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flyingundertheradar
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What are some of the best contests you remember from days gone by? What did NBC do when Imus, Big Wilson, Murray the K etc were on the air? Some of the best from the 80s?
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I'll take a shot at this... I was quite young so the memory is somewhat fuzzy. This would have been around 1968 or 1969, I think.
One of WNBC's contest was "The Ones". This was basically a free oversize raffle ticket with a multi-digit number on it. If the number on the ticket was called out on the air, you won; I believe you had 66 minutes to call in but I'm not completely sure about this. I also think you also needed to write in to get these "Ones" or visit a participating sponsor. Hopefully those of you who recall more about this promotion can fill in some of the details.
My mother did write to the station, I think it was directly to one of the on-air personalities-- I want to say it was Ted Brown. Instead of the "Ones," she ended up getting four tickets to the Ringling Brothers and Barnum and Bailey Circus at Madison Square Garden sent to her! As I recall, they were good seats.
Imus wasn't there-- I'm not sure he was working there yet, but a number of the WNBC personalities were there for the performance and they worked the arena giving out "Ones". I recall that everyone else was handing out one or two at a time, but Big Wilson was handing out stacks at a time... we must have gotten a half an inch thick pile from him. I don't remember a thing about the circus itself-- I guess I had my priorities.
I don't recall winning anything else from WNBC, but our family did win a couple of times later in life from WPIX (free LP of my choice from Bumper Morgan, my first win anywhere!) and WNEW (Barry Manilow double LP-- promo copy with a "cutout"!). I never got past the "choke lines" on WABC.
Was there also some sort of call-out contest where the listener couldn't say hello first, but instead said "WNBC is gonna make me rich"? Or is that faulty memory? (We had an unlisted number...)
As you can tell by my post count, I am new here so perhaps I should introduce myself. I am originally from the NYC area (Market #1) but have lived in the Rochester NY area (Market #50-something) since 1989. I have never worked in the business, but I had intended to. However, I have had some interesting encounters with radio and radio personalities including my all time favorite, Jean Shepherd. I'm really enjoying what I'm reading here and a couple of the other boards here. Thank you all for sharing!
I have a family website and on it there's a story about my "radio debut" which is now a period piece of sorts... "Daddy, what is vinyl?" It's here if you're curious, hopefully this breaks no rules:
http://www.irwinsjournal.com/ijonline/ijairtime.htm
I also did a story about Shep which you can find there as well. BTW my handle refers to the principal purpose of my website, a monthly column of model train reviews.
Cheers,
George in Ellison Park, NY
One of WNBC's contest was "The Ones". This was basically a free oversize raffle ticket with a multi-digit number on it. If the number on the ticket was called out on the air, you won; I believe you had 66 minutes to call in but I'm not completely sure about this. I also think you also needed to write in to get these "Ones" or visit a participating sponsor. Hopefully those of you who recall more about this promotion can fill in some of the details.
My mother did write to the station, I think it was directly to one of the on-air personalities-- I want to say it was Ted Brown. Instead of the "Ones," she ended up getting four tickets to the Ringling Brothers and Barnum and Bailey Circus at Madison Square Garden sent to her! As I recall, they were good seats.
Imus wasn't there-- I'm not sure he was working there yet, but a number of the WNBC personalities were there for the performance and they worked the arena giving out "Ones". I recall that everyone else was handing out one or two at a time, but Big Wilson was handing out stacks at a time... we must have gotten a half an inch thick pile from him. I don't remember a thing about the circus itself-- I guess I had my priorities.
I don't recall winning anything else from WNBC, but our family did win a couple of times later in life from WPIX (free LP of my choice from Bumper Morgan, my first win anywhere!) and WNEW (Barry Manilow double LP-- promo copy with a "cutout"!). I never got past the "choke lines" on WABC.
Was there also some sort of call-out contest where the listener couldn't say hello first, but instead said "WNBC is gonna make me rich"? Or is that faulty memory? (We had an unlisted number...)
As you can tell by my post count, I am new here so perhaps I should introduce myself. I am originally from the NYC area (Market #1) but have lived in the Rochester NY area (Market #50-something) since 1989. I have never worked in the business, but I had intended to. However, I have had some interesting encounters with radio and radio personalities including my all time favorite, Jean Shepherd. I'm really enjoying what I'm reading here and a couple of the other boards here. Thank you all for sharing!
I have a family website and on it there's a story about my "radio debut" which is now a period piece of sorts... "Daddy, what is vinyl?" It's here if you're curious, hopefully this breaks no rules:
http://www.irwinsjournal.com/ijonline/ijairtime.htm
I also did a story about Shep which you can find there as well. BTW my handle refers to the principal purpose of my website, a monthly column of model train reviews.
Cheers,
George in Ellison Park, NY
I guess the most memorable among people my age (55) might be WABC's Principal of the Year contest in the 1960s. You had to send postcards to WABC voting for your principal, and the school with the most postcards won. One year, my school on Long Island won, and Cousin Brucie came to visit us!
I remember as a kid in the seventies, my contest-obsessed sister used to answer the phone "WNBC's gonna make me rich!"
Ironically, the business has left her little brother somewhat less than affluent. Now excuse me while I reheat my ramen noodles.
Ironically, the business has left her little brother somewhat less than affluent. Now excuse me while I reheat my ramen noodles.
Element9 said:
Thanks, Element9. I actually started by reading that board but I haven't had anything meaningful to contribute, at least not yet. I definitely recognize some of the (real) names there! Then I wondered what else might be here, and so I've landed here as well. I'm also reading the NJ Board since that's my native state.
BTW does your "9" signature relate to the "legendary" station "Nine"?
Meanwhile, I'm glad I remembered that it was WNBC that was gonna make me rich. (Uh, well, they didn't...)
66 WNNNNBC didn't make me rich either, but they helped pay my mortgage!
BE BIG
www.bigjayandanita.com
BE BIG
www.bigjayandanita.com
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