Utility Unamused by Holiday Light Hoax
Posted on: Wednesday, 21 January 2004, 06:00 CST
A radio ad warning that listeners needed to take down their Christmas lights or face fines was meant as a joke.
But Public Service Company of New Mexico didn't find it funny.
The state's largest utility issued a news release over the weekend revealing the hoax. This week, PNM hand-delivered a letter to Citadel Southwest Radio, addressed to Citadel's vice president and general manager Milt McConnell, protesting the use of a logo similar to PNM's on a bogus Web site that perpetuated the prank.
The Web site had links to Citadel radio station 93.3 KOB-FM.
"I will not comment," Art Ortega, director of public affairs for Citadel Southwest Radio, said Tuesday.
Printouts of the Web site provided by PNM show a logo resembling PNM's and labeled "Power Cooperative of New Mexico."
The Web site disappeared about an hour after the letter was delivered to Citadel, PNM spokesman Don Brown said Tuesday. The Web site did not work early Wednesday.
The bogus radio ads and Web site warned of a legislative ban on holiday lights because of a shortage of power in Western states. The Web site said violators would be fined per bulb, and viewers could click on a button to report violations.
Those who clicked on the link were transferred to a page topped with the Citadel-owned KOB-FM logo that said, "We Gotcha! It was just for fun! Like our show! The Morning After with John & Rebecca. Now Take Your Lights Down!"
Brown said the Web site "clearly altered the PNM logo in an effort to confuse PNM customers."
PNM discovered the prank Friday after getting calls from customers worried that they should take lights down or be fined. Callers reported hearing ads on at least three Citadel-owned stations.
PNM said it traced the source code of the Web site directly to KOB-FM.
"It looked like a legitimate Web site," Brown said.
An Internet search showed that a radio station in Rochester, N.Y., aired similar prank ads last week.
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