On St. Patrick’s Day
1997, Radio Ireland came on the air having won the franchise to become the national
independent radio station. The franchise had been re-advertised by the IRTC[1] following the spectacular
failure of Century Radio in 1991, after just two years on air. It was a massive
exercise to attempt to challenge the dominance of RTE’s Radio 1 & 2 and
after just six months on air Radio Ireland was struggling. It had reportedly
lost £2m in the first six months on air.[2]
The station owners
decided to seek outside help and following consultations with promotion and
marketing companies like Ginger Productions, the Chris Evans vehicle, it was
decided to rebrand the station and adjust, with IRTC approval, the format of
the station. The authorities did not want another failure and seemed to make
every effort to accommodate the struggling national station.
Radio Ireland was rebranded
as Today FM in January 1998. The success of on-air competitions had been proven
previously with the pirates through significant cash giveaways, something that
the state-controlled stations could not compete with. Allied with the
rebranding, the station needed ‘an event’ to kick start Today FM, to improve its
profile throughout the country and to begin to increase rating which would ultimately
lead to an increase in advertising revenue.
It was billed as the ‘biggest
ever cash giveaway on Irish radio’ when Today FM launched ‘A Minute with a Million’.
A possible one million pounds was on offer for one lucky listener. Throughout
January, Today FM relentlessly plugged their giveaway. The mechanism was simple,
according to their full-page national newspaper advertisements,
‘Imagine,
you in a glass vault with one million pounds and one minute to catch all you
can. All you have to do is listen every hour 7am – 5pm and call us when you
hear the key songs listed below. And to make it even easier we’ll also name them
each hour on air. Be the tenth caller and win £100. Your name automatically
goes through to the draw for ‘A Minute with a Million’ which takes place Sunday
February 8th in the Jervis Street Centre.’
There were 90 songs
listed and therefore 90 chances to win and when the initially competition ended,
which ran from weekdays from January 19th to the 30th, the station had already
paid out £9,000 to successful callers. The success of the promotion is
illustrated by the coverage winners received in local and regional newspapers. This
is from February 1998 in the Leinster Express,
‘Two
Laois men have qualified for the final
of Today FM's "Minute with
a Million" competition. Freddy Mitten, Portarlington, and
Michael Lynch, Mountmellick, will be among the 90 finalists assembled at the
Jervis Street Shopping Centre in Dublin on February 8. They'll all be entered
in a draw and the winner will get a minute in a vault containing,
a million pounds, and will be allowed to keep what he or she grabs in
that time.’
The Donegal Democrat reported,
A
Donegal man is among 90 lucky finalists who have been chosen to go into a draw
to win a 'Minute with a Million’ on Ireland's newest national
radio station, 100-102 Today FM.
Neil
Green, Letterkenny will go forward to the final of the competition
which lakes place in the Jervis Street Shopping Centre, Dublin on 8th February.
The Kerryman reported,
‘Kathleen
O'Connor, Ballymanagh, Valentia, is one, of 90 finalists who have been chosen
to go into a draw to win a 'Minute with a Million'. This competition
was run daily during January, from, Monday to Friday, between 7am and 5pm
on Today FM. At the start of each hour, a, key song was played,
and the tenth caller to phone the station on recognising the song won £100.
Kathleen has already won £100, but as part of her prize she was also
automatically entered into the draw to win a minute in a bank vault with
one million pounds. She is due to travel to Dublin on, this Sunday,
February 8 and will meet with the other finalists at the Jervis Street Shopping
Centre, where the draw will be made. Should she be selected to enter the vault,
Kathleen will, be allowed to keep as much money as she can grab 'within one
minute.’
‘A
Drogheda woman has much more than a one in a million chance to get rich this
weekend. Susan Clarke from Platin will be among 90 finalists in a promotion by
radio station ‘Today FM’. The 23 year-old has a one in 90 chance of being
picked to enter a vault containing £1 million and keep whatever she can grab in
60 seconds. And her action plan for next Sunday is ‘I am just going to wear a
huge shirt so I can stuff all the money in if I’m picked to go into the vault’
she joked.’
The Kilkenny People
reported,
‘Next
Sunday, a speedy Kilkenny woman will be hoping she is part of a bank raid in
Dublin. Mary O'Shea, Bennettsbridge is a finalist in a radio station promotion
that could net her up to £1 million. She and 89 others will wait at the Jervis
Street Shopping Centre in Dublin hoping that one of them will be chosen to enter
a bank vault and gather as much cash as possible within one minute as part of a
campaign to highlight "Today FM " Mary is a well-known
long-distance runner and she is preparing for her 17th marathon. The New York
Marathon will be held on October 31st.’
There were finalists from 22 different counties and in the end, it was Dungarvan, Co Waterford man Joe Dalton who was randomly selected from the 90 finalists to enter the glass vault with the million. The married man with two children entered the vault and in the sixty seconds he was given, managed to collect £35,568 in front of a packed Jervis Street Centre. The losing 89 contestants received a ‘goodie bag’ containing £200 worth of prizes and vouchers mainly for shops within the centre.
While Joe Dalton won the
competition to enter the vault, the ultimate winner was Today FM as almost
immediately its listenership began to rise dramatically and created the
foundation that the stations success exists today.
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