Fla. Station Fined $4,000 for Castro Prank

[zzyzzx]

Fla. Station Fined $4,000 for Castro Prank
Sat Apr 24, 5:04 PM ET

MIAMI - A radio station that crank-called Cuban President Fidel Castro and broadcast the recording should be fined $4,000, the Federal Communications Commission said.

The Spanish-speaking hosts of "The Morning High Jinks" used snippets of an earlier prank involving Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez to move the call from a receptionist up the chain to Castro in a five-minute broadcast June 17.

The hosts of the show on WXDJ-FM, Joe Ferrero and Enrique Santos, fed pleasantries to Castro before breaking in and calling him an assassin. The conversation ended after Castro denounced the callers with a stream of vulgarities.

The FCC concluded Friday that the station should be fined for the broadcast. It rejected the station's claim that a rule requiring people to be notified before their voices are used does not apply to people in Cuba.

Payment of the fine or a request for cancellation or reduction is required within 30 days.

It was unclear whether the station had been fined for the prank involving Chavez five months before.

There was no answer at the station's business line Saturday, and a call to the station's Washington attorney was not immediately returned.


Note to moderators: This is intended to be a funny story about a phoney phone call to Fidel Castro, not a political thread. Any replies below should be comments about how funny the phone call was, not the FCC.

[devinemi83]

I love prank calls. But no one can beat the mr bergis ones LOL

[indolikaa]

The more they fine 'em, the more outrageous the next one will be.

[WeedVender]

I heard that one over a year ago... a radio station in NYC called "el Basilon de la manana"... They had a recording of Hugo Chavez and go through all the secrataries and eventually to Fidel himself... I cant believe he fell for the same prank twice though... maybe it was a recording?...

[glockjs]

im sure indolikaa remembers clarissa jenkins that was some funny shhiiit.

how can they be fined for pranking castro, he's a commi..he's got no rights

[lordsmurf]

The FCC is currently being run be Gestapo Powell (Colin Powell's son ... Gestapo is a joke, I forget the *******'s real name). Remember this government shenanigans (sp?) when voting time comes around.

I find this kind of radio HILARIOUS .. the ONLY reason to even turn on a radio anymore .. and perfectly clean fun that the government should keep their nose out of ... those "moral" politicians and officials need to just shut the hell up and run the country, not this.

[pacmania_2001]

The FCC is currently being run be Gestapo Powell (Colin Powell's son ... Gestapo is a joke, I forget the *******'s real name). Remember this government shenanigans (sp?) when voting time comes around.

Michael Powell is his name.

Ditto on your sentiments.

[flaninacupboard]

has anyone managed to come up with an explanation of why that guy is called colon and not colin? it's spelled ******* colin!