The Polite
Medium Art ©1996 Burton W. Schlatter and Ben Jackson In honor of the Super Bowl last January, a Los Angeles radio station ran a Super Bowl Crazy Stunt contest. One of the finalists was Mike Garcia, 25, whose practiced stunt consisted of swallowing his glass eye, regurgitating it and then reinserting it. But once swallowed, the pressure of the limelight kept the eyeball down, despite a huge meal and 15 minutes of self-induced vomiting, much of which was broadcast live. Rather than winning a new Ford Escort, Garcia left the stations studios with an empty left eye socket, soiled clothing and the prospect of spending $1,500 for a new eye. In Wanganui, New Zealand, a 21 year-old man armed with a bomb took a radio station manager hostage and demanded that the station play The Rainbow Connection by The Muppets repeatedly for twelve hours to tell people how he felt. The station complied, and nobody was hurt. Back in 1973, the California Highway Patrol announced that the number of people flinging themselves off the Golden Gate bridge was approaching 500. A rash of attempted suicides followed, including one jumper who was wearing a shirt reading 500. In 1995, as the magic number approached 1000, a Bay Area radio station went one step further, offering prizes to the 1000th jumper. Of course, there was a catch. The winner would have to pick up his goods at the station in person. In Argentina, one of the countrys most
popular radio programs is Radio La Colifita, or Loony
Radio, which originates from the Borda
Psychiatric Hospital in Buenos Aires. The program
broadcasts live interviews, commentary and songs from the
courtyard of the hospital, and features patients like
Garces, the Emperor of Paranoia and Pujo, the
Correspondent from Mars. In May, Radio La Colifita
garnered one of Argentinaa top broadcasting awards
in recognition of the shows social contribution and
popularity.
When Perdue Chickens ran TV ads in Latin America, the tag line It takes a tough man to make a tender chicken was overdubbed in Spanish as It takes a sexually stimulated man to make a chicken affectionate. Coors beer slogan Turn it Loose translated
into Spanish as Suffer From Diarrhea. |
WFMU Homepage | LCD Contents page | Hear Our Signal |
© 1997 WFMU.
All rights reserved. Reproduction in whole or in part in any form or medium without express written permission of WFMU is prohibited. |