Ada County Sheriff’s Office spokesperson Andrea Dearden tells Idaho Radio News that “two to three people” called Ada County Dispatch with tips or information regarding the “stolen” Black Kia. They were told that there was no stolen car, and to contact the radio station.
Boise Police spokesperson Lynn Hightower said she was warned by someone with KCIX - and let dispatch supervisors know about the stunt Thursday morning shortly after the stunt began. She says very minimal staff time was spent. “Other than a couple more follow up conversations involving myself, I’m not aware of any time spent by this department on this subject,” she said.
UPDATE:Hightower wanted to note that her department often gets a heads up from radio stations doing promotions that could have some public impact - including gas giveaways, downtown events, etc. “I really do appreciate when stations think of those potential public impacts and call the department.”
on Apr 8th, 2008 at 7:19 am
As a tax payer, this upsets me to some degree. Why should a radio station be allowed to involve the resources of our law enforcement in promotional stunt?
on Apr 8th, 2008 at 7:57 am
well, at least no one one in the trunk this time.
on Apr 8th, 2008 at 10:05 am
God forbid I would need get a hold of the police to have them come to my aid.
“Oh, we can’t talk to you now because we’re looking for black Kia’s. We’re tailing one down Broadway.”
I know I’m blowing this out of proportion, but as I grow older I get less and less tolerant of B.S. marketing and promotional stunts that insult my intelligence.
on Apr 8th, 2008 at 3:49 pm
The sad truth is this — listeners are stupid. Rembember “War of the Worlds”? No matter how many times it was announced as a fictional program, people still bought into it and panic ensued. Little by little, as we try to “entertain”, we continue to erode the credibility of the media, until some day, when the enemy finally comes in and bombs us, no one will heed the warnings. We will have finally conditioned them that nothing in the media can be beleived, and they won’t figure it out until it’s too late. The poor listener, in his ignorance, cannot tell when we are “entertaining” or “informing”. We have crossed the line a few too many times. It’s our own fault. That is how we have trained the listener. We have lost our value to inform, and all that is left is to entertain. Sad……
on Apr 8th, 2008 at 4:07 pm
How many times is media, government, community, etc. going to cry wolf and/or claim the sky is falling before the wolf really shows up and the sky really does fall and no one listens?
on Apr 8th, 2008 at 5:33 pm
Do not, I repeat, Do not confuse me with facts, I already have my own opinion of what happened, so I don’t even care about the facts any more.
I agree with everyone, thanks to mix, if UFO’s come to kill us, now I won’t even believe that it’s happening till a death ray kills me. AIEHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!! THanks for nothing you cruel bastards, now I’m dead.
on Apr 8th, 2008 at 7:54 pm
I too am appreciative when stations running promotions that result in increased road traffic or large gatherings of people give Ada County Dispatch the heads up, but clear something up for me -
Did Mike and Kate tell listeners to call Ada County Police Dispatch to help “solve the case” last Thursday morning?
Again, I have a problem with that.
Two or three people called. Fine, no big deal, but what if two or three hundred called? What if it were more? RDS said it - listeners are dumb and it’s the media’s fault for making them that way.
This is not what I pay taxes for - just so a radio station can come up with a stunt that unwillingly involves men and women doing a thankless, yet important job for our city and county.
Come to think of it - I’m actually more upset with Ada County for allowing this. If I were Sheriff Raney or Chief Masterson and caught wind of this, I would have made it clear to Mix that if they pulled this stunt somebody will be wearing an orange jumpsuit for a week.
Hang ‘em high!
on Apr 8th, 2008 at 9:23 pm
Out of curiosity, how much good has KCIX done for the community? How many thousands and thousands of dollars have they raised for charity? Anyone have ANY idea?
Ya’ll are whining about taxpayer dollars (that they paid as well) because “two or three” people called the police about a radio promotion?
Hahahahahahahahaha.
You guys are lame (but I mean that in a nice way)…
on Apr 9th, 2008 at 4:11 am
Just because they pay taxes, it doesn’t give them the right to abuse the services we pay for.
on Apr 10th, 2008 at 5:35 pm
I heard them say numerous times….don’t call the police, call the station and let them know exactly where they saw the car, then the station would call the autorities…..again, in my opinion a sure fire give away that this was just a stupid promotion on the stations part…..but once again, maybe I’m smarter than I give me credit for. Kinda like war of the worlds….listeners were told numorous times that the broadcast was fake, but listerners didn’t care. It was real to them and it didn’t really matter that the station continuously made it clear that it was fake. People are going to believe what they want.
on Apr 10th, 2008 at 6:14 pm
If you put on the tin-foil hat it will all beome clear to you.
on Apr 10th, 2008 at 9:20 pm
“….don’t call the police, call the station and let them know exactly where they saw the car, then the station would call the autorities…..”
This is really scary. Now we have stations training listeners when the see a crime, don’t call authorities. Now, some dumb listener is going to take that seriously, and when minutes matter, instead of calling 911, they’ll call some stations request line….That will really get then the help they need. This stunt gets more frightenting by the minute. Years ago I was proud of this industry becuase it had some credibility. I’m sorry to say, that pride is rapidly being replaced by embarrasment.
on Apr 11th, 2008 at 9:01 am
This is sort of thing has been going on for years. Remember the video posted a couple weeks ago? What was it, the little documentary on the news station in Canada back in the 70’s? I remember they said people would call the newsroom first to report a crime before they called the cops!
Everybody wants their 15 minutes of fame. I remember people calling me when I was on the air to say they saw a UFO. OK - Fine. What do you want me to do about it? You want me to scramble the Air Force and put them in pursuit? How about I call Scully and Moulder and put them on the case?
This is just great. I’m going to lying near-dead in a ditch and instead of someone calling 911 they call “The Hot Line” to tell a DJ that they found a dude in a ditch and to request the latest Hannah Montana song.
on Apr 12th, 2008 at 11:28 am
First of all I was in the industry years ago for many years, and there never has been any credibility…..with the exception of the news…..and even that has very little credibility as most stations just copy from the newspaper or tv stations anyway. Face it you got punked and now you’re pissed….at least that’s what I hope because, if not you seem a little pissy for no reason. NO ONE GOT HURT (EXCEPT FOR APPARENTLY YOUR FEELINGS) NO POLICE WERE EVER INVOLVED AND NO TAXPAYER DOLLARS WERE WASTED. IT IS ALL A GAME. NOW DO EVERYONE A FAVOR AND CALL THE FEDERAL GOVERNMENT ABOUT HOW YOU’RE BEING LIED TO ABOUT WRESTLING…..AND GIVE SOME OF THE REST OF US WHO GET ENTERTAINING RADIO AND CREATIVITY A BIG FAT BREAK FOR GAWDS SAKE!!!!!!!
on Apr 12th, 2008 at 2:08 pm
PooPoo, that was well said! I appreciate the fact that some one GETS it and doesn’t freak out. Way to go!!!
on Apr 13th, 2008 at 9:21 am
(whacking the beehive and poking poopoo with a stick because it’s Sunday and I’m bored.)
poopoo - I guess that’s all life is to you: one big game. I’m just tired of BS and mediocrity being passed off as creative and innovative. I wasn’t lied to because a.) I don’t listen to local radio -especially Mix- and b.) I found out about all of this on this blog first.
I like to have as much fun as the next guy, but this was a stupid stunt that blew up in the face of Mix. There was nothing creative about. There was nothing entertaining about it.