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April 02, 2005
Local Radio Prank
Barnum was right, there is a sucker born every minute. And apparently a whole bunch of them live in Fayetteville.
At 7:11 A.M. Jon and Jen on the radio hit the air with some breaking news.
With the help of Jon`s friend, they announced over the air that the space shuttle was coming in to the tiny Drake airport for an emergency landing.
According to Greenland police, over a hundred cars were parked along the road hoping to catch a glimpse of the shuttle during its descent.
More details here.
"Tiny Drake airport" is right. Here's a photo. See that hill in the background? The airport is surrounded by hills like that on all four sides. It has one open asphalt runway that's 6,006 ft. long & 100 ft. wide. They supposedly used it to train WWII fighter pilots because the approach is so steep & short.
Never mind the fact that there hasn't been a space shuttle flight since 2003. Anyone who'd ever seen Drake field should've known a shuttle couldn't land there. And why would the shuttle go there instead of XNA, which is much larger?
Jeez Louise, I can't believe anyone fell for that.
Posted by Rita at April 2, 2005 06:55 AM
Comments
Hell, it looks like a good pilot might be able to land a helicopter there, but not much more. :-)
Posted by: Jim - PRS at April 2, 2005 12:46 PM
Well they supposedly had a 737 scheduled to land there Friday. Like I told Mike, I'm glad as hell I'm not on it. That would be one interesting landing I betcha.
Posted by: rita at April 2, 2005 01:12 PM
What it shows is how much faith some people have in what they hear or read in the media. For them, unlike cynical and politicaly savy bloggers, hearing something on TV or radio, or reading it in a newspaper gives it instant credibility.
It indicates the huge responsibility that media people have to be honest and careful in what they say or write because hundreds or thousands will act based on what is reported.
This is why the blogoshere has become so important and will yet grow much in influence. Lies and frauds are quickly exposed and disected.
Don't laugh because people were deceived, rather we should shame those who would purposefully deceive, even for a joke.
Posted by: Bindare at April 3, 2005 09:34 AM
But that's just it. The Jon & Jen Show isn't really media....and they're well known for prank phone calls & such. They do stunts like this year round. That's why I couldn't believe so many people fell for it.
I wasn't making fun as much as just pointing out there's a whole lot of gullible people out there. Kinda scary, really.
Posted by: rita at April 3, 2005 11:28 AM