Does anyone else have their first recollection of trying to win tickets from a radio show? I certainly do. It was December of 2001 and WWLS The Sports Animal in Oklahoma City was giving away two tickets to the Cotton Bowl between Oklahoma and Arkansas. I was 11 years old and in the passenger seat of my dad’s car as he held his Nokia cell phone up to his ear, waiting to get on the air. The question was simple: What two teams played in the only No. 1 vs. No. 2 matchup in Cotton Bowl history?
We thought out the question together and were absolutely positive we had the right answer. It was OU vs. Texas! Duh! All we had to do was get on the air, and boom, we’re going to Dallas on New Year’s Day. After a few wrong answers from other callers, my dad got on the air. My heart was beating out of my chest as he gave our answer to the late Bob Barry Jr.
The answer…wrong!
We were only half right. The next caller said Texas vs. Navy in 1964. He was headed to Dallas and we weren’t. I was crushed. Literally, I think I moped around for the next week.
When’s the last time you gave out tickets on your show and how did you give them away? If it didn’t sound like the story I just told, I bet it sounded a lot like, “Call us now! Caller No. 8 gets free tickets to tonight’s game!”
Not that there’s anything wrong with that, but as a profession we’re always trying to be fresh and innovative. Maybe there’s a better way to reward the listener other than asking them to answer a sports trivia question or to call at the right time for a prize.
If there’s an idea that’s stood out and gained traction, it’s what Danny Parkins of 670 The Score is doing with social media in Chicago. Parkins will put White Sox tickets in envelopes around various places in the city. He’ll then tweet out where the tickets are located, as well as a picture to show the exact placement. He’s even included cash in a few envelopes too. Pretty unique, huh? But that idea had to come from somewhere.
“Honestly I don’t even remember what the origin of the idea was,” said Parkins. “The first time I got access to a group of tickets, I was like, what would be a cool way to give them out that’s equitable, because I can’t give them out on the air, because we’re not partners with the White Sox. I was back in Chicago and trying to build up my social media following here and I would plug on the air that I was doing it. I’ve done it a few times now and it’s pretty successful. I’ll usually take the train around and get off and on at different spots, or drive my car around and pull over so I can be in different neighborhoods. I’ll also ask people to let me know when they get them. People will then send me a message on Twitter and reply they got them with a picture attached. I retweet that to show people they’re actually getting picked up. People seem to really enjoy it.”
Times and trends have changed over the years in sports radio, but winning a prize, especially tickets, seems to be as popular as it’s ever been to the listener. I can imagine myself seeing Parkins’ tweet, realizing one of the envelopes is close by, and racing towards it to be the first one to pick it up. It may not even be about the tickets, the thrill alone might have me chasing around the corner to search in a random bed of flowers. Maybe the individuals finding the tickets can easily afford to buy a pair at the box office, but winning them is fun.
Though the benefits for Parkins may be there, in terms of gaining new followers and fans in the process, that wasn’t his intent when the idea began.
“That’s not a conscious motivation,” said Parkins. “I just think it’s a good way to give away tickets and I think it’s different. I’ve used meet ups on social media where I buy listeners drinks. It’s marketing, right? In the sense you get, in theory, the person that gets the tickets is going to become a bigger fan of the show, the station or even me individually, but that’s just a secondary motivation behind, honestly, just doing something cool with social media.
“It’s the same thing with buying beers. If I’m going to be at the game, it’s cool to meet up with the audience. If they want to come have a beer with me, they have to be pretty cool people who just want to chill and talk sports. I’ve never had a bad experience when I’ve met up with a listener for a beer, either. Does that grow the audience? I guess one person at a time and hopefully over time I can do it with a bunch of listeners.”
The idea is great, but how does it carry over when McNeil and Parkins are on the air? Giving away White Sox tickets is never going to be huge programming on the show, so is it as simple as a quick plug?
“It’s pretty much that simple,” said Parkins. “I just plug that I’m going to be doing it so I send out a tweet the day before saying, hey, 10 a.m. is when the scavenger hunt is going to start. I’ll say the day before on the show that I’m going to do it the next day and if you’re interested in free White Sox tickets to follow my Twitter handle. It’s not like it’s a huge piece of programming on the show, it’s probably less than two minutes. I think in this day and age, you’re always creating content and figuring out new ways to interact with your audience. It supplements the radio show, sure, but I don’t look at it as a huge piece of programming.”
It’s cool how Parkins puts himself out there in an effort to be more of a accessible figure to the listener. I think there are big payoffs for that and it’s something to be learned from. It’s not rocket science to realize that even one positive encounter can go a long way in gaining a loyal listener.
Your show may be great and have a lot of listeners, but even the most established hosts can benefit from getting out of the house to strengthen their bond with the audience. All it takes is a little bit of effort.
“I’ve done it with things for my station, too,” said Parkins “I took a listener to Cubs Opening Day two seasons ago. All you had to do was retweet and follow and we selected one Twitter follower and they got to be my guest for Opening Day. I sat on the eighth row at Wrigley with a random listener for the opener. I’ve met up at people’s tailgates at Bears games, Bulls, Blackhawks, Cubs and White Sox, I’ve done it with all the pro sports teams in town. It’s not about having loyalty to one team over another, I just happen to have access to a bunch of White Sox tickets right now, because they’re fairly readily available.”
Maybe your station is perfectly fine and comfortable with giving away prizes with the traditional on-air approach. Again, there’s nothing wrong with that. But if you’re looking to change things up, Parkins just may have created something that can start more creative ideas in the industry.
Tyler McComas is a columnist for BSM and a sports radio talk show host in Norman, OK where he hosts afternoon drive for SportsTalk 1400. You can find him on Twitter @Tyler_McComas or you can email him at TylerMcComas08@yahoo.com.
