Updated 12:00 PM ET October 1, 1999
By Eric Mckinney
(U-WIRE) EAST LANSING, Mich. -- What would you do to win tickets to
a concert tickets by your
favorite group?
That's the question radio station WHZZ (101.7-FM) asked its listeners
recently, offering tickets to the
Nov. 6 Backstreet Boys concert at The Palace of Auburn Hills, Michigan
to the listener who could promote
the station's "The Z Morning Hooha" morning show to the most people
in the most creative manner.
Enter Michigan State University student Bobbie Bosch, a political economy
sophomore, and her
roommates, journalism sophomore Laura Girdwood, pre-nursing sophomore
Holly Bowen, and dietetics
sophomore Krista Mohl.
Seeking tickets to see B-Boys Nick, Howie, Kevin, AJ and Brian, the
four decided to decorate Bowen's
silver 1992 Chevy S-10 truck with giant signs for the radio station.
To win the tickets, the girls plan to go all out for homecoming weekend.
The group will drive the "Silver
Bullet" near tailgaters before Saturday's football game against Iowa
to get as much exposure as possible.
Devout fans of the teen pop band, the four decided to try to win the
contest rather than pay scalper
prices of more than $100 a ticket to the soldout show.
"Once we found out how much the tickets were, we thought, 'We could do this,'" Bosch said.
Bowen said $100 was far too much for college students to pay to see a concert.
"We like (The Backstreet Boys), but not that much," she said.
To add another dimension to their scheme, the group will videotape fans cheering for the truck.
"We're going to drive around campus and try to get the tailgaters on
camera cheering for the Hooha
show," Mohl said. "We decided to take the Blair Witch approach."
They will also try to appear on Spartan Vision, the large screen in Spartan Stadium, during the game.
"We're going to the game early to try and get front row at the game,"
Bowen said. "We want to talk to the
camera guys and see if we can get on TV."
The students figure local TV and news programs would help their cause,
but they think getting on national
television would assure them a win.
"Ultimately, our goal is to get on TV during the game," Bosch said.
"We'd be happy just getting on the big
screen as well."
Mohl said the idea for the promotion started off as a joke, but it became
a reality the more they talked
about it Tuesday night.
The four are confident of their chances to win the two tickets, but
they know they will have some tough
competition.
"We heard some other people decorated the (Quality Dairy) cow with a
big sign and got on the news for
it," said Mohl. "And some waitress claims to have wrote Z 101.7 on
over 600 tickets."
The students all say a competitive spirits has kicked in.
"Nice try" by the others, Bowen said, "but we're gonna win."
"It's all about the glory," Bosch said."We just wanna win."
Jason Adams, a morning host and program director for the station, said
the contest has generated a
flood of response.
"It's going phenomenally well," he said. "We've had tons of response.
We've made the mug-of-the-day
feature at (TV station WILX) Channel 10 and have a lot of cars driving
around with Z 101.7 signs all over
them."
(C) 1999 The State News via U-WIRE