Back in the day radio stations were notorious for pulling stunts like format changes and the like. Did anything happen this year?
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April Fools Pranks
- Thread starter CarAgencyGuy
- Start date
It doesn't seem like anyone changes anymore. The last station I knew of to change that I knew of was WRNW/Milwaukee, WI in 2013 when it changed from 97.3 Radio Now to 97.3 Radio Meow, hit music for cats. The only change I know of that has ever taken place in Seattle was when KISW went AC in 1991. There's been several actual format changes today around the country though.
K
kenglish
Guest
With all the ranting and raving about "Voltswagen", I'll be surprised if anyone ever does an April Fool's joke again.
Seem like they want to shut the company down and tar-and-feather the CEO.
Seem like they want to shut the company down and tar-and-feather the CEO.
Too risky, even something that seems like a harmless prank can blow up in today's cancel culture.
I listened to a few stations that did the ole' format change prank, especially back before the days of the web and social media when the world was a smaller place and people perhaps a bit more gullible. One in particular was the #2 station in the market, and they switched from rock to oldies and kept up the joke 1/2 the day. The morning show jocks claimed they were so upset about it that they barricaded themselves in the studio and refused to leave at the end of their shift. They put several live callers on the air complaining bitterly, while a few said they liked the change. Finally the GM "broke into the studio" at sometime after noon and announced that it's well proven that everyone loves the oldies....And that everyone also loves a good prank, at which time they all yelled "April Foools!!' It was a smaller market, so I guess it created decent buzz and attention for part of the day.
One of the more creative I heard was when the morning hosts from all the stations in one particular market, regardless of format, all got on the phone with each other, shared playlists and nearly every station played the same songs at the same time. This was long before the internet and satellite radio, and back when every station for the most part had live staff during every daypart. People in their cars who only had radio for entertainment were confused as they flipped from one station to the other, both AM and FM and kept hearing the same music everywhere.
One of the more creative I heard was when the morning hosts from all the stations in one particular market, regardless of format, all got on the phone with each other, shared playlists and nearly every station played the same songs at the same time. This was long before the internet and satellite radio, and back when every station for the most part had live staff during every daypart. People in their cars who only had radio for entertainment were confused as they flipped from one station to the other, both AM and FM and kept hearing the same music everywhere.
At KIOK in Tri Cities we did a couple back in the 90’s that worked well and gained local tv coverage. One time we did the format change thing (to country) but sadly that actually became reality just a couple years later. The best one was me and my female cohost pretending to get married on the air with a fake priest. That one was quite good and most of the audience believed it! Fun times that don’t seem to exist as much today.
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