University of Delaware
Office of Public Relations
UpDate - Vol. 16, No. 20, Feb. 20, 1997

Shopping spree win foretold in the stars

You will emerge the winner in a contest of sorts." That's
what Maggie Kavanagh's horoscope said on Nov. 22, 1996, a
week before Black Friday and the same day that local radio
station WJBR-FM held a drawing to determine the holder of
the winning ticket in its $10,000 shopping spree raffle.
  Kavanagh, phonathon coordinator, said she does not
usually pay all that much attention to such things, but on
this day she thought it might be a good omen.
 Since she normally works from late morning in University
development and into the evening at the phonation, Kavanagh
said she is not usually a morning person. But she found
herself up early on the day of the drawing with the raffle
very much on her mind.
 As the drawing time drew near, Kavanagh's mother, Madeline
Masso, Morris Library, was preparing for work. Kavanagh
cranked up the radio loud enough to attract the attention of
her mother, who asked her daughter to lower the volume a
little.
 In the middle of explaining to her mom about the drawing
and how she did not want to miss it, the telephone rang, and
her mother picked up the phone.
 Kavanagh remembers her mother telling her that the voice
on the line sounded like WJBR radio personality Michael
Waite.
 "I knew then that I must have won," Kavanagh said. "Why
else would Michael Waite be calling me at that time of the
morning?"
 When Waite confirmed that she was indeed the winner of the
$10,000 shopping spree, Kavanagh asked him to say it again.
 "My mother and I were jumping up and down," she said. "We
could not believe that I had won."
 Her prize was a chance to spend up to $1,000 in each of 10
area businesses that cosponsored the contest with WJBR.
 Having just bought a house, with little money left over to
furnish it, Kavanagh said, winning the contest could not
have come at a more opportune time.
 "I am happy that I got to furnish my new house," Kavanagh
said. "The timing was perfect, because I move in March."
 The following Saturday morning, two days after
Thanksgiving, a black limousine carrying WJBR radio
personalities Pat Boone and Christy DeMaio, a University
alumna, arrived to take Kavanagh and her mother out for a
day of shopping that neither will soon forget.
 They left early in the day and finished at 10 that
evening, Kavanagh said. Her shopping sites included the
Christiana Mall, Bag and Baggage, Camera Etc. and Gross
Lighting in Wilmington, Furniture Solutions and Jodlbauer's
Furniture on Route 40, Silverworks, the Great Atlantic Shirt
Company in Newark, Sun Lighting on the Kirkwood Highway and
Carl Doubet Jr. Jewelers in Greenville.
 "I brought Mom along to help me pick out the furniture and
other things, because Mom knows best," Kavanagh said. "It
was one of the most enjoyable days of my life."  
                                               -Jerry Rhodes