Re: April Fools Pranks

[Shawn Mamros <mamros@MIT.EDU>]

>I believe that the guys at WAAF in management, and the on air staff that did
>the Mayor Menino death April fools stunt should be summarily fired.

Fired?  Heck, they've probably already received their gold-framed letters
of congratulations straight from Chairman Mel!  (Or whomever their corporate
overlord of the moment happens to be.)  I mean, could you ask for any better
publicity?  Channel 5, WBZ radio and the Boston Globe (on their Saturday
editorial page, yet!) all gave them yards of coverage.  It's a media mogul's
dream come true!

Suspension?  What a sham... just watch 'AAF's ratings soar through the
roof when they return.

Complain to the FCC?  A complete waste of time... the FCC does nothing
that isn't dictated to them from the NAB.  And while in public, the media
moguls may wag their fingers and say "shame on you", in reality they're
all wishing they had thought of it first.

Menino's lawyers should forget about the FCC and start issuing lawsuits
immediately, against WAAF, their management, their corporate overlords
and (yes) Messrs. Opie and Anthony themselves.  Money, and the threat
of losing lots of it in a long, drawn-out legal battle, is all that's
going to make these goons pay any attention.  Unfortunately, Chairman
Mel (or whomever) almost certainly has deeper pockets than Mr. Menino,
and so should be able to ride out a civil suit in fine style.  Criminal
charges would be far better, but there probably hasn't been any real
law broken here, sad to say.

If I sound completely cynical, it's because I am.  This whole thing is
such a transparent publicity sham, it isn't even funny.  And I'm just as
guilty as anyone else in perpetuating it, simply by writing this message...
just another cog in the publicity machine.

- -Shawn Mamros
E-mail to: mamros@mit.edu

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