Joking on Smoking
Posted: Thu Nov 11, 2004 12:48 pm
[b][align=center][size=10]Joking on Smoking[/size]
[size=5]Radio station hoax sparks hundreds of protest calls[/size]
By Valarie Honeycutt Spears And Art Jester
[/align][/b]
HERALD-LEADER STAFF WRITERS
As a hoax, a Lexington radio station jokingly reported yesterday that the Urban County Council had passed an ordinance banning residents from smoking cigarettes in their vehicles.
But it wasn't a laughing matter to hundreds of angry callers who tied up telephone lines to the Lexington police and health departments, to City Hall and to the county attorney's office, officials said.
As a result, the city said it will file a formal complaint with the Federal Communications Commission against radio station WXZZ-103.3 FM, also called Z-103, said Milton Dohoney, Lexington's chief administrative officer.
Officials planned to discuss the issue today but did not know yesterday when the complaint would be filed.
"If it was meant to be a joke," Dohoney said, "we fail to see the humor in it. There's not a kernel of truth to it. It caused unnecessary angst on the part of the public."
Dohoney said city officials were still tallying yesterday, but by early afternoon City Hall and the health and police departments had received at least a few hundred phone calls. Dohoney said city officials were especially concerned that people calling for legitimate help from city agencies could not get through.
Fayette County Attorney Margaret Kannensohn said her office received several dozen calls from angry residents who believed the hoax.
An FCC rule prohibiting hoaxes says that false information cannot be broadcast if it can cause "public harm" and does not carry a clear disclaimer that it is fiction.
The FCC Web site ( www.fcc.gov/eb/broadcast/hoaxes.html ) says the rule applies to "public harm" that occurs immediately after the false information is broadcast and, among other things, diverts "law enforcement or other public health and safety authorities from their duties."
FCC officials had not received a complaint and late yesterday would not say whether the rule would apply to Z-103's hoax.
Lexington police had nothing to say about a city ordinance that does not exist.
"The police department has no comment or position," said Lexington police Lt. David Boggs.
Chris Clendenen, general manager of Z-103, said the city is "certainly free to file a complaint" with the FCC but "I'm hoping cooler heads will prevail."
"I'm not sure we violated any laws or regulations," Clendenen said.
"It was a stunt, a prank, a joke," he said. "We thought we'd have some fun. We didn't mean to cause any harm or inconvenience to anyone. If we did inconvenience the city, we're sorry."
The hoax occurred on Z-103's "Z-Rock Morning Show," with on-air personalities Twitch, Mary Jane and Kyle. Clendenen declined to give their full or real names.
He said the show does comedy routinely to entertain the public. He said the "overwhelming majority have demonstrated" that they understand the hoax for what it was. The station does not do newscasts.
Clendenden said he was investigating the matter and that disciplinary action is possible but that he would not reach a decision until today.
Z-103 is in a rating survey period that began the third week of September and will end the third week of December, Clendenen said.
"I don't know if this was an attempt to boost ratings," he said. "Whatever we do on a daily basis is an attempt to boost the ratings of the radio station."
[url=\"http://www.kentucky.com/mld/kentucky/ne ... 151450.htm\"]Source[/url]
[size=5]Radio station hoax sparks hundreds of protest calls[/size]
By Valarie Honeycutt Spears And Art Jester
[/align][/b]
HERALD-LEADER STAFF WRITERS
As a hoax, a Lexington radio station jokingly reported yesterday that the Urban County Council had passed an ordinance banning residents from smoking cigarettes in their vehicles.
But it wasn't a laughing matter to hundreds of angry callers who tied up telephone lines to the Lexington police and health departments, to City Hall and to the county attorney's office, officials said.
As a result, the city said it will file a formal complaint with the Federal Communications Commission against radio station WXZZ-103.3 FM, also called Z-103, said Milton Dohoney, Lexington's chief administrative officer.
Officials planned to discuss the issue today but did not know yesterday when the complaint would be filed.
"If it was meant to be a joke," Dohoney said, "we fail to see the humor in it. There's not a kernel of truth to it. It caused unnecessary angst on the part of the public."
Dohoney said city officials were still tallying yesterday, but by early afternoon City Hall and the health and police departments had received at least a few hundred phone calls. Dohoney said city officials were especially concerned that people calling for legitimate help from city agencies could not get through.
Fayette County Attorney Margaret Kannensohn said her office received several dozen calls from angry residents who believed the hoax.
An FCC rule prohibiting hoaxes says that false information cannot be broadcast if it can cause "public harm" and does not carry a clear disclaimer that it is fiction.
The FCC Web site ( www.fcc.gov/eb/broadcast/hoaxes.html ) says the rule applies to "public harm" that occurs immediately after the false information is broadcast and, among other things, diverts "law enforcement or other public health and safety authorities from their duties."
FCC officials had not received a complaint and late yesterday would not say whether the rule would apply to Z-103's hoax.
Lexington police had nothing to say about a city ordinance that does not exist.
"The police department has no comment or position," said Lexington police Lt. David Boggs.
Chris Clendenen, general manager of Z-103, said the city is "certainly free to file a complaint" with the FCC but "I'm hoping cooler heads will prevail."
"I'm not sure we violated any laws or regulations," Clendenen said.
"It was a stunt, a prank, a joke," he said. "We thought we'd have some fun. We didn't mean to cause any harm or inconvenience to anyone. If we did inconvenience the city, we're sorry."
The hoax occurred on Z-103's "Z-Rock Morning Show," with on-air personalities Twitch, Mary Jane and Kyle. Clendenen declined to give their full or real names.
He said the show does comedy routinely to entertain the public. He said the "overwhelming majority have demonstrated" that they understand the hoax for what it was. The station does not do newscasts.
Clendenden said he was investigating the matter and that disciplinary action is possible but that he would not reach a decision until today.
Z-103 is in a rating survey period that began the third week of September and will end the third week of December, Clendenen said.
"I don't know if this was an attempt to boost ratings," he said. "Whatever we do on a daily basis is an attempt to boost the ratings of the radio station."
[url=\"http://www.kentucky.com/mld/kentucky/ne ... 151450.htm\"]Source[/url]