1 of 1- RadioActive
- Moderator
Offline 
Will Any Local Radio Stations Pull April Fool Pranks On Wednesday?
It's March 31st and I don't know about you, but I won't miss this horrible weather month. It also means April 1st is less than 24 hours away, and I remember when I was working in rock radio, we always had something cooked up for April Fool's Day. The all time best was CFTR's Metric Time, which happened a year or so after Canada moved from Fahreinheit to Celsius and miles to kilometres.
We kept telling listeners that the forgotten Metric Time was in effect, as part of the government's move to the new scale. Upset listeners called in droves, angry that they hadn't heard about it and equally upset that all their watches and clocks would now be obsolete. As a "helpful" service, 680 offered the rules of conversion, which were completely ridiculous, saying that 10 minutes to 5 would now be 13 minutes after 2. And on it went. (You can hear the entire thing here, anchored by TR's then news director Bob Holiday (who, no fooling, is celebrating his birthday on April 5th. Happy early Birthday Bob!)
You'll also hear the phone recording they set up to try and "explain" the nightmarish scenario, which spills the beans on the joke.
A second attempt the following year, about an Indigenous tribe taking over Toronto Island to reclaim their land would certainly not go over well now.
All this leads to the question: do radio stations still do this on the First of April? I guess we'll know in 24 hours, but playing pranks on listeners is a time honoured tradition. A writer for Barrie Today recalls the hijinks they pulled during her years in the business.
"I remember the one where it was suggested a new by-law had come into effect and Barrie residents needed their Christmas lights removed from the house before noon or face a fine..."
"One year, the phone company suggested we needed to unscrew our telephones (land lines) and vacuum out the cords. We had a fake official do step by step instructions.And yes, some did it!"
I believe CFTR pulled the same gag in the years prior to my working there.
You can read her recap of some of the stunts here.
So never mind the Ides of March. Beware the Jibes of April. Also that under some sort of unofficial rule, it has to be over by noon.
- RadioAaron
- Member
Offline
Re: Will Any Local Radio Stations Pull April Fool Pranks On Wednesday?
Binson Echorec wrote:
put 99.9 on 104.5.
Nobody would notice.
- Paul Jeffries
- Member
Offline
Re: Will Any Local Radio Stations Pull April Fool Pranks On Wednesday?
This is probably considered one of the biggest April Fool's Day pranks in radio ever.
PJ
ClassicHitsOnline.com...Toronto's ORIGINAL classic hits station!
- RadioActive
- Moderator
Offline
Re: Will Any Local Radio Stations Pull April Fool Pranks On Wednesday?
AM640's morning man Greg Brady discussed radio pranks on his show Wednesday, relating an incident I'd ever heard of.
Some April Fool's jokes are amusing (like Metric Time, above.) Others are just dumb and are obviously fake. But one was actually really cruel and stupid. It happened in Boston in 1998, when shock jocks Opie & Anthony went on the air and told listeners that the city's mayor had been killed in a car crash. There was, of course, nothing remotely amusing about the claim, and thousands believed it happened.
It was made worse because the mayor at the time was in a car and in those pre-cell phone days, could not be reached. His wife was listening to the station and was understandably distraught when she couldn't reach her husband. Hundreds of condolence calls from well meaning friends and relatives followed, as the story spread quickly.
It was a really, really bad joke and in the end, it cost the duo their jobs. They weren't unemployed long. Despite the horrible stunt, they were quickly hired by a radio station in New York City, the top market in the country, so they wound up better off than they started.
But it may be the single worst April Fool's prank in radio history.
The Day Two Shock Jocks Killed The Mayor On April Fool's Day
- •
Thread Starter- RadioActive
- Moderator
Offline
Re: Will Any Local Radio Stations Pull April Fool Pranks On Wednesday?
- •
Thread Starter- Shorty Wave
- Member
Offline
Re: Will Any Local Radio Stations Pull April Fool Pranks On Wednesday?
Fun read! There are some here that I was not aware of and some I’m glad I wasn’t! Thanks RA.
- Tq345
- Member
Offline
Re: Will Any Local Radio Stations Pull April Fool Pranks On Wednesday?
I'm glad they included Strange Fruit from the film Still Crazy, one of my favourite movies.
Incidentally, some of the songwriters for Strange Fruit's tunes include Mick Jones from Foreigner, Chris Difford from Squeeze and Jeff Lynne from ELO.
- Radiowiz
- Member
Offline
Re: Will Any Local Radio Stations Pull April Fool Pranks On Wednesday?
Yeah, AM 640 this morning tried to tell us all that we're better off than Australians because their gas price works out to $2.25 Canadian.
That was FUNNY!! Great prank!
I'm not an April fool! Look at their minimum wage over there!!!!!!! Not a word of that because Greg Knows leaving out the minimum wage detail is the best way to turn the believers into April Fools!
FYI: The minimum wage per hour in Australia is $24.95/hr AUD. Converted back to Cdn, that's roughly $24.09.
What would you rather have? gas that averages around $1.80/L at $17.60/hr?
OR
$2.25/L with a minimum wage of $24.09/hr?
This doesn't even discuss whether or not there is a public transit tax in that price like the one in Quebec.
Gotta love all that missing information...
Last edited by Radiowiz (April 1, 2026 8:31 am)
- RadioActive
- Moderator
Offline
Re: Will Any Local Radio Stations Pull April Fool Pranks On Wednesday?
This is maybe my favourite April Fool's radio prank, because it's all about radio itself.
Back in 1976, Jim Scott was working the evening shift on WYSL-FM in Buffalo and having a great time. In addition to airing completely fake commercials for non-existent products, they went into almost every song with a jingle - from another U.S. radio station!
It was great and if you've never heard it, it's a wonderful poke at the industry at the same time being highly entertaining.
It's available from Dale Patterson's always great Rock Radio Scrapbook site here.
- •
Thread Starter