CPR Promotional Check-Up

Play Ball!!!

Ah...the smell of the Astroturf, the crack of the corked bat, the taste of the popcorn that was made three days ago and stored in large bins, reheated and sold by angry vendors: baseball season is upon us.

Baseball is great in terms of being a promotional venue for us because it's (usually) outdoor and it's a family-friendly sport. Just about everyone can afford to go to a ballgame. With that said, how're you set for the season?

Ball Boy/Girl For A Day A great prize if you can pull it off. Sometimes, you just have to ask.

Celebrity Softball The teams are usually cool with doing something after the game. What if you staged a softball game between your station and a visiting band and their entourage? Back-in-the-day, both the Eagles and Journey were always up for a game. Do it for a charity, ie: if the station wins, the band donates $1000 to a station-chosen charity and vice versa.

Father Mows Best What would be the coolest honor you could have given my dad? To be able to mow the field at the old Met Stadium before a Twins game. Fathers Day is around the corner.

Working For Peanuts One of the cooler Christmas promotions I've ever seen was at KSFM in Sacramento when Davey, Chris and Juan all took part-time holiday jobs and donated their paychecks and tips to a holiday charity. What if each jock sold peanuts in a different section of the stadium and all the money they raise goes to some vibing kids charity?

Banner Tow At a Giants game in San Francisco, Mancow once hired a banner tow over Candlestick Park that read "Mancow says 'Look Under Your Seat For $10,000'!" Everyone immediately stood up and looked under their seats. A few minutes later a second plane appeared pulling a banner that read, "Mancow says 'Gotcha!'"

Dinner, A Game & A Movie This once again is a post-game event. There are so many great baseball movies. What if you did a movie, on some massive screen in centerfield, following the game? Invite everyone out to grab a spot on the turf and watch the film.

Hey, Ump! Get Glasses! What if you made up eyecharts and handed them out before the game. If the ump makes a questionable call, everyone holds up their eyechart. The hook is that the thing needs to spell out some station slogan in large, and then smaller and smaller letters.

Bench Warmer Of The Year Every team has one. Turn him into a folk hero. When I worked at Kiss 102, Steve Sheffler was that guy on the Hornets. He got maybe a minute of playing time every three games. So we created The Steve Sheffler Fan Club and sent a pair of winners to sit in the stations seats at every home game with a sign. By mid-season, when Steve did play, the whole arena erupted.

Community Clinics If you can finagle a player for an hour, to go down into the community and host a clinic for inner city kids is always always exceptionally cool.

Every Fan Counts People love those cheap handheld fans. I was at an outdoor Fray show in Memphis and the street team was mobbed by people asking for them. It is alleged that in the 1991 World Series, an employee at the Metrodome monkeyed with the blowers that keep the roof inflated, and turned the left field ones UP when the Braves were batting, and the ones behind the plate UP when the Twins were batting. Channel 5 sent a reporter out to test to see if it helped or hindered the flight of a ball...and it did. What if you plastered all the seats in left field with free fans. When the other team hits a long ball, flap 'em like crazy to keep it in the park.