Saturday, November 10, 2018

Prince "Raspberry Beret"

"Did you ever hear the story of the lady who sent brownies laced with acid to the radio station?" A colleague from our Classic Rock station posed that question to me recently. Although he didn't partake in the brownies, one of his fellow DJ's did -- causing him to "trip balls" for a few hours. His story lends credence to the Golden Rule among radio DJs: never EVER eat food from a listener.

While producing a radio dating show that aired during the mid-2000s, listeners would come into our studio each night and question three eligible singles who were on the phone -- while we all listened. One night, a congenial bachelorette came to the studio bearing gifts: homemade chocolate-covered strawberries. While her gesture seemed innocent enough, the two hosts and I looked at one another with concern. We all knew the Golden Rule, but how do we not insult this person bearing these delicious hand-made strawberries? The male host finally broke the ice and bit into one of the strawberries. Our guest, however, wasn't satisfied. "You have to one!" she said to the other host and me. Throwing caution to the wind, we both popped the sweet treats into our mouths fulling expecting to bite into a razor blade or perhaps rat poison. Instead of tripping balls, slicing our mouths open or vomiting profusely, we both survived. In fact, during the course of the dating show's two-year run, several contestants came bearing gifts of homemade cannoli, pot roast and candy. Again, we survived.