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Sad Ending To Contest

M

Musicradio

Guest
It's in the Longview paper:
----------------------------


A contestant in the internationally popular Hands on a Hardbody contest at Patterson Nissan in Longview killed himself Thursday morning after leaving the contest on its third day.


http://www.news-journal.com/news/content/news/stories/2005/09/15/20050915LNJhohbdeath.html

"It was the most surreal thing I've ever seen in my life," said Dru Laborde, a program director for KYKX radio and a media participant in the contest. "He was fine," Laborde said, adding that Vega had said he was in the contest for the long haul.
 
> It's in the Longview paper:
> ----------------------------
>
>
> A contestant in the internationally popular Hands on a
> Hardbody contest at Patterson Nissan in Longview killed
> himself Thursday morning after leaving the contest on its
> third day.
>
>
http://www.news-journal.com/ne> ws/content/news/stories/2005/09/15/20050915LNJhohbdeath.html
>
>
> "It was the most surreal thing I've ever seen in my life,"
> said Dru Laborde, a program director for KYKX radio and a
> media participant in the contest. "He was fine," Laborde
> said, adding that Vega had said he was in the contest for
> the long haul.
>

That IS surreal, but at the same time very tragic. I never imagined that one contestant would walk away and end his life after that. That's a new one on that item. I know that rarely it has done before at other contests or other obligations. But this one takes the cake.

Dru....what can I say. That man will do and say anything to have his name in the paper. That's even more tragic than I imagine. <P ID="signature">______________
Note to MRS Ventures: Have you checked your transmitter lately? It's leaking dead air!</P>
 
> > It's in the Longview paper:
> > ----------------------------
> >
> >
> > A contestant in the internationally popular Hands on a
> > Hardbody contest at Patterson Nissan in Longview killed
> > himself Thursday morning after leaving the contest on its
> > third day.
> >
> >
> http://www.news-journal.com/ne>
> ws/content/news/stories/2005/09/15/20050915LNJhohbdeath.html
>
> >
> >
> > "It was the most surreal thing I've ever seen in my life,"
>
> > said Dru Laborde, a program director for KYKX radio and a
> > media participant in the contest. "He was fine," Laborde
> > said, adding that Vega had said he was in the contest for
> > the long haul.
> >
>
> That IS surreal, but at the same time very tragic. I never
> imagined that one contestant would walk away and end his
> life after that. That's a new one on that item. I know that
> rarely it has done before at other contests or other
> obligations. But this one takes the cake.
>
> Dru....what can I say. That man will do and say anything to
> have his name in the paper. That's even more tragic than I
> imagine.
>
DUDE!!! That is a very shallow thing to say, everyone has an opinion and your entitled to yours of Mr. Laborde but lay off on this one. He stood next to the guy for 20 hours during the event. I know there are a few people who vent about KYKX here and will be very shitty about this. In advance, (BLEEP) OFF....a man died yesterday, this isnt the time to trash talk.
 
> >
> DUDE!!! That is a very shallow thing to say, everyone has an
> opinion and your entitled to yours of Mr. Laborde but lay
> off on this one. He stood next to the guy for 20 hours
> during the event. I know there are a few people who vent
> about KYKX here and will be very shitty about this. In
> advance, (BLEEP) OFF....a man died yesterday, this isnt the
> time to trash talk.
Nor is it the time to seek publicity in the vein of "bad publicity is better than no publicity at all" .
 
> > >
> > DUDE!!! That is a very shallow thing to say, everyone has
> an
> > opinion and your entitled to yours of Mr. Laborde but lay
> > off on this one. He stood next to the guy for 20 hours
> > during the event. I know there are a few people who vent
> > about KYKX here and will be very shitty about this. In
> > advance, (BLEEP) OFF....a man died yesterday, this isnt
> the
> > time to trash talk.
> Nor is it the time to seek publicity in the vein of "bad
> publicity is better than no publicity at all" .
>

The Hands on a Hardbody contest has become a mania with some people. No one of course knows for sure if the man's tragic death had anything directly to do with him leaving the contest, but there are people who enter the event with a total life focus on winning. The contest is a good one but it does cause people, voluntarily, to go without sleep for upwards of 96 hours. Contestants in the past have exhibited classic sleep deprivation symptoms--hallucinations and incoherency among them. That a life is lost during this event is indeed tragic. It goes without saying that it would be wholly inappropriate for Dru Laborde, or anyone else for that matter, to capitalixe on his/her presence there for his/her own benefit. Laborde's other, radio-related shortcomings notwithstanding, hopefully we can attribute to him the common decency to back away from this one, leave himself out of the loop, and treat the incident as the lamentable event that it is. Numerous quotes in the newspaper account of the incident were attributed to Dru, and one wonders if the TV coverage this evening will "feature" him as well. Quite possibly it would have been wise for him to decline comment to all media and let it go at that. It didn't happen in the initial newspaper coverage, and whether he gets face time on TV off the tragedy will be known shortly.
 
Channel 7 did feature both Danny and Dru from the KYKX morning show during the 5, 6, & 10 o'clock news on Thursday (the day the incident happened). The KYKX motor home was very well placed in the background during several of their interviews with witnesses.

I don't know about the coverage 56 or 19 had.

Numerous quotes in the
> newspaper account of the incident were attributed to Dru,
> and one wonders if the TV coverage this evening will
> "feature" him as well. Quite possibly it would have been
> wise for him to decline comment to all media and let it go
> at that. It didn't happen in the initial newspaper
> coverage, and whether he gets face time on TV off the
> tragedy will be known shortly.
>
 
> Channel 7 did feature both Danny and Dru from the KYKX
> morning show during the 5, 6, & 10 o'clock news on Thursday
> (the day the incident happened). The KYKX motor home was
> very well placed in the background during several of their
> interviews with witnesses.

Hope D & D and KYKX enjoyed their 15 minutes in the spotlight. Fame is fleeting.
>
> I don't know about the coverage 56 or 19 had.
>
> Numerous quotes in the
> > newspaper account of the incident were attributed to Dru,
> > and one wonders if the TV coverage this evening will
> > "feature" him as well. Quite possibly it would have been
> > wise for him to decline comment to all media and let it go
>
> > at that. It didn't happen in the initial newspaper
> > coverage, and whether he gets face time on TV off the
> > tragedy will be known shortly.
> >
>
 
> > > It's in the Longview paper:
> > > ----------------------------
> > >
> > >
> > > A contestant in the internationally popular Hands on a
> > > Hardbody contest at Patterson Nissan in Longview killed
> > > himself Thursday morning after leaving the contest on
> its
> > > third day.
> > >
> > >
> > http://www.news-journal.com/ne>
> >
> ws/content/news/stories/2005/09/15/20050915LNJhohbdeath.html
>
> >
> > >
> > >
> > > "It was the most surreal thing I've ever seen in my
> life,"
> >
> > > said Dru Laborde, a program director for KYKX radio and
> a
> > > media participant in the contest. "He was fine," Laborde
>
> > > said, adding that Vega had said he was in the contest
> for
> > > the long haul.
> > >
> >
> > That IS surreal, but at the same time very tragic. I never
>
> > imagined that one contestant would walk away and end his
> > life after that. That's a new one on that item. I know
> that
> > rarely it has done before at other contests or other
> > obligations. But this one takes the cake.
> >
> > Dru....what can I say. That man will do and say anything
> to
> > have his name in the paper. That's even more tragic than I
>
> > imagine.
> >
> DUDE!!! That is a very shallow thing to say, everyone has an
> opinion and your entitled to yours of Mr. Laborde but lay
> off on this one. He stood next to the guy for 20 hours
> during the event. I know there are a few people who vent
> about KYKX here and will be very shitty about this. In
> advance, (BLEEP) OFF....a man died yesterday, this isnt the
> time to trash talk.
>

DUDE!! It's only an opinion. I understand of the tragic death of a contestant that actually happened and my condolences go out to his family of such unexpected loss. Sure he could've held on for the long haul. Maybe taking a drink of Gatorade or something then came back. But instead, decided to take his own life. For what? I don't know. And me, being an East Texas native, I have always try my best to keep up on what's happening there.

But in your case, you're absolutely right. Dru had no clue as to what caused this young man to take his own life. Granted, he would've declined comment of the situation. But insisted of putting in his "15 minutes." I did not write a post to trash him, per se. I'm putting my two cents in and you do not have to agree with what I say among other things, although I wasn't there. True that he was with the contestant for 20 hours during the contest. But after that, we don't know. It just happened. End of story!

If I had offended you of such derrogativeness, I repent of such comment. If you are doing this to defend KYKX, stop for a moment and think. It's true that we make mistakes and we learn from them. I tell you the truth of these things and not to hurt or to offend anyone. And again, if I went too far on the post, you have my sincere apologies.

Are we cool on that?<P ID="signature">______________
Note to MRS Ventures: Have you checked your transmitter lately? It's leaking dead air!</P>
 
> Channel 7 did feature both Danny and Dru from the KYKX
> morning show during the 5, 6, & 10 o'clock news on Thursday
> (the day the incident happened). The KYKX motor home was
> very well placed in the background during several of their
> interviews with witnesses.
>
> I don't know about the coverage 56 or 19 had.
>
> Numerous quotes in the
> > newspaper account of the incident were attributed to Dru,
> > and one wonders if the TV coverage this evening will
> > "feature" him as well. Quite possibly it would have been
> > wise for him to decline comment to all media and let it go
>
> > at that. It didn't happen in the initial newspaper
> > coverage, and whether he gets face time on TV off the
> > tragedy will be known shortly.
> >
>

Is Access 1 insane?! A man kills himself in the middle of a station promotion and the P.D. is doing interviews? The minute it happened, corporate suits should have been on the road to Longview to put together a gameplan on how to handle the press...not just for publicity's sake, but for litigation's sake as well.

I just hope for Access 1's sake, Dru didn't say anything that will come back to haunt them in the inevitable lawsuit.
 
"Christmas" could not come soon enough. This really defines Dru Laborde, no class, no sensitivity,no common sense. The interviews should have been declined,the promotional vehicle not shown,but as I said before they feel " bad publicity is better than none at all". Access 1,now is the time to clean the house out and give the station back it's respect.
 
> > Channel 7 did feature both Danny and Dru from the KYKX
> > morning show during the 5, 6, & 10 o'clock news on
> Thursday
> > (the day the incident happened). The KYKX motor home was
> > very well placed in the background during several of their
>
> > interviews with witnesses.
> >
> > I don't know about the coverage 56 or 19 had.
> >
> > Numerous quotes in the
> > > newspaper account of the incident were attributed to
> Dru,
> > > and one wonders if the TV coverage this evening will
> > > "feature" him as well. Quite possibly it would have
> been
> > > wise for him to decline comment to all media and let it
> go
> >
> > > at that. It didn't happen in the initial newspaper
> > > coverage, and whether he gets face time on TV off the
> > > tragedy will be known shortly.
> > >
> >
>
> Is Access 1 insane?! A man kills himself in the middle of a
> station promotion and the P.D. is doing interviews? The
> minute it happened, corporate suits should have been on the
> road to Longview to put together a gameplan on how to handle
> the press...not just for publicity's sake, but for
> litigation's sake as well.
>
> I just hope for Access 1's sake, Dru didn't say anything
> that will come back to haunt them in the inevitable lawsuit.
>
A correct observation. First Dru mines the situation for the publicity. Later comes the payback.
 
> "Christmas" could not come soon enough. This really defines
> Dru Laborde, no class, no sensitivity,no common sense. The
> interviews should have been declined,the promotional vehicle
> not shown,but as I said before they feel " bad publicity is
> better than none at all". Access 1,now is the time to clean
> the house out and give the station back it's respect.

A worthy goal, but much too late. Damage control on this one will be for naught. How about Christmas in September?
>
 
> > "Christmas" could not come soon enough. This really
> defines
> > Dru Laborde, no class, no sensitivity,no common sense. The
>
> > interviews should have been declined,the promotional
> vehicle
> > not shown,but as I said before they feel " bad publicity
> is
> > better than none at all". Access 1,now is the time to
> clean
> > the house out and give the station back it's respect.
>
> A worthy goal, but much too late. Damage control on this
> one will be for naught. How about Christmas in September?
> >
>

The truth hurts so much right now, it may just happen.<P ID="signature">______________
Note to MRS Ventures: Have you checked your transmitter lately? It's leaking dead air!</P>
 
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