April Fool's Day: The Time We Punked Chicago's Alternative Radio Station (LISTEN)

It's the 20th anniversary of the April Fool's Day that Maura Johnston and I spent several hours on WNUR-FM in Chicago, pretending to flip to the all-Pearl Jam format "Q89.3." It was a parody of Chicago's alternative radio station Q101, and we jabbed at its playlist, its over-reliance on Pearl Jam and its cheesy DJ presentations. I first wrote about this in 2004:

Ahh, nothing says April Fool's like a cheesy radio stunt. Back when I ran WNUR in college (yeah, I know, another college radio story -- Mike, it's been almost ten years! Move on!), we freaked our listeners out on April Fool's by yanking our regular programming (you know, the usual college fare-- indie rock bands that you've never heard of) and pretended to flip the station's format to mainstream alternative.

We called ourselves "Q89.3" -- a dig at Chicago's big time commercial alternative station, Q101 -- and played nothing but Pearl Jam for an hour (another dig at Q101, which was so obsessed with the band it actually had adopted as its slogan "This Is Not For You," the name of a Pearl Jam song).

A friend and fellow DJ, Maura, pretended to be the hyperactive British DJ "Sammy Jo" -- a staple of alternative stations back then (and a parody of Q101's Samantha James) -- while I played the clueless DJ "Fisher Stevens" (a play on Q101's Steve Fisher), who thought everything was ooh, soooo alternative while rattling off obvious trivia ("Did you know that Kurt Cobain was the lead singer of Nirvana?!").

Some listeners called in and freaked out, wondering what happpened. Others were wise to the parody and played along: "Hey, you know that Red Hot Chili Peppers song you just played? Could you play it again in about 40 minutes?"

It was a proud moment. Illinois Entertainer magazine called our prank the best of the year.

I finally uploaded an edited version of our "Q89.3" moment -- listen below!

Embed Music Files - Play Audio - Q893 (WNUR April Fool's Paro...

A Retro April Fool's Day at the Farmers Market

The L.A. Conservancy's Modern Committee has found a unique way to celebrate April Fool's Day -- and raise some money for the org at the same time.

The ModCom is holding an event this Thursday, April 1, at the Farmers Market's eccentric Shine Gallery. Here are the details:

Owner Bernie Shine is an eclectic and eccentric collector, a treasure hunter of sorts. But he does not seek sunken ships, buried treasures, or archeological ruins. Rather he recovers *genuine* vintage memorabilia* from dusty warehouses, old factories, and closed stores. He searches the world over for quantity finds from bygone eras, all in unused condition.

Shine Gallery is a collector’s paradise for bona fide period items mostly from the 1910s through the 1950s, all guaranteed to be authentic and vintage.

For the event, Shine will showcase "an amusing look at the history of joyful junk, featuring vintage jokes, novelties, tricks, pranks, prizes, trinkets & treasures from the incredible inventory of Shine Gallery."

Shine will donate 30% of gross sales that night to the Modcom. The store also promises a free mystery grab bag for the first 50 guests.

The April Fool's Day event takes place from 7 p.m. to 9 p.m.

April Fool's Joke Gone Awry, Or Done Right?

Call me crazy, but when you get the kind of reaction for an April Fool's stunt like the one KXOL-FM/"Latino 96.3" pulled Tuesday, that, to me, is a successful bit.

The LAPD wound up visiting KXOL's studios after the station's "Morning Invasion" drive-time show set up a contest for tickets to London. One listener offered to tattoo her 2-year-old son; later on the show, listeners heard a wailing baby and the sound of a tattoo artist doing his work. The listener got the tickets, but the "Morning Invasion" crew were fired on-air by KXOL's general manager.

Of course, it was all a prank, there was no tattooed 2-year-old, and the morning team weren't fired. But it enraged listeners enough to call the cops. Read more about it here.

Meanwhile, in other local radio news:

-- Sluggo, the DJ formerly known as "Doug the Slug," is now doing the afternoon 4-7 p.m. drivetime shift on KROQ. He replaces Stryker, who still co-hosts "Loveline" but had to give up the KROQ afternoon slot last fall to focus on his duties as the DJ on Ellen DeGeneres' syndicated talk show.

-- Brian Whitman is out at KLSX 97.1 "Free FM"; he'd co-hosted the nighttime "Conway and Whitman Show." Tim Conway Jr. continues solo in the slot.

-- New owner Bonneville is expected to debut the new format at 100.3 FM by the end of the week, so it's your last chance to catch the R&B format of "V100."