Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: SATURDAY, April 2, 1994 TAG: 9404020122
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: C-3 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: DWAYNE YANCEY STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
K92 gave away a new car to a radio listener Friday morning. Of course, the vehicle in question was a small car. Very small. A "Hot Wheels" toy, to be precise.
Meanwhile, WFIR - you know, "Roanoke's news station" - broke the big news about the next football coach at Virginia Military Institute: former Dallas Cowboys coach Jimmy Johnson.
And then there was WROV-FM, whose newscast Friday led with a scoop of its own, the announcement that the Roanoke Times & World-News intended to drop its comics page because the comics are getting just too darn controversial.
The Roanoke rock 'n' roll radio station even quoted a newspaper "spokesman" confirming the change, saying the newspaper had grown tired of policing the offending funnies - from politics in "Doonesbury" to references to the male anatomy in the dearly-departed "Outland."
Just another April Fools' Day in radioland.
"That's what we do in AOR [album-oriented rock]," explained WROV Program Director Ellen Flaherty. "Everybody does the old format change, `Hey, we're changing to country.' We were looking for something different."
And something that wouldn't make people mad when they finally figured out it wasn't true, she said.
So that ruled out "announcing" that British supergroup Pink Floyd would be making a Roanoke stop this summer on the band's first tour in seven years.
"This wasn't something that wouldn't hurt anybody," Flaherty said.
Hurt? No.
Sucker in? Sure did.
The radio station's April Fools' prank turned into a daylong hassle for the newspaper's customer service department, which fielded calls from angry readers threatening to cancel subscriptions if the radio report was true.
"Normally, we get 350 calls on a Friday. It was probably double that today," said customer service manager Melinda Payne. "It's been a zoo down here."
At least one of the newspaper's executives didn't share the radio station's sense of humor, calling WROV to demand an on-air retraction.
Fortunately, executive editor Forrest Landon, who has weathered reader outcries in the past over his decisions to yank "Outland," "Gasoline Alley," "Mary Worth," "Dick Tracy" and "Snuffy Smith," got a rare laugh out of this commotion.
"But we have thought," he said, "about abolishing the front page."
by CNB