Floating Cat Prank Has Radio Listeners Outraged

newsnet5.com ^ | April 29, 2003 | newsnet5.com

[green team 1999]

Floating Cat Prank Has Radio Listeners Outraged
Animal Protective League, Police Get Involved

POSTED: 4:50 p.m. EDT April 29, 2003

CLEVELAND -- A local radio station wants you to listen, but the stunt some morning disc jockeys pulled has people outraged.

The Animal Protective League responded, and even Cleveland police showed up at the radio station and asked the disc jockeys to stop.

Live On Five Investigator Jodi Brooks reported that 92.3 Extreme Radio said there is an expectation among its listeners to be shocking and to push the envelope, and on Tuesday it started with a contest to win concert tickets.

"We had a bunch of different objects (and were) tying helium balloons to the objects and callers had to guess how many balloons (would) lift the objects off the ground," disc jockey "Rover" said.

The disc jockeys then told listeners they were tying balloons to a cat.

This is what was heard on the radio: "Grab him, grab him! Somebody help me. Oh my God, you guys -- he's flying away! Look out the window. Oh my God, the cat is..."

The drama lasted for 3 ½ hours.

"Where is it? How far off the ground? It's floating away, higher than the parking garage," the disc jockeys said on air.

The APL received more than 100 calls, and police got word, too.

Here is an excerpt from one call to 911: "Hi, I'm listening to the radio, and there's this radio station that had this girl tie balloons to her cat and it's floating around in the air downtown. Is there anything you can do about it? The cat's going to die."

"You want the truth?" Rover said. "No, there was no cat out there. It was all theater of the minds."

On the radio, the prank ended with more creativity.

"Someone out in Medina shot the balloons down," said "Lunchbox," a 92.3 producer. "The cat came to the ground and we recovered it. The cat's OK."

Cleveland police said no charges were filed because the radio station prank did not rise to the level of a crime. Also, as soon as the station was asked to stop, it did.

The APL is now demanding a retraction, admitting the incident was a joke.

The station said it will not offer any type of apology.

The new radio morning team compared themselves to Howard Stern, saying they want a reaction.

for information and discusion only,not for profit etc,etc.

[palmer]

If I was up there, my cats would laugh until they puked.

[green team 1999]

Why doesn't President George W Bush do anything about this?

what president Bush knew and when

[green team 1999]

senator Hillary Clinton is demanding a senate investigation on allegations the president did nothing about it

[Delta 21]

[green team 1999]

Are people really that dense? You don't the DJ booth on the exterior of a building and you sure don't open the windows. DJ booths hate noise. Dumb people out there.

the power of radio,rush pulled some good pranks before.

[HuntsvilleTxVeteran]

Sounds like more fun than trolling for cats.

[Texas Eagle]

Heyyyyyyy.....this gives me an idea on how to keep my neighbors cat out of our garden.

Heeeeere, kitty, kitty, kitty, kitty......

[green team 1999]

cat dumb dumb

[unspun]

...if there was a cat, they are not going to tell.

I hope I don't stay up all night wondering if there really is a cat. I'm not even dsclesyk.

[Clive]

"How many balloons would it take to float Hillary ..."

None, just a broom.

[unspun]

Hmm....

And how long have you been waiting for this moment?

[IronJack]

how many balloons would it take to lift Orson Welles off the ground?

Just one: the Hindenburg.

(I know the Hindenburg was a dirigible, but humor allows some license.)

[Quix]

Hmmmmmm

Reminds me of the books . . . 101 uses for a dead cat etc.

Nice to know they can be ballast for balloons.

Some dogs find some of the tougher ones nice teething toys, too.

I wonder if the medical profession still has uses for cat gut?

Then there's those fun toys the CATapults. What did they CATapult over castle walls anyway--cats with a small bundle of straw tied to their tales and set aflame? That would have been very enlightening to thatch huts!


Then there's that fun game many dogs love--CATHER BALL--a cat tied to a rope that doesn't quite reach the ground and is tied to the top of a tall pole.

Perhaps there's an Aussie who could answer a curiosity. Do rabbits or cats make better shark bait?

Then there's the head office of a big city fire department--with a hallowed fountain in honor of so many of their calls. It's composed of 9 fire hose nozzels shooting great streams of watter perfectly verticle--at the tops of which are not balls--but 9 very wet tabbys wondering how long their 9 lives will last and whether all of them will be so wet.

---

And no, none of the above is true--at least--not in my experience. 'Tis just to give the cat lovers a tweak. I actually enjoy cats on occasion--as long as the allergy meds are stoked up.

I've NEVER tied two cats together and tossed them over a clothes line. But I've always had very vivid images of the probable outcome were someone to do such.

[Quix]

It's amazing when they gather enough sense to detect which way is up vs down!

Oh, yeah. Wild ones are a lot smarter.

[Delta 21]

Google is your friend!

[NonValueAdded]

First mice with parachutes, now floating cats. It's only reasonable to expect a dog to be next.

[Delta 21]

...at least until Bill Gates buys it and screws it all up!!!

[unspun]

And how do you know my friends?

[green team 1999]

I hope I don't stay up all night wondering if there really is a cat

the first american cat in space,aaaahhhhh!

[Monty22]

Some station here in Dallas did that with an inflatable sheep.. Apparently for real. It just sat there and was too heavy.