Wednesday, October 20, 1999
Local radio giveaways aren't always local
BY JOHN KIESEWETTER
The Cincinnati Enquirer
You do the math: 50 radio stations in 23 states are giving away only 20 prizes. Maybe that's why you haven't won any of the fabulous sports trips being given away by WEBN-FM (102.7) — and simultaneously by 49 other Clear Channel stations.
As of Monday, 16 days into the 20-day contest, nobody in Cincinnati has won. Why? Because WEBN-FM's “Frog's Really Wide World of Sports” may sound like a local contest, but it isn't.
Those swell prizes — trips for two to the World Series, Summer Olympics in Australia, Wimbledon in London, the NFL Pro Bowl in Hawaii, the NBA Finals, Masters, U.S. Open, Super Bowl and NBA Finals — are being offered to Clear Channel listeners from coast to coast.
From Cincinnati to San Diego. From Dayton to Denver. From Charlotte to Cheyenne.
WEBN-FM does its best to hide the fact that the contest extends far beyond the “lunatic fringe” of its Tristate signal.
Afternoon DJ Jay Gilbert reads the winner's name, and tells listeners that the lucky guy “was listening to The Dawn Patrol (on WEBN-FM) and knew the trip we were giving away.”
But he wasn't — and WEBN-FM won't say where he was from. The station has refused to release a list of winners, none of which were from here through last week. (Why hasn't the Trouble Shooter exposed this? How about some In-Depth Team Coverage? Is it because Channel 12 and news radio 700 WLW are owned by Clear Channel, too?)
Gimmick isn't new
This isn't a new gimmick for Clear Channel. The issue first came up in May 1998 when the WVMX-FM (94.1) audience competed for a daily $5,000 “song of the day” contest with people listening to Jacor (now Clear Channel) “MIX” stations in eight other cities.
Clear Channel folks boast that such “group contests” allow stations to give away incredible prizes, by pooling their budgets.
Over a four-week period that will end Friday, WEBN-FM and 49 other stations will have given away 20 trips for two — each valued somewhere between $2,798 and $16,950 — and $1,000 cash. Or at least $90,000.
“You can see the power of grouping everyone up, and offering really big prizes,” says Michael Walter, WEBN-FM promotion director.
“How many people buy Powerball tickets? But when it hits $150 million, how many more people buy them than when it's at $15 million? That's the concept behind group contesting,” says Marc Chase, Clear Channel's Cincinnati-based east region vice president for programming.
Bigger contests mean smaller chances of winning. From Price Hill to Pasadena. From Clifton to Clearwater. From Milford to Miami.
Covington-based Jacor Communications (now Clear Channel) pioneered “group contesting” with a “MIX $5,000 Song of the Day” contest on WVMX-FM (94.1) and eight other cities in spring 1998. Each station played the same song simultaneously, and gave out the same toll-free number.
WEBN-FM's sports get-aways is its third “group contest” this year. The seven Super Bowl trips offered in January, and the Harley-Davidson May motorcycle give-away, also were not exclusively WEBN deals.
The Jacor folks running Clear Channel's 512 radio stations — soon to be 830 with the announced purchase of AMFM (owners of WUBE-FM/AM here) — have extended the practice to a variety of formats.
They're conducting at least three national give-aways right now — a $5,000 oldies song of the day, a credit card pay-off and the sports trips.
All those calls made coast to coast on toll-free lines ring into the WKRC-TV (Channel 12) building on Highland Avenue, Mount Auburn. Walt Brown, group contest administrator, counts to the 25th caller (or whatever) and makes sure that person knows the contest answer.
“We basically had to build him a call center where he can take calls from all across the country, get the information, and get it out to all the radio stations' program directors,” Mr. Chase explained in an interview last summer.
Mr. Brown e-mails the winner's name to Clear Channel stations within minutes. He also records a comment from the winner, and makes the audio available. I'd like to tell you more, but the Clear Channel folks who boast about their cutting-edge technology won't let me see it.
Mr. Chase says the same phone bank is used by callers to the “All-Star” talk show weekends on WLW-AM (700) and other Clear Channel AM stations. Calls are routed through Cincinnati to the on-air personality in Cleveland, Tampa or wherever.
Clearly, group contesting is the wave of the future — and Cincinnati is riding the crest.
Companies get nearly-national exposure sponsoring a give-away on 50 stations at once. Listeners of large and small stations also seem to like competing for colossal prizes.
“The thing is: When you get 2 million phone calls in a 30-minute period, the question is: Do you think it's working? It is!” Mr. Chase said.
Funny thing, I thought the goal was giving prizes to your listeners, not just offering them.
Some local station will figure this out, and promote a contest in which every prize is won by somebody in Greater Cincinnati — not in Los Angeles, Dallas, Atlanta, Winston-Salem, Syracuse or Iowa City.
John Kiesewetter is Enquirer TV/radio critic. Write: 312 Elm St., Cincinnati 45202; fax: 768-8330.
