C.J. Gish
More than 100 Magic 101.3 FM listeners received $25 of gas at the “Tanks For Listening Gas Giveaway” held in Gainesville on Thursday.
Marc Radio employees hosted the event at the Chevron located at 1024 West University Ave. and started pumping gas at 11 a.m. along with 1-800-411-PAIN representatives who provided the gas prize.
Cars started lining up hours before the event started, said Jerry Butler, Marc Radio market manager, who heard some people’s stories as he pumped gas.
“There was a lady that stopped by that said her vehicle had been broken into this past week and her purse and all our items got stolen—credit cards, cash—and she said it was such a blessing to have this today and to be able to help out,” Butler said. “She couldn’t thank Magic 101.3 enough for putting this on with 411 Pain, so I just thought it was great event all the way around.”
In the first 30 minutes, more than 50 cars went through the lines, and around 75 were fueled in the first hour, said Vinny Foo, Magic 101.3 program director.
“We did have to turn some people away at the end of the giveaway and I do appreciate them for listening,” Foo said. “We let them know we’re going to do this again, because it went so good.”
Currently, there’s another contest running on the Magic 101.3 website that listeners can register for before Jan. 31 called “New Year New Cash — A Chance To Win $1,000” and Foo said the station is lining up Universal Orlando tickets for the upcoming Mardi Gras theme.
“You know, we have about three strives (as a station),” Foo said. “One is obviously to play the best music that the city wants, number two is to have the most engaging jocks on air, and three is to have the most fun. And what’s more fun than giving away anything, whether it’s cash or gas? So we love doing any type of thing that juices the city and things that would get them excited.”
Besides 411 Pain and the Chevron employees, Butler praised others people who helped at the event.
“A special thanks as well to the Gainesville Police Department,” Butler said. “We couldn’t have been done without them taking care of traffic.”