Canada Day was turned into a memorable and patriotic occasion for numerous radio listeners thanks to the generosity of Mr. Clint Bowman of Flying Colours International and the enthusiastic response of OAB member stations and their listeners. Each participating station developed its own approach to rewarding listeners with a large Canadian flag to display on July 1, 2002. Each station received 10 flags to uses as prizes as they saw fit.
OAB member stations got behind the idea of celebrating Canada's birthday across the province in the days leading up to Canada's birthday.

Following is a sample of what member stations did to involve their audience in this promotion:

Oakville: AM740 / JOY 1250 / CJMR 1320

First of all, all three stations each carried the OAB/Flying Colours promos on an ROS basis from June 24th to June 28th. The actual giveaways were handled in the following manner: 

Twice a day, M-F, June 24 to 28, AM740 - Prime Time Radio (CHWO) featured a classic Canadian song (eg. Anne Murray's Snowbird, Diana by Paul Anka, the Travelers' Something To Sing About or Gordon Lightfoot's If You Could Read My Mind). The announcer would hype the Canadian talent thing and then would segue into the OAB/Flying Colours promo. Listeners were then invited to phone in and the seventh caller would receive the flag. (The lines always lit up, by the way.)

On the same days and schedule as above, JOY 1250 (CJYE), also invited listeners to call in to win a flag, although we did not associate the call-in with any kind of contest...just the 4th caller, that sort of thing.. The invitation to call was always preceded by the announcer hyping the OAB/Flying Colours promo.

On CJMR 1320, all ten flags were given away on Canada Day in our South Asian programs. Program hosts aired the OAB/Flying Colours promo (translated, of course) and then asked listeners to phone in to answer a trivia question about Canada. Correct callers won the flags.

In the case of the AM740 and JOY 1250 winners, we encouraged them to pick up their flags before the end of business day on the 28th (they all did) and fly their flags on July 1st (I hope they did). The winners of flags on CJMR, of course, did not receive their flags until after Canada Day - and we can only hope they will fly 'em next year!

The total commercial value given to this promotion by all three stations would be somewhere 
around $5,000.


Wingham: CKNX AM & FM

Country 920 CKNX and FM 102 offered listeners the chance to call in and in tell us why they were proud to be Canadian. Contesting ran once per week-day the week of June 24-28. Live liners beginning Friday, June 21 supported the contest. 


Sault Ste. Marie: CHAS-FM / CJQM-FM

Here in Sault Ste. Marie, we included the flags as prizes the week leading
up to Canada Day on morning show contests (1 contest per station). The promo
breakdown is as follows:

Live Liners: 3 per day x 6 days
Promos: 6 per day x 6 days
Contest Occ.: 1 per day x 5 days

Station Promo Value: $2,120
Combo Promo Value: $4,240

The flags went over huge and we actually had calls from listeners asking
where they could purchase them! I hope we have the same opportunity next
year.


Cornwall: Blaze Country 101.9; Variety 104.5; The Jewel Memories 1220AM

Our promotion was fun and educational. All three of our radio stations had flags to give away. All of the flags were given away the week leading up to Canada Day, so listeners could display them at their homes.

We had some Canadian Trivia questions on air and invited listeners to call in.

The flag promotion company received on air mentions each time we played the game. In addition, we had liners on air promoting the game itself and the promotion company was mentioned.
In addition, we hung one of the flags in our foyer area so that it piqued the interest of listeners who visited our studios. Unfortunately, we did not get a picture of that, since that flag was given away as well.

In total, I would suggest several thousand dollars worth of air time was devoted to this promotion on all three stations.
I hope we can do this again next year. We had a lot of fun with it and so did our listeners.


London: Fanshaw College CIXX 106.9 FM

With regards to the Canada Day Flag Promotion...it went over well! We conducted the promotion over a 5 day period, from June 24-28 2002, with produced liners running 5 times daily, on air mentions/live liners running several times per hour. The OAB and Flying Colours International were mentioned in all on air promos and liners.
We conducted the giveaways through a "Canadian History Trivia" contest, with listeners/callers answering questions such as "what year was the inking of Canadian confederation" etc., etc.
Those correctly answering our trivia questions won themselves a "Great Canadian Flag"!!! 

Thanks again to the OAB and Flying Colours for your support in promoting "Canadian Pride" through our station. We look forward to a continuing relationship with you!!


North Bay: Fox EZ Rock