Once upon a time, in a land that is “hi” in the middle and round on both ends* there was a beautiful on-air radio personality. And lo, she was a funny girl too, at least she thought so anyways. She decided it would be a hoot to play a little trick on the 1st of April on the kindly townsfolk.
She thought and she thought, and finally came up with a brilliant idea. At least she thought so anyways.
When her radio show started, she began to report the most wondrous news to her eager listeners. She told them in the most convincing tone that her show was being filmed, live! If you, dear listeners, turn your television sets to channel 77 you will see the fair maiden DJ in all her glory.
The townsfolk were so excited and eager to see this spectacle; they immediately ran to their TV’s and switched them to channel 77.
But alas, there was no picture, only a fuzzy grey and white pattern. They were sad, for they were so looking forward to seeing the inside of the grand radio studio as well the fair maiden DJ.
“Don’t fret”, said the DJ. “You just need to wiggle your antenna, or jiggle your set.”
“That doesn’t work!” exclaimed an excited listener, calling on the station request line.
“Perhaps you need to adjust your cable, make sure it's plugged in all the way." responded the DJ.
And so it went. Caller after caller tried to get reception on channel 77, and nothing was working.
Some thought they might see a shadow of some sort “ See me now, I’m waving my hands back and forth” announced the DJ at one point to a caller live on the air.
“Oh yes” squealed the listener, “I can see something shadowy moving on my screen, now that you mention it.”
And so it went on some more, as listeners became callers, but alas none of the townsfolk were able to get television reception on channel 77. Although some claimed they could indeed see something moving on their screen when the DJ persuaded them to look harder. The power of persuasion, especially from a soothing voice, can be very magical.
And then suddenly, the dreaded Studio HOT Line rang. This was a super duper, top-secret phone number that only the evil program director boss knew. He would dial this number whenever the fair maiden DJ was doing something wrong, or what he deemed to be wrong. The Hot line ring was every DJ's greatest fear, behind dead air.
The evil boss roared, “The cable company is getting flooded with calls. People think there is something wrong with their cable because some fool DJ is telling them to turn to channel 77 to view the radio station studio live.”
The fair maiden DJ chuckled. Channel 77 did not exist in this town. The listeners, unwittingly, and fallen prey to an April Fools Joke!
And oh, how she laughed and laughed as she told the townspeople the news. And oh, how they screamed and yelled when told they had been the victims of a prank.
But they didn’t stay angry for long, and everyone eventually had a guffaw over the whole affair.
And every once in awhile, some townspeople would admit later, they’d turn to channel 77…just to see if MAYBE it wasn’t a joke after all.
*(Ohio)
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