i'm trying to get some work done but thought it was high time i took a break and updated my blog, don't you think?
anyway, this morning i tried to win tickets on the radio to the circus that's coming but it just didn't happen. same thing happened recently with a contest for something else. it's funny because i used to be really good at winning radio contests. it started when i was in sixth grade. i used to listen to the local oldies radio station (yes i was a total dork and no i never knew any of the current music because of this). i remember it was thanksgiving break and i used my little pink phone in my room to call in as the tenth caller and win $20 in Meadowgold ice cream coupons. it was definitely awesome. and of course they played back the tape of me calling in and winning on the radio and i thought it was so fun. after that began my long career of winning radio contests. i swore that my little pink phone could break through other people's connections and get in there just at the right moment. i won dinners, lunches, catered meals, movie tickets, concert tickets, tapes, CD's, posters, sporting event tickets, t-shirts, memorabilia, six flags tickets, gym memberships, tickets to movie premiers. i would wait the requisite 30 days from winning to try again but as soon as the time was up, i was right back at it. did i mention before i was a total dork? one time i actually called a friend from a trip to New York and asked her to wake up at 7am to listen for the winner of a $1,000 drawing that i was in the running for since i was out of town. i didn't get that one, although i will always have a sneaking suspicion that brooke didn't really get up early just to listed for my name.....anyway, there were some really awesome prizes and then there were some fairly crummy ones too-when you're not particular about what you win that's bound to happen. there were prizes (like the Meadowgold coupons) that i just handed over to my parents and didn't particularly enjoy, but the free lunches were nice! this radio contest obsession lasted mostly through middle school though there was a time or two in high school and college that i would try my luck at one and usually make off with something. once in high school i won tickets to the movie
"The Fifth Element" and took my friend mud with me and after about the first half hour all i could do was apologize and ask if he wanted to leave early. it was horrible--though aaron still debates me this, as he really likes the movie. aaron's also a total dork though. i also won tickets to the movie
"Threesome" in middle school and took a couple girlfriends to the now defunct campus theater to go see it. it was pretty much like the title says, three roommates who embark on a, ahem, relationship......also not a good movie. but i got the soundtrack with it and it rocked. but in a nutshell, about half the stuff i won was pretty good, the other half was usually the tickets to movies no one was paying money to see anyway. but who cares, all it cost was a few phone calls.
so here is what i learned about calling into radio contests:
1) they select the callers really fast. it takes the DJ no time at all to pick up a phone line (and usually there are a few different lines to select from) and say "caller 3" and hang up and move on to the next one. so act fast! for example, they get to caller #10 most likely in little over 10 seconds.
2) just because you're trying to be caller 15 doesn't mean you don't start calling right away. it's good to get in early and hear them say something like "you're caller #4, thanks" because then you can determine how fast the calls are coming in and being answered and the more times you get in the better you can determine how fast you need to call back.
3) if you're trying to be caller #10 and you get in as caller #9, chances are by the time you hang up and call back you're going to be too late. but call back, if the line rings, stay on for about 20 seconds, you never know, caller #10 might have accidentally hung up or didn't have the right answer to the quiz question and they'll take your call. but if you call back and it's busy, give it up man, there are always more opportunities.
so, get out there-win some radio contests ;)
while i think i already experienced my glory days, i'll let you know if i snag those circus tickets.
