Some April 1st Radio 'jokes' from the past that didn't work out too well......
*In the category of 'really bad fake death reports' - 1998,
Opie and Anthony announced that the mayor of Boston, Tom Menino, had
died in a car crash. Because City Hall couldn't immediately reach the Mayor to confirm that he was actually alive, many believed the report, including members of the Mayor's family. The next day
Opie and Anthony were suspended without pay.
In 1999 presenters at Oregon radio station
KSJJ announced that the Ochoco dam had burst, threatening downstream areas with massive flooding. What made the warning believable was that hundreds of houses in these areas had been damaged the previous year when the Ochoco Creek had flooded, so terrified homeowners who heard the news quickly prepared to flee. Later the presenters informed their listeners that it was all a joke. They had just been 'having a little fun'. The homeowners were not amused.
In the same genre of non-funny disaster warnings, there's also
WNOR's 1992 April 1st report in which it warned that a large build-up of methane gas was about to cause a fiery explosion at Mount Trashmore, a landfill near Virginia Beach. Residents were warned to evacuate the area, causing the local 911 to be flooded with calls. The presenters were suspended without pay for two weeks.
*from museumofhoaxes.comToday's included Real Radio fake snow reports, Dublin's 98 talking about penalty points if your dog isn't wearing a seatbelt and JimJim from 2FM opening the Tubridy Show as Ryan Tubridy on Radio 1.
