I remember watching the news while some major event was taking place. I don’t remember who the anchor was or what was happening.
A remote feed came in that they thought was a reporter in the field. The ‘reporter’ said something like “it seems that a prisoner (?? maybe employee) was disgruntled because they wouldn’t let him listen to the Howard Stern show on the radio”.
At this point, the remote was disconnected and the anchorman said something like “Ladies and Gentlemen, this call was a hoax. Some IDIOT called in posing as a reporter…”
Anyone else remember this?
I could swear this was national coverage, but it might’ve been local to New Orleans.
Not a rare occurrence. Could have been almost anything and anywhere . Some Stern fans are notorious for pranking live media setups to see if they will mention Howard Stern’s name on the air, even during coverage of crises & hostage situations.
This happens all the time with Stern fans during just about any big media event. The infamous “I see OJ call” on ABC during the white Bronco stand-off is my personal favorite.
I remember seeing Ted Koppell getting snookered during the New York City blackout a few years back.
He was talking to someone who was supposed to be giving out info about where people could go for help. It was a very weird, rambling conversation and the guy kept saying “Thank you for taking my call.” Turns out it was these idiots.
As far as losing their composure, Dan Rather has done it at least once (go down to paragraph 7) when a tennis game ran long, delaying the start of the CBS Evening News.
Before the inevitable Stern-Bashing starts, I’d like to point out that Stern himself doesn’t condone or encourage this, and he especially dislikes it when people do it during crises or very serious situations.
ESPN had an interview with “Steve Bartman” following the Marlins-Cubs NLCS game in 2003 that was a Stern fan. Apparently the guy knew enough about Bartman to fake the call for a good 2 or 3 minutes.
I have a vague memory of this, too, though farther back than a couple of months, but certainly within the last year. I don’t remember who the guest was, but Larry routinely takes calls and one got past the screeners. I don’t remember Larry’s reaction but the OP quote could be it. I will add that Larry does not qualify as a news anchor.
Of course, there have probably been numerous such calls so the OP may be thinking of a completely different occasion.
First, I’m a big fan of Howard Stern (although I have only heard him once now that he is on Sirius), but I don’t know how you can say that he doesn’t encourage this.
For one thing, I have, on several occasions, heard him play clips of these prank calls on the air. For example, I recall that after JFK Jr.'s plane went down, someone called in to a news program pretending to be a government official and then proceeded to make several references to the Howard Stern show. Stern played this, along with similar clips, on the air on several occasions.
Most of these calls were historically made by a guy named Captain Janks. Howard has since convinced him to stop doing it. If it happens of course he’ll play the clip and if it’s funny he’ll giggle at it - but he spends much more time discouring it and distancing himself from it.
Now screwing with public access tv shows - that’s an entirely different (and hilarious) story . . .
[QUOTE=Cisco]
Most of these calls were historically made by a guy named Captain Janks. Howard has since convinced him to stop doing it. If it happens of course he’ll play the clip and if it’s funny he’ll giggle at it - but he spends much more time discouring it and distancing himself from it.QUOTE]
I’m reluctant to hijack this thread, but I’m really not following you. “If it happens of course he’ll play the clip and if it’s funny he’ll giggle at it,” well, right, that’s the point. The ultimate goal of someone like Captain Janks is to get on the air. As long as Howard rewards the behavior by playing the clips on the air, then I don’t think it matters what he says to “discourage it.”