My cousin Jared Pot is a household legend for every kind of causes, the primary one being that you would be able to’t hearken to FM radio within the higher Toronto space with out listening to him win a contest. I am solely barely exaggerating: The person routinely wins three to 4 prizes every week. Everybody in my household has a narrative the place they have been listening to the radio solely to listen to Jared profitable some prize or one other, normally whereas additionally making the host snort. There’s a familiarity—they’ll ask how his daughter is doing, for instance, or joke that they’ve heard his voice someplace earlier than.
A whole lot of these prizes aren’t big—a $50 reward card, say, or a visit to African Lion Safari. However a few of them are huge—he went to the Grammys in 2012, for instance, and as soon as bought a examine for $1,200.
You is likely to be pondering of Canada as a sequence of small cities, and the radio stations in query as solely having just a few thousand listeners. That is not the case: Ontario, the place Jared lives, is residence to over 14 million folks, which is greater than all however 4 US states. He’s calling into among the most-listened-to radio stations in North America and routinely profitable. How does he do it?
I requested him what recommendation he would give to somebody hoping to win. “Rub my head for good luck,” he stated, grinning. And that is Jared: a barely off-kilter humorousness that is a bit of complicated however finally charming. It is no marvel Jared is understood, by title, by seemingly the entire DJs within the province. One I reached out to declined to remark however knew precisely who I used to be speaking about.
Now, I’ve a job to do—I am a severe journalist—so I adopted up. Significantly, although, Jared: How do you win this constantly? This is the recommendation I bought.
First, Make a Schedule
You would possibly assume the easiest way to win radio contests is to hearken to a single radio station all day and name in when the immediate occurs. Jared does not do this. Most radio contests occur at a set time each week, and Jared says a tough time is usually listed on-line.
“I’m going to every radio station’s web site and I see what the contests they’re doing this week are,” he says. He then compiles the entire contests for the approaching week right into a spreadsheet, noting what time the competition will occur, the title of the station, and what he must do when the time comes—typically both name in, textual content in, or fill out a kind on-line. This spreadsheet, which is meticulously crafted, permits him to dam out his week of listening and calling.
Save the Stations’ Cellphone Numbers
Many of the contests Jared enters require calling into the station, the traditional radio giveaway format. Sometimes you might want to be among the many first, however not the primary, callers in—the ninth caller, for instance. It is important, given the format, that you do not waste any time really dialing the quantity in your cellphone.
“If you happen to actually wish to get into it, put all of the cellphone numbers for the stations in your cellphone,” Jared says. His Contacts app is stuffed with radio stations, so he is able to hit the decision button proper when the competition begins.
Talking of: If you happen to’re listening to the station on-line, there’s going to be some lag between the terrestrial broadcast and the digital stream, which means you will not be listening to the station in actual time and as such shall be means behind when it is time to name in. Jared’s reply to this: Name early, name usually. “Most stations will make the road busy in order that nobody can name in till the competition begins,” he says. “So I simply hold dialing till the cellphone rings.”
