"This is the operator. Can I help you?"

"Yes, Operator, I'm having trouble getting 570-1800. Before I finish dialing, I hear busy signals,"

"Oh. that's the Magic 91 contest line. It's always busy."

"How do you know that?"

"I have a 'Lucky Number' for their contest. I listen all the time for my number."

Tom Voss

Thousands of San Diegans spent much of 1979 listening to radio stations in hopes of winning contests and prizes. Thousands of others affixed decals on their cars, bikes, and skateboards, trying to draw the attention of roving radio station employees ready and willing to impart with all sorts of goodies. Still thousands more answered their phones (and frequently embarrassed themselves) with "I listen to ... "

Cash and prize giveaways are usually offered when radio stations need listeners the most — during the ratings periods, the two times during the year (mid-April through mid-May, and mid-October through mid-November) when the stations are "monitored" by the American Research Bureau (aka ARB and Arbitron). The ARB, much like its television counterpart, the Nielsens, sends out some 2400 "diaries" to a random audience in San Diego, who are then asked to log their listening habits (for a less-than-modest fee of fifty cents) and return the diaries at the end of the period. For the spring, 1979 "book," less than 1100 diaries were returned to ARB; each book, then, will supposedly represent the listening patterns of 1500 San Diegans.

The electronic media live and die by the results of these ratings, which determine not only the kinds of programming and the type of personnel of each station, but also the "bottom line" — how much stations can charge advertisers. The advertisers in turn look at only one source for gauging audience size, and that is the information provided by these ratings.

The following, then, is a listing of how San Diego radio stations spent their money during the 1979 ratings periods, trying to make themselves look good.

KOGO (AM 600)

During the spring book, KOGO declined to engage in games. However, following the sale of the station to Southwestern Broadcasters, Inc. in September, the station jumped into the ratings game with both feet. During the fall book, the station gave away six trips-for-two to London, Orlando, Phoenix, New Orleans, San Juan, and — the grand prize — "The Holiday Special," an all-expense-paid trip to any city in the U.S. (or an expense-paid trip for two to San Diego from anywhere In the country). KOGO spent heavily on television ads, but Chuck Brinkman, program manager, is "not willing to say how much."

KFMB (760, AM)

"The Fame Game" highlighted the spring book. Listeners picked up entry blanks at 7-Eleven stores, mailed them in, and listened for their name to be sung on the air (the jingle was written by an outside agency). Everyone who called in was then eligible for the grand prize, although "grand" is a bit understated. The winner was retired naval officer Ben Solano of EI Cajon, and for his efforts he received: interest on $1 million for a day; a supermarket shopping spree for 76 seconds (he carted off $686 worth of meat); his name and photograph on 25 city buses; a "sports fantasy" with television sportscaster Ted Leitner; his name flown on a banner behind an airplane over the city; "Ben Solano Night" at the November 17 San Diego State football game; a guest appearance on stage at the Aladdin Hotel in Las Vegas; a Rolls Royce at his disposal for his guest appearances; and tickets to Chargers home games.

During the fall book, KFMB rented the Sea World Pavilion for the October 25 nationally televised Chargers versus Oakland Raiders football game. They gave away 1500 tickets to listeners, who watched the game on four giant screens and ate and drank unlimited quantities of beer, wine, and food. At the party, a drawing was held to give away two tickets to the Super Bowl game in January. According to program director Mark Larson, the police reported that people were scalping the tickets to Sea World for $50 each.

As if the Sea World affair weren't enough, the station also ran its "China Trip" contest, with listeners asked to piece together three "secret sounds" and call in the correct answer. For calling in they received dinners, concert and football game tickets. Winners were eligible for a grand prize: a trip for two to China.

KM)C (AM 910)

During the spring, "Magic 91" spent little in the way of ratings-period promotion. Instead, staff counted commercials on other stations and announced the number of competitors' commercials per hour on the air, comparing the number favorably to how few KMJC had. Perhaps it was simply making the best of a bad situation, but the station switched gears during the fall ratings period with their "Lucky Number Contest." listeners picked up numbered cards at local 7-Eleven stores and listened for their number to be read on the air. They would then call in, and win anywhere from $100 to $10,000. Total cost, according to program director Jeff Salgo, was more than $100,000.

KSDO (AM 1130)

San Diego's all-news and talk-show station (they also cover the Clippers and Chargers) did some unexpected promotion during the spring book. At the height of the gas crisis, KSDO visited one gas station a day for a week, passing out donuts to people waiting in line. The "Midday" talk show also got into the act by soliciting "Pump Poetry" from their listeners, with the winners having their poems read by Charles Osgood over CBS radio. At one time, staff members report, the phone lines into KSDO were so jammed that the news crew was unable to get a free outgoing line to gather stories. KSDO also owns KEZL (FM 103), but they sat out promotions during the ratings periods. Although neither station spent bundles of money on promotion in 1979, Toni Burnet, promotion director of the two stations, says, "A lot of crazy things will happen next year." Crazier than donuts?

KCBQ (AM 1170)

"How the West Was Won" highlighted the station's spring ratings promotion. The station's contest yielded weekend trips to Las Vegas, Reno, and a dude ranch in Arizona for 30 winners. In the fall, KCBQ, trying to publicize its format change from Top 40 to "Between a Rock and a Soft Spot" (adult contemporary, according to station officials), aired its "$100,000 Give-Away," with two winners each garnering $50,000. Runners-up got prizes of $SOOO in cash, a motorcycle, and an all-expense-paid trip for two to Rome. The money to the big cash winners is paid out over a ten-year period.

KSON (AM 1240)

"Be A Millionaire For A Day" was the biggie during the spring ratings book. Two people a day for ten days received the interest on $1 million for one day (slightly less than $300), a chauffeur-driven limousine for one day, and dinner for two at any local restaurant. The country-music station also gave away - at the height of the energy crisis - a tank of gas every hour for five weeks. "That cost a fortune," admits program director Rod Hunter,"because gas stations won't do trade-out." During the fall, the station hosted" America's Finest Contest," which asked listeners to piece together three clues about an aspect of San Diego life. One person per hour for four weeks won prizes, which included cash ($2000 in total), televisions, dishwashers, and ten-speed bicycles. More than 300 people walked away with something, at a cost to the station of about $20,000.

KGB (AM 1360)

In early October, program director John Lander was lured away from Tampa, Florida, to direct KGB's format change to "13K." He spent $20,000 during the fall book, giving away one=hundred-dollar bills every three hours for a month to listeners calling in; called people at home and gave them $1300 if they answered, "I listen to the new sound of 13K"; sent out the "13K Roller Van" each Friday to service stations and paid for customers to fill up their gas tanks; and toured schools, shopping centers, and factories to give away albums, food, and drinks.

XTRA (FM 910 and AM 690)

Neither station did anything during the fall ratings period, and, except for the FM side's 91 hours of commercial-free music, the spring ratings period was marked by inactivity. It's unlikely to change next year, as Felix and Agnew, the consulting firm that has run the station since September, believe that "programming, not gimmicks," captures audiences.

KBZT ("K-BEST," FM 95)

The radio station conducted no giveaways, but still did its share of promotion. During the spring, the musical duo of Jan and Dean worked an afternoon as disk jockeys, the station co-sponsored a Pacific Beach block party, and sponsored a Chuck Berry concert. During the fall, the station had two stars from TV's WKRP in Cincinnati as guest disc jockeys for an afternoon. The station also did heavy promotion on television and billboards, both expensive ventures. Management declined to quote exact figures. (Many stations rely on billboards. Foster and Kleiser, which claims about fifty percent of San Diego's billboard sales, reports that local radio stations spent more than $200,000 with them last year, fifty-four percent of that during the ratings periods. Television spends about $50,000 with Foster and Kleiser in San DIego each year.)

KFSD (FM 94.1)

"I don't believe in the big cash giveaways," say Rosenberg, genera manager of San Diego's only classical music station. The station did, however, give away an weekend in San Francisco (sponsored by Western Airlines) during the fall book.

KSON (FM 97)

Along with KSON-AM, these are the only two country-western stations in San Diego, and, despite joint ownership, they find themselves competing with each other. So it was somewhat surprising that the FM station took part with its AM counterpart in the spring book's "Millionaire for a Day" contest. It was less surprising that during the fall period, KSON-FM did its own promotion hype, "The Gold and Silver Giveaway." Listeners were eligible to win an ounce of silver each day, with those winners eligible for a weekly prize of an ounce of gold. The contest dragged on for four weeks, six days a week, at a cost of between $2000 and $3000, according to program director Roy Singley.

KIFM (FM 98)

In keeping with its "mellow" emphasis, KIFM gave away twenty nights for two in a top-floor room at the Islandia Hotel as part of its "Room at the Top" contest during the spring. The promotion included dinner and champagne breakfast, and was arranged, according to program director Dave Moore, through a trade-out agreement with the hotel. During the fall ratings book, the station ran its "Mellow Rainbow Give Away" contest. Listeners picked up their decals at Fotomat or Del Taco, and if a KIFM staffer spotted it on their car, the lucky winners received Tvshirts, albums, cash, or dinners for two. On the back of the decal, an entry blank gave listeners a chance to win ten-speed bicycles and ski trips to Mammoth.

KFMB ("B-100," FM 100):

During the spring and fall books, the station offered their "$5000 Hours," in which listeners would keep track of the music played on the station (a convenient way of getting used to keeping a rating diary), and send the list into the station. Drawings for the winners produced total cash prizes of $35,000 to nearly two dozen listeners.

KGB (FM 101.5)

This was the year that the chicken laid its golden droppings all over KGB, and the station countered by hiring public relations specialist Laura Walcher. While Watcher doesn't develop the promotions, she is in charge of getting the station newspaper publicity, and creating feature stories for outside media — all in the hopes of countering the negative effects of the chicken affair. ("Let's face it," says Walcher, "the chicken not only put the station on the map in the city, but the city on the map in the country." The station stayed away from the the big-prize giveaways. During the spring ratings, they sent out staffers who searched for open gas stations, and they also presented their annual "5ky Show." During the fall book, the station again produced its Homegrown album, had a "Consumer Alert Week," sponsored "Take a Serviceman Home for Thanksgiving" in conjunction with the Armed Services YMCA, helped promote the San Diego International Film Festival, the San Onofre anti-nuke rally, the San Diego Blues and Black Music Heritage Festival, hired three "Draculas" for five days to travel throughout the county asking people to give to the San Diego Blood Bank, and dedicated "KGB Field," a soccer field in Balboa Park (at a cost of $65,000).

KJOY (FM 104)

During the spring and fall books, the station spent about $100,000 promoting itself through billboards, television ads, and the "Bingo Game," which drew 1400 listeners to participate in a giant bingo game at the Al Bahr Shrine. The winners of the game received a round-trip ticket for two to any city in the world, plus $5000 cash. Runners-up received a trip to Hawaii and a Caribbean cruise.

KITT (FM 105)

Although the "disco" station claims it did no actual promotions during the ratings period, anyone who watches late-night television can testify that the station bought lots of television ad time. General manager Wally Reed was reluctant to discuss cost, although 'he did admit that he spent "more than $10,000 but less than $100,000."

KPRI (FM 106.5)

During the spring book, KPRI sponsored a Chili Cook-Off at the Sports Arena. In the fall ratings, they offered 106 hours of "nonstop rock," and played the "San Diego 500," a tabulation of listeners' 500 favorite songs. The promotion was used to tie in with the Baja 500 road race this past fall. The station also sponsored the "Halloween Charity Ball" dance in October, which raised more than $12,000 for the mentally retarded.