
                         Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: WEDNESDAY, January 25, 1995                   TAG: 9501250073
SECTION: VIRGINIA                    PAGE: C1   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: SHANNON D. HARRINGTON STAFF WRITER
DATELINE:                                 LENGTH: Medium

RADIO STATION'S `HAPPY DAYS' ARE GONE AGAIN

A radio station stunt to promote a new disc jockey sounded more like an hour-long broken record and ended up with police being dispatched to the studio.

The furor began Monday night when new hire Rich E. Cunningham took to the air on Top 40 station K92. Playing off the similarity between his name and the lead character from the sitcom ``Happy Days,'' Cunningham decided to lead the show with the ``Happy Days'' theme song, for an hour straight.

``It wouldn't stop,'' Cunningham claimed. ``Every time I went to play another song, it would keep playing.''

That's when the phone calls began pouring in. Some listeners liked it; others complained.

``Every phone line was lit,'' said Chris Taylor, the station's program director. ``People in the community really went wild.''

However, some listeners were worried. About a dozen called 911, apparently concerned that there was a problem at the station.

``We had numerous phone calls on the 911 lines wanting to know if [the station workers] were OK,'' said Sgt. David Wells of the Roanoke County police.

In response to the 911 calls, an officer was dispatched to the scene, where he requested that the station stop the song.

"We were concerned that it would jam the 911 lines," Wells explained.

The station told the officer that the song would stop at 8 p.m., about one hour after the show had begun, Wells said.

However, after the strong response from listeners, the station decided to continue with the Happy Days song, but not constantly.

``Rich E. found a solution to the continuous play, but due to the magnitude of positive response, he continued to play along with the audience,'' Taylor said.

After the hour of continuous play, Cunningham continued to intersperse the ``Happy Days'' theme song with phone calls from listeners and other stunts. At times, he would begin to play a song then revert to the theme and would allow listeners to play a recording of a song over the telephone. His program ended at midnight.

by CNB