mentions.

2. PDs and GMs (and their bosses) got smart. A minute of commercial time is a minute of commercial time, whether you get a check or a ticket to the auto show for that spot. With most stations limiting spot time, adding non-revenue producing advertising cost money and added clutter. (And the mention part of trade-for-mention counts as clutter! For most listeners, the contest itself is seen as clutter!)

3. Changes in the equal time/fairness doctrine rules required stations to sell time for political advertising at their "average unit rate" for the past X months, rather than lowest printed rate-card rate. If that real unit rate was brought down by a lot of bartered, low "priced" spots, the auto show and a stack of CDs could wind up costing a station hundreds of thousands in revenue during the political-advertising season (which is now dang near year round.)

4. Research consistantly showed that the vast majority of listeners were not playing, and not very interested in contests. They were polarizing -- at least one "strong tune-out" for one "somewhat interested" in contests. (And don't even bother dissing the research. The majority of research companies do valid and reliable research. Statistical research is one of the oldest and most "proofed" branches of science. Science. It's like arguing about gravity.)

5. Radio listening has eroded very little over the past 15 years, and primarily in the younger demos. Not too bad considering the influx of new media. Nowhere near the errosion to network television, with the influx of cable, VCR, PPV. And the networks have stampeeded away from expensive drama and comedy to cheap (in every way) reality shows and fake news shows.

And most important of all, the fact that you (and by you I mean everyone on this board includeding me)are either in radio or so into radio that you frequent a local radio (as opposed to a music) chat board means that your interest in radio is so different and removed from the interests of the listening public that your (our) opinions do not begin to reflect the reality our listeners. We are the very end of the tail on the bell curve. And because your friends and family know you, and know your interest in radio, they wind up almost at the end of that tail. It's not valid input about the general public.

The major broadcasting companies are doing everything that makes economic sense to obtain the largest demographically attractive audiences possible for their radio stations, since THAT AUDIENCE IS THEIR PRODUCT. That audience is what they sell to their advertisers. They have hired the best people they think they can find to help them create programs and stations that will attract the largest demographically attractive audiences. The fact that you disagree with their decisions is more likely to mean that you don't understand the BUSINESS of radio, than that they don't.

Ya...you are probably right. As I said I like what I like and I tend to go old school and stuck in a rut that few stations travel through. I do not know radio and appreciate that it is a business but my point was of course from my humble opinion and point of view. And yes I can also appreciate that a listener on this board is probably abi-normal to say the least but I like this group of people....fun to discuss with and most are local as opposed to a national board! You made excellent points and are pretty dead on!
I have presented my personal tastes and wants for the radio to hold my attention as a listener....if they are old school and dissappearing so be it, but when radio no longer holds my interest I am gone. I will not suffer through what some corporate survey thinks I want to hear. This robot says: "Kiss My Rusty Metal Ass!".

Fm is a moot point anyway. In less than 5-years all vehicles will be able to recieve internet streams in their cars thus changing the face of radio forever. Cars will be equipped with rear seat monitors for internet access while the stereo as we know it will tune into a www.music.com instead of 123.4. It must be tough to try and make it in radio these days with all of the new medias pulling people away from radio. The knee-jerk reaction is to cut costs as this happens. This then affects quality and the snowball express starts it's trip down the slopes. What happens if in light of this a station instead put an emphisis on beefing up it's quality instead of chopping things. Would that not keep a loyal listener group and make your spot time more valuable to advertisers. Brings back the old debate. Do you wnat less dollars and more ad spots or fewer ad spots at higher prices per spot. I would think the latter as we the people think of ad spots as mostly clutter. Also a request....jazz up the spots a little...some of them on the are crappiest most cheeseiest things that even Chuckee Cheese would not even bite into it!

Thank you for your Time
Joe not-so-average Listener
Old School and will not ever Change
Know what I want and not settle for less
Opinionated (laugh)
Outspoken (laugh)
And sometimes has good input on issues and topics (smile)

Just remember that with everything in life there are always two points of view and sometimes even more than that. So IMHO and from my point of view this is me! If I implied or assumed that other listeners wanted that was not correct so any post from me in the future will be all from me and IMHO and not we and us the listener. My point of view may be reflective of others but they either need to speak up or shut up when radio changes and they do not like it. I always thought that getting involved and voicing your views mattered and still beleive that today. The sad fact is most people will just trudge along and accept what ever rolls out of the radio and will not take the time to get involved or even answer surveys from the radio stations that want their input on programming. My hat is off to those stations who poll their audience's at least twice or more per year wanting to know what they like!!!!

and he goes on and on and on and on and on

Here is a Retro quote for ya:

"End of Line"

Anyone remember the movie that came from?


BTW....yes there were lots of little yellow spots on this post. In fact there were so many that I did not bother to Korrect Dem. But you can get my point!

Spelling on this post F+ LOL

Tdanner, I think what you wrote plays out pretty well.

For me personally, I like the quickies. Who produced this song snippet? News trivia question, etc.. All benign in that they consume little air time and have a bit of play along drama to them.

Anything past that gets old quick!

However, the very young crowd seems to groove on promos a little more, particularly when there is a concert / experience tie in. They don't want to hear a ton about it, but the perception that a given station is where it's at is strongly reinforced with these kinds of things.

There's nothing wrong with life at the very tail of the bell curve -- I've spent my entire life there. Nothing wrong with this board, and sharing our opinions about the state and future (and past) of radio.

The danger is in thinking for even a moment that we represent anything remotely close to the center of that bell curve, and in blaming those at the top (big corps., station management) because they spend their time catering to that center.

...and just asking people stuff then changes their behavior around you, making the problem of perception that much worse!

I would not doubt that the research is valid but I would dismiss it if the research was done in LA, New York, Miami, etc and then imposed on station groups in the Pacific Northwest. For that research to be valid it needs to be done in the region the cluster is in and with the correct demo. You cannot compare a pacific northwest listener to one in not here. If that research is locally performed then and only then will it be valid.I understand the curve mentallity. Look at schools. The A student gets mad when he gets the B for A quality work and the F student is thrilled when his POS paper gets the D instead of F. The top of the curve gets a little cut while the bottom of the curve gets a little lift, all getting drawn towards the center. So yes sell to the center but put more effert into not taking away from the ones on the top of the curve who are not satisfied with mediocre entertainment!

"End of Line"

City of Kona on the Island of Hawaii. My bad. It's what I get for not re-reading my own posts.

Bravo, TDanner - thank you for your intellegent posts - they are one of the reasons why I keep reading this board even though I am no longer in the market!

I found my copy of 9 Radio and the Q Format. It's a parody on radio formats and radio contest giveaways. Enjoy!

http://www.divshare.com/download/126251-b1e

The laws regarding political rates tightened a few years ago to force stations to account more honestly for the value of inventory. Also, Infinity started a trend by counting barter against budgets, ending the "3-for-1" trade madness that had gone on since time began.

You know, part of the trend away from interesting smaller prizes is simply inflation. In the 25 years since CDs were introduced, they've wandered in price, but not much. Many are still retailed for about $10 - 12. That was a much bigger prize in 1982 than it is today.

Concert tickets, on the other hand, have kept up with inflation. You could see Bob Seger live, in his prime, for $14, or a little more than a new current CD. Now, he's an oldies act, and tickets start at $65!

So, that CD has declined dramatically in value. And how can they really charge more, when they're competing with illegal downloads?

Here is an idea for a possibly successfull promotion to try. It could work on any number of formats and already would be a perfect fit for the advertiser/sponser already advertising on most of the larger Portland stations.

Again it is a promotion that would involve a prize and an oppurtunity to get involved with the station in an very part time ie weekly spot on say the morning or afternoon drive time shows.

Compete to become the stations new entertainment reporter. Have a competition over a 4-6 week time period auditioning for the most entertaining entertainment reporter.

As Comcast is already a major sponser in the Portland market get them to give up a one year subscription to their Highest tier of Digital and all Premuim channels as well as a year of high speed internet access as well. Along with DVR and On Demand services also for a year. Enabling the winner of the contest to do all their weekly show prep but also very much a neccesity for any entertainment/ pop culture fan.

/Whatcha all thunk?

Darktemper--

Re: End of Line~

It's from TRON. Classic Disney flick, w00t!

And a bit of trivia: Couple years ago MCP had a part in the South Park episode where that Brovlovsky kid and his brother go off to Jew Scouts. The MCP played Moses. (Oh my God, he killed Kenny!!)

And Nwokie-
I would think the winner of a "Judy in Disguise" contest would win a pair of glasses...wouldn't you??

...maybe a whole set!

Why aren't there more "Weekend at the Coast" giveaways? It's more affordable for the stations, and businesses at the coast would probably love to get on Portland's airwaves.

Hey Cathode, nice user name!

Welcome to PDX Radio.

In line with what Cathode_commode said, and BTW welcome to the board as I haven't ever seen you here before. This idea makes perfect sense as while its too late for this year but in the future makes perfect eense.

Why not promote the hell out of the Newport Seafood and Wine Festival for which for alot of people is the event of the year. And total debaucary sp? for some.

Promote it in the way that is literally true in that on that weekend it is incredibly hard to find hotel rooms nearby the event. Give away a couple of rooms at the hotel nearest the event with maybe a tricked out RV or Suite as the grande prize and live remotes and the such for the weekend.

Also Chinook Winds comes to mind as a promotional tie in that the stations can come up with.

In general this is the best suggestion I have found thus far on this thread as if your were born and raised in Oregon regardlass of what time of year every native Oregonian is the type of person that can't hate or loathe the Oregon Coast.

Another idea is too team up with the State and offer in the Summer months a Yurt for the weekend type promotion or even typical camp sites at Oregon State Parks on the Coast.

Beverly Beach comes to mind!

You could call it the "Yurt Kindling Camping Giveaway"

Thanks for the welcome!

I think this idea has merit - weekend packages to cool little spots around the state that can be enjoyed in one weekend. Businesses in smaller communities that rely on tourism could gain exposure by using trade for promos/avails, and Portland stations offer something of value their listeners. For example, lodging/restaurant scrip/sailboarding lessons in Hood River. Lots of possibilities.

Yurts are cool... It's for those of us too old & wussified to sleep in a tent anymore.

Shyguy- THAT HAS BEEN DONE A MILLION TIMES!
Please wake up and smell the coffee.
Thanks!

Yurt kidding.....When?

NM Don't answer!

Bunsofsteel that is the first time in my couple of years here that I have been essentially told to Fuck Off.
Thanks!