Posted on Friday, October 05, 2007 - 11:17 am:

quote:

Britney death watch contest draws fire

Susan Whitall / The Detroit News
Thursday, October 04, 2007

Radio stations love edgy stunts and the publicity that ensues, but WKQI-FM, better known as Channel 95.5, might have crossed the line with listeners when its DJ Big Boy announced a "Britney Suicide Watch" contest Tuesday night.

"If you can guess the exact day that Britney dies, whether it's from drugs or however she dies, if you're right, we'll give you a thousand bucks," said Big Boy on his 7--11 p.m. show. The troubled pop star lost custody of her two young sons on Monday.

After swift and negative reaction, the station pulled the Web page for the Britney stunt by mid-morning Wednesday. At 7 p.m. Wednesday, 95.5 aired a statement by Dom Theodore, operations manager, in which he apologized if anyone was offended by the "content" of Big Boy's show. "In no way were we making light of death or suicide." Oddly, he went on to blame "the media" for its part in Spears' downward spiral

There's a long tradition of stunts in the radio industry. But under Theodore's reign at Clear Channel Detroit, Channel 95.5, a pop/hip-hop hybrid that ranked No. 5 in the spring ratings, has done more than its share. There were those crop circles on a Milford farm a few years ago that the station's Buck Head show claimed they created. They didn't, and Theodore issued an apology for "creating the illusion of an authentic paranormal event for the purpose of entertainment."

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