SCAVENGER HUNTS

New Zealand Listener, Volume 4, Issue 97, 2 May 1941, Page 7

SCAVENGER HUNTS

Contestants In ZB Programme Scour Countryside For Weird Collection Of: Articles

purchase and consumption of apples is one of our pleasantest economic duties is the Apple Quest, a radio " Scavenger hunt" which the four main ZB stations are now conducting regularly. Every Saturday night the session provides exciting chases for several hundreds of competitors throughout the country, a strenuous few hours for ZB officials who have to cope with, control, and judge the entries, and a good deal of amusement for listeners. Judging by the experience of Station 2ZB on the first night it was staged, the Apple Quest should prove an amusing "stunt" programme. The session was introduced at 7.45 p.m with an explanation of what was required of competitors. They were told that between then and 9.15 p.m. they had to find and bring to the 2ZB studio eight articles: one yard of red tape, one hatpin, one empty toothpaste tube, one corncorb, one worn rubber heel, one batch of tram ticket butts, a rusty threeinch nail, and one pound of Jonathan apples. The first person arriving at the studio with a complete list of articles would receive a prize of £2 10s, the second would receive £1 1s. and the next three would receive cases of apples, Listeners were reminded. that prizes of cases of apples would be awarded for the most suitable lists of articles for future quests, and that the winners would be interviewed over the station later in the evening, Done Under Schedule Three of 2ZB’s executives, Stewart Duff, station director, Pat Brodie, advertising manager and Ian Mackay, production supervisor, had undertaken to sort out the competitors as they arrived. reminder that the regular

They expected that it would be at least half an hour before even the most enterprising could be expected. At ten minutes past eight, however, a schoolboy in short pants burst into the studio like a tornado with all the required articles from the red tape to the pound of apples. Two minutes later the next entrant arrived, to suffer a nasty setback when he was disqualified for having a yard of red ribbon instead of a yard of red tape. Four more persons with complete lists arrived shortly afterward, and by 8.14 p.m. it was all over as far as awarding the prizes was concerned. Public interest, however, was apparently just starting, and by half past eight the reception lobby of 2ZB was full and overflowing.

The Winner's Story One entrant who lived in a distant suburb had a sad tale to tell. Jumping into his car with every necessary article except a corn cob, he rushed into town, stopping to buy a corn cob, to find that not only was he too late but that he had collected a ticket for speeding. The winner was Frank Pool, and with the help of his mother he later told an amusing story of his race to collect all the articles in time. Second prize went to Don Caldow, who said that he borrowed the red tape from a friend who was a civil servant and that he searched round a tram terminus for the ticket butts. Finding several, he took one and shrewdly scattered

the others lest they be found by other competitors, The consolation prizes were won by S. A. Livingston, Betty Pullen (a ten-year-old girl) and L. Cannons. In Auckland, 1ZB officials had a similarly strenuous time. Apparently neither the blackout nor shortage of petrol deterred competitors, the first of whom arrived at the studio at 8.15 p.m. Community Effort in Christchurch The articles which 3ZB listeners were invited to collect consisted of a bone thimble; a nail file more than five inches in length, a hat pin, a worn rubber heel, a corn cob, an empty toothpaste tube, a totalisator ticket from any recent. race meeting, a man’s blue sock and grey tie, and a rusty three-inch nail. The winner, who was Jack Adam, a 14-year-old lad, disclosed in his interview that his success was due to a community effort. The hat pin, remarkably, was contributed by a bachelor who lived next door; the bone thimble came from a house further down the street. The used totalisator ticket was the result of one of his mother’s less fortunate investments, at the races. The winner of 4ZB’s Apple. Quest was Miss Holmes Libbis, who turned up with all the required articles at 8.32 p.m. It was noticed that a number of competitors had shown great ingenuity in producing the most difficult article, the yard of red tape. White tape coloured with red ink or cochineal filled the bill.

The "Apple Quest" is conducted over the four main ZB stations every Saturday . night. The conditions and the list of articles to be collected are read out at 7.45 p.m. and the winners are announced and interviewed at 9.45 p.m.