In 1966, my Quito, Ecuador equivalent of a country station, HCFV, "Canal Tropical", did a "hidden treasure" contest called "El Tesoro Tropical" or "the tropical treasure". Each week we'd put a certificate worth about the equivalent of three month's minimum wage into an empty pill capsule and adhered it to an accessable location in some public place. Several times a day, we'd give a clue that narrowed down the location, and the clues were written, in rhyme, so that each contest would last a whole week.
One week, we had stuck the capsule onto a low limb on a tree in the Independence Square in front of the presidential palace and the cathedral. It could not be seen from the ground, but easily felt and removed from about forehead height.
When a Friday clue rather solidly identified the square as the location, hundreds and hundreds of listeners descended on the square. At about the same time, hundreds of university students arrived, armed with clubs and rocks to protest loudly and violently some government activity. They entered the square, where our listeners were already looking for the prize.
The military arrived with water cannons to disperse the students, who were now mixed with our listeners. They shot high pressure water at the whole crowd. But in the middle of all of this, one listener found the certificate and smartly wrapped it in a gum wrapper! About an hour later, soaking wet, he arrived to get his money.
But the square was a mess. The flowers and plants were trampled and the trees were damaged.
Fortunately, no listener seeking the prize was harmed.
I was so distressed that our listeners had been in the middle of a political demonstration that we decided to replant the square ourselves. We immediately got the crew that maintained one of the soccer stadiums and within hour Canal Tropical, in the name of its listeners, was restoring Independence Square to its normal fine appearance. New shrubs, new flowers were planted, we trimmed and sculpted trees and did a general sweeping and cleaning.
We even sent a formal note to the president saying, "The listeners of Canal Tropical have restored your 'front yard' to its normal and lovely appearance following today's excitement. We hope you will enjoy their work". We actually got a nice thank-you note in return!
The square:
