Florida DJs may face felony for april joke

[Deleted]

For those too lazy to read, they said on radio that dihydrogen monoxide is coming out of people's taps and people panicked. Combined with the reaction from the water company, which didn't say "dihydrogen monoxide IS water" but rather said that there's no dangerous substances coming out of their tap, it created a huge scare.

http://www.theatlanticwire.com/enter...er-joke/63798/

Florida country radio morning-show hosts Val St. John and Scott Fish are currently serving indefinite suspensions and possibly worse over a successful April Fools' Day prank. They told their listeners that "dihydrogen monoxide" was coming out of the taps throughout the Fort Myers area. Dihydrogen monoxide is water.

The popular deejays are mainly in all this trouble (potentially of a felony level) because their listeners panicked so much — about the molecular makeup of their drinking water, however unwittingly — that Lee County utility officials had to issue a county-wide statement calming the fears of chemistry challenged Floridians.

Audio evidence of exactly how St. John and Fish executed this bad joke remains scarce, as they were pulled off the air around 8:30 a.m. — about three and half hours into their Val and Scott in the Morning show on WWGR/Gator Country 101.9 FM, which airs across a big region of Southwest Florida. That was enough time for listeners to begin calling the water company. Here's the official statement from Lee County utility issued Monday after fielding many calls about the "dihydrogen monoxide" scare:

"They were joking that 'dihydrogen monoxide' was coming out of Lee County residents' taps," reports Florida's WPTV, though it also remains unclear just how much the two hosts stoked the joke, and whether they actually told people to stop drinking the "dihydrogen monoxide" coming out of their taps. The WWGR station's manager did have to issue a retraction — or at least a constant on-air admission that the gag was, in fact, a joke — even though St. John and Fish were technically correct that dihydrogen monoxide was, indeed, coming out of their taps.

"Every break we have we're telling listeners it was a goof, a bad joke," Tony Renda, general manager at WWGR radio told WTSP-TV. And apparently, the station, the water works, and perhaps the authorities are still trying to figure out if the two hosts could face felony charges for, again, reporting that the scientific name of water was coming out of the pipes. "My understanding is it is a felony to call in a false water quality issue," Diane Holm, a public information officer for Lee County, told WTSP, while Renda stood firm about his deejays: "They will have to deal with the circumstances."

St. John and Fish are currently off the air, and maybe someone should tell their Senator, Marco Rubio — he of the unending water joke — or conservative lawmakers across the land: Our CPAC correspondent Elspeth Reeve tells us that the whole water-is-a-chemical-called-"dihydrogen oxide" bit was a really hit at the annual conference's panel entitled "How I Learned to Stop Worrying & Love Plastic Water Bottles, Fracking, Genetically Modified Food, & Big Gulp Sodas."

Update 4:36 p.m. Eastern: We noticed that the station seems to be enjoying this controversy, despite the very real concerns expressed to the Lee County utility. There's a poll on the Gator Country website asking when the two DJs should return to air, with (at the time we viewed the results) 78 percent of those voting "never."

Update:

Update to the article in the OP.

http://www.theatlanticwire.com/enter...ry-long/63837/

[Deleted]

I find this incredibly amusing.

[Suzisuicide]

Seriously? That's hillarious! Kinda sad for the Radiohost though.
No harm was done so he should be let off the hook imo.

[Doctor Amadeus]

Yeah, freedom of speech, but you aren't always free from that speech or because of it, this was a calculated risk, and one that should see them with punishment.

[obdigore]

Yeah, freedom of speech, but you aren't always free from that speech or because of it, this was a calculated risk, and one that should see them with punishment.

So they should be punished because they told people water was coming out of their faucets? Is that what you are saying here?

[Ave07]

Can't wait till I move out of this state... seriously believe the radio hosts and not the news?

[PizzaSHARK]

Yeah, freedom of speech, but you aren't always free from that speech or because of it, this was a calculated risk, and one that should see them with punishment.

Are you serious? What did they do wrong?

[Deleted]

Actually, that's a travesty of justice, right there.

I suppose that everybody who can present a felony has finished primary education, at least. If you have finished primary school, you have the obligation to know that the dihydrogen monoxide is water.
You have to know it.
If you don't know it, it means you haven't been fulfilling the bare minimum compulsory requirements of knowledge to live in your country.
If you don't know it, it means you should be sent to rot in a cell, you are too ignorant to be a productive member of the society.

[Sekhmet]

Well, its OBVIOUSLY the djs fault that people are undereducated/stupid/easily paniked. Lets stone him!

[Deleted]

People should have thought about the date for a moment and then googled this ominous "dihydrogen monoxide". Then they would have felt dumb, but in a "yeah, you got me" sort of way. People getting posterior-ached about this joke is really ridiculous. I wonder about their sense of humor... the funniest joke they know prolly includes an alligator sandwich

[h4rr0d]

And now imagine the outcry if they made joke about Carbonic acid being in every single soda can... Seriously, the lack of education of some people is outraging.

[Ech0544]

Actually, that's a travesty of justice, right there.

I suppose that everybody who can present a felony has finished primary education, at least. If you have finished primary school, you have the obligation to know that the dihydrogen monoxide is water.
You have to know it.
If you don't know it, it means you haven't been fulfilling the bare minimum compulsory requirements of knowledge to live in your country.
If you don't know it, it means you should be sent to rot in a cell, you are too ignorant to be a productive member of the society.

While I agree this situation is absurd, how can you panick over something that you have no idea about, the first google would of said it was water, people shouldn't be punished for others ignorance. However... while I do live in the UK not US I finished secondary school in '03 with a Double A in science which would of been A* in if I had bothered to put more effort in and I wasn't even taught water is also called dihydrogen monoxide, its always been water or H2O, never even heard the term dihydrogen monoxide anywhere, ever before. It may be my school was useless and there would be some merit to that but it may be a term thats only been commonly used for a few years or even a decade, just cause something is in the curriculum today doesn't mean it was when the majority of the population went to school as well, or that they were actually taught it properly when they were there.

[MerinPally]

And now imagine the outcry if they made joke about Carbonic acid being in every single soda can... Seriously, the lack of education of some people is outraging.

Don't forget Benzoic Acid in their energy drinks, because the whole "Benz" thing everyone panics. Maybe we should remind them that with their household cleaning products and some garden fertiliser they can make some really funky stuff too.

Honestly if I had my way those 2 guys would have statues erected in their honour and plaques on the walls, for highlighting public stupidity and maybe something would be done about it.

[Deleted]

I find this incredibly amusing.

I was quite literally rolling on the floor, this is so funny!

[Luzkaz]

http://www.ranker.com/list/the-10-gr...ublic/pt_tesla

Number 2.

Old joke that caused a panic again.

[MerinPally]

I wasn't even taught water is also called dihydrogen monoxide, its always been water or H2O, never even heard the term dihydrogen monoxide anywhere, ever before.

So what though? You have to be TOLD every little thing you ever learnt, even when you were 15-16? I'm a university student studying chemistry, so I've been doing it and will be for longer than most and noone has ever told me it's Dihydrogen Monoxide apart from in a joking manner to catch out stupid people.

When you begin chemistry, you do a part of your course/module on naming chemicals, normally hydrocarbons because you can follow the simple meth eth prop but pattern of naming. One of the first things you learn is "di" means 2, and "mon" means one, and Hydrogen is pretty obvious and Oxide means it has oxygen in it. If people can't then piece together that 2 Hydrogen and 1 Oxygen might just equal HHO or HOH or H2O or possibly for the brighter ones - water - then why were they ever allowed to leave that chemistry class to begin with.

It's not in the curriculum now because it doesn't need to be. It's really simple to work out if you have basic science knowledge - and the premise of science is not to be told everything, but to learn a few things and piece them together like lego bricks and work stuff out yourself. That last bit seems to be lacking nowadays... Fortunately I didn't get taught science like that so I don't see it to its full extent but... *sigh* /rantover

[h4rr0d]

Don't forget Benzoic Acid in their energy drinks, because the whole "Benz" thing everyone panics. Maybe we should remind them that with their household cleaning products and some garden fertiliser they can make some really funky stuff too.

Honestly if I had my way those 2 guys would have statues erected in their honour and plaques on the walls, for highlighting public stupidity and maybe something would be done about it.

But benzoic acid is (has to be) written in the ingredients tab, so one would assume people know what they are drinking. Also, what kind of energy drinks you got over there? Just checked Red Bull can, and while there's a lot that's going on in there, there aren't any preservatives present.

[Dryade]

Yeah, freedom of speech, but you aren't always free from that speech or because of it, this was a calculated risk, and one that should see them with punishment.

You have to be a troll. I can't really believe you're that ignorant...

Infracted: Please refrain from insinuating that other posters are trolls.

[Deleted]

Yeah, freedom of speech, but you aren't always free from that speech or because of it, this was a calculated risk, and one that should see them with punishment.

I don't see why. They didn't lie. They told the truth. Water is coming through the pipes of the people in the area, that is a fact. It's not their fault people didn't know the chemical formula for water. And it takes like 2 min for people to search the net or something at worst case if they don't know it.

[lithne]

They should be suspended for being unoriginal and telling an extremely old joke.