The Perfect Winner

Any radio personality who has ever given away a big prize on-air will tell you that women make the best winners. It's a simple fact. They just do. Women have no problem screaming with excitement, no matter who may be listening (or watching.) Ask Bob Barker.

However, the fact remains that when you attempt to payoff a major contest after weeks of promotion with a live call, anything can happen. The same holds true for follow up calls.

Once, while I was doing mornings at KTFM-FM in San Antonio, our program director, Bill Thorman, created a 20-Songs-In-A-Row contest. The idea was to have listeners write down every song they heard and when called, read back the last 20 song titles. Sounds like a lot of work, but the prize was $50,000!

After weeks of promoting the contest, on a Friday morning, I drew a name and made the call. Our listener rattled off the songs and won the money. To add to the drama, we went immediately to her home with a Brinks Truck and TV crew in tow. On air, she had been the perfect winner with lots of energy.

Before we left she mentioned that she wanted to celebrate by having a big party and invite the morning team.

The following Monday morning, we called her live (with no delay) to ask how her weekend went and find out when she was planning to have her party. Again, this was live on KTFM. And so, in the middle of morning drive, as she answered, our listeners heard, " I spell country, C-O-U-N-T-R-Y, 100!"

She had moved on to one of our competitors and another contest.

Everybody has a story. What's yours?