Stern Pranks Audience With Wholesome Show

Bombardier · April 4, 2004

Howard Stern (search) fooled legions of listeners Thursday -- and at least two TV stations -- into thinking he'd finally been fired.

The carefully constructed prank had the air of reality.

"Due to recent actions by the U.S. government and the FCC (search), the Howard Stern show is no longer on our air," said K-Rock's actual general manager, Tom Chiusano, in a recorded announcement that was played several times for 80 minutes while DJs played records.

"Neither Infinity Broadcasting (search) nor the parent company [Viacom] is willing to continue to put our licenses and our stockholders' trust in jeopardy," a serious-sounding Chiusano said.

Meantime, a DJ team of "Cross & Lopez" played Beyonce and Christina Aguilera records, promised they'd "talk about a Scottish terrier who can surf" and "wake up your boss for you," and played a jingle touting "fun without the filth."

Sounding like a Geico "bad news/good news" commercial, the bogus duo -- actually K-Rock's program director Rob Cross and DJ Danni -- welcomed shocked listeners at 6 a.m. by saying, "The bad news -- Howard's out. The good news is there's a Plan B, and we're Plan B."

Forgetting that it was April Fools' Day -- and one of radio's classic hoaxes -- the prank was laudible given high-pitched criticism of shock jocks since Janet Jackson famously flashed a breast at the Super Bowl, new FCC fines for Stern and the fact that a "Responsible Programming Summit" was held by broadcasters the day before.

The elaborate charade continued until 7:20, when Stern's theme music suddenly blared and he spilled the beans.

"It's time to take back the airwaves from Cross & Lopez and end our bizarre April Fools' joke," Stern confessed.

"Many of you actually fell for that, but I wouldn't doubt that Cross & Lopez could actually be our replacement."

With that, Stern took call after call from listeners who'd fallen for the gag and fretted that it might have been a dress rehearsal for genuine, impending doom.

"I'm not crying wolf," he said. "I'm telling you we're going off the air. I really do think the show will be off the air."

http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,115948,00.html