Seriously, it's enough to make doves cry.
When last we checked in with Star 94.1, the radio station was standing by its story that the rock star Prince came on the air to promote an event that never happened.
That story is no longer operative. At least it seems that way. Last week, KNSD/NBC 7/39 managed to track down a publicist for Prince and asked the all-important question: Was that really him? Naw, said the publicist. It wasn't.
Sure sounded like him, though. The voice on the radio talked about religion, acting and an upcoming appearance at a gala fundraiser honoring.
But, as you may recall, the young man behind the supposed extravaganza seemed to have a secret or two. Eighteen-year-old Michael Kinsell wasn't the successor to children's TV superstar Fred Rogers, as his press materials claimed, nor did he have a bunch of celebrities on tap to appear at California Center for the Arts, Escondido.
In fact, the only celebrity he actually seems to have confirmed was the daughter of Shari "Lamb Chop" Lewis, the late puppeteer.
"We either simply got fooled by Michael and a great imposter or Prince doesn't want to be associated with this circus anymore," Star 94.1 producer "Little Tommy" Sablan told me.
Either way, Sablan was thrilled with the attention the Prince fuss brought to the "Jeff & Jer" morning show.
"We spoke to 'Prince' one week ago today and it still lives," he said on Friday. "It's amazing to me, but I love it! … We are speaking to Marilyn Monroe and John Wayne next week on Star 94.1."
Well, now we can finally put this apparent hoax to rest, just like so many other incidents of bamboozlement that have brightened the radio dial over the years.
Take, for example, the Space Shuttle hoax of 1993. Picture it: A spring morning. "Dave, Shelly & Chainsaw" is on the radio. And co-host Dave Rickards announces some shocking news: the Space Shuttle is going to make an emergency landing at Montgomery Field! OMG! This is, mind you, the little airport in the Kearny Mesa neighborhood of San Diego that services light aircraft.
As the story goes, thousands of people converged on Montgomery Field to watch the shuttle come down to Earth. But there was no shuttle to be seen; it apparently wasn't even in space at the time. People presumably realized there was a problem when they looked at the calendar: It was April 1.
Radio pranks aren't new, of course. The most famous hoax (depending on your definition of the word) was the Orson Welles "War of the Worlds" broadcast in 1938, which convinced countless people that aliens were attacking the East Coast. It's unclear to this day whether Welles & Co. actually intended to fool people, so it may not count as a hoax in the fullest sense, but it sure was awesome. (I wrote about the "War of the Worlds" broadcast last October and even found a local radio listing for the show; check the online version of this column for a link if you missed it.)
If you were around in the late 1960s, you may remember the "Paul is Dead" rumors, which insisted that Paul McCartney was no longer among the living. Supposed clues about his demise could be found in songs, album covers and elsewhere. This hoax got its start at a radio station in Detroit and spread around the world.
More recently, a woman in Kentucky reportedly sued a radio station in 2005 after a disc jockey told her she'd won "100 grand" -- a 100 Grand candy bar, it turned out, not a big pile of cash.
"Radio has a unique ability to offer people just enough convincing information, and then let their imagination fill in the gaps," explained La Mesa resident Alex Boese, an author and curator of the online Museum of Hoaxes.
Radio's uniqueness -- you don't have to pay a lot of attention to it -- plays a factor, too, he said. Listeners "may only hear fragments of the broadcast and miss important clues that could have identified the broadcast as a hoax."
Elsewhere in the land of on-air tomfoolery, radio stations often turn to stunts that may not technically qualify as hoaxes. Veteran disc jockey Jon Bruce recalls that in 1961, San Diego-area Top 40 station XEAK -- "The Mighty 690" -- played a novelty song called "Mope-Itty Mope" for days on end, declaring it to be a different popular song each time. The song is deservedly obscure, but apparently the lyrics went something like this: "Well, I just got back from outer space / Bompitty bomp bomp de bomp bomp bomp / The chicks out there ain't got no face. â-"
The "chicks" had other problems too, but let's just leave it at that. Why did the station go so crazy? Because it was switching to an all-news format. Apparently, it wanted to either create buzz or drive away listeners in order to start anew. Or, quite possibly, both.
Randy Dotinga believes whatever he's told. He thinks it's easier that way. E-mail him at NCTimesRadio@aol.com.
