BY GIANNI UBRIACO
Q92 radio station listener Louise Spencer owes her friend
Jennifer Laplante-Raymond big time.
How big? Oh, about $50,000 worth in prizes, and all it took was
one lucky turn of a key.
Spencer was one of the 174 entrants in the local radio
station's biggest single prize giveaway in its 16-year
history.
The 41-year-old couldn't attend the special draw held Monday night at the Grand Night Club since she was on a deer hunting trip to Manitoulin Island. So, she arranged for Laplante-Raymond, a resident of Val Caron, to take her place.
Laplante-Raymond, 31, picked the key that unlocked the
contest's biggest prize, a brand new jet black Kia Rio 5.
Needless to say, Spencer was extremely happy to hear the news
five minutes later when her friend called her on her cell
phone.
"It was hard to hear because it was so loud, but she was
laughing and she couldn't believe it because she was so
excited," says Laplante-Raymond.
"She's going to hug me for sure when she sees me. Can you
imagine winning for your friend?"
The key she picked for her friend won the car plus a huge prize
package including a Memphis car audio system from Bianco's Car
Audio, racing image chrome rims and high performance Dunlop
tires from Kaltire; a black Suzuki motorcycle and a black
Suzuki quadrunner from Sudbury Boat and Canoe; $927 of
Vitto brand products that can be grilled on a deluxe
barbecue from Rona Val Caron; and a 32-inch flat-screen LG TV
and Samsung home theatre system with stand from Bianco's
Audiotronics. That's not all though, the prize package also
includes Makita 18 V lithium-ion four tool cordless combo pack
from Northfast Limited, a pair of Sudbury Wolves season
tickets, a Lowrance portable GPS from Ramakko's, and a
citizen Eco Drive men's watch from Ambrosia Jewellers. To top
it all off, there is pizza for a year from Pizza Gallery as
well as beer for a year.
Laplante-Raymond was just happy to be part of such an exciting
time.
"Just for a second, it didn't matter who it was for," she says.
"I was ecstatic and it was so awesome to win. I got to
participate in an amazing contest, so it was all worth it."
The contest was open to all Q92 listeners and there were
several ways to win. People could tune in from Sept. 5-Oct.
27 for cues to phone in and win one of 115 keys. Twenty
random draws were also made over the last two months for
listeners who logged on to
www.q92rocks.com
and signed up for the contest beginning Sept. 18. Another 10
draws were made for listeners who completed an entry ballot in
Northern Life.
"We've done a variation of this over the years, but we wanted
to take it one step further this year," said morning show
co-host Terry Callaghan. "This is just our way of our rewarding
our listeners and saying thank you for listening to their
favourite radio station.
"It's as exciting for us to sit here and watch this," he added.
"It's like scratching a scratch ticket and scratching a $50,000
winner. Imagine how excited you'd be."
