How Real are Radio Call-In Pranks?

Factual Questions
1

Meaning where the hosts call some ostensibly unsuspecting “victim” and prank them, sometimes with the help of confederates.

I’ve always suspected that some of these may be staged (I’ve listed to a few “Scott & Todd” pranks back in the day, and they had one particular repeat victim that I thought might be acting.) Now I see a comment from Snopes that “*Given how often such radio skits are actually staged performances rather than live capturings of spontaneously unfolding events, we remain skeptical about the genuineness of this one, however.” *

So just how often is this?

2

Real pranks often don’t go according to plan. The result can be anything from something that doesn’t play well over the air to something that results in a lawsuit. I would be surprised if anything more than a tiny percentage of pranks these days were real.

3

Exactly. I strongly suspect that almost all prank calls are fake, and only rarely are they actually prank-calling an unsuspecting victim.

4

This has come up a coupletimes before.

Any time you hear a prank call on the radio, it is almost definitely fake. This is because it is illegal for the station to broadcast the call unless they get permission from everyone involved BEFORE the call is recorded (not just before it is aired). Additionally, there is an industry built around supplying these calls.