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I was hired in March of 1976 to do nights at the new Y-95 FM (WLCY's FM) with new call letters of WYNF. As April 1st was approaching, I had only been there two weeks. The weather was 75-degrees, sunny and BEE-YOO-TEE-FULL everyday. There was an intoxicating feeling in the air with all the new blood, new FM station, new equipment and old friends getting together again (Ron Parker from Atlanta and Howie Castle from Indianapolis, among others). My girlfriend Joan (ex-music director of KSLQ-FM St Louis) had moved with me and the world was a happy place.
Tedd Webb and I shared a love for backgammon (among other things) and got along immediately. We decided to do a bit that I had heard at WAKY in Louisville, some years ago, about being threatened and then attacked by an irate listener while on the air. We built up to the climax over about two hours, with Tedd pretending to be a listener who wanted to hear "D.O.A." by Bloodrock. I wouldn't play the song and the "listener" became agitated.
Suddenly, while doing the weather out of a stop set at about 7:30pm, Tedd "attacked" me while the mike was live. We wrestled for about 90 seconds, pounding the cart rack, kicking trash cans, etc. I screamed for someone to "get the knife" (!!!) and then got "stabbed" and fell to the floor whereupon the air went dead, except for my "groaning" after the "attacker" had fled. (Tedd Webb was rather convincing in how he played the roll, too.) I got up, cut off the mike, cued up a record and came back on, at which point Tedd and I screamed "April Fool's!!!" on the air and went into a song.
We were so proud of ourselves. The phones were ringing off the hook, people loved it. I back-sold the record, and coming out of it I happened to turn to look at the crowd that had assembled, among them a Florida Highway Patrol trooper, donning helmet and riot gear. He was not happy. I gulped, started my spots and the officer asked me to come with him. We put someone else on the air and I had to explain to about ten cops of various jurisdictions what was going on. As we talked, I looked out into the parking lot, and there were about four ambulances, countless police cars, firetrucks and paramedics. After I explained, half the cops were laughing their butts off, the other half wanted to kill me.
Keep in mind, we asked the PD for permission to do the bit, he was in the building as we developed it, and gave us permission to finish it before he left to go home.
The next day, I was summoned to the manager's office, where I was shown the article covering the bit in the paper, and explained that I had my supervisor's permission. It didn't work, the PD wouldn't corroborate my story and even though Tedd tried explaining the antics of the night before, I was fired. But it was a bittersweet experience, as I still stay in touch with Tedd Webb and Ron Parker. After leaving WLCY, I immediately got a job at WDHF-FM in Chicago. I no longer do radio, I'm a mortgage banker living in California, wife, three kids, one grandchild and doing high school basketball refereeing in my spare time.
