TomV87
22nd January 2008, 10:20 AM
It's not every day someone calls 911 because Michael Jackson's "Beat It" was playing on the radio.
But when Z89 put the song on repeat for 24 hours starting midnight Monday, "people just started freaking out," said sophomore Lauren Levine, who has worked at the student-run station since her freshman year.
The Syracuse University station received as many as 75 instant messages, e-mails and phone calls from listeners asking what was going on.
Levine, a broadcast journalism major, described Z89 as a very generic Top 40 station. But it is currently switching from "No.1 for Today's Hit Music" to "The Beat of Syracuse."
The radio station chose Michael Jackson's 1983 single "Beat It" to introduce the new theme of the radio station to the public.
"It will have a more rhythmic feel. We did a little programming stunt, just to get people talking about the change," Levine said.
Alex Shomar, a junior bioengineering student at Binghamton University, heard the song multiple times on the radio, then text-messaged Levine, whom he knew was working at the station.
"I said, you know it's just playing 'Beat It' on repeat, you might want to get on that because something might be broken," Shomar said.
Maureen Gallivan, a Spanish teacher at Corcoran High School in Syracuse, also heard the song on repeat and thought it was some sort of flashback day or fundraiser.
"What I thought it might be originally is where maybe a DJ locks himself in the studio until he raises a certain amount of money," Gallivan said. "I knew there had to be some catch. I thought it was pretty cool."
However, not everybody took the stunt lightly, as an unidentified listener ended up calling 911.
"They thought someone had broken into the station, taken over the airways and was messing with us," said Levine.
The emergency operator forwarded the call to the Department of Public Safety, which sent Officer Carol Lodman over to check on the situation around 1:45 p.m.
No report was filed, and Lodman was unavailable for comment.
To continue Z89's transition to "The Beat of Syracuse," the station will be playing a human heartbeat nonstop starting midnight Tuesday until 8:01 p.m. when the rhythm will flat line and then start playing music again.
Levine said Z89 was contacted by listeners of all ages and backgrounds, which she believes exhibits the popularity of radio.
"I think this shows that radio is still really important, if we have this many people calling in," she said.
http://media.www.dailyorange.com/media/storage/paper522/news/2008/01/22/News/News-A3-3160337.shtml
But when Z89 put the song on repeat for 24 hours starting midnight Monday, "people just started freaking out," said sophomore Lauren Levine, who has worked at the student-run station since her freshman year.
The Syracuse University station received as many as 75 instant messages, e-mails and phone calls from listeners asking what was going on.
Levine, a broadcast journalism major, described Z89 as a very generic Top 40 station. But it is currently switching from "No.1 for Today's Hit Music" to "The Beat of Syracuse."
The radio station chose Michael Jackson's 1983 single "Beat It" to introduce the new theme of the radio station to the public.
"It will have a more rhythmic feel. We did a little programming stunt, just to get people talking about the change," Levine said.
Alex Shomar, a junior bioengineering student at Binghamton University, heard the song multiple times on the radio, then text-messaged Levine, whom he knew was working at the station.
"I said, you know it's just playing 'Beat It' on repeat, you might want to get on that because something might be broken," Shomar said.
Maureen Gallivan, a Spanish teacher at Corcoran High School in Syracuse, also heard the song on repeat and thought it was some sort of flashback day or fundraiser.
"What I thought it might be originally is where maybe a DJ locks himself in the studio until he raises a certain amount of money," Gallivan said. "I knew there had to be some catch. I thought it was pretty cool."
However, not everybody took the stunt lightly, as an unidentified listener ended up calling 911.
"They thought someone had broken into the station, taken over the airways and was messing with us," said Levine.
The emergency operator forwarded the call to the Department of Public Safety, which sent Officer Carol Lodman over to check on the situation around 1:45 p.m.
No report was filed, and Lodman was unavailable for comment.
To continue Z89's transition to "The Beat of Syracuse," the station will be playing a human heartbeat nonstop starting midnight Tuesday until 8:01 p.m. when the rhythm will flat line and then start playing music again.
Levine said Z89 was contacted by listeners of all ages and backgrounds, which she believes exhibits the popularity of radio.
"I think this shows that radio is still really important, if we have this many people calling in," she said.
http://media.www.dailyorange.com/media/storage/paper522/news/2008/01/22/News/News-A3-3160337.shtml