Blog challenge day 2: the first time I won something

In the early 1990s, there was an amazing radio station for children in the St. Louis area. It was originally called Imagination Station and at some point the name changed to Fun Radio. My family listened to this station constantly until it went off the air (RIP Fun Radio). One time we went to an event hosted by the station and I got to see one of the DJs in person. I remember being awestruck at seeing the physical form of someone who had previously only been a disembodied voice.

You know how radio stations host call-in contests where you can win stuff? Fun Radio did that for kids. One of the recurring games was "guess the mystery sound." They would play a sound clip of something without telling you what it was, and the first kid to call in with the correct answer won a prize (I assume it was the first caller, but I may have some of the details wrong since this all happened a looong time ago). One day we were at home listening to the radio and they played the sound. Neither my brother Ben (five years older than me) nor my parents could guess what it was. I said, "oh, that's the sound of two shopping carts crashing into each other." I was too shy to call in and give my answer, so Ben called in for me and we won!! We won the contest!! 

The catch was you didn't know in advance what the prize was. In my head I had imagined it would be something cool, something a 5- to 10-year-old kid would really value. What we actually got (if I remember correctly) were some movie theater gift certificates and a bunch of promotional Mountain Dew hats and T-shirts. Even as a five-year-old I thought that was pretty lame. Mountain Dew hats? Really? I would rather have a plain, solid-color hat than one with the Mountain Dew logo on it. 

I do remember using the gift certificates to see a movie but I don't remember what movie it was. I wish I could remember.