OFM has announced the winner of THE 37-radio competition. The station had hosted the song-guessing competition for a month and saw it come to a close when Nadia Jooste from Virginia in the Free State was announced as the prize winner of R37 000 cash.
On Monday, 31 July OFM announced that as part of its 37th birthday celebration, it would give listeners the chance to win R37 000 if they could correctly guess which songs were represented by 37 snippets mixed in a montage.
According to the station, the catch was that contestants would only be allowed to submit one entry. At first, the montage was only played on air and later released for download online. Some listeners took a chance and entered when confident they had cracked it; others played it safe and waited.
The station adds that after the final clue was released, a deluge of entries was received. Many were correct, but only the first would win. On Wednesday, 30 August, it was revealed on OFM’s Good Morning Breakfast show that Jooste, who celebrated her 30th birthday the day before, was the contestant who was first across the line with all 37 songs submitted in the correct order.
“Wow, it’s amazing — thank you,” says Jooste, who works as a drawing office coordinator at a mine. Jooste adds that she will be spending her prize money on home improvements.
Jooste says she was very committed to the station’s THE 37 competition. After downloading the crib sheet and staying glued to OFM, she started making notes of what she thought the songs were and got to about 30.
“I then listened to OFM on Wednesday, 9 August, and my sister and I wrote down all the songs that played. We could then eliminate the songs we had marked as male singers,” Jooste says.
Jooste then tuned in again when OFM played THE 37 montage clips unmixed but in reverse and picked up on some more songs.
“I listened to the songs over and over on my phone until I was certain that the clips did come from them before I entered,” adds Jooste.
According to the station, Jooste’s perseverance paid off and her dedication saw her submit the first correct entry.
“The OFM 37 proves that everyone loves a challenge and with R37 000 in the balance, this was the perfect way to surprise and delight the OFM listener and celebrate OFM’s 37th birthday,” says OFM program manager Tim Thabethe.
“THE 37 certainly lived up to OFM’s ‘Showtime’ theme for 2023. It demonstrated that there definitely still is an appetite for the ‘old school’ radio promotion with all the flair and drama but with some modern elements mixed in,” says content manager Elzette Boucher-Krüger.
“It was an absolute pleasure to serve this up for our audience and to see the strategies employed by the contestants. Some reached out and traded answers on social media, while some worked together as groups. It’s really heartening to see how South Africa took up this challenge and had fun with it. Well done to Jooste — a worthy winner indeed,” concludes Boucher-Krüger.