Home | Search | FAQ
Displaying 1-3 of 3 messages in this thread. |
| Posted By | Discussion Topic: Article - Wacky Morning Zoo Radio | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Mayor of Sloatsburg | posted on 04-26-2002 @ 9:26 AM |    | |||
| Psychopath Registered: Oct. 00  | Article from today's edition of The Record about awful morning zoo radio. I don't know who that Corky-looking, Opie-in-Boston-sounding bag of douche Greg T. demeans more - fraternities or radio. Eat an AIDS pie . . . As radio DJs push limits, police often left fuming Friday, April 26, 2002 By NICOLE GAUDIANO Staff Writer To Z-100's "Greg T. Frat Boy," sitting in a park in women's underwear, trespassing on Martha Stewart's property, and fishing for a snapping turtle in Glen Rock are all part of the schtick. It was also supposed to be a big joke when Diego Ramos of WIOZ-FM in Philadelphia tried to pay for his breakfast with an IOU during a live broadcast and then argued with police when they responded to a theft report. The DJs call these harmless pranks. But are they? If you ask some police officers, the joke is over when they're summoned for help. "It wastes a lot of time," said Bergen County Police Officer Cindy Rinehart, who was among those who ticketed "Frat Boy" for his turtle-fishing misadventure in Dunkerhook Park last week. "In light of what's going on today, to take resources for the purpose of a prank shows thoughtlessness on their part." A group of fourth-graders at Ridgewood's Willard School agreed. The pupils, who blew the whistle on the fishing trip, said a joke isn't funny "when it's dangerous and when it hurts somebody." Others, such as Z-Morning Zoo listener Peggy Quinlan of Glen Rock, find humor in such escapades. "If you listen to the radio station, you know everything he does is silly and goofy," she said. "It certainly wasn't worthy of a ticket." Morning show teams have been pushing the envelope since the early 1980s, beginning with man-on-the street interviews and morphing into one-named, screaming-stuntmen types who run down the block naked, said Ron Rodrigues, editor in chief of the Radio & Records weekly newspaper. Rodrigues recalled a disc jockey known as "Mancow" who stopped traffic on the San Francisco Bay Bridge about a dozen years ago so his stuntman could get a haircut at the toll plaza. The DJ paid a fine and did community service but is still in the business, broadcasting in Chicago, he said. More recently, San Francisco DJ Joseph Lopez of KYLD-FM roamed a neighborhood in a prison jumpsuit wearing handcuffs and asking residents to cut them off. The result: He got a genuine prison-issued uniform and a sentence of 45 days in the San Mateo County Jail. For the most part, Rodrigues said, the stuntmen stay on the right side of the law in their over-the-top bids for attention - and, they hope, more listeners. But there are always a few who end up going too far. "I think some of them know where the line is and they intentionally go over it," Rodrigues said. "It's like the guy in Philadelphia. What does somebody expect when you refuse to pay for your meal?" Philadelphia police seized tapes of Ramos' IOU broadcast last week, hoping to obtain an arrest warrant. They are investigating whether the on-air stuntman acted criminally by triggering a false emergency call and secretly recording the police officer's voice, said Philadelphia Police Lt. Jim Kerrigan. The prank made the restaurant manager nervous - and with good reason, Kerrigan said. The eatery had been held up two weeks before the April 5 incident and the manager thought he might be getting robbed again, he said. "If police have to respond to a joke, it's not a joke," Kerrigan said. "It's serious." It wasn't until police arrived with guns drawn in Millbrae, just outside San Francisco, that the orange jumpsuit-clad Lopez and his intern admitted they were engaged in an on-air stunt. "This is not about a sense of humor," Deputy District Attorney Jennifer Ow told The Associated Press. "This is about a completely dangerous situation, and we're just lucky no one was hurt." In Bergen County, Lodi police reacted differently when "Frat Boy" Greg Tyndorf pulled the same prison-break stunt at a Home Depot in 2000, bringing authorities from several agencies. Although police said they wished they were warned, Lodi police Detective Lt. Vince Quatrone called it a "borderline case" involving poor discretion by the station. The store manager declined to press charges and police let it go. "He apologized," Quatrone said of Tyndorf. "The show's producer apologized. They didn't realize the response that was generated from an alleged joke." Indeed, thoughtful planning isn't exactly the driving force behind such pranks. Tom Taylor, editor of the radio industry newsletter M Street Daily, said the ideas for many morning shows just "sort of bubble up" and producers run with them. "That's part of the fascination with these things," Taylor said. "It doesn't sound planned and you don't know where it's going to go." Last week, a quick stunt triggered a police response in Rockville, Md., after DJs at WWDC stumbled across the keys to a co-worker's BMW on a kitchen counter. Morning show host Elliot Segal said he didn't expect the owner to "freak out" and call police when one of the jocks took the Beamer for a quick on-air spin. Despite the minor brush with the law, the incident made for "hysterical" radio, he said. "If police get involved, they get involved," Segal said. "It's not like we sit down and say, 'What can we do to get police mad at us?'" As far as Tyndorf is concerned, it doesn't hurt when they do. "I don't think anybody is specifically setting out to get in trouble," he said. But, he said, "You need to have action. Sometimes when you do get in trouble by the authorities, it's that much better." Among his more infamous offenses, Tyndorf snuck past a maid into Martha Stewart's kitchen in 1997, an excursion that got him fined for trespassing. Another time he tested the no-shirt, no-shoes policy of a McDonald's restaurant in Staten Island by dropping his pants. And there was a disorderly conduct charge for running on the Long Island Expressway in his underwear two years ago. "It tied up the LIE for a good hour," said Lake Success police Sgt. Donald Jurgens. "He tied up three or four officers. A lot of the listeners were calling in -it tied up our phone lines. I don't know if we missed any emergency calls as a result of that, but we very well could have. "They think of it as a prank, but it could have far-reaching effects." Even a frat boy has his limits, though. Admitting to an uneasiness about the police attention, Tyndorf pledged to tone down his act with warm and fuzzy bits - handing out roses, feeding the homeless, jumping over garbage cans - at least for a few months, anyway. "We don't want to get in trouble," he said. However, no sooner had he said that than Tyndorf on Thursday again was flirting with trouble. This time, the radio stuntman drove from Jersey City to Allendale wearing a see-through blindfold, in a bid to fool other motorists. Although he wouldn't get a ticket for the prank, it could force an officer to pull him over -again, taking police resources away from genuine duties, said Bergen County police Capt. Kevin Hartnett. He conceded, however, that the stunt could be a step forward. "As long as he's not a danger to others or himself -or animal life," Hartnett said, "then he's on the right track." "I'm not a moron; I'm a comedian. There's a difference." -- Dice, 04/24/2002 | ||||
| IkeaBoy P.L.F. Portugese Liberation Front- Liberating Status' everywhere from the Tyranny of Portugal I will die a traitor's death | posted on 04-26-2002 @ 12:40 PM | | |||
| O&A Board Veteran Registered: Sep. 00 | quote:How is this entertaining to anyone? ooo he's wearing a bra and panties and sitting in a park, that's not edgy, that's not shocking and that's not good radio. Go to Washington Square Park on any given day and you'd see things that push the envelope far more. quote:This is only worthwhile if he uses his cock as bait. quote:God! What lame-os these faggots are. UGH! quote:You know as bad as the rest of the shit is "warm and fuzzy" radio has to be one thousand times worse. If he had any balls he would have never said 'we don't want to get in trouble,' Jesus Christ, I mean youre bits ar elame, yo'ure lame and you hav to act like a scared pussy. Z100 sucks and any radio station with a 'zoo' sucks too.  "It appears my wee wee has been strucken with rigor mortis." | ||||
| Paper Boy I want my two dollars! | posted on 04-26-2002 @ 1:07 PM | | |||
| O&A Board Regular Registered: Jan. 01 | quote: That is what I call a funny bit. | ||||
Displaying 1-3 of 3 messages in this thread. |