Speed-date in under 2 minutes

Just when you thought dating couldn’t get any speedier than 8 minutes, here comes 1 minute, 47 second dating.

Actually, it’s 107.3-second dating, and it’s being sponsored by WBZN (107.3 FM, otherwise known as Z107.3), which is based in Brewer.

The event, which cost $15, took place July 27 at the Waterfront Bar & Grill. Dan Cashman, the program manager at WBZN, said there were about 15 people there with an almost even mix of men and women.

“It’s so tough to meet people these days and I’m not the kind of person to dance with every single person I meet in a dance club,” said Cashman, who is not single. “There’s a lot of people out there like that. I know 99 percent of my friends are like that.”

Having been through the 8-Minute Dating thing myself, I can tell you that even eight minutes of conversation with one person can seem a bit too long if you don’t click with the person across from you.

But is 107.3 seconds long enough to get to know someone?

Cashman, who observed the event, said the time constraints meant couples jumped into conversation. When you have just under two minutes to talk, you find out real quick if you’ve made a connection or not.

“I think it made people get into it faster,” he said. “They knew they had a time limit so they started to talk about their interests right away.”

The idea for the 107.3-second dating came from 8-Minute Dating, which started up in the Bangor area last winter. It also comes on the heels of a Bachelorette-style contest at WWBX (97.1 FM) last spring in which program director Cindy Michaels picked a man to date out of 65 applicants in the “Bangor’s Bachelorette” contest.

WBZN knew about 8-Minute Dating as they were talking about their own dating event, but they tried to tailor it to their listeners. Hence the 107.3 seconds.

The station was also able to gear the dating event to a specific age group of people old enough to be out of high school and college (the minimum age was 21) but still be interested in pop music, which is what WBZN airs.

“If something like our radio station can target a specific age group of people, which is what we did, to try to get into a room and meet each other and have fun, simply just talk to each other for a while, it’s a pretty good thing,” Cashman said.

Some participants signed up online, others walked into the Waterfront on their own. Once participants were home, they e-mailed the station with the names of the people they clicked with.

Cashman matched up all the names and called the participants with the good news.

“They were just so excited to hear from me, because they know who they put down on their sheet and if they actually got a match they were pretty excited about it,” he said.

He also cautioned the matched-up singles: Once you follow up with the other person, you’re on your own, so use contact information at your own risk.

The station gave away tickets to Kid Rock and Clay Aiken concerts. Each contestant received a goodie bag with coupons from Malibu Tans, a WBZN T-shirt and other prizes.

Cashman said the event’s success has the station talking about planning another soon. Listen for announcements on the station or visit www.wbzn-fm.com.

Free-dom to date

With the presidential election just months away, some of us may have politics on the brain.

If you’re looking for, say, some company to see “Fahrenheit 9/11” here’s an idea: www.democraticsingles.net.

Democratic Singles Network calls itself “a community of Democrats, Greens, and Progressives who have decided they want to meet those with similar world views.”

And here’s a bonus that would make even a dyed-in-the-wool conservative change parties: democraticsingles.net is free.

That’s right – unlike almost every other dating Web site out there, you can create a custom profile, chat and send messages to like-minded singles at no cost to you. There’s also a page of links to activist groups with a Democratic leaning.

A quick, broad search of the site came up with about 200 profiles of men seeking women (but just 27 profiles of women seeking men and even fewer profiles seeking same-sex relationships) within a 200-mile radius of Bangor.

Don’t confuse this Web site with other political-minded sites such as republicansingles.com or democraticsingles.com. Those sites aren’t free, although they will direct you to instructions on how to register to vote – which may be an even more important civic duty than finding a date.

Jessica Bloch can be reached at 990-8193 and jbloch@bangordailynews.net.