Two Florida DJs are on "indefinite suspension" and could possibly face felony charges for pulling an April Fool's Day prank on their listeners.
Florida country radio morning-show hosts Val St. John and Scott Fish told listeners that "dihydrogen monoxide" was coming out of the taps of their listeners throughout the Fort Meyers area.
Dihydrogen monoxide is water.
There was so much widespread panic that it forced county utility officials to issue a statement calming the fears of these chemistry challenged Floridians.
The manager of the station, WWGR/Gator Country 101.9 FM, had to issue a retraction — or at least a constant on-air admission that the gag was a joke — even though St. John and Fish were technically correct that dihydrogen monoxide was coming out of their listeners' taps.
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| From Left: Val St. John and Scott Fish |
"Every break we have we're telling listeners it was a goof, a bad joke," Tony Renda, general manager at WWGR radio told WTSP-TV.
Apparently local authorities didn't find it funny and now the two hosts could face felony charges for telling people the scientific name for water was coming out of the taps.
Seriously? I could only laugh when I saw this story. I understand it caused apparent "widespread panic" throughout the listening area but, come on, felony charges? It's not like the DJs said some poisonous chemical was coming out of the tap.
It's ridiculous that there was such panic with, oh I don't know, Google and other search engines out there that could've stopped it from happening in the first place. And another thing: if there really was something harmful coming out of the tap, wouldn't county officials alert the community either before or after the radio DJs announced it? It's common sense people! Last time I checked I trust my community officials to tell me things like that and not some radio DJs.
Here's an idea: take a deep breath and go do some chemistry homework!
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