How to Run a Radio Contest

A radio station contest involves much more than simply making an announcement.

The preparation for a radio station contest involves both a lot of work and strategy. The contest must be defined, organized and promoted before it is carried out. It is a collaborative effort headed by the radio station's promotions department, which works closely with sales, programming and sometimes production to pull off the entire feat. With even the simplest radio contest, it takes multiple people to make it happen.

Difficulty:

Moderate

Instructions

Things You'll Need

• A starting idea or theme
• Great small prizes
• One grand prize
• Copy
• Produced sweepers and promos

1. Define what you hope to accomplish with the contest. Everything about the contest should support this intention. For example, the goal should be to build a larger audience, increase audience retention or improve the station's image.

2. Get the prize you want to use as a giveaway. The prize must appeal to the station's audience. Businesses will often supply radio stations with tickets to an event or their products and services free of charge for a select number of the station's listeners. In exchange, the business will receive on-air promotion. Generally it is the job of the radio station's promotions department, in cooperation with sales, to reach out to businesses whose target customers coincide with the station's audience. Promotions and sales personnel must build a relationship with the managers of these businesses and sell the benefits of offering contest prizes on the radio.

3. Define the rules of the contest. A rule can be as simple as, "Be caller number (some random number)," when the radio jock makes the announcement or plays a specific song or pre-produced promo or sounder. The contest can be an actual game, such as answering a trivia question or competing against another listener in a singing competition. Don't make the contest too complex. If the prize should be a little more difficult to win, keep in mind the strictly auditory nature of the broadcast medium. Radio is often referred to as "theater of the mind" because listening to a broadcast stimulates the imagination. Listeners have to have an easy time visualizing what is heard; otherwise, they will likely tune to another station.

4. Tease listeners aggressively about the contest. Before the station actually executes the contest, radio jocks and the production director should cut promos to build anticipation for the contest. These promos continually announce the station will be giving away a particular prize and let listener know what must be done to be one of the winners.

5. Carry out the contest. The jocks and producers run the on-air contest, let the winner know how to collect the prize, and record the listener's information to pass on to the promotions department. Promotions is responsible for making sure the winner receives the prize, whether it is by delivery through the mail, arranging for pick up or placing a name on an event will-call list.

Tips & Warnings

• If you have trouble coming up with an idea, pick a radio station with a similar format, log on to their website and steal one.

• Only air the winners' phone calls if they are exciting.

• Make a big deal about the time and date that the grand prize will be awarded.

• Publish the rules on your website--listeners will challenge your station if it's not cut and dry.

• Never put your listeners in physical danger.

References

• National Association of Broadcasters: Careers in Radio
• "Radio Station Operations"; L. O'Donnel, C. Hausman, P. Benoit; 1989