Dad Trades Baby's Name for $100 Gas Card

July 11, 2008 — -- When three Florida radio hosts set out to learn what their listeners would be willing to do in exchange for a $100 gas card, they never dreamed they'd get anyone as eager as father-to-be David Partin.

Partin, who called into the Orlando, Fla.-based Dixon & Willoughby morning show early Monday morning, will enjoy the spoils of a couple tanks of free gas in exchange for welcoming son Dixon Willoughby Partin into the world this December.

He won the radio gas card contest by offering the hosts the chance to name his first-born child. The co-hosts generously agreed to drop the "&" from the name.

"If nothing else, he's going to have a damn good story behind his name and it will give him something to talk about," Partin, 26, said of his future son, due Dec. 28.

And while many expecting parents debate baby names for months, Partin and his girlfriend, 20-year-old Samantha Bailey, told ABCNews.com that the radio contest actually helped narrow down an already contentious issue.

"We are OK with it because we didn't want a common name, we wanted something different," said Partin. "We both had a name in mind, but we could never agree on one so this is going to help us out a lot."

Bailey only put her foot down when the disc jockeys asked that the show's executive producer's name, Alan Spector, be the child's middle name. The final outcome, had Bailey agreed, would have been Dixon & Willoughby With Alan Spector.

"She didn't like that," said Partin.

'The First Thing I Could Think Of'

Even with that compromise, the radio hosts said Partin's offer was the runaway winner.

"We heard from Partin immediately, and he knocked the other offers out of the park," said J. Willoughby, one of the WHTQ co-hosts.

Partin said that his unusual offer was the first thing that came to mind when the hosts asked him what he would trade for the card.

The hosts answered the phone so quickly that offering to let them name his unborn child "was the first thing I could think of," Partin, 26, told ABCNews.com.

There was no argument from Willoughby and his other two wingmen, co-host Richard Dixon and executive producer Spector.

"The rest of the offers weren't going to beat Partin's," said Willoughby.

With gas prices in Florida averaging $4.06 a gallon, callers were eager to do whatever they could for the free gas card.

One female caller offered to clean the hosts' houses in a skimpy outfit, and another offered landscaping advice. Another offered an extensive collection of stuffed animals.

Both Willoughby and Spector agree that this is one of the craziest things that has ever happened during their show and said that the idea came to them after hearing news reports of the other crazy things people were willing to do for gas.

"There was a story out of Kentucky that a girl sold her body basically for a $100 gas card and got busted for it, so we started wondering what people would do around here," said Willoughby.

Partin estimates that he and Bailey spend as much as $80 a week on gas, and that the extra money could really make a difference to his growing family's budget.

A Better Offer to Come?

But since news broke today of Partin's offer in the Orlando Sentinel, others have come forward and offered Partin even more money for the right to name his baby.

"I had some friends and people out there asking what I'd say if they offered us more money for the name," said Partin. "Hey, it can only help with buying diapers and cribs."

But Willoughby and Spector insist that Partin has to stick with his original offer.

"We're ticked at those people" who are offering Partin more money, said Willoughby. "Partin said it himself -- 'a deal is a deal' -- on the air."

The radio hosts, who joked that they plan to be in the delivery room when Dixon Willoughby is born, said that the gas card won't be handed over until the name is official.

"[Partin will get the card] when he shows us the birth certificate," said Willoughby.