Some people might wonder what it takes to win a contest here at Townsquare Media (KLUB Classic Rock 106.9, KIXS 108, Q92 and 98.7 JACK FM). Well, I'm going to let you in on a little known secret that you may not be aware of. It's not that difficult at all!

I've had countless calls and emails from people asking why they didn't win. And 9 times out of 10 there's a reasonable explanation. But, rather than get into all the explanations on a case by case basis, let me enlighten the masses on the most common reasons. Ready? Good.

1. Privacy settings. These will kill your chances and you may not even realize it. I realize some people might have that crazy ex girlfriend stalking your Facebook page every chance she gets. But to be honest, if you don't change your privacy settings on your posts to "public" then when we ask you to like and share something....we can't tell if you shared it or not. My advice....Set your posts to public and let her see how happy you are with that gift card to Red Lobster that you won't be taking her to. Check your settings!

2. Spam folders. These things were designed to be useful. And to be honest they're great at blocking those annoying ads for local singles looking for a good time or from that Nigerian prince who wants nothing more than to share his family's wealth with you. But, they can kill your chances of winning if you don't check them. If we've sent you an email, and we've never emailed you before, chances are it goes into your spam folder depending on your email server. So please check your spam folders and make sure we haven't tried to email you already.

3. Put your correct, full telephone number. Don't use Grandma's number, or a number we can't reach you at during the day. Most people have cell phones now days. Use them! Sometimes we call and leave voicemails and never get a response. If you're waiting for a carrier pigeon or smoke signal you're out of luck...we stopped using those last week.

4. We usually announce winners on our Facebook pages. Make sure you like those pages or else you'll miss your name in lights! OK, maybe not lights, but we will congratulate you and you'll be famous for literally 8 minutes in front of tens of people (actually all of our station's Facebook pages combined have almost 60,000 followers but who's counting?).

5. We just simply did not select you this time. Hey, it happens. Hundreds of people enter a contest and we can only choose 5 winners and sometimes it may not be you. Can't win every contest. No really, you can't...there are rules.... but I digress. It's those rules that keep it fair for everyone so each one of you gets a chance to win something. If you weren't selected then keep trying....chances are good you will be selected at some point soon.

Basically, the key is to put as much information on how to contact you as possible. If you do that, rest assured we will track you down. If you don't, then someone else gets your prize. You really want to share? This week alone we've given away roughly $1,000 in prizes for Valentine's Day. And we are constantly giving away stuff on all of our websites. But, you have to participate to win and usually that entails either signing up for a contest or liking/sharing on social media. Don't worry about your information. We don't sell it to anyone and unless you've won something we won't contact you. It's really a win/win situation Victoria. Don't be afraid to win something FREE for yourself. We give away things to you all because we appreciate you being listeners and supporters of what we try to do everyday....entertain you. You really are the reason for our existence...let us reward you!

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