April 8, 2022

The Oscars incident was a live shocking moment;
what live shocking moment have you experienced during your career?

Alex Tear, SiriusXM + Pandora: 9/11. While in the studio with Jay Towers and the Morning Revolution on 93.1 DRQ Detroit, seeing Plane #2 directly hit the South Tower.

Rick Vaughn, KENZ: When I was in Seattle, I was listening to a live interview with John Mellencamp on the Rock station and he suddenly dropped to the floor, he had a heart attack. The thought still rattles me.

Orlando Davis, WLLD: One of my first WiLD Tampa remotes, in like 1999, I was remote from the Adult Entertainer Awards pool party, interviewing Ron Jeremy LIVE and some female star straddled him, as he was telling a story on the air, and they went to pound town while I finished the interview. I strongly believe we finished together.

Randi West, WRMF: One time we were doing a radiothon that benefitted Make A Wish Foundation and one of our great privileges was to let one of the seriously ill children know that their wish was being granted! How cool, right?! Until we do the reveal on the air LIVE and once we told the little girl she turned to her parents and said, “Does this mean I’m going to die?” Silence. Radio silence. How awkward that this little girl who was probably 5 years-old, thought she was getting this wish because she was going to die. Still gives me chills telling it all these years later.

Elise, WPLW: I saw Miley Cyrus years ago in Washington, DC, and in the middle of a song she forgot the words. She admitted it on stage and followed up with, “I’m hungry!”

Guy Zapoleon, Zapoleon Consulting: Being a huge boxing fan along with my buddy John Boulos, it would have to be in 1997 when Mike Tyson bit off part of Evander Holyfield‘s ear during their bout. Musically, watching the VMAs in 2009 when Kanye interrupted 20-year-old Taylor Swift’s award, snatching the mic and saying, “Yo Taylor, I’m really happy for you. I’ma let you finish,” he shouted, “but Beyoncé had one of the best videos of all time! Of course, Taylor was in tears.

Toby Knapp, WASH: There was this one time I was arrested on air for unpaid parking tickets live, while on air. Doing mornings. In Lancaster. That was fun!

Josh Wolff, WAEB: Mondays thru Fridays from 2-6 pm on B104 in Allentown!

Valentine, WBHT: When I was at WLDI in West Plam Beach, we had our morning show girl interviewing the Miami Dolphins head coach and she was drunk form the night before. She was more focused on playing with his mustache than anything else. Her first tow breaks made it on the air, then I called in and pulled the rest. We did wind up making it a bit for the next year.

Adam Rivers, WKCI: My radio career started too late to have a good crazy club moment or anything. I really wish I had a good story now that you mention it.

Joey Brooks, WKSS: When I was at KISS108, Cyndi Lauper was doing a show for us and a bird pooped into her mouth while she was hitting a high note. She just spit it out and kept singing like a champ!

Shadow, KQRA: I was at 311 in Downtown KC. Somehow, we managed to watch the show from an old abandoned firehouse. There were a lot of people watching from inside and on the roof. To get onto the roof, you hand to go up a ladder in the same shaft as the firehouse pole (you know?  The ones the firefighters slide down to get the fire truck quickly). Well, some guy FELL 3 stories down that shaft! He just stepped off of it (it was not lit). My friend ran down to help him while I ran outside to get help. Luckily, he survived (we think the beer loosened him up). My friends still quote me to this day as I ran up to the firefighters standing outside, “Uhhh… this guy isn’t with us or anything, but some dude just fell down the shaft!” We all got kicked out.

Fish, WKRZ: While I was on the air, I had a girl with special needs come in and she had a seizure live on the air. That was pretty shocking.

Jagger, KCHZ: During Hurricane Sandy in 2012, while at WKTU, we lost most of the power in our building and we all did our best to stay on the air and remain a beacon for our listening community. We were scrambling all over, staying at hotels with no power. The entire experience was surreal and quite shocking.

Jeff Hurley, iHeartMedia: I was working on the production team at the 1998 Grammy Awards when the “Soy Bomb” guy snuck onstage with Bob Dylan. Everyone was freaking out backstage trying to figure out what was happening.

Dom Theodore, Radio Animal Media Strategies: Ha! What most people consider “shocking” is just an average day in my life!

Jon Zellner, IHeartMedia: I guess the most memorable was Green Day’s Billie Jo Armstrong at the iHeartRadio Music Festival back in 2012. Good thing the show was airing on a delay on our stations.

Kobe, WUVA: I was once at a remote at the intersection of two busy roads. I was talking to a listener and all of a sudden, we heard this awful screeching. A truck ran a red light and flipped up vertically, hitting the traffic light above the intersection. The car landed on the roof, and there were kids inside. Luckily no one was hurt. I also was DJing at a club in Rochester when someone in the parking lot shot five times at someone.

Matt Johnson, WPLW: First of all, that moment Sunday night was totally fake. I don’t believe that was real for a second. That was about as real as a second date update. Shocking moments…You know me better than that, I keep everything buttoned down!

Bob Patrick, WXLK: Insert the live caller curse word on-air moment that we all had once back in the day.

Next Week’s Question Of The Week:
If you could shop for free at one store, which one would you choose and why?
e-Mail your responses to: jodorisio@deanemediasolutions.com or bburke@deanemediasolutions.com