Dialing For Dollars

Cure your listeners� post-holiday blues by helping them pay off their bills! Each morning at a certain time, have one of your air personalities select a random dollar amount. If one of your listeners has a Visa, Master Card or American Express bill for exactly that amount, your station pays the bill (the first person to call is the winner!). You can modify this by structuring the promotion so that instead of paying the entire bill, if the listener has a single charge that equals the dollar amount given, the station pays them that much money. To claim their prize, the listener must bring in the actual bill; that way, dates and amounts can be verified.

Baby Baby

Tie-in with a baby clothing outlet and a hospital to give a gift pack to the first infant born in the new year. To get your listeners involved, add a �guess the time of the first birth� contest with entry blanks at participating stores and award a prize to the listener with the closest guess.

January Blahs

The holidays are over, the bills are coming in, and your listeners are starting to suffer from the January blahs. A great way to perk up their spirits is to focus on people in your community who really need some help. January is the toughest month of the year for food banks and shelters. Sponsor a food drive around a local sporting or entertainment event. Give free or discounted admission to a basketball game or movie with a food donation, or have a food and clothing drive at your station and let other media know about it too.

January Specials

For most stations, the first quarter is the lightest advertising season at any radio station. To help get those numbers up, present the �WXXX January Clearance Sale.� Sell participating sponsors three weeks of advertising in January at your regular rates, and give them the fourth week free or a two-for-one sale. Clients will appreciate the discount rate since their first quarter sales are likely at a low ebb, too.

Making Lemonade

A slow first quarter could be a boon to the programming department. Use your limited commercial load to have some fun with promos. Create entertaining vignettes that promote jocks, features, or station themes. You could also use extra spots to do a special job for a local charity or group. You�ll enhance your station�s image and keep spot-consuming promotions or events out of busier times.

Half-ey New Year

Start the year off with a retail bang. Choose a weekend in January to sponsor a 50% off sale. Rent a convention hall, armory, or vacant warehouse and sell booths to retailers as part of a first quarter ad package. The only rule: all merchandise sold must be priced at least 50% off the list price. Use part of each retailer�s ad schedule to promote the two-day event and match it with a station promo schedule. Have each participating retailer donate one item to be used in prize drawings at the event. Arrange for a local charity group to have a food concession, with all proceeds going to the charity.

Call me a cab!

Sponsor free cab rides on New Year�s Eve. In many markets cab companies, taverns and radio stations offer free New Year�s Eve rides home from parties, bars and other and night spots. Tie in with your local MADD or SADD chapter. It�s a good promotion and a helpful service.

Gobble This

Here�s a year-end promotion that�s fun for both your station and your listeners. Invite people to submit nominations for the �Turkey Of The Year.� Encourage your morning show audience to nominate someone whose foul actions during the past 12 months may give new meaning to the word �turkey.� Announce the winner and create a small plaque honoring the participant . If the individual has a sense of humor, perhaps an on-air appearance to accept the award would be possible.

Fall Travel Fair

Tie-in with local travel agencies and host a travel fair where vacationers can learn about new and exciting winter get-aways. Tie-in charter companies, local ski resorts and even airlines that provide service to nearby airports. Have a grand prize drawing for a trip for two to a fun winter spot.

Postal Exchange

As holidays near and people start to think about food banks, plan ahead for next years U.S. Postal Service food collection and get involved with your local Post Office. Have a station personality cover a route with a postal worker on the day food is being collected, and several days prior to the event encourage listeners to participate.

Leaf Patrol

During the fall months, find a local youth organization that would be willing to provide volunteers to rake leaves for donations to their group. Invite your listeners to call in and request the groups servicesprovide station T-shirts and hats for the rakers to wear “on the job. Make sure you include a time or lawn size limit.

Fall Tune-Ups

As fall weather sets in, many people take their cars in for maintenance, tune-ups and oil changes. Work with local auto-related sponsors where customers can register for prize drawings by their license plate numbers. Read numbers on the air during the day. if listeners hear their license number and call in, they win. Prizes could include a free tune-up or oil changes for a year.

Food For Thought

As fall sets in, make plans to help local food banks during the fall and winter months. Establish convenient and easy-to-remember locations throughout your city where listeners can drop off non-perishable food items. Encourage local advertisers to give away prizes to donors in categories like “Most Food Donated By An Individual, “Largest Canned Item, and “Furthest Distance Traveled to Donate. Dont forget to cover the event with live remotes and notify other media as well.

Songs of the Season

Make the change-of-seasons special for listeners and advertisers, too! Celebrate the first day of fall (or winter, spring or summer) with the top twenty songs of that season. Promote this as a countdown from the first day of seasons past if you play some Gold or the hits of today if youre a current-based station. Sell to businesses that will offer special deals or discounts.

Start a Heap

Composting has always been a popular with gardeners, and now its part of the environmental scene too. Start a fall composting promotion with the help of a nursery, garden center or home store. The store could provide prizes like compost bins or related products, and put these items on sale during the promotion, too. Have store experts available for how-to promos and interviews.

Olympics - Secretary Style

In honor of Professional Secretarys Week in April invite co-workers and supervisors to nominate secretaries that listen to your station at work to participate in the Office Olympics. If your station receives more nominations than you have room for, draw names on the air. Have all secretaries meet at a specified location; break them up into teams and hold events like a typewriter toss or an office chair race. Award prizes to the winning team.

Food For Fines

For “Return Borrowed Books Week in March, work with your local library so that people who bring in one can of food for every late book (or dollar they owe) get their fines waived. Its a great promotion for this time of year since food banks are usually low after the holiday season.

Bring ‘Em Back

Another “Returned Borrowed Books Week idea is to invite listeners who have overdue library books to stop by the local library and have their fines paid by the station. If you would rather not pay everyones fines, pay for the person that comes by with the most outstanding library books or the longest overdue book.

Just Say Yuk!

During National Poison Prevention Week in March participate with a local drug store or pharmacy and give away Mr. Yuk stickers along with a list of common household poison mistakes and local emergency numbers with your stations logo on it. Make the stickers and lists available at the participating stores.

Throwing for Dollars

During National Condom Week in February, hold a “Condom Toss contest to benefit the local AIDS foundation. Fill condoms with water and have a mens toss and a womens toss to see who can throw theirs the farthest. Find sponsors who agree to donate according to the distance thrown (i.e. $10 per foot). The winner from each group can also receive prizes donated by sponsors.