TMCnet News
Free gas fuels pandemonium: Valley radio station KSEQ, Q-97, planned the promotion for 10 days.(Fresno Bee (CA) (KRT) Via Thomson Dialog NewsEdge) May 20--Nearly 100 drivers got a little relief Friday from high gas prices by finding free gas. When Ann Nomanee figured out the location of a free gas promotion from 3 to 4 p.m. Friday by radio station KSEQ, Q-97, she drove her Chevrolet Tahoe sport utility vehicle down Cedar Avenue from her daughter's school and arrived in time to get the No. 97 placard place on her dashboard. She was the final recipient of $25 in free gas. "I let three cars out in front of me and I still made it," said Nomanee, who spends up to $70 a week for gas. "This will cover me for the whole weekend." Nomanee, 22, was more fortunate than a woeful young woman who telephoned the radio station to lightheartedly announce to an on-air personality that she was en route and ran out of gas. Tommy Del Rio, who oversaw the Q-97 promotion, said the radio station had been planning the promotion for 10 days. He said about 1,000 vehicles showed up at the Maguire's Chevron at Ventura Street and Cedar Avenue. The promotion caused a traffic jam and police detoured traffic onto Huntington Boulevard from southbound Cedar Avenue. Del Rio said clues about the gas giveaway's location trickled out over the hip-hop station day by day until it became clear to listeners where they needed to go. It was the fourth time the radio station held a gas giveaway. Del Rio said it will plan another one in the future. "Last time we did it, gas was $2.04 a gallon and everyone thought that was expensive," Del Rio said. Friday's price: $3.30 per gallon. Scott Maguire, manager of the gas station, said the promotion was not a money maker, but it helped put the gas station's name out and won some media attention. Maguire said the radio station gave away 757 gallons during the hour. He said the gas station would have sold a similar amount of gas without the promotion. But, the convenience store probably lost about $350 to $400 in sales, Maguire said. Customers had their gas pumped into their cars for them so they weren't going into the store to pay and buying impulse items at the same time. "We make about 10 cents a gallon [about 3% profit] and in the store it's about 33%," he said. The reporter can be reached at [email protected] or (559) 441-6166. |