Howdy!

The Mike Brown Radio Show was a little different to normal this Sunday. If you heard the show, then you'll know that we put the usual bits n bobs on hold for a special one off event, the first ever "Seaside FM promotion day" or "Seaside FM awareness day" or "The Big Push", infact we didn't really think of a name so I'll let you call it what you like!

If you heard the show, then you'll know that we put the usual bits 'n' bobs on hold so we give the station a wee bit of promotion....oh yeah and go to the pub! So, If your reading this you may well be one of our new listeners who we managed to convert.

The reason for our efforts on Sunday is mostly because SeasideFM has very little or no funds to promote itself and has to rely mostly on grants. With this in mind, how are we suppost to compete with other broadcasters in the area have billboard posters, taxis and even buses displaying their logo and name? We can't and to me it seems a little unfair that we are expected to survive in such a fierce environment. So, I decided we should take a more proactive aproach and get out there and tell the good people of Holderness all about the station.

My masterplan was to send as many Seaside FM presenters as I could to the local shops, businesses... infact anywhere that has a radio that we could get re-tuned to Seaside FM. Which ever team gets the most radios playing out SFM wins, simple eh?

As I knew the SeasideFM gang are a bit of a competetive bunch, I thought it would be a good idea to turn the whole promotion into a bit of a competition between the teams. So, everytime one of them managed to get someone listening they would get a point, the team with the most points would be the winners! The only rule was that once they had managed to find someone listening to some other radio station, they had to call me at the studio so that I could hear their radio being switched to SeasideFM on 105.3 FM.

So, the three teams where...

• Team 1: Paul Ashworth and Big Dave.
• Team 2: Paul Grey and Martin Pritchett.
• Team 3: Dave Rymer and Will Smith.

They were all briefed in the reception at 1.45, then led up to the studio at 2pm. This was so we could give some sort of on-air explanation about what was going to happen to the listeners. At about 2.10, the six of 'em legged it out of the station and onto the streets. Scary thought eh?!

The first team to get through on the phone was Team 3, Will rang to say that he was in Pastimes Arcade and that they we're listening to Viking, who ever they are?! After a quick fiddle with the knob, it was blasting out Seaside FM, and rightly so! The next stop for Dave and Will was Teddy's Amusements where it sounded like will was standing on a chair to reach the speaker so that I could hear that Teddy's were also now playing Seaside FM out into their arcade, cafe and bingo areas!
The Sunday boys took in Quids-In, The Dove House Hospice Shop, The Pier Hotel, The Lifeboat Cafe to name but a few before heading off to Patrington. They did well, unfortunatly they didn't take a camera with them so we have no pictures from their little adventure.

Martin and t'other Paul made a beeline to AJ's cafe next door to the station, unfortunatly, I knew that they already had Seaside FM tuned in so that didn't count! Team 2 were certinatly men after my own heart as they managed to switch the radios over in The Spread Eagle and The Butterfly in Withernsea and very almost managed to do the same at The Roos Arms. But unfortunatly, all we heard down the line was some confused staff not knowing what was going on, which was understandable after the pair of 'em just barged in!
Team 2 also switched over the wireless' in Drew's News, Holderness Hardware and the Tourist Information Centre in Withernsea.

Meanwhile in team 1, Big Dave from Love on The Rocks and Paul from The Full Fat Breakfast hatched a plan to re-tune folk's radios down on the Park Resorts and Patrington Haven caravan parks. The duo managed to find a like minded Bradford Bulls fan and convert him, as well as two Scottish holiday makers! They even managed to gatecrash a family party were they were celebrating their daughters 17th birthday. The Birthday girl even cracked one off for them. Now, Dave and Paul arn't the slimmest guys on the block (he says trying to be tactful) so, imagine the sight when two hefty geezers block the road in order to force you to change the channel on your car radio!?

At 5pm, Paul Grey had to shoot off for some family duties, but we had no intentions of stopping now that we were in full swing. Martin joined Will "Wicky wicky wah wah" Smith and Dave "Who does the show before mine" Rymer in Team 3. The next part of the challenge was to get the teams to go to Winestead to find some radios to re-tune. Big Dave and Paul in team 1 stubled upon somebody who hardly spoke a word of English in a car, this wasn't enought to put the big guys off and he became their latest victim.

At this late stage in the game, the scores on the doors were incredibly close, team 1 had 36 points and team 3 had 37. So, I had to come up with a way of deciding how we were going get a winner. As it was a warm day and as I'd been working up a sweat in the studio, I thought I could do with a nice pint of cider, or two! I announced on-air that the team who brought me back the fullest pint of Cider would be crowned the champions.

The phones went quiet, which was good as it meant that I could actualIy chill out and play some music for a while. I did sit back and think about the pandemonium that the teams must be going through. Just imagine trying to get back from Winestead with a pint of cider and trying not to spill it!

The first team through the door was Dave Kitch and Paul Ashworth who were sporting a pint of Cider. As he marched in he had a look of concentration on his face as he tried not to spill any! Five minutes later, in comes a rather tired looking Will Smith holding an empty pint glass in one hand and a pint bottle of Magner's Cider, this could be seen as cheating, but I thought it was quite clever really!

The situation at this stage was that there were two full pint glasses of cider sitting by the mixing desk, they went down well! This didn't solve the problem of deciding the winning team though. In the end it came down to a good old fashioned game of 'Paper, Scissors, Stone'. Martin from Team 3 played against Big Dave of Team 1 and..... after several false starts, it was Team 3 which came out on top!

To be honest, it doesn't matter who won, it was more about getting our name out into the area that we serve and getting people talking about the fact that there is a local radio station on their doorstep! Alot of the stations that our victims were listening to don't even broadcast from our area and very rarely even mention any of the places that they broadcast too. Infact, here's a challenge for you to try, ring any station other than Seaside and see if you can get a record played, I bet you can't! Ring us at seaside FM and chances are we'll be able to play it for you. You'll also hear us interviewing people from the local area, perhaps even from down your street!

Remember... KEEP IT LOCAL!

Thanks for reading.... AND LISTENING!
Mike Brown.

P.S This is a the second time I've wrote this blog and added all the links. Yesterday, just as I was about to submit it my computer crashed! D'oh!