etaoin! re: Bloopers
Posted: Sat Feb 21, 2009 10:13 am
I didn't see your question last night asking if I had any memorable bloopers during my radio days. Believe me, I had my share of mistakes, but the one that always sticks out in my mind was from before I went "pro"..when I was doing my "countdown" show on my college radio station. A weekly feature of the show was when I would take a pause in the countdown of our station's Top 20 requested songs to see what was #1 in other countries according to that week's issue of Billboard Magazine. One of the challenges of that was in finding different ways to identify each #1..it gets pretty boring to say "#1 in England is ----, #1 in France is --, #1 in Germany is----", and so on..you wanna mix it up by saying stuff like "the most popular song in Germany is ---, --- is at the top spot in Japan with ----", etc. My best bud, roommate, and drummer in our band, was my co-host. Anyway, I'm running down the different #1's from other countries, feeling oh so clever about the many variations of "#1" I was coming up with, when I got to Italy. Frankie Valli had a huge hit at that time in many countries with the title track from a very popular movie. I swear to you I was not cognizant of the implications of what I was saying when I uttered---
"..and Frankie Valli is holding down the big one in Italy with 'Grease'".
It was just the perfect yet unfortunate blending of ethnic stereotyping (Italy-grease..even being Italian it STILL never crossed my mind) and sexual entendre. And y'know, it didn't even hit me what I'd said until I saw my co-host doubled over in laughter..THEN it dawned on me..and I started laughing. Helpless laughter. Steve was no help at all, as he was not breathing. I somehow got us into the next song while we recovered, but not after a good minute (in radio, that's a lifetime of dead air) of nothing but two guys trying desperately to draw a breath.
I can't recall anything else to match that one..certainly I made my share of boo-boos in 10 years on the air as a pro, and a few ill-advised wisecracks that I regretted as soon as they left my mouth, but nothing that stands out as much as that innocent remark made by a guy that was just trying not to be redundant.
"..and Frankie Valli is holding down the big one in Italy with 'Grease'".
It was just the perfect yet unfortunate blending of ethnic stereotyping (Italy-grease..even being Italian it STILL never crossed my mind) and sexual entendre. And y'know, it didn't even hit me what I'd said until I saw my co-host doubled over in laughter..THEN it dawned on me..and I started laughing. Helpless laughter. Steve was no help at all, as he was not breathing. I somehow got us into the next song while we recovered, but not after a good minute (in radio, that's a lifetime of dead air) of nothing but two guys trying desperately to draw a breath.
I can't recall anything else to match that one..certainly I made my share of boo-boos in 10 years on the air as a pro, and a few ill-advised wisecracks that I regretted as soon as they left my mouth, but nothing that stands out as much as that innocent remark made by a guy that was just trying not to be redundant.