ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times
DATE: Wednesday, August 14, 1996 TAG: 9608140060
SECTION: NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL PAGE: A1 EDITION: METRO
DATELINE: ALBANY, N. Y.
SOURCE: ASSOCIATED PRESS
note: below
CALLERS TRIED to guess which woman in the paper the DJs had deemed to be less than beautiful.
A woman who was selected in WPYX's ``Ugliest Bride Contest'' is suing the radio station for $300,000.
As part of the contest, two radio hosts look through the newspaper wedding announcements and select the bride they deem the ugliest. Callers win by guessing which photograph was chosen.
In a lawsuit filed last month, Annette Esposito-Hilder of Schenectady accused WPYX of intentionally inflicting emotional distress.
In Esposito-Hilder's case, the hosts departed from their practice of using just first names and aired the woman's full name and where she worked, said her attorney, Norah M. Murphy.
``This was not negligible,'' Murphy said. ``In terms of damages, what's it worth when somebody can't look at their wedding pictures without crying? How can you measure that?''
Esposito-Hilder never contacted the station but later received a written apology saying that the contest had been canceled, Murphy said.
``What we do is all in good fun,'' said station manager Bob Ausfeld.
LENGTH: Short : 35 linesby CNB