A Groundhog Day joke backfired at an Altamonte Springs radio station, leading to an on-air screaming match complete with profanities and hundreds of calls from irate animal lovers.
Before it was over, a Seminole County sheriff’s deputy, an animal control officer, an animal shelter and even the Central Florida Zoo were pulled into the mess.
Adult contemporary station WXXL-FM (106.7) issued repeated on-air apologies and said it would donate $1,000 to the Seminole County Humane Society as a gesture of penance.
Announcers Doc Holliday and Johnny Magic caused the uproar on Wednesday when they joked about putting an opossum on the newest leg of the Central Florida GreeneWay in Seminole County. In honor of Groundhog Day, they suggested that if the animal could cross the expressway without getting hit by a car, spring would come soon.
Calls of protest flooded the station. Newscaster Deborah Roberts was so incensed that she refused to read the news, cursed the announcers and finally stormed out.
The announcers were yanked off the air an hour before the end of their shift. Program director Adam Cook finished the show.
“It was an ill-fated attempt of humor without management’s knowledge,” Cook said.
The station later aired an apology to listeners, the Humane Society and the Florida Game and Fresh Water Fish Commission, which has jurisdiction over wildlife.
Listeners were so upset that they called the Seminole Sheriff’s Office, which dispatched a patrol deputy to the highway. An animal control officer was placed on standby.
Sheriff’s spokesman Ed McDonough, who heard the radio show, said he was fooled. “I thought they fully intended to do it,” he said. “It sounded real to me.”
A deputy spent about 15 minutes driving the GreeneWay but saw nothing unusual.
“You just don’t do things like that. They should have said it was a joke,” McDonough said. “We’re paid to provide a service, but that deputy’s time could have been spent on better things.”
Terry Kona, an administrative assistant at the Humane Society, said about a dozen people called about the prank.
“They struck a lot of animal nerves,” she said. “The calls we had were very sincere calls from people who wanted us to do something about it. One lady was crying.”
Andrea Farmer, a spokeswoman for the Central Florida Zoo in Sanford, was interviewed on the air by the disc jockeys, who sought her expert opinion on the animal’s odds of reaching the other side of the road.
“I hoped they were joking,” she said. “People do take animals very seriously.”
Cook said the station received several hundred calls, some angry and some wondering about the on-air fight.
No one was fired, but announcers Doc and Johnny will be disciplined by performing community service, Cook said. The morning team was back on the air at 6 a.m. Thursday.
“I think everybody’s learned a lesson,” WXXL General Manager Randy Rahe said.
