San Diego Spotlight : Is It Time to Pull the Plug on Wacky Publicity Stunts?

Not content with trying to be the type of people who shake hands at parties with electric buzzers in their palms, the self-proclaimed wild and wacky folks of San Diego radio constantly seek publicity for their pranks.

David Letterman proudly calls this kind of thing “cheap, attention-getting stunts,” with the emphasis on “attention-getting.” And it’s hard to fault a radio disc jockey, willing to dress up in a suit of Rice Krispies and dunk himself in milk, for trying to get a little publicity for it, but this whole thing is getting out of hand.

New KKLQ morning guy (Magic) Matt Alan started work last week and, in a stunning burst of originality, promptly sent out a release stating that, in a “blatant show of solidarity with the ‘buy American’ sentiment currently sweeping the United States,” he would steamroller Japanese products brought in by listeners.

Sure enough, KGTV (Channel 10) dutifully covered the stunt, rewarding Alan with his desired publicity.

These days it seems every news event or calendar holiday must be greeted with a barrage of publicity-seeking radio stunts, as if the day wouldn’t be complete without radio hucksters attempting to jump on the bandwagon.

Last week, KSON sent out a release for “what possibly could be the most outrageous Valentine’s Day promotion in San Diego radio history:” handcuffing an engaged couple together for 97.3 hours (fitting into the event the obligatory use of the station’s frequency). On a similar tack, KCBQ invited the press to cover “the biggest blind date ever to take place in San Diego!”

Under normal circumstances, such stunts would be nothing more than annoying, since listeners can always just change the station. But far too often the stunts result in media coverage, and far too often the pranksters try to pass themselves off as representing The People.

After a federal judge ruled that crosses atop Mt. Soledad and Mt. Helix were illegal, XTRA-AM (690) morning prankster Dan Butts immediately demonstrated his outrage by chaining himself to the fence surrounding the Soledad cross. Only foaming cynics would dare question his sincerity, although some might question his grasp of the issues: The station’s press release said he was there because of “a recent ruling of the city of San Diego,” which wasn’t quite right.

Although he is still with the station, Butts has been replaced as the main morning guy by Steve Mason, who demonstrated his idea of funny radio last week by playing a tape of a stunt he pulled in his last job, where, posing as a yacht club security guard, he called a boat owner and told him his boat was sinking. Which it wasn’t. Let the laughter roll.

Radio guys like Mason have apparently forgotten the line between real humor and toilet-papering someone’s house. Others seem to have lost sight of reality.

Recently, two disc jockeys from different stations were married. Not willing to let even the most sacred of events pass without trying for a little “pub,” they invited the media to attend and broadcast the ceremony on the radio. The romance of the event wasn’t tacky, but the concept of blatantly using it to troll for some attention was extremely cheesy.

Unfortunately, such radio stunts have become as much a part of the American landscape as cheeseburgers, American Gladiators and New Kids on the Block. However, the level of stunts in San Diego rarely go beyond the cliche, and they always relentlessly go with the populist flow.

“You will note that we’re not burning anything. I believe that would send a very bad message,” KKLQ’s Alan said in his press release informing the media of his steamrollering event.

Admittedly, some of the events may be worthy of coverage, in a purely sensational sense. If a disc jockey wants to cover himself in honey and jump into a giant ant farm, there might be some news value in it, especially if the Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Ants shows up to protest.

“Sometimes they’re entertaining,” said KGTV (Channel 10) news director Paul Sands. “It’s not like there are high crimes involved. If it’s an interesting thing and it attracts people, we make a determination on it, like we would with any other feature.”

Somewhere in those determinations, which are made by all newspapers and television news operations, the idea that covering an event also encourages pranks has been lost. Coverage tells the stations that the stunt worked, even if no one showed up except for a lone TV cameraman.

This phenomenon reflects the little-known tree-falling-in-the-woods theory of news events. It raises the question as to whether an event would be an event if reporters didn’t cover it. A general agreement not to cover such cheap stunts might deter the stations’ enthusiasm for them, although newspapers and television stations starved for strong visuals likely would have a tough time resisting for long.

Of course, sometimes there is justice on Earth and the stunts backfire. When XTRA’s Butts chained himself to the fence surrounding the cross, several reporters showed up. But they ended up giving equal coverage to the arrival of San Diego police, who ticketed the station’s van for having an expired registration and several other violations.

XETV (Channel 6) general manager Martin Colby is so sure that local network affiliates will soon move prime-time lineups to an hour earlier--following the lead of experiments under way in Sacramento and San Francisco--that he has put an “indefinite hold on future exploration” of Channel 6 developing a 10 p.m. newscast. “For us to invest in a 10 p.m. news when we face so much potential competition makes no sense,” he said. . . .

Channel 10 is no longer a simple TV news operation with big ratings, Ken and Barbie anchors and a flair for doing stories about cellulite, it is now a bona fide News Service. Last week, Channel 10 finalized a deal to supply daily news features to KYXY-FM (96.5). Not only does the deal give KYXY a local news presence, it means that Channel 10, the visionary Ted Turner of local stations, is now supplying KIFM (98.1) with news updates, simulcasting its 5 p.m. newscasts on KCEO-AM (1000) and doing hourly updates on cable’s “Headline News” channel. . . .

After two years, four news directors and eight different assignments, former Channel 39 reporter Bill Ritter’s contract with Fox News was not renewed last week. He was working on a pilot for a national news magazine that Fox suddenly decided it didn’t want. . . .

Local radio man Norm Feuer and financier Richard Sillerman’s long-delayed deal to buy three stations in Richmond from Edens Broadcasting (owners locally of KKLQ) is apparently dead. . . . From comedian and talk-show host Dennis Miller: “Thanks for vaguely approving of my existence.”

CRITIC’S CHOICE

A VISIT TO ‘THIRD THURSDAY’

Channel 39’s “Third Thursday” seems to have run out of topics with the essential elements of good television--conflict, timeliness and unresolved issues. This month’s topic for the town hall-style meeting, scheduled for Thursday at 6:30, is “Crimes of Hatred: Injustice to the Innocent.” Hard to imagine much pro and con debate there. Yet, the show may redeem itself, since the producers always manage to put together a reasonably lively and slick production, allowing people to let off steam, as well as discuss the issues.