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It all started back in 2006 when I was listening to 103.5 KISS FM in my car on a hot July day. In between Top 40 hits and commercials, the DJs were giving away Lollapalooza tickets via a phone contest.
It’s not that I was particularly interested in going to the festival, but as I was driving, I decided to try and be caller 20 to see if these contests actually work. I dialed the number rapidly and pressed call on my phone (not the smartest idea when you’re wrapping around the “S” curve on Lake Shore Drive) and voila! A familiar voice appeared on the receiving end telling me that I won the tickets.
Little did I know, this attempt at winning a radio call-in contest would set me on the way to trying to win anything being given away, not to mention that it was start of my two-year winning streak.
Not only has my compulsion to call into radio shows during a contest become more intense (no matter what they are giving away), but I’ve actually won a bunch of really cool prizes. Here is the list so far:
1. A pair of Lollapalooza 2006 tickets
2. A pair of Black Eyed Peas tickets
3. A 6” sub sandwich
4. Four front row seats to “The Putnam County Spelling Bee”
5. A pair of tickets to Snoop Dogg in concert paired with two tickets to a Daddy Yankee concert
6. Two pairs of movie tickets to see “Transformers” and “Die Hard 4”
7. Two pairs of movie tickets to see screenings of “Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull” and the “Sex and the City Movie”
8. Fifth row seats to American Idol in concert
9. A pair of tickets to Avril Lavigne in concert
10. A check for $103.50
11. A pair of tickets to see Chris Brown, Lil’ Mama tickets
But, after all of the concerts, movies and even the delicious sub, nothing compares to my most recent win: KISS FM DJ Ty Bentli helping me move into my new apartment.
It was just another long evening commute from Glenview to Chicago. And, like every drive home, Ty Bentli’s radio show was on to keep me company. He was telling a story about how a few months ago, he went to batting practice at Wrigley Field and promised that for every ball he hit, he would donate $25 to Children’s Memorial Hospital.
Apparently, he did a lot better than he anticipated and said he couldn’t afford to donate that much money. Instead, he was offering to do good deeds or “odd jobs” for listeners in order to work off his promise.
I started thinking: With my annual move from one neighborhood to another approaching, I needed to start recruiting helpers. Since my friends tend to be less-than-reliable at times (even when there is food involved), I figured it might be worth trying to get this DJ to help me lug boxes from Uptown to Lincoln Park.
So, without skipping a beat, I called and asked for Ty’s help. Again, I got through and didn’t encounter any busy signals. Due to scheduling conflicts he couldn’t help me move, but agreed to come help me unpack the day after my move, and winning was hilarious and exciting … at first. I wanted to scream because I WON. But it’s not about the prize, it’s about being the one out of hundreds, maybe even thousands of callers to WIN. I imagine the people who scream and cry and jump up and down wildly over a cheesy dining room set on “The Price is Right” can sympathize.
See, every time I win on the radio, this adrenaline rush overcomes me, but afterwards, I feel like a dork who has nothing better to do but win random prizes on a radio contest. I started thinking that if Ty actually came to help me unpack, that this would definitely be the weirdest and most random “prize”of all.
But, on July 27, the man whose voice I have been listening to every day for the past two years arrived at my front door to help me unpack. I met him before when I claimed my prize at a special screening of “Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull,” so I wasn’t as star struck by this local celeb as I could have been.
He spent a couple of hours at my new place putting together a lamp, blowing up my exercise ball, taking out the garbage and hanging pictures.
I wouldn’t call it an afternoon of hard, strenuous work. We mostly chatted, ate cookies that I “baked” from Jewel and took goofy photos of his “odd job” so he could post them on the station’s Web site. Mostly, I was embarrassed that my house wasn’t immaculate or decorated, but, that was the whole point wasn’t it?
Granted, having Ty come help me isn’t as good as winning say, tickets to the New Kids on the Block reunion tour, but, it was a lovely afternoon to help a good cause. I like to think I made a new friend.
I have also realized that my compulsion for calling into radio contests has reached a new level of weirdness, but am accepting the fact that maybe it’s just a part of my kooky character.
Take a peek at Ty's photo gallery of our unpacking day.
What’s your strange compulsion? Sign-up and tell us about it! Have you tried to win on call in radio shows? If so, what did you win? Or, if not, do you still try to win?
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