Note: This blog has been scrubbed, scoured and deemed Coronavirus free. (Whew!)
Last month social media jumped all over the “Broom Standing Challenge” where folks were using their balancing skills to have a house broom stand upright on its bristles. There was talk that NASA engineers claimed this balancing act could only happen on February 10th and it had to do with the earth’s gravitational pull. Of course this was a complete farce, a canard and silly folklore. Because of its low center of gravity, you can balance a broom on its bristles at any time. Nevertheless, the standing brooms on their bristles pictures and videos ‘swept’ the country.
So looking at the calendar this coming week, we have St. Patrick’s Day and the first day of spring approaching. Both of these dates bring me back to scams we used to pull when I was executive producing for Robert Murphy at WKQX FM/ Q-101. Harmless pranks but ones that still crack me up to this day.
A WEE IRISH LIE
While all St. Patrick’s Day parades around the country have been cancelled due to the Coronavirus scare, I still can think back to some fun we had on the radio when the Irish holiday would happen.
Every St. Patrick’s day, The Murphy in the Morning Show would offer listeners chances to call in for backstage passes to Chicago’s St. Patrick’s Parade. As soon as the morning show faithful heard the term “Backstage passes” they’d blaze up the phone lines, looking to score their parade privileges. Murf would put some of these folks on the air and let em know what they won. Then a little later he’d cop to the fact that there is no such thing as backstage passes to the parade.
EGG ON THEIR FACES
A few days later, we pulled the annual Vernal Equinox scam on our listeners. There’s an urban legend that says at a specific hour on the first day of spring you could balance an egg on one of its short narrow ends. Something about the gravitational pull with the change of seasons was part of the story in this bogus fact.
Robert agreed to twist up the urban legend and told listeners that at a certain time in the morning you could hold a regular egg above your head, drop it straight down to the floor and it wouldn’t break. “Go ahead, now’s the time, start dropping eggs” Murf would say, “Get ready to see those eggs NOT break!”
A few minutes later we’d get phone calls from morning listeners. “My egg broke!” “What’s going on?” “Am I doing this right?” We heard eggs break on the floor while curious people were on the phone asking for help. One person said they had half a dozen broken eggs to clean off their kitchen floor. At some point, a listener or two who “got it” and understood our prank would call in. They’d be laughing and would ask Murf, “Why are you torturing these people?”
So come the Vernal Equinox, don’t let anyone snow you with how an egg can be balanced on its short side, and for God’s sake don’t let some wacky radio guy tell you to drop some eggs to the floor because they won’t break.
NEXT BLOG: Remembering a great concert from 1990.