The Waxahachie Zoo Lost It's Lease!

There's a little town about an hour south of Dallas called Waxahachie. Waxahachie is the ultimate Texas town... it's still got the quaint Texas charm from decades ago. It's the sort of place that everybody's heard of but nobody really goes to. For April Fools Day, we announced on the air that the Waxahachie Zoo had fallen on hard times and was closing it's doors - thus, they needed to relocate all of their animals. And, of course, we were going to help.

Recorded Promo:

"Your more music station is also your more MOO-sic station...

THE PROBLEM: The Waxahachie Zoo has fallen on hard times and needs to relocate all of their animals.

So, we're giving 'em away!

...You could own an ostrich!
...Babysit a barracuda!
...Wanna Win A Walrus?

Help us help the Waxahachie Zoo and you could help yourself to a free feline of your very own!"

Of course, there is no zoo in Waxahachie... How could there be? And really - how can you give away zoo animals on the radio?

Before the 'giveaway' began, the staff met in the station's conference room to go over the prank and to have a little fun with it. We made a list of animals to be given away... One person would say a kind of animal, somebody else would yell out a goofy fact or character trait, and eventually we'd end up with creatures like "A uni-directional one-finned Trinity River Trout" and "A white-spotted albino Scandinavian snow leopard". All that mattered when we put the giveaway on the air was that the jocks presented the whole thing as being 100% real.

When we put the silly giveaway on the air, listeners went crazy. They bought in hook, line & sinker. We had people calling us to ask if they could adopt the animals. We had people calling to find out when the best animals were being given away. (the 'best' animals?) We had someone from Waxahachie call us to ask how long they'd had a zoo! A woman called to find out if we'd be giving away any giraffes because she had lots of high trees in her back yard. A man called to ask if we had anything he could learn to ride. (what?!?) Somebody wanted a hippopotamus for the pond behind their house.

Somehow, the jocks handled these questions with ease. Even the complaint calls were hilarious.

• Caller: "You can't give away a panda! That's an endangered species!!!"
• Jock: "I KNOW! That's why we've gotta find it a new home! You can't put a panda to sleep! It's an endangered species!!!!"

Hearing that stuff on the radio every few minutes was unbelievable. Of course, the whole thing was a joke. Just an April Fools prank.

• Jock: "You're caller ten!!!"
• Caller: "Ooooooh yeah!!!"
• Jock: "You just won a Walla Walla Walrus named Wilbur"
• Caller: "uuhhmmm... ok! What do I need to feed him?"
• Jock: "Whadaya got?" [answers like that are priceless]

The jock then tells the winner OFF the air that it's all an April Fools joke, and laughter ensues... though every now and then you could tell the caller was disappointed to NOT have won some sort of dangerous beast. ON the air, we never mentioned that it was a joke.

The prank got even funnier when things went wrong...

...A mother calls with a problem.
• Caller: "My daughter won a leopard from your radio station."
  
• Jock: "Yeah...?"
  
• Caller: "Well we live in an apartment, so we can't have a leopard."
  
• Jock: "How big is the apartment?" [As if that matters!!!!]
  
• Caller: "You don't understand... my daughter's just a kid. She doesn't understand these things... we can't have a leopard!"
  
• Jock: "Well how long ago did she win it?"
  
• Caller: "About an hour ago I guess..."
  
• Jock: "Hang on... [shuffles through papers] ...ma'am, I'm sorry but they've already got the leopard in the van on the way to your apartment."
  
• Caller: "WHAT!!!?"
  
• Jock: "They should be there any minute. Maybe you can put an ad in the paper and somebody will want to adopt it..."
  
• Caller: "Oh $%!#!!!"

Come on people!!! How can a radio station give away a leopard? How could a radio station that plays Britney freaking Spears give away a Cockeyed Cambodian Caramel-Colored Cougar? And, just to be clear, callers were told it was a joke, though we obviously didn't air that part of the calls.

That was the funniest April Fools prank I've ever heard.