Winning: Ron Brown and Radio Station Contests

Michigan man has won $100,000 in prizes

Ron Brown has been on the radio for more than 30 years, but he's never spun records, given an on-air weather report or hosted a talk show.

According to a story by Jef Rietsman at The Kalamazoo Gazette, the 45-year-old Otsego man estimates he's won about $100,000 worth of prizes through radio contests and other promotions since he was a teenager.

A Grand Rapids native, Brown said he scans about 25 different radio stations daily in hopes of landing his next prize.

A jovial, talkative individual, Brown said he grew up with an overly protective mother who limited his time outdoors and with friends. As a result, Brown said he found steady companionship with a transistor radio. At 14, he won a pair of movie tickets through a radio contest. Though Brown doesn't remember the movie he saw with the winning tickets, he said the moment of good fortunate would go on to become a lucrative hobby.

He has won tickets to concerts and sporting and entertainment events, as well as food and miscellaneous prizes. He has watched Lionel Ritchie, Cheap Trick, Ratt and Eddie Money perform live. He has cheered on the Kalamazoo Wings, Detroit Red Wings and West Michigan Whitecaps.

Brown keeps meticulous records of all his winnings, documenting the date, station and prize; his entries fill two notebooks. He has a shoebox full of audiocassette tapes that have recordings of his on-air successes, along with some trivia-question failures. Brown also has kept all correspondences, promotional photos and ticket stubs issued to him through the years.

"I'm very respectful of the 30-day rule, so even though I think some of the stations get tired of me calling all the time, they know I won't try again within 30 days after winning something."

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