According to Richard Huff at nydailynews.com, Spike TV will air "Phowned," a half-hour show built around the radio program's take on phone pranks. It will be shown at 7 and 11 p.m. Its a five night test.
"For years, people would say, 'How come you don't put this on TV?'" Duran says.
They weren't on TV because no video existed, he says, and because getting the calls done is hard enough to do in the first place.
Morning-show prank calls are set up by friends and families of unsuspecting victims.
In one call, for example, a 52-year-old woman who is about to get married is offered a great deal on a reception hall. Then, in a second call, she is told the hall can't honor the price, and blows her stack when she is told she's probably too old to get married anyway.
Duran's group persisted in trying to bring the feature to television. It hooked up with Atlas Media, a production company, and they found a way to film it by setting up prank calls in homes where video cameras had been hidden.
Read more here.
Tom's Take: Since the FCC frowns on fake phoners to unsuspecting listeners, one would wonder how Duran gets aaway with it. Just guessing but I suspect Duran gets releases signed before airing and the help of family and friends probably removes the sting. Still, you gotta believe Clear Channel's legal eagles have all I's dotted and T's crossed.
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