A follow-up to "Contests that went awry" (original thread locked)

[michael hagerty]

Speaking of KHJ, they had three contests that went spectacularly bad. Each deserves its own post.

In 1969, the "Birthday Payday" contest celebrating KHJ's fourth anniversary as "Boss Radio". Each hour, KHJ would announce some sort of historic event, but withhold the date. If you were whatever number caller, you told them your birthday (month and day) and if your birthday matched the date of the historical event, which they'd announce on the air, you won whatever the jackpot was.

It launched on Wednesday afternoon, April 30 with $2,500 ($18,801 in today's money) and went up by ten bucks each time they had a loser.

Their winner happened overnight Friday night into Saturday morning, May 3. $2,920. Too soon, too little, wrong daypart. Sucks for promotion, so KHJ figures it's worth it to re-launch the contest with another $2,500 Monday morning.

A second winner 45 hours after re-launch---$2,950. Again in overnights on May 7.

So, KHJ, made of money in those days, decides to roll the dice one more time, and re-set the jackpot to $2,500, with ten bucks added each hour until the jackpot is won.

And every hour of every day for the rest of the May---nobody wins. By May 30, the jackpot is $8,020 ($60,150.66 in today's money). On the back of the May 28 Boss 30, there's a promo that reads:

"On July 16, 1969, the United States is scheduled to rocket the first man to the moon! If the "Birthday Payday" jackpot hasn't been won by then, it'll be worth $18,230 in KHJ cash!"

That, by the way, is $135,240 in today's money.

The trouble is that the official rules for the contest didn't give an end date.

What happened after that is lost to history.

Robert W. Morgan and the Real Don Steele walked out after their shifts on May 30 in an attempt to get a raise (didn't work---Steele came back in a month, Morgan held out for two months). The station put its promotional muscle behind Charlie Tuna in mornings and Humble Harve in afternoons as "KHJ's Summer Fun Schedule". There's no mention of KHJ's Birthday Payday on a Boss 30 survey after May 28.

There's a gap in airchecks of KHJ between May 30, where the contest is still going on (and Sam Riddle even jokes about it) and June 11, where it's not.

There was almost certainly a winner. The stakes were too high and RKO too visible to risk the lawsuit. But who and when are answers I can't find.

A correction a year and a half later---I wasn't looking hard enough.

The June 11, 1969 Boss 30 has it right there on the front---Johnny Williams had the big "KHJ Birthday Payday" winner---Mrs. Elfy Boldrin, who won $10,420."

That's $85,932.54 adjusted for inflation.

And it was still a disaster, promotionally, because----the big winner, like the two before her---happened in overnights. 3:13 AM.

A six-week contest---$15,840 given away---$130,630.66 in today's money---and all the winners in the dead of night.

KHJ Boss 30 - June 11, 1969

 

[davideduardo]

A six-week contest---$15,840 given away---$130,630.66 in today's money---and all the winners in the dead of night.

At some point, well into the diary era (and not in the "coincidental" Pulse and Hooper days) stations started doing big contests just in the prime listening hours... maybe 6 AM to 8 or 9 in the evening. And we'd even stop doing the "win Donna Summer's latest album" things at around 10 PM, and limit the weekend hours, too.

Of course, the success of a contest to me is Promotion, Execution and Taking Credit. Many if not most stations have winners and then don't follow up well with winner promos, so they get no credit and no credibility.

Whether it is the promo with the winner's voice and an invitation to "be the next winner" or montage promos with multiple winners or promos of "(scream of winner) it's been four weeks of Super Sunshine Surprises on Z-93 (insert a winner scream) and we've only just begun... three months of cash and prizes on the Z. (another winner voice) Every day, every hour you have a new chance to win big (winner scream) on Z (winner voice: "I won, I won") 93."

 

[radiofan2023]

KCJJ in Iowa City used to have a "Summer Fun Car" contest where a listener would win a used car from a local dealership. They stopped doing that contest a few years ago and when they were doing it, one of the cars they gave away one year broke down on the winner and another year, the giveaway car kept having to be jump started. I don’t think this reflects badly on the station, but whichever dealership the cars came from.

 

[michael hagerty]

KCJJ in Iowa City used to have a "Summer Fun Car" contest where a listener would win a used car from a local dealership. They stopped doing that contest a few years ago and when they were doing it, one of the cars they gave away one year broke down on the winner and another year, the giveaway car kept having to be jump started. I don’t think this reflects badly on the station, but whichever dealership the cars came from.

It reflects badly on the station only in that someone there thought giving away used cars was a good idea. That’s one of the riskiest possible prizes.

 

[radiofan2023]

Have any of you ever heard of stations giving away used cars? I never had until I first heard of that contest.

 

[michael hagerty]

Have any of you ever heard of stations giving away used cars? I never had until I first heard of that contest.

Never. And with good reason.

If you can't afford to give away new cars, don't. Take the equal amount of whatever the trade-out was for the used car and find another business willing to apply it to a prize.

 

[Miss Tuned]

Never. And with good reason.

If you can't afford to give away new cars, don't. Take the equal amount of whatever the trade-out was for the used car and find another business willing to apply it to a prize.

I heard one last Christmas on a local station close to here. It wasn't a standard contest - it was a "nominate a local hero and we'll judge the entries and give the best one a car full of holiday presents" deal. In previous years, it's been a new car, but last year it seemed to be a 2016 Ford.

 

[davideduardo]

It reflects badly on the station only in that someone there thought giving away used cars was a good idea. That’s one of the riskiest possible prizes.

At WZNT in San Juan, a new competitor was giving away, in a month-long contest a new car. Since cars on the Island tend to cost from 50% to over 100% more than on the mainland US, that was an attractive prize.

So we decided to give away a car a day. For the whole month.

At the time, there was a hit salsa song about being poor and driving a junker. So we bought 20 junkers. One for every day, Monday through Friday, for the whole month. The band that did the hit song recorded bits for us talking about the junkers. They did one for each day's car, describing things like the seat falling backwards, or the headlight dangling on its wiring or the shot muffler.

But there was one thing... in the glove compartment of every car was a check... from $100 to $1000 (this was in 1980 so $1000 was like $3,500 today). And if the car did not start, we promised to have it towed! (People could take their junker to one of those pick-your-parts places and get several hundred dollars at least).

We bought the cars for just the transport cost for each by taking the un-salable trade-ins at a dealer in exchange for a small trade package. The cash prizes were about $10,000 in total, so we did the whole thing for less than the cost of one new car.

It was made very clear that the cars were exactly what we promised: junkers. One of the TV stations did a news story on the contest because they found it so amusing. Two of the daily papers featured it with pictures of our line-up of trashy cars. Even one of our competitors that thought their format was "classier" than ours talked about it several times on the air.

The station with the new car went down. We maintained our 30-share average.

We ended the contest with a concert with the band that did the promos, along with a couple of others. The tickets were given to everyone who tried to win the daily cars. We got the bands free and the venue was free, too, in exchange for them getting the bar and refreshment proceeds.

Other than the cash prizes, our biggest cost was having our law firm draw up a release for the trashy cars exonerating us from any responsibility and having the winner acknowledge that the car was of "no perceivable value".

 

[anotherguyTN]

The local blood bank in Jackson, TN has given away a used car a few times in recent years and advertised it on WBBJ 7, but it was from one of the local Ford dealers, so I would think that they would have made sure it was in good shape before giving it away.

 

[anotherguyTN]

At WZNT in San Juan, a new competitor was giving away, in a month-long contest a new car. Since cars on the Island tend to cost from 50% to over 100% more than on the mainland US, that was an attractive prize.

So we decided to give away a car a day. For the whole month.

At the time, there was a hit salsa song about being poor and driving a junker. So we bought 20 junkers. One for every day, Monday through Friday, for the whole month. The band that did the hit song recorded bits for us talking about the junkers. They did one for each day's car, describing things like the seat falling backwards, or the headlight dangling on its wiring or the shot muffler.

But there was one thing... in the glove compartment of every car was a check... from $100 to $1000 (this was in 1980 so $1000 was like $3,500 today). And if the car did not start, we promised to have it towed! (People could take their junker to one of those pick-your-parts places and get several hundred dollars at least).

We bought the cars for just the transport cost for each by taking the un-salable trade-ins at a dealer in exchange for a small trade package. The cash prizes were about $10,000 in total, so we did the whole thing for less than the cost of one new car.

It was made very clear that the cars were exactly what we promised: junkers. One of the TV stations did a news story on the contest because they found it so amusing. Two of the daily papers featured it with pictures of our line-up of trashy cars. Even one of our competitors that thought their format was "classier" than ours talked about it several times on the air.

The station with the new car went down. We maintained our 30-share average.

We ended the contest with a concert with the band that did the promos, along with a couple of others. The tickets were given to everyone who tried to win the daily cars. We got the bands free and the venue was free, too, in exchange for them getting the bar and refreshment proceeds.

Other than the cash prizes, our biggest cost was having our law firm draw up a release for the trashy cars exonerating us from any responsibility and having the winner acknowledge that the car was of "no perceivable value".

That sounds like something that could be done at country stations as well. 😆

Or do one at Christmas with a tie-in with Da Yoopers' song Rusty Chevrolet. 😆

 

[Mikey Radio]

The local blood bank in Jackson, TN has given away a used car a few times in recent years and advertised it on WBBJ 7, but it was from one of the local Ford dealers, so I would think that they would have made sure it was in good shape before giving it away.

That, or I'd think cars from an outlet like CarMax would be OK. CarMax only sells used, but their cars are certified pre-owned, most are gently used, and the last few I bought there came with 1 or 2 years still remaining on the original manufacturer's warranty, which transferred to me. A much different experience than buying from a stereotypical "used car salesman" who's shady as hell, knows nothing about the past lives of the cars he sells, is known for trying to alter the odometer readings and other schemes.

 

[davideduardo]

That sounds like something that could be done at country stations as well. 😆

Our advantage was having nearly all of our core artists living locally, and being the first station ever to program only salsa. They would participate in any activity we wanted, gladly.

 

[Kelly A]

Our advantage was having nearly all of our core artists living locally, and being the first station ever to program only salsa. They would participate in any activity we wanted, gladly.

I like participating in the consumption of salsa. My personal favorite: