10
If you haven’t read part one and part two of “How to Win a Radio Contest”, make sure you start there for part one, and click here for part two.
This post will feature some of the more advanced tips and tricks I have picked up over the last few years of winning radio contests. Remember though, there is no surefire way to always win a radio contest. You can do things to increase your odds, but the biggest factor is your determination and diligence to try to win every time.
The best way to increase your chances of winning is to increase the number of times you can dial the number in a short period of time.
I have already mentioned a few ways to increase your dials, they include using multiple phones or getting a friend to help. However there are a few ways that you may not have thought of. Some of these methods may require you to spend money, which is why I wouldn’t recommend them unless you want to be a serious contest winner.
- Use Skype
Skype is a voice over internet protocol service (VOIP) that allows you to use your computer to call other Skype members for free and call normal telephone numbers for extremely cheap rates.
If you don’t have a second phone, or even if you do, SkypeOut can be a great tool to get a few extra dials in per minute. Skype dials a little faster than an average cell phone, and if you really want to get tricky and if the radio station you are calling has two phone numbers (for separate area codes), you can try to use the conference call feature to try to dial two lines at once.
The other nice thing is that Skype only charges you for calls that go through. So if you get a busy signal (like you will most of the time calling radio stations) you will not get charged for the call. The minimum amount of Skype credit you can buy is $10, which will last your a long time if all you are doing is dialing radio stations.
- Use an Autodialer
Technology Arts make an Autodialer or Demon Dialer which will automatically redial the last number you called over and over again and alert you when the line starts to ring.
I’ve had people try to tell me this is cheating, but it won’t magically make you win all the contests you try to win. However, depending on the speed of your phone line, it could dramatically increase your dials per minute and free up an additional hand to try with another phone.
However, Autodialers are expensive sensitive pieces of equipment. You may be able to find one cheaper if you get itused, but to get one new it will cost you $249. They are also not guaranteed to work with every phone system, when I moved last year to a new house with a phone line that wasn’t quite as clear as my old one, my autodialer stopped knowing when to redial. There are also a lot of different settings on the Autodialer that can increase or decrease the speed of your Autodialer, so if you are going to spend the money, make sure you read the manual to optimize the dialing speed.
- Not All Phone Lines are Created Equal
When choosing a phone to use to try to win a radio contest, realize that the phone you are using may play a big part in how easily you can win. The speed of a phone line is measured by how long it takes from the time you dial to when you get either a busy signal or a ring. The fastest lines will ring or go to a busy signal almost instantly, whereas a slow line may take about 5-6 seconds. This could be the difference of getting in 10 dials per minute or more than 60.
In general, phone speeds go something like this:
Office Phones (fastest)
Home Phones
Skype
Cell Phones
Cable Digital Phones - from a cable company like Time Warner (slowest)
There are other factors that may determine the speed of a line that are out of your control. I have noticed that some lines just seem to dial faster, and I’m not sure why. This may have something to do with geographic location or the age of the lines.
This is not to say that if you have a slow line you can not win. At the end of the day, it is possible to win with the slowest of lines by just dialing once. However, using a faster line will increase your odds of winning over time.
- The “Stay On The Line Trick”
I’m not even sure I should be giving this information out, since it is one of my favorite tricks that I’m sure not too many people are aware of. But since I want my readers to succeed, I will divulge. When Disc Jockeys answer the phone to tell you that you are the incorrect caller, they don’t actually hang up on you when they switch to a different line. If the DJ is answering the lines very quickly, they may actually come back to your line before it disconnects.
This trick usually works best for contests where you need to be a very high caller, like caller 90. All you need to do is get through once, then stay on line. If you are lucky, the DJ will keep coming back to you time and time again, hopefully making you the winner. A friend and I both did this once, and for a contest where we needed to be caller 90 we ended up getting through about 30 times together.
There is some risk with doing this trick however, if you only need to be caller 9, then by not immediately hanging up and redialing after you get through you risk not being able to call again and get through if staying on the line doesn’t work.
I’ve got a few more tips that I’m going to save for a future post. Make sure you check back often and read some of the other great ways to make extra money that we have on this site.
Any questions or comments? Leave them below and I will try to respond to all of them.
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Our local station always wants to be caller number 9 and with my cellphone I have been number 2 about 8 times. ha, dont know how this is possible. I like the idea of using skype didnt cross my mind.
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I can’t tell you the number of times I have been caller 8 when I was supposed to be 9! Drives me crazy! At least you are getting through, that is the hardest part. If you manage to get through, you pretty much have a 1 in 9 chance of winning.
Hi, I uses to win all the time on 98.1 and 97.3 in San Diego, CA, on my phone at work. I could redial up to 60 times a min. The phone line is Telepacific and the phone system is Inter-tel. But on April 2, between 1:00 and 2:00pm everything changed. I got “All ciruits are busy” the redial slowed down to about ever 5 to 7 sec per min and sometimes it just hangs and nothing happens. I called the telephone company and they saw no problem with the lines. I call Inter-tel and they said it was the phone company lines. Since then I bought a speed dialer as you mention above. I hook it up to my home phone (Time Warner) and it is slow. I tried every setting you could possible try and even call the tech 3 times. I am trying to return it by I am past my 10 days. We are thinking of dropping an AT&T line down. Before I return it, I was wondering, is it worth keeping it. I also have a friend that could probably program it to redail faster?
Mary
Hey Mary,
The thing about the autodialer is that it only works as good as the phone line you have. If you have a great phone line that dials really fast, then you could get the dialer to dial really fast. If you have a slow line (and by slow I mean the time it takes from when you dial the number until when it rings or goes busy) then a redialer won’t help much except for freeing up a hand.
Time Warner digital lines are notoriously slow, so an at&t line would probably help. I would check to see if some of your neighbors have an at&t line and just see how fast the line is. In the end it all ends up being a little bit of luck if you can get a fast line.
I just switched to a digital phone at home because of the price, but I am so bummed, because I think it will be impossible to win another radio contest with it. The digital phone rings every time I call in, but no one ever picks up, because the line really is busy. I don’t recommend digital, if you like to play radio contests. I haven’t had any luck with Skype either, but I guess I’ll keep trying that for awhile.
Thanks for these tips! I have 12 times to possibly win tickets to a concert today. I need all the help/luck I can get. I’m getting my friends to help me, by using their phones. No together, we have 5 phones. 12 hours to win the contest + 5 phones + 3 people calling = better chance at winning. Anyways, thank you! =) I will let you know if I win.
Good luck Kayla! I hope you win!
I’ve won a variety of radio contest while at work and just a couple using my home phone. I’ve never won anything on my cell which I used to believe was a faster way to dial. Your tips are very helpful, thanks, I’m going to try Skype. I’m actually registered with them but never thought to use their service to enter contest! I look forward to your upcoming secrets!
Thanks
Great tips! Maybe I can actually win something now. lol
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I work at a well-known medium-market radio station as the afternoon drive disc jockey, and some of the tips above I can personally vouch for actually do work.
The last post about ’staying on the line’ however, I will say automatically disqualifies you. I have regular giveaways, and with all the callers i get I still recognize voices very well - which is part of my job to pay attention. If I hear the same voice twice, I know it and will not give the tickets to that person (it is cheating, after all).
I would recommend not using this technique.
All the best,
“Mr D” Derek
Hey Grant- What I’m curious about is not the speed of the various phones- e.g. Skype or cellphones, but whether
land lands get preferential treatment on the phone lines, versus, the digital/mobile phones. Please let me know if you know. Thanks much.
I’m a prize pig and love it. I win something at least every 30- 60 days. Haven’t paid for a concert in years. Once I win on one station, I switch to another. I rotate between 3 or 4 stations. It’s true, you have to be on your game and 2 phone lines + my cell doesn’t hurt. Stay away from POP stations because they are just way too popular. I win on the rock and new age stations the most. Maybe because rockers party all night and sleep all day. My wife thinks I’m crazy but loves it when we get to travel for free. I’m lucky… but mostly just showing off these days. One more thing…don’t forget to pay your taxes on the big prizes or you’ll be sorry. Good luck!
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Dialing in during “off times” works well for me. You have much better luck with a 7am contest, than a 9am contest when everyone’s dialing in from “good phone lines” at the office! Weekends work well also! Good luck everyone!