Games Over Giveaways
Radio is the only entertainment medium that emphasizes prizes over programming.
Games are more entertaining content than giveaways. Giveaways are a promotion and an interruption in content. Jacobs Media’s annual Techsurvey routinely lists prize giveaways at the very bottom of reasons why people choose AM/FM radio.
Radio giveaways can sometimes spike short-term listening if executed well with a “wow” prize. Some of the companies that we work with use them during crucial ratings periods to good effect.
Text-to-win is sometimes effective for building a listener database. The tricky part is getting permission to text P1s in the future. And giveaways can be a way to involve local sponsors after most or all of the local personalities have been downsized.
But giveaways are boring. So many stations do giveaways; they have become generic. And a lot of listeners are skeptical that the games are even real and that anyone wins.
Games are better. A fun game allows listeners to play along and delivers emotional impact. The interaction between the hosts/contestants can be entertaining, and games are memorable, which aids diary recall and repeat listening.
However, there are problems in putting a game on the air. Here are a few common barriers and clever solutions from some of our favorite radio hosts.
NO PRIZE, NO PROBLEM
Last week, Dave Ryan at KDWB Minneapolis told me, “Listeners love to play even without a prize. People play Wordle every day, and there’s no prize there.”
When there is no prize available, Dave, Jenny, Vont and Bailey often play against each other and here are a couple of their favorite go-to games.
Lyric Shuffle. Dave says, “We have an electronic wheel spinning sound effect and it lands on a word (which we have pre-recorded in a voice from someone not on the show.) Let’s say the word is “Red.” Two of us on the show take turns trying to name a song with that word in the lyrics. Red, Red Wine, for example, would be a winner. Start by taking turns. If I can’t name a song with the word in a few seconds, a buzzer goes off and my opponent gets a chance to steal. This is my favorite game of the week.”
Think Fast. “We pit two show members against each other. They blurt out answers to questions/clues, and the first one to get 7 right is the winner. After we get a winner, we give a few more questions/clues just for listeners, where we don’t try to answer. We give the question and wait about 10 seconds while the music bed plays so listeners can try to answer.
Here’s a sample:
A spring activity starting with the letter B – birdwatching
A word describing spring weather starting with R – rainy
A spring clothing item starting with the letter S –
A popular travel destination starting with F – Florida, Florence
A spring chore starting with the letter R – raking
NO PARTNER, NO PROBLEM
What if you are hosting by yourself? I shared cocktails with Mitch Elliott at KINK FM Portland recently, and he says, “Before the pandemic, Corey Foley and I used to play a game on the morning show called Smarter Than Corey. Corey would step out of the studio while I asked the listener five random trivia questions. They had 40 seconds to answer. Then Corey would come back in and try to beat their score with the same five questions in the same amount of time. If the listener tied or beat Corey, they won.
When COVID hit and Corey was let go, I had to come up with a new version of the game. I kept it simple: now the listener gets 40 seconds to answer five trivia questions, and if they get at least three correct, they win a prize. It’s not groundbreaking, but it’s become the most popular feature on the morning show. When school is in session, I often get a parent in the car with their kids, and the whole carload will play the game. The key is keeping the questions fresh and covering a broad range of topics.
NO QUESTIONS, NO PROBLEM
A trivia game should be easy, but finding questions can be time-consuming. Steve Bishop of V100 Charleston’s Steve and Jenny tells me, “My go-to website is Random Trivia Generator.com.
There are always more questions that don’t work for me, versus the ones that do. I click on the question in the quiz I believe I’ll use, then right click and highlight it to do a Google search to confirm it is correct. Sometimes they are not. I search every question, regardless of where I find it. I don’t like being wrong, even for this silly radio game that seems to have an incredible following.”
NO WINNER, NO PROBLEM
Does there have to be a winner in every game? Griff Henderson of Griff and Caroline at Jack FM Halifax, Nova Scotia, says maybe not.
“We are currently doing a twice-weekly contest with ALMOST no prizing. Seven Deadly Spins features trying to identify seven 02-second song clips, with a growing cash prize. We’ve given out very little cash, but the contest has become a hit because if the contestant loses, we ring the Shame Bell (taken from Game of Thrones) and listeners want the contestant to lose so we ring the damn bell!”
Photo by Andrey Metelev on Unsplash
