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Does anybody remember this radio incident from the 2000's?

juansplatedup

juansplatedup

Anybody here remembers KDND's Hold Your Wee For a Wii's contest that was pretty much just horrible?
Well, my friend has found the audio for it, it was lost media for a while and here it is. TW if you're sensitive to this stuff.
KDND Audio For HYWFAW
 
Yes I remember this and it lead to one of their listeners death. A decade after that incident the 2017 Entercom Sacramento management had to either divest 107.9 FM or in this case return the 107.9 FM Sacramento license back to the FCC. This was when Entercom was in the process of buying CBS Radio and it was one of several radio markets that had to divest stations in able for that deal to be approved.
 
Theater of My Mind said:
It also cost the station $16.5M in a wrongful death lawsuit, and ultimately its license which Entercom (now bankrupt Audacy) ended up surrendering in order to satisfy the FCC and expedite approval for its acquisition of CBS Radio.
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They did deserve it, the jocks knew it was gonna happen and so just making listeners do that for tickets is crazy.
 
To answer your question if anyone remembers it, this made national news headlines at the time and the scrutiny on Entercom was intense (as another poster mentioned, Entercom voluntarily gave up KDND's license to avoid issues with the CBS Radio merger). People who heard about it then may have forgotten about it now as it was over a decade ago, but amongst the radio industry, it was a grave example of what not to do when running a contest. I am sure most people here know very well about this incident.
 
NoWayNoCC said:
I remember hearing about this incident. Entercom should have never been allowed to buy CBS after that.
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The FCC was tightening the screws on Entercom over the incident at the time. Surrendering the license was like a plea deal. They didn't want to have to go through a long, drawn-out defense of that indefensible incident when at the same time they needed the agency's quick blessing to get even bigger with the CBS acquisition.

Honestly, the FCC would have done a big favor to Entercom if it had blocked that ill-advised acquisition for any reason. Just a string of terrible judgment every step of the way when you look at the sequence of events and where Audacy is now.
 
Theater of My Mind said:
Honestly, the FCC would have done a big favor to Entercom if it had blocked that ill-advised acquisition for any reason. Just a string of terrible judgment every step of the way when you look at the sequence of events and where Audacy is now.
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Then that looks vindictive toward the parent company. Everyone at the offending station got fired, and one could argue given injury and loss of life, some should have been prosecuted for that, but it didn't happen. Entercom gave up the license. Not sure what else could have been done.
What you propose would be like an auto manufacturer being shut down by the government because of defective air bags.
 
We had a thread all on Ed Stolz lawsuits with the Sacramento division of Entercom now Audacy between the time Entercom divested it's stations that included 107.9 FM to Entercom renaming itself to Audacy sometime after the deal to get the former CBS Radio division.
 
Theater of My Mind said:
It also cost the station $16.5M in a wrongful death lawsuit, and ultimately its license which Entercom (now bankrupt Audacy) ended up surrendering in order to satisfy the FCC and expedite approval for its acquisition of CBS Radio.
Click to expand...
If the participants signed a release and agreed to do the contest why would the station be subject to be sued or have any liability?
 
radiofan2023 said:
Read this and you’ll have your answer:
www.reifflawfirm.com

Strange But True: Wrongful Death Cases from Water Overdose

In this blog, our personal injury attorneys examine the case of Jennifer Strange and wrongful death from water overdose.
www.reifflawfirm.com www.reifflawfirm.com
Click to expand...
Ok that's great but the point im trying to make is that if this lady knew the risk before she agreed to the whole thing and made the decision on her own to participate and agreed to it then why should the radio station be liable.... Just because a judge is swayed by emotion apparently doesn't mean it is the right decision.
 
Syfy said:
If the participants signed a release and agreed to do the contest why would the station be subject to be sued or have any liability?
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Because there's a big difference between defaming, inconveniencing, or even costing someone money, verses causing bodily harm.
 
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