Pranking former WLOSers: One for the ages

Jason Sandford

Jason Sandford is a reporter, writer, blogger and photographer interested in all things Asheville.

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Here is some great stuff from Ashvegas Refugee regarding a prank pulled on TV newscasters, both former WLOSers. Read on, and try not to pee your pants:

A few years ago, during a snowstorm in Raleigh, News 14 Carolina, the local Time-Warner cable 24-hour news channel (run by former WLOS news director Alan Mason and chief meteorologist Gary Stephenson) had this bright idea – they would let local businesses register, post and update their own screen crawls –
saving the news folks tons of work.

Some enterprising students at NC State discovered that you could register a fake business and gain direct, uncensored access to the screen crawls appearing live on the broadcast. They posted the information on an N.C. State board and the board posters began pranking the while posting the results in real time.

To quote one of the first posters “this could get bad…” it did. The best part is, the board has been archived for everyone’s enjoyment. Here’s the link.

I’ve attached a screen grab as a teaser.

Enjoy.

Ashvegas Refugee