WKBW Radio Contests
What better way to keep the public talking about your radio station than to hold a contest! WKBW Radio was famous for offering a diverse line of contests throughout it 30 years of topping the Buffalo radio charts! You could win anything from nothing to several pennies to a brand new Cadillac! There were contests that had people taping the letters "WKBW" on their bodies and attempting to get a suntan (or burn) in Buffalo's sun. Take off the tape and you were "branded" with the station's call letters. "KB spotters" would look for the best tan, thus the brightest call letters and award a prize. How about the KB tissue box? Place in the rear window of your car and hope a spotter jots down your license number. Speaking of license plates remember when license plates numbers were read on the air and if you responded a gift was yours? How about the "KB" Rambler that visited plazas (there we no such thing as "malls" back then) throughout Western New York. Stuffed in the back was money bags reportedly carrying thousands of dollars. Guess the amount and you win! And of course the famous Cadillac contest. Just ask everyone you meet "Do you have the keys to the KB Cadillac?" If they were the holder of those keys, you won the car! Can you image how often "KB" was mentioned throughout Western New York?
The following array of photos and audio clips gives us just a small reminder of those great WKBW Radio contests. Oh, by the way, do you have the keys to the KB Cadillac?
"You're a V.I.P. Contest"
Win a Honda Super 90
Super Sports, Sheridan/Millersport Hwy
(click)
Money
in The Bank Contest
Money in The Bank (Version 2)
Color Me A Winner!
Joey
Reynolds Lunch Box Contest
KB Fortune Cookies
WKBW throws a picnic... but you
have to find the location to attend!
KB's Hidden Picnic Contest
??Contest Spoofs??
The Great Easter Hunt
Twenty Five Words or Less
"Two Cent Contest"
"The 2 Cent Contest was in the summer of 1960. You had to send in a postcard to WKBW Radio telling what you would do for two cents. I was with my mother on Route 18 about 2 miles east of my home in Carlton, NY, when I the thought 'For two cents I'd go to the Penny Arcade twice!' Hit me! I sent it in, and the first day of school (fifth grade) my friend Dave Thomas said he'd heard my name on the radio. I'd missed it, but a few days later an envelope with this card came in the mail. At some point I spent the original 2 cents - probably needed it for the deposit on a ten cent RC Cola."
Tom Taber (Albion, NY)
