Coke-Radios

At 2 a.m. you stumble out of your room, drop 30 cents in a Coke machine, and press the selection button. What do you get? Not always a can of soda, says Jonathan S. Sack '82.

For the last two weeks Coca-Cola has been mixing Coke-can radios in with their drinks. Sack is one of several students who have unwittingly discovered the new promotional gimmick.

The plan, which covers all schools and colleges in the Boston area, is designed to appeal to youth and stimulate sales in low volume machines, John J. Cullen, district manager in the company's Boston branch, said yesterday. "We're just trying to see how many people call us to say they got a radio," he added.

Cullen says there is about one radio in every delivery to a machine. The radios resemble Coke cans with dials on the side for volume and station selection.

Sack got his radio about a week and a half ago from a machine in North House. "I didn't know what to think. I was very surprised, but I knew I couldn't be imagining it," he said.

About six people have called the company about the radios, Cullen said, adding that only one caller complained.