Police Not Tickled by Radio Dare

The arrest of a 17-year-old boy who allegedly walked naked around a Pacoima intersection in a stunt to win concert tickets from radio station KPWR-FM (106) may lead to charges against a station employee, Los Angeles police said Wednesday.

Detectives are reviewing whether prosecutors would be likely to charge anyone at the station, known as Power 106, with conspiracy and soliciting a person to engage in a lewd act in public, police said.

The teenager was arrested Tuesday on suspicion of intentional and public exposure of one’s private parts, said Officer Jack Richter, a Los Angeles Police Department spokesman. The boy’s name was not released because of his age.

“These stunts should be a matter of common sense and responsibility by the participants and the station itself,” Richter said. “In this case, however, the behavior was not only audacious but illegal.”

Police said the youth was encouraged by Joe Grande, a street reporter for the Burbank station’s morning radio personality Big Boy. Grande is known for traveling around Los Angeles and getting people to perform what the station calls a “dare of the day.”

According to police, Grande was at Laurel Canyon Boulevard and Osborne Street during the morning rush hour Tuesday when he requested people to “do something crazy” to win tickets to a concert by the band P3.

“While at the location, Grande announced on live air that he wanted someone to remove all of their clothes and walk to all four corners of the intersection naked,” Richter said.

The youth, who told station workers he was 18, offered to perform the stunt, police said. Police said they got complaints of a man exposing himself to a school bus and to families driving to school.

Station officials did not return several calls seeking comment Wednesday.

In August, two radio hosts were fired from WNEW-FM in New York City after a Virginia couple were arrested for having sex in St. Patrick’s Cathedral. In that case, the radio personalities held a contest for concert tickets that awarded points for having sex in public places.