The 24 Hours of Christmas

Beginning at 6 PM on Christmas Eve, play 24 hours of commercial-free Christmas music. Have only four sponsors during that entire time (you can charge quite a bit for this) with each sponsor airing only once an hour. There should be no selling messages, just friendly ones like, �Elmer�s Pancake House thanks you for your business throughout the year, and would like to wish you and your family a Merry Christmas and happy New Year.�

Tis (Almost) the Season

Looking for a Christmas card idea to send to your listeners? Try a station card and cookbook rolled into one, with favorite recipes from station personnel. The cookbooks can be simple, with a holiday message on the cover. They�ll be something useful that your listeners will want to keep, so make sure you use your station call letters and logo on each page of the book.

Million Dollar Santa

Hold a hole-in-one contest in December. Invite your listeners to a local golf course. Purchase a large plastic Santa and cut a hole in the top of its head. Place the Santa in front of a par three hole. Each contestant has two ways to win: in one drive they must either hit the ball into Santa�s head or into the hole on the green behind the plastic Santa. Have a live Santa award prizes to anyone who gets the ball into Santa�s head; if anyone gets it into the hole on the green, they win a million dollars.

The Twelve (Work) Days of Christmas

This idea works great as a pre-holiday tie-in with your advertising clients. Get buys from twelve clients who will also donate a prize from their business. For each of the twelve work days before Christmas give away one prize each morning to a specified caller. Unwrap the gift on the air and tell them what they won, making sure to mention each day�s sponsor.

The Most Private Christmas Party In Town!

Plan a Christmas party for your audience that listens exclusively to your station at work! Encourage listeners to submit their names and place of business, either at a participating sponsor location or directly to the station via fax. Then for a three week stretch (mid-November to early December), pick one name from the entries four times a day. If the listener calls when they hear their name, they (and a guest) receive an official invitation to the �The most private Christmas party in town.� Trade-outs with food and beverage establishments can make this a lavish affair. Build it up on the air and have some fun.

Merry Meters

During the holiday shopping season, send station employees downtown with a handful of change and some flyers promoting your station, with a message to car owners that says the time on their parking meters had expired but your station was happy to have filled it up again for them. Followed, of course, by �Merry Christmas!�

Every Day Is Like Christmas

If you�re planning a major format change in January, consider programming an �All Christmas� music format from Thanksgiving through the end of the year. There are several advantages:

In many markets, the concept is so unique that it�s very attractive to your existing client base as well as advertisers who either don�t use radio or don�t advertise on your station.

Many stations doing a format change use some gimmick to trash the existing audience. But the �All Christmas� format will bring a new audience while maintaining some portion of the existing base.

The �All Christmas� format will confuse your competition. They may assume you�ll return to the previous format after Christmas. On New Year�s Eve, you can make a major announcement with the new call letters and format.

Santa Is In

Set up a Santa Hot Line prior to Christmas. Work with a senior center or recruit volunteer Santas to man your �Santa Hot Line.� Limit the hours that Santa will be on duty and invite kids to call in. Look for sponsorships with local retailers and make sure you promote the line both in-store and on the air. Roll tape, get approval from parents, and use some highlights from conversations with Santa in promos.

Holiday Giving And Sharing

Work with a local youth agency to obtain the names, ages and some wish-list items of less fortunate children. Join efforts with a mall or department store where you can display the WXXX Love Tree, which is decorated with information about the children. Invite listeners to stop by the Love Tree and purchase one or more of the wish list items, returning a wrapped, labeled package to the Love Tree by a designated date. Station personnel, agency representatives and listener volunteers can help sort gifts and assist the agency in distributing presents to the children. You�ll help make it a joyful holiday season for one and all!

Here Calls Santa Claus, Here Calls Santa Claus

Invite listeners to have their children call your station and leave a message for Santa Claus that you�ll relay to him at the North Pole. Record calls on an answering machine with a credible Santa voice and select a few to play back on the air. If you create a cross-promotional tie-in with a local retailer, some of the caller�s Christmas wishes just may come true.

End-of-Year Sale

Everyone has incentives, sales and special events before Christmas, so why not take center stage the day after Christmas Day? Take advantage of the wave of gift exchanges and returns during the week following December 25th. Choose a client like a department store and have them run a contest based on the number of returns or exchanges per customer. Award a gift certificate to the person with the biggest number. Be sure to promote the contest in the client�s pre-Christmas advertising.

�Twas The Week After�

When the last Christmas spot has been recorded and you hit that quiet week just before the end of the year, take an hour or two look at the great, blank expanse of next year�s calendar. Reflect on the already filled-up months of the previous year, and ask yourself what promotions worked, which ones were beneficial to both sales and programming and which ones failed. Make a list of must-do- agains for the upcoming year and pencil them in on the blank calendar. Now start planning ahead, but leave some room for spur-of-the-moment ideas and last-second opportunities. Make sure the planning session includes the GM, sales manager and promotion director. If possible, spend the afternoon away from the station and avoid the usual distractions.

Tree Lighting

Get involved with your community tree-lighting ceremony, and if there isn�t one, start your own! Invite your listeners to bring friends and family to the tree lighting. Have a Santa at the event, lead Christmas caroling and have hot cider or hot chocolate for everyone who comes. Invite public figures like the mayor, fire or police chief to help with the ceremony, and do the whole thing as a station remote.

Tag a Winner

Give away cash during the Christmas season to shoppers seen wearing a handmade name tag with your station�s call letters on it. Tie in with local sponsors and announce �The WXXX Christmas Cash spotter will be at (store location) sometime today between (time) looking for your Christmas Cash name tag.� It�s a great promotion to build mid-week foot traffic in a local mall or department store.

Safe Drinks For The Holidays

Enlist the help of local celebrities like politicians, entertainers and community leaders and have each of them come up with a dynamite non-alcoholic drink for the holidays. Promote a location for listeners to pick up the drink recipes and have the celebs cut promos encouraging non-alcoholic drinking during the holidays. You can set up a recorded message where listeners can call in and get the recipes or have the celebs drop by your morning show to mix up the concoction for your morning team to sample.

At Work Network

Good way to drive up those daytime numbers!

Did this last summer. Endless possibilities! Here�s what we did. Listeners faxed, e-mailed, or snail mailed to register. We said Hi to a couple of them each hour and on Friday we showed up at the office with a TCBY cake for them. We ate the cake, did a few call in breaks to get testimonials for the station and TCBY. Archived the TCBY clips about the food to be used for spots later. One thing�.It�s not a bad idea to call ahead on Thursday to see if it�s ok to drop by on Friday, just in case a district manager or someone along those lines is scheduled to drop by.

The sponsor ideas are limitless and can be alot of fun if you just put a little time into it!

Roadside Assistance

Needed: One Station Vehicle, a Cell Phone, and one �Stranded� DJ.
This works great as a one time promotion you can do every couple of months or make a full blown promotion out of it.

Take your station vehicle out in town. Take it to a neighboring town too so they don�t feel left out! Drive around for a while down the main drags so plenty of people see you. Then call the station from the van and have the jock put the driver on the air. Have the driver plead with the audience for �roadside assistance�!

Tell the listeners clues as to where you are, not revealing your location totally, acting as if your lost. Tell the listeners that who ever finds you and fixes the vehicle gets ______!

Pop the hood, and take off a battery cable or something silly like that. And then get back on the air and continue to give clues as to where you are. On the first call you just tell the town your in and say you�ll call back with the specifics. Give more and more info till someone finally finds you.

You fill the blank with cash equaling your frequency, membership to AAA or just whatever. Be creative!!

Be careful about the cash thing though. People might start to think you always keep money like that with you and you could become a hold up target instantly. Make them come to the station for it and get personal information from them on the side of the road.

Riddle Me This!!

Good audience participation contest which will also drive up the TSL, plus it�s a lot of fun!
Did this with a station down south a few years back. This was their cornerstone promotion each year for spring book. Get the creative copy writters out for this one.

For the set up let me first say you will need a grand prize which requires a key. Heard one station once used a house, but that gets complicated, especially if you don�t have the time!

On the air you will read a riddle (creative part). Each riddle contains three to four parts, and must, by the end, give the location outright. (if you havent figured it out the riddle is suppose to give a location, where in which a qualifying key is hidden) The key needs to be numbered, in case someone stumbles upon it by accident, along with a letter explaining exactly what the key is for. (for the same reason)

Read each part of the riddle throughout the day. The first line in the morning . The first and second in the afternoon and so on and so on till you reach the end each day. (Boom, there goes the TSL!) Of course you also set up sponsor boxes throughout the listening area for people to register for a few keys to be given away without clues.

Remember, hide keys on public property and weather proof the package! Trust me!

Once all the keys are found, or claimed, the station throws a big party, for contestants and a guest. Food, music, ect. Parks or a lake is perfect for this. You want to make the party as exclusive as possible so you don�t run out of freebies!

Use a random name drawing to select the order of which people are allowed to try their key. The one that works, wins!

This is the basic set up. I�m sure you get the general idea.

Free Money Music Machine

Great Theater of the Mind!
I�ve heard many variations of this contest, called many different things. Here�s the basics of it. You�re wanting people to listen for a designated period of time, and have them remember what they heard!

To start, the jock picks a song within in a certian time frame, for our sake lets use one hour. He tells the audience to start listening now, some time within in the next hour he will activate the free money music machine and give someone a chance to guess which song is in the machine. They, (listener) need to keep track of all the songs starting now.

The audience then listens for a pre-determined sounder as their cue to call in.

When the listener gets through, they get to pick one of the songs in the past hour. They then punch in the code to activate the FMMM, which happens to be your frequency, on their phone. The code activates the machine,(you supply the sound effects and a clip of your pre-determined song) and if the listeners song matches yours they win. If not, they get a t-shirt, or something from the prize vault.

We used the contest once to register folks for a grand prize drawing which happened at the end of book. This way the loosers got a little more than just a parting gift, and this also allowed us to work in MORE sponsors! (people can register for the grand drawing at participating sponsors to get in the grand prize drawing in case they can�t qualify on the phone)

Workday Classics

Did this on a Classic Rock Station, but you can do it anywhere!

Have your morning guy announce the Workday Classics at 10 after the hour during the morning show. The Workday Classics are nothing more than a song that you would normally play during a normal hour that will be the listeners que to call in and qualify for the grand prize.
Put out registration boxes at �participating sponsors� and pick on grand prize qualifier from each sponsors box.

Total amount of qualifiers is up to you. We used only 100, qualifying 3 people daily and then drawing from the sponsors boxes.

You grand prize depends on how you sell you sponsors. We gave away a Plymouth Neon, or $50k.

The �or� worked by eliminating the 99 qualifiers by drawing random names out of a hat. Last one in the hat drew out of a drum of 100 slips. 99 said new car, one said $50k. Good odds in the first round 1 in 100. (which ended up being 1 in 87 since you had to be present to win and not every one could show up for the contest) We gave no consolition prize to the loosers, but the possibility is there if you have the means to do so. Trips, dinners, music etc. Just work with it!

Cash Stash

I wanna be RICH!!

Easy way to score big with the audience. Offer them easy cash. This takes little work. Not alot of cash and ends up being a pretty good deal.
Go to your local second hand CD store, (pawn shops aren�t too bad either) and buy 150 CD�s which match your formatt. Make sure they are in good shape!! There is also a possibility of a trade out here with the store if you have time to put something like that together.
Now have the sales staff go and trade out oil changes and movie passes for consilation prizes to be used. Also, you can use t-shirts, and stuff in the prize vault and a couple of gag gifts for consolation prizes too. Your call! All together you�re going to need 149 consolation prizes and one big sum of money for the grand prize.

Make certificates to place in the CD�s listing what they won. (Only one with the money amount) Then decorate a huge box and fill it with the CD�s, each stuffed and taped shut! Put the box in the lobby of you building, or even in the studio, space permitting.

Here�s where you�re on you own! Find a creative way to give away chances to grab a CD out of the Cash Stash. Everyone wins, and someone will walk away with the cash. One thousand bucks works good, less seems cheep, more can be used for another promotion. This is simple and easy and budget kind.

One problem we ran into on this is that if qualifiers can come in as soon as they win and someone wins the cash in the beginning your promotion just ended very, very quickly and you have to fork out more cash to help get rid of the rest of the CD�s. On our second try at this we set a day in which people could begin to come and draw out of the box and then it took a couple days for someone to eventually come and draw it out.

The whole reason for keeping the box in the studio or building is to keep un wanted hands out of the box. Plus, people get a chance to see the studio! Sure they see you on location, but who wants to look at you anyway! The technology in our studio seemed to over whelm most visitiors and make them forget the money for a split second. Also they get the special �behind the Scenes� look at the radio station. Not something just anyone usually gets. If you keep it in the building the same effect still happens. Just leaving out the technology part. They still get to come to the radio station. Something you just don�t do on a regular basis. What I�m talking about here is PR!!!!

Once you have the winner, (make them open the CD in front of you of course) rush them in to a studio and get a reaction for a promo! We went so far as to have each person open theirs in the studio in front of the guest mic and we rolled tape on it to get the initial scream of excitement which made for a great promo!

This promotion has endless possibilities and is alot of fun for everyone!

The Match Game

The easiest way to unload those trips you traded for and haven�t used!

This works like the game most of us played as a kid. Say you have 20 cards face down. You turn over 2 and if they match, you keep the pair, if not, they go back where they were, face down. Just replace the face of the cards with your weekend getaways, and Ta-Da! Instant TSL booster to get rid of those trips. You can play when ever you want, and drag it out for as long as you want. Play just on the morning show. Or save it for the weak time slot and drive your numbers through the roof!

Parking Patrol

Easy contest to increase you exposure!

Here�s a great contest I thought of while driving through the mall parking lot over the weekend. I�m sure someone has done this before I thought of it, but I�ve never heard of it, so I�m claiming it!

The summer months are already here, but you can do this if you hurry. If not, try for next year, and take your time.

We all hate getting into our cars and grabing a hot steering wheel. Now most of us have those cardboard shields to put in the window, but are usually in to big of a hurry to put in up. How about if you could win cash just for putting it in the window? Well here�s the idea.

Have the things printed up with your station logo on one side, on the other, put the standard, �Send Help� like you see on most. Gather sponsors for the promotions and have them work up some type of cheep coupon to put on the shield too. The coupons in a column that you have the printer add extra to the shield when it�s printed. (like having an extra fold on one end of the shield) Or if you want, just have the sponsors logos printed on the bottom edge of the thing. Working in sponsors for this thing is easy, just use your imagination.

Have listeners pick one up at the station or participating sponsors. You can even charge them a couple of bucks for one and give the money to chairty. Then tell the listeners to make sure they use the signs, (logo side up) and if the Parking Patrol spots their car, and tickets their windshield, they could win (insert fabulous prize here). Qualify them for a grand prize,or just do what ever. Again, this is a simple contest, takes very little leg work and gets your logo seen all over the place, this summer, and the summer after that, and the next�..

One thing to keep in mind, when you ticket the cars, write down the type of vehicle and the plate #. Just in case someone decides to swipe the ticket and claim it for their own. On the ticket tell the person what they won or qualified for and that they need to bring their vehicle with the ticket to the station to claim the prize etc.

Hide and Seek

This can be alot of fun and all you need is a car and a cell phone!
Send your jock out in a car doing cell phone breaks saying he�s in a �Brand New �_________ from (for example sake) Smith Chevrolet! DJ hypes the fact that the car is awsome, loaded with power everything and can be gotten starting at.(base price of car). It�s basic, just do a regular remote break, but do it from the car. Along with the break, the DJ tells where he is. If you have him in one place, them give directions like in �Roadside Assistance�. If he is rolling, them have the jock be specific. If the listener can track the DJ down (and flag him to the side of the road, if applicable) then the listener wins tons of prizes, or registers for the car which is to be given away later.

This is a good way to reach neighboring towns in your area that get neglected. It�s alot of fun too! All you really need is some overhead and a car dealer, or sell other sponsors and have the jock give clues to lead listeners to that business, where he is sitting. Then when he is found, turn the whole thing into a full blown remote!

Very flexible idea that could make money and really get the listeners involved!

Secret Sound

Awesome Promotion which can be used in all dayparts.

The Secret Sound is a promotion is which all dayparts or just selected ones can benefit. It is an excellent way to boost a weak time slot by playing the contest just during those hours. The contest requires a financial commitment on the stations part, and I�m sure there is a way to work in a sponsor with the promotion, however I�ve not seen it done.
Before I tell you how it works, first lets get a few things out of the way. For starters you need real sound for this contest. Not, and I repeat, Not sound effects, or it will be too easy. They need to be short and audible. A pin drop will not work too well. Get creative with the sounds. (examples will follow) The whole idea is to play the sound only within pre selected hours and at the very beginning of the day when you announce those hours. If you play it too often, people have more of a chance to listen to it and then figure it out.

Ok, now the contest.

1. Have two or three pre set times in which you will announce each day (morning) the times at which you will play the game. At those times, announce which time throughout the day you will play the secret sound and give someone a shot at the cash jackpot. Each time,(two or three times) you announce the times give the audience a free shot to hear the Secret Sound. Also announce the current Jackpot.(details below)

2. Starting with the very first sound you will play, or if you are on the second one, after someone guessed the first, you need to set the jackpot at a base figure. For the sake of this example we�ll use $500.

3. You�ve announced the times your going to play and here comes the first one. Announce on the air that you are taking caller 10 on the studio lines for a shot at the Secret Sound. Give no clues or the jackpot amount.

4. You�ve got caller 10 on the line. Chit chat about where they are calling from and then ask if they are ready for a shot at the Secret Sound. Of course they are so you say, �But first I need to know how much is currently in the Secret Sound Jackpot! If they say $500 (or current amount) they move on to round two of the call. If not, they loose their chance, you give them a cheep parting gift, (T-shirt), and then you announce that you are adding another $50 to the jackpot which makes the new jackpot $550. A shot at the sound requires that listeners know the current jackpot amount.

5. If the caller gets the jackpot amount right, on to phase two. This is where they get a shot at the jackpot and the entire audience gets a chance to hear the sound again. Play the sound, and let the caller guess. If it�s correct, you blow the whistles and ring the bells and show them the money. If the miss it, throw the parting gift at them and kick in the customary $50 to the jackpot. Review the amount on the air, and dump the caller.

6. Before you move on to whatever�s next, tell the listeners at what time in the morning they can hear the times in which the game will be played each day.

7. It�s a good idea to review the jackpot about once an hour so the dial surfers get a chance to hear the fact that you are giving away cash.

8. Keep the answers strictly confidential. Judges will be needed to settle wording disputes on answers so pick them carefully.

9. It�s also reccomended that you select three or four key words the answer must contain.

10. Be advised! We had jackpots climb to 4 and 5 thousand dollars this past year, and that�s only playing 3 times a day M-F and 2 on Sat.

11. Also, since we played durring book, we played every hour on Thursday (Arbitron call back day) .

Examples of sounds:(we used these)

Keys being thrown into a glass ashtray
Base ball being thrown into a ball glove
Basket ball being droped into a trash can full of foam peanuts.
Remember be creative!!! It may also be necessary to give a clue now and again (especially when the cash amount gets high).

We�re Cookin� Now!

Stage a �WXXX Cookout� where the entire station staff puts on an evening or weekend barbecue for listeners. Trade with sponsors for food and drink items. You can turn this into a contest for groups or offices: have them write, in 25 words or less, whey they deserve a �WXXX Cookout� for their friends. Hold the cookout in a popular public location for high station visibility.

Neighborhood Block Party

Block parties can be popular during the summer months. Your station can put together instructions on how to hold a block party and provide official block party signs with your logos or call letters on them. Stage your own block parties throughout the summer months, inviting listeners and their friends to join you. Arrange for local police officers or firefighters to drop in and say hello to all the children.

There Is Such A Thing As Free Lunch!

During summer months, do live remote broadcasts from a popular beaches or public pools. Team up with a local deli or sandwich shop and put together boxed lunches (order however many match your frequency � 101, 95, 104) and give them out to the first people to arrive at the location. Include station paraphernalia such as bumper stickers or pins inside each lunch box. In a selected few boxes, insert bigger prizes such as gift certificates or movie passes. If possible, have the lunch boxes custom made with your station logo and call letters on them.

Mall Shopping

As summer temperatures climb, people will escape into cool and comfortable shopping malls. Set up a booth and hand out promotional material like bumper stickers and key chains and have a drawing for prizes such as a weekend getaway or tickets to an upcoming show. Use it as a remote opportunity as well. This need not be an expensive event, just a reminder that your station is around.

Pits Are The Life

Here�s a fun summertime contest: hold a �WXXX Cherry Pit Spitting Contest.� Invite listeners of all ages to join in the fun. Entrants simply eat a cherry and spit the pit as far as they can�it�s best to use a flat, paved surface. Award prizes according to age group categories. Hold the event in a place like a grocery store parking lot and broadcast a remote of the exciting play-by-play action.

Hooked On Headphones

Use summer events like county fairs or weekend festivals where lots of people gather to obtain some data. Get your engineer to connect a tape playback configuration with ten sets of headphones. During the event, have people put on the headphones and listen to 20 song hooks (which would take three to four minutes). Provide a score sheet for listeners to rate the songs. Change the set of hooks regularly to collect more information, and be sure to ask some qualitative questions about your station, your competition and the person�s listening habits.

Briquettes In The Morning

Hold an official summer kick-off Barbecue, where your morning show personalities host an early morning BBQ in the parking lot of a store at a busy intersection. Invite your listeners to stop by and sample the food. Invite special guests to stop by, like chefs, local celebrities and the Mayor.

The Good Old Days

Set up a noontime oldies show that focuses on music from five, ten, twenty and twenty-five years ago. Invite listeners to call in with memories of their high school years and promote the summer�s upcoming class reunions. This will work great for a number of stations, regardless of music format.

Bow Wow and Meow

With kids on summer vacation, it�s a perfect time for your listeners to adopt a pet. Broadcast puppies and kittens available from local humane societies and offer a month�s supply of pet food, collars and pet toys through a tie-in with pet supply retailers to listeners who adopt a pet.

Mystery Song

Music-intensive stations looking for a good summer promotion should consider reviving the �mystery song� contest if it hasn�t been done in your market recently. Put a summer spin on the contest by splicing together the word �sun� (or �son�) from a dozen or so titles and challenge your audience to identify each title in the mystery song. For forced listening, play the mystery song at fixed positions during the day. If your song is really hard to identify, provide clues to help move the promotion along. To generate revenue with the contest, entrants should be required to fill out forms at participating sponsors. If you are using clues, they can be posted at the sponsor�s as well.

Downright Neighborly

Summertime means vacation time, and families often struggle with who�ll look after their house, pets and yard while they�re away. Get together with a local junior high or church group and find kids who are available to vacationers to watch over residences during the summer. With the approval of school or church officials and a verifying background check, the students, known as the �WXXX Watchers,� can earn their way into this group with the completion of successful projects during the school year and through involvement in extra-curricular activities. It�s extra money for kids, peace of mind for travelers and community involvement for your station.

Those Were The Days

Does your station target an audience between ages 28 and 58? If so, they�ve got something in common � summer high school reunions. Spring is the planning time for these 10, 20, 30 and 40 year reunions. Be sure your station is �Class Reunion Headquarters.� Make announcements for groups organizing theirs and offer to provide talent and emcees for the events.

A Day In The Park

Now�s the time to plan �A Day In The Park� hosted by your station. Pick one of the three long weekends this summer: Memorial Day, Fourth of July or Labor Day. Pick a popular local park and invite your listeners to join you, as a �thank you� for their support. Have live music, contests, games and food at the event.

Making Waves With Your Station

In markets located near lakes and oceans, take advantage of your geographical situation this summer and head for the water. Find a local yacht company to sponsor a boat that will take your station�s air personalities out on the water. Have them hand out T-shirts, bumper stickers and other prizes to boaters who have their radios tuned to your station. For you land lovers, stage the same promotion at local beaches or picnic areas and hand out prizes to anyone with their radio tuned to your station.

Piggy-back Remotes?

While summertime remotes offer stations the chance to generate great revenue, they may also stretch your staff and air sound a little thin. One good alternative is a �combo� remote using more than one advertiser. Offer a small discount on remote packages that lets you combine one client�s product with a remote at another client�s location. For example, broadcast a remote from a car dealer�s and offer discount coupons for the local Subway sandwich shop. Your air talent delivers a combined spot for both advertisers during cut-ins, and you reduce clutter and avoid running two back-to-back remotes.

The Cardboard Castle Build-Off

Not every station has a beach or a year-round supply of accessible sand. So, converge on the local park and have a cardboard castle build-off. Participants are given ten-by-ten foot areas in which to construct the most unusual, tallest or most grandiose cardboard castle they can. Hold the contest in the morning, judge in the early afternoon, and award prizes. Then, tear �em down and haul the cardboard to your local recycling center. Have the recycler co-promote the contest or get prizes from merchants as incentives to get involved�and make sure to have a station team of listeners picked from random callers on the air to compete.

End of Summer Jam

Invite local or regional bands play to play in a day-long concert at a nearby race track, stadium or park. Charge one admission fee that will covers all bands. Broadcast live from the concert and encourage listeners to come down and join in the fun. You can sell or give away T-shirts, hats, cups and sunglasses, with all proceeds going to a local charity.

Take a Stand in the Sand

As summer arrives and listeners head for the beach armed with portable stereos, encourage them to take your station along. Air promos that �WXXX undercover beach surveillance crews will be scanning the sand at (location) for sunbathers tuned to (frequency/call letters).� Station personalities or representatives can patrol local beaches listening for radios tuned to your station. Give away water bottles and beach towels with your station�s logo on them, or bigger prizes like portable stereos, concert tickets or gift certificates.

Everybody In!

During the summer months host �Pool Party Weekends� and give away summer survival kits. The kits should include things like six packs of pop, suntan lotion, beach balls, beach towels and a couple of CDs. Qualify all kit winners for a big �Summer Survival Get-Away,� a trip to a sunny destination that they can take during the winter months.

Balloons for Summer

Summer is the time for outdoor promotions and opportunities to increase your station�s visibility. Helium balloons are a great way to do this. Print your logo on one side of your balloons, and an advertiser�s logo on the other side, sharing the cost of the balloons and helium. The advertiser�s employees could fill and distribute the balloons at outdoor functions you participate in. It�s a great way to stay top-of-mind with your listeners!

The Joy of Dunking

A great county fair event is a dunk tank, featuring local celebrities as the targets. Set up a station-sponsored dunk tank at summer events with proceeds going to a local charity or food bank. Station personalities can broadcast from the booth to encourage participation, or even be in the booth if they�re brave enough.

WEEKEND SPECIALS:

Here is an outline of weekend specials to consider for the Summer:

May

1-360 hours of 60s Weekend
8-10All-Request Mother�s Day Weekend
15-17Twin Spin Weekend
22-24Memorial Day 500 Weekend
29-31British Invasion Weekend

June

5-7Graduation Weekend
12-14All-Request Father�s Day Weekend
19-21Summer Songs Weekend (summer begins 6/21)
26-28Soul Patrol Weekend

July

3-5Made in America Weekend (Independence Day)
10-12Girl Group Weekend
17-19Beatles Twin Spin Weekend (anniversary of first US release)
24-26Sing For Your Oldies Weekend
31-260 Hours of 60s Weekend

August

7-9Motown Weekend
14-16Class Reunion Weekend
21-23Elvis is the King Weekend (tied in with anniversary of death)
28-30British Invasion Weekend

Go Buy A Golf Cart!

The most flexible station vehicle you can have!� One of the neatest investments your station can make is to buy a golf cart. and you never have to take it to the golf course!

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Cover it with you logos. (don�t get tacky) Give it a name like Prize Cruiser. Then take it every where! The District Fair, big remotes, stuff like that. Also, enter it in every parade you can get it in! (We even went so far as to decorate ours for X-mas and send it in to the local parade) Your morning team can work up some silly stunt in the mall parking lot with it. The possibilities are endless, and it�s a very flexible vehicle, that when used correctly can be very effective for exposure, and a few laughs too!

Album Pre Release Party

New music and your listeners, plus food, games, and prizes�.PARTY!
This is another easy idea to get listeners involved with the station, plus it�s an easy way to have an excuse to throw a party! This does require a little planning on the promotions department but once you do it a couple of times, it will get really easy.

Use those label reps who hound you each month for the biggest part of this contest. Demand from them an occasional box of this hot new artists CD�s for a Pre-Release party. The reps are usually pretty good about this. If the reps won�t follow suit, get in good with the local record store. They to get advance copies of most of the new albums!

Next you need to arrange for a controled area for this party. The last station I heard do this used a ballroom at the local University. Arrange sponsors to give up food, drinks, and cool prizes to be given away to listeners who attend. You�ll also need to used that trade you have with the local printer. Work up a really cool idea for a �VIP� pass for those who get to attend. Nothing cheep and easily destroyed. The laminated backstage pass type ID�s work great.

Now comes the work for the PD. Hype the fact that you are getting a whole box of the new **** CD before they hit the shelves and 100 lucky listeners are going to get to hear it before the rest of the nation, just by locking the radio to your station. Work up some cool way for the listeners to get a pass to the party. Hype this thing like it is the best thing to hit the town since sliced bread.

When the time comes, make sure you have plenty of food etc. so you don�t run out of munchies and look like cheep skates. Check ID�s at the door. The exclusive concept of the party will make it one of those things that all listeners will trample their friends to get a pass. Have all the jocks possible at the party. Kind of an exclusive party with the famous radio people. Do breaks from the party. Let the party goers talk on the air and tell how much fun they are having and how good (or bad) the new CD is. Play cuts from the new CD, give away prizes in between cuts, do the breaks, play stupid games, door prizes, food, loud music, who could ask for more?

If you hype these things to the point of combustion, the listeners will get to the point that they plan days off well in advance from their jobs just to be able to try and get into the party. After the first couple partys the hype builds itself and all you have to do is make arrangements. You can do this every now and again or on a regular basis, totally up to you and the artists ability to produce new material.

Win It Before You Can Buy It

Something for nothing, and all it takes is a few phone calls!
Get on the phone! The record reps hound the PD�s, so now is the time to return the favor. Make them give up copies of that hot new artists entire album, before it hits the shelves! Work up a huge contest to give the things away, or make a special out of it! Play a cut randomly through the day, then take calls and give one to the designated caller. Lost of possibilities, plus the record reps will think you actually like them!

Schools Closed

Touch base with school administrators before the start of the school year and arrange for your station to be listed in back-to-school packets as the station to tune to for school closure information. You can take this even further by advertising in local newspapers as the “Official School Closure Station, if other stations in your area havent already claimed this position.

All Work And No Play

Invite listeners to write in and enter names of those who have to work on Labor Day for prize drawings. Throughout Labor Day, have your jocks draw names from the entriesif the person whose name is drawn is listening to your station, they can call in and claim their prize.

Back To School “Fashion Show

Arrange for your station to hold a Back To School Fashion Show in reverse at a local mall. Ask students to come dressed in their worst outfit, modeling their sloppiest clothes. The person most in need wins a new wardrobe.

An Apple For the Teacher

Beginning in September, hold a “Teacher of the Month promotion. Provide a nomination form to be handed out to all students on the first day of class. Throughout the school year, if parents see their kids teachers doing something out of the ordinary, they can nominate them by sending the ballot in to the station. Have local community leaders judge the monthly entries, and award a plaque, dinner gift certificate and other prizes to the winning teacher. At the end of the school year host a dinner with the winners from the entire year, along with their families and the judges. This promotion can also be done with other public employees like firefighters, nurses and police officers.

Back To Campus

If your station is located in a college town, remember that there can be hundreds — even thousands — of new students starting school in the fall who may not be familiar with your station. Hold a “Back To Campus week and set up a booth on campus during the first week of school where students can sign up to win a new stereo system. If youre really visible those first few days, hopefully the students will stick with your station the rest of the year. Work with local retailers that cater to college students for this promo.

Labor Day Pains

Hold a Labor Day promotion for mothers whose due date is around Labor Day. To be eligible for the contest, a mother must register with your station by mail, fax or phone before September 1. On Labor Day, send one of your jocks to nearby hospitals to see which “registered mothers show up. The first one to deliver wins the grand prize. Prizes can be from local mother/baby-related sponsors.

School Days Memories

Work with a local mall or shopping center to promote back-to-school items. Contact all the merchants in the mall about radio advertising schedules and the promotion. Ask each merchant to contribute an item to combine in a grand prize back-to-school package: clothing, computer and school supplies, file cabinets, books, and a microwave oven for a dorm room. Prior to the giveaway enter the names of students who call in and give the correct answer to trivia questions in a drawing for the grand prize package.

Drive Back to School

Stage a competition between local area high schools in a food and clothing drive to help the needy. Give each participating high school on-air recognition, and invite student body presidents to come to your station and give progress reports. Place large ‘thermometers tracking progress in each school. Award the winning school a pizza feed and a dance put on by one of your DJs.

Great Station Coverage

Design book covers with your stations logo on them and ask local merchants at a nearby mall or shopping center to hand them out during their back-to-school sales. Create a “cover contest by printing numbers on the book covers. Call out a number on the air during morning drive. The person with the matching number has X minutes to call in and win a prize. Merchants provide prizes and get logos on the covers, too. A suggestion: broadcast winning numbers when your targets arent in class.

Something for Young and Old

Here are two back-to-school ideas for two different demos: 1. For the younger audience: With football season just around the corner, students will be looking for some post-game fun. Sponsor an After-Game Dance at the nearby high school gym. Station personalities can host the event, you can give away station paraphernalia, and names can be drawn for prizes. If you have more than one high school in your area, find a location to make it a city-wide event. 2. For the older audience: September is also back-to-school time for parents! Reward grownups who survived the summer with fun morning contests like “The biggest mess my child(ren) got in this summer, “The worst thing that happened on our familys vacation or “How I kept my child(ren) entertained this summer. Have listeners call in with their stories, then morning personalities (or other listeners) can vote on the best or most creative responses. Record, edit and play back the best tales. Give away dinners for two or movie passes to reward those hard working parents!

Dressing Up

As summer draws to a close, kids thoughts will be focused on one back-to- school necessity: clothes, clothes, clothes. For a great cross-promotion, tie in with a local clothing or department store and invite your listeners to enter their names in drawings for $10, $25, $50 or $100 gift certificatesor a grand prize drawing for a $500 shopping spree. The outlet can offer you free merchandising space and should always be playing your station during business hours. You can return the favor by promoting the store as the place to enter the contest and theyll appreciate the additional foot traffic and on-air mentions.

From B to A

As you start to think about back-to-school promotions, a just-before-school-starts report card challenge might make waves in your town. Challenge all students in your community to improve their grades from first to second quarter with a reward for the best or most improved grade point average. You can give prizes to individual students, or to an entire school based on grades.