Perhaps you haven’t noticed the same trend that I have, but it seems a lot of radio stations are switching to text messaging instead of calling. Instead of saying “Be caller number 9 to win…”, it is now “Text us and be the 94th texter to win.” They are also offering different services like “We’ll send you a text message with half-time updates for [your local football team]” or “Sign up for our text messaging and we’ll send you alerts whenever we’re about to give away concert tickets on the air.”
One of the big reasons that radio stations and many others are switching to text messaging is that this provides them with a constant means of contact with listeners/subscribers. That translates into being able to advertise more and have a count of how many people they’re reaching. If you’ve text messaged a radio station to win concert tickets, you might end up receiving text messages with random advertisements from the radio station as a result. Here’s how you can hopefully unsubscribe:
The radio station that was texting me was using a system provided by MSnap.com. Just like Google is an ad company, not a search engine company, MSnap is a mobile ad company and not a text messaging company.
If you find the need to unsubscribe from these messages, you can text the word ‘HELP’ to the same number you originally used and it should provide options to you. The system is much like interacting with a server from a dumb terminal, you send a message and wait for a reply with further instructions. These messages will cost the standard text messaging rate or count against your quota.
As the Help reply informs you, you can send the word ‘STOP’ to unsubscribe. You should receive a confirmation that you have been unsubscribed thus stopping the ads that were being sent your way.
Different services may use different commands, but sending a text message with the word HELP to the original number you messaged should put you on your way to unsubscribing.
If you want to subscribe to a variety of other services or just browse to see what’s available, you might check out My Text Alerts, also from MSnap.
If you don’t have text messaging on your phone, but find the need to use it every once in a while, you can find Free SMS messages through a GMail account. Google Voice also allows free text messaging and frequently if you visit a network’s site you’ll be able to send a free text message to a customer of that network by just punching in the number.