Curious-Has anyone ever won a call in contest where the show was nationally syndicated and thus you were competing with callers from all over the country?
Ages ago I won an LP for the soundtrack from the first Superman movie. Don’t even know where it is now.
Your question made me realize that the answer is, “nothing”, because I’ve never called into a radio show. I’m thinking that the golden age of radio is something that I missed out on.
There was a college radio station that I used to listen to when I lived in North Carolina (probably UNC’s station) and one afternoon they had a “Be the 3rd caller and win a CD” announcement. I called and was told that I was the first caller, so I tried again and I was the third, which is cheating a little, but okay.
The CD was good, but the nicest part was going and meeting the DJ and getting a tour of the station.
I mean, there’s still plenty of the contests today. I listen to radio in the car in the mornings for the banter, and they’ve got plenty of giveaways on all the station. I’m not that old—I just turned 50.
1977: I called in to KOME FM and won two back stage (well, behind stage) tickets to Day On The Green #2. The bands were Atlanta Rhythm Section, Foreigner, Steve Miller Band, Heart and Eagles. We were very close and could get a good look at them right before they came on and left but only saw their backs when they were playing.
I just remembered another prize I won: It was announced as a “boxed set collection by The Who”. When I went to the station to pick it up, it was an LP-sized box that was about an inch thick, and I thought, “SCORE! It’s a ginormous collection of at least half a dozen LPs!” Imagine my disappointment when it turned out to be two cassette tapes. I don’t think I ever listened to them, although I still have this sad excuse for a boxed set.
Best thing I ever won were tickets to see Squeeze. Best thing about that show was the opening band, a little known group called 10,000 Maniacs. Only a few months after seeing them they hit the national charts.
Best thing a friend ever won was some random album. While waiting at the radio station to pick it up he chatted with a Lucinda Williams or Alison Krauss type who was waiting to do an on air interview. (I forget exactly who, but some well known female country or folk rock type artist from the early 90s.)
One time I heard the call in music, so I did. I ended up winning, but I didn’t even know what until went down to the station. Turned out to be a Belinda Carlisle or Susanna Hoff tape.
Not cheating - you were probably half their audience. Just like the station I won the record from.
The problem is that there just aren’t that many local shows or stations left…even if they don’t let this be known to the general public. When you call in you are competing with people from around the country and not just the ones listening in your home town, severely decreasing your chances unless you live within a couple of hundred miles of where that call is going.
When I was a kid, I won a KCBQ Streak Team T-shirt (Twice; one blue letters ,and one red letters), and a Moody Blues Days of Future Past LP from the same station. I still have the LP (I think).
Yeah, Chicago’s lucky in that regard. All the morning shows I listen to are local. And the listeners seem to be local, as they tend to say where they’re from.
I usually never call because I was raised by a cynical father to believe every such game was rigged.
But one day they had a trivial call in, and the question was “how many stars on the Hollywood walk of fame.” Now just that day I read that the newest star added that car brought the total to 1923 or whatever it was. So I called in, got through, and answered. They said WRONG! and hung up. Boy was I pissed. So I called back and explained that this isn’t something subject to opinion or the whims of the DJ or your outdated information, it was a hard fact how many stars there are. The DJ, probably used to talking to idiots out in radio land, exasperatedly asked “what do you want??”. I’m like, I want my tickets, because I answered the question correctly. So I got a set, too.
For the life of me, I can’t remember what they were for! But it was something I wanted.
That is so cool!
I won tickets to a special screening of Godspell for being the nth caller and the soundtrack LP from KROQ a billion years ago (well, it was an LP). I enjoyed the movie enough, but I liked the songs and played the LP a lot. I don’t have any LPs anymore.
I have a vague memory of winning something else sometime or other, but can’t recall what or when.
I was the Nth caller to a station in Boston and won Alice Cooper’s Killer. But you had to go to the station to pick it up and I didn’t have a car. It wasn’t a big deal to take the T, but it would take time and I already had a copy of the album. My roomie went (with my student ID) and picked it up for himself. When he got there, they added in a bunch more promotional stuff, like some band photos and a poster. I told him, “Keep it.”
I also won a dinner for two at some Italian restaurant for answering a question I can’t now remember from WLEE in Richmond, VA. The problem there was that I was only 14 YO. I just let that one slide.
Not me, and I don’t know if this quite fits with the OP, but:
In the early 90’s my mother made a trifling donation to NPR – a few bucks, at most. Anyone making a donation on that particular day were entered into a drawing for various prizes. My mom, much to her surprise, won the grand prize: several hundred classical music CDs. CDs were still rather new then and I have no idea what the cash value of those were but a few thousand $$, I’m sure. My parents had never owned any CDs prior to winning so had to go buy a CD player, one that my dad still owns and uses today. He still has all those classical music CDs too.
I won again this morning, but only won the right to continue on.
The funny part is my opponent called back into the same show for a different contest and won Beach Boys tickets.
(Fine with me, I only needed to see Mike Love and his “beach boys" once. And I saw the actual Beach Boys on their 50th anniversary reunion tour.)
I won a coffee mug for knowing what year Luke and Laura got married on General Hospital. It was 1981 if you’re curious…
I also won a designer purse. You had to enter online, and the DJ would call out someone’s name every so often and if you heard your name and called back before time was up you got a designer purse. I was working at a credit union at the time and one of the customers called me to say they heard my name on the radio. I called in just in time to win. Unfortunately the purse I won was ugly and totally impractical but I did manage to sell it at a consignment shop for a couple hundred bucks so there’s that.
I won a “stump the experts” contest run by Paul Harris and his sidekick Dave “the Predictor” Murray when they were a local morning team. The question which stumped them was “On which boat did Gavin MacLeod serve before captaining the Love Boat?”
Answer
The PT-73 of “McHale’s Navy”.
I won coupons for dinner for two somewhere, I think McCormick & Schmick’s, and had to pick them up from the studio up in Rockville.
The same station also gave me coupons for dinner for two somewhere when a different DJ used my suggestion for a trivia question, after altering the question a bit for their need. It was Mardi Gras season and the question had to do with three Classic Rock groups, each with a Mardi Gras color in their name.
The only one that comes to mind is:
Deep Purple