There is a game that, with a little luck and a dab of ink, makes for an entertaining evening.
In a traditional setup, avid players wait on a monotone caller for that magic number that makes them the big winner of the night. After hours of quiet competition, through the cigarette smoke and blue hair, someone calls out BINGO!
However, local deejay Bruce Wilson had been struggling to get his audience more involved with requesting songs, singing along and just making his spinning job by night a little livelier.
Then he came up with something fun and skill testing that has become a local hit ever since. It’s a little twist on the age-old game of chance that he calls Radio Bingo.
Wilson’s spin on the game – replace the numbers in bingo with classic tunes from the 1960s, ’70s and ’80s.
It was Wilson’s thought that by using songs from the Billboard Weekly Countdown instead of numbers, it would shake the old stigma that Bingo carried of being a game that was just for seniors hunkered down in smoky bingo halls.
By using the same classic tunes that baby boomers were picking up at the local record shop, Radio Bingo would entertain and unite music lovers of all ages.
Testing the idea out in local pubs, Wilson soon found out that Radio Bingo was a hit and not just drawing in the boppers of the Billboard times. Music lovers of every generation were getting in on the fun.
“Players can change at any given night,” says Wilson, “from people in their mid-20s to those in their mid-50s, it all depends on how much exposure they’ve had to it. People grew up with this music and it’s good music. That’s the great thing about it is that music transcends generations.”
Wilson says that along with providing a little more excitement to a night at the local pub, the game helps listeners remember the name of songs and artists, which helps listeners request the tunes they really want to hear.
“I like to say it’s music you forgot you knew,” says Wilson.
Just like regular bingo, Radio Bingo works in the same fashion of prizes for squares. Players are equipped with a bingo dabber and card, which instead of numbers has songs. Just like the original game there are three chances to win a prize with a variety of formations such as a line, an ‘X’ or a full card.
For gamers of the late 1950s the idea may sound a bit familiar to the 1957 game, Name That Tune.
For Wilson, Radio Bingo has not only boosted his audience participation, it has reinvented a way for the deejay to bring music to audiences of all ages.
“Music never dies. It’s the memories that music brings back to people that I really love about it,” says Wilson.
Radio Bingo kicks off every Wednesday at Wickie’s Pub on Burton Avenue from 7 p.m. to 11 p.m. and on the patio every second Sunday at Down The Road Pub on Big Bay Point Road.
If you think your party could use a little musical boost, Wilson also brings the game along with regular deejaying services to parties, weddings and banquets. For information, call 791-3279 or visit him online at the link provided.
