The Benefits of Radio Addiction

July 14 (morning) - 2 Gretchen Wilson front section concert tickets, one night hotel stay, and a $50 gift card.

July 14 (afternoon) - 2 Cori Morrow tickets I gave away because it was the same night as the Gretchen Wilson concert.

July 20 (via internet contest) - Free Jiffy Lube oil change.

July 31 (morning) - 4 Wiggles concert tickets and 4 White Water Bay or Frontier City tickets.

August 7 (morning) - 2 John Legend and India Arie concert tickets.

August 7 (afternoon) - 3 complimentary McDonald's new Angus burger certificates and a grill utensil/apron set with the McDonald's logo on it.

August 11 (morning) - 2 Chris Isaak 2nd row concert tickets.

So I've had a nice streak of luck lately. I've always listened to the morning radio shows on my way to and from work and occasionally try to call in for a contest and win a prize. But this last month it became an addiction. All of the above were won on different radio stations, except for the internet contest, which I won two days after picking up a previous prize from them. I called either in the morning (usually on my way to work) or on my way home from work. Occasionally I won more than once in a day and twice while on my way to claim another prize. The day before the Paul McCartney tickets went on sale, one of the stations had a quiz contest for a pair of front row tickets. I found the answer and called a few times before it rang. Four people before me were wrong and by the time the last person won, I realized I had been calling the wrong station!! However, I'm pretty sure that I would have won if I'd been paying more attention because of all the wrong answers and the 20 minute stretch from when the contest began. Maybe not, but it's funny to think about.

I listen to the radio all day at work, but I'm not allowed to call in while there, so all of this is strictly done from my car or while getting ready in the mornings. Yes, I've taken it a little too far, but hey, who can blame me?? Thanks to one of the country stations, my husband and I had a mini overnight vacation out of town at a luxury hotel with a kick-butt concert and fifty bucks to spend how we pleased! I gave a co-worker something fun to do with his wife one weekend with my other set of tickets. I brought an old friend with me to the last concert and had a blast and look forward to another one next week! I took my kids to see The Wiggles, which the younger two thoroughly enjoyed and I get to take them to a huge theme park or water park to give them a fun weekend break from school! I also got lucky enough to get an extra $10 credited to my GAP account when I called with an innocent complaint, which allowed me to get an extra pair of jeans today for my boys, but that has nothing to do with the radio--I just wanted to throw that one in there.

So will I stop anytime soon? Well, not cold turkey, but I might back off a bit. Then again, there is always a good concert in town now that we have a big enough arena to invite the big artists, and I'm too cheap to actually buy tickets. Besides, my 30 days is fast approaching when I can claim another prize on the better stations again!