WPSH
Angelo Martarano, another sta
tion advisor, explained the condi
tion of the radio station and
answered many questions.
The greatest obstacle in the
way of WPSH was getting the
signal to broadcast out of the
building. "Basically, Olmsted is
one big resistor," said Martarano.
"The trick is leaking out the sig
nal, which requires extra equip
ment, especially a modulator."
Marturano said that 3 years
ago, there was "something that
resembled a radio station," but
the sound waves did not reach
the dorms. The following year
WPSH was dormant, and last
year the club attempted to
launch again. After the attempted
launch, the radio station failed
once more, because all of the
equipment needed to reach the
new dorms was unavailable.
Eventually, the much-needed
equipment came in, including a
modulator to help the sound
waves reach the entire campus.
It looked like a breakthrough, but
the worst pitfall was yet to come.
Last summer, an electrical
storm broke the modulator, leav
ing WPSH silent once again.
Working with Janet Widoff, direc
tor of student affairs, the radio
club brought in an engineering
consultant to evaluate the dam
age. To get the equipment run
ning again and ready for broad
cast will cost approximately
$lO,OOO. Martarano said that this
money would be used to fix the
modulator and ensure that a
radio signal will broadcast to the
entire campus, including the
inside of all dorms, the CUB,
Library, Olmsted, and the
Science and Technology
Building.
Prank calls
Photo couresy of John Fox
John Fox relaxes after a
long day of fun.
By John Fox
Staff Reporter
jtfls3@psu.edu
This issue I've decided to take
a break from interviewing
famous bands and politicians
and write about a side of enter
tainment that is accessible to all
of our readers: pranks and crank
phone calls.
With the success of shows like
Jackass and Viva La Barn, it
seems everybody enjoys a good
prank and I'm sure all of you
have indulged in the occasional
crank phone call from time to
time. In my life, I must have
made a million crank phone calls
and have orchestrated an equal
number of devious pranks.
Before I was in the position to
go back to college full-time, I
worked in several careers. In
one of those careers, I worked
as an Account Manager for a
local rental chain called Rent
World (real name withheld). Rent
World is a true bottom feeder
begins
The club has since put in a
request for a grant through the
Student Activities Fund (SAF),
and is anticipating a response
within the next two to four weeks.
If a grant is not available, the
club plans to seek alternate fund
ing from the administration,
alumni, or anywhere else.
"If it comes down to a bake
sale, so be it," said Rios. "We'll
even put on music videos with
sock puppets behind the glass
WPSH wall until students get so
annoyed that someone makes
Photo by Dan Berger Students and faculty interested
in learning more about the radio
Angelo Martarano (L), radio station advisor, and professor Catherine Rios, faculty advisor, answered station can contact professor
many students' questions about the condition of WPSH at a meeting last Thursday in the auditorium, Catherine Rios, faculty advisor,
Olmsted. They discussed the future of the radio club and encouraged student involvement. at car33@psu.edu.
that profits off of the poor. They
target economically challenged
people with bad credit and offer
them merchandise with astro
nomical interest charges. The
customers make small weekly
payments so many are not
aware of the overall cost. Some
can end up spending $5,000
over three years on a used cof
fee table.
At Rent World, I was responsible
for making sure our clients paid
on time, threatening them when
they didn't pay, and the delivery
and collection of merchandise.
We had one client in particular
who habitually had a hard time
paying his bill. He was a rather
dim-witted individual so we felt
bad for him. He was harmless in
comparison to our other late pay
ing clients who routinely threat
ened us with physical violence. I
decided that he was the perfect
target for a prank.
I called him up from our office,
pretending to be Ed Coffey from
93.5. In spite of the fact the he
hears my voice on his answering
machine on a daily basis, he
believed that I was Ed Coffey
and that we were on the air. I
played a game show with him
which included very simple
questions and help from the "lis
tening audience." Once I was
satisfied, I told him that he won
$5OO and a chance for a
Caribbean cruise. His wife
cheered in the background. I
told him that he would have to
come down to our office the next
day to claim his cash prize and
register for the cruise. He was so
excited he could hardly enunci
ate properly. He told me that he
had never won anything before
and that he was going to borrow
gas money from his mom in
order to make to drive down to
the station. I only wish I could
have been there when security
hauled him away.
On another occasion, I called
the same client and acted like a
vacuum cleaner salesman. I told
him that I would love to do a free
to take shape after many tries
sure we get on the air . . . I'm not
joking. Whatever it takes."
The radio club intends to use
WPSH to combine different per
sonalities, majors, and experi
ences and apply these traits to
the ins and outs of broadcasting,
recording, editing, and promoting
from a frequency that will be
heard by their peers. WPSH will
not be licensed by the Federal
Communication Commission
(FCC), which allows for more
creativity and does not require
the station to broadcast 24 hours
offer old-fashioned fun
demo in his house and that I
would clean an entire rug in the
room of his choice. He decided
on the living room and then we
set up a time for me to come out.
I informed him that in order for
me to properly clean his carpet
he would have to remove every
thing from his living room.
When the day came for me to
come out and do the demo, I
drove to his house in the Rent
World van and acted like I was
coming over to check on his
account. When I noticed that his
front lawn was littered with
couches, tables, and lamps, I
asked him if he was trying to skip
out on us. He eagerly informed
me that someone was on their
way over to clean his living room
carpet.
On another occasion, I went to
a client's house on a service call.
I was by myself and she asked
where my coworker was. Off the
top of my head, I said that he
was in the hospital. Visibly con
cerned, she inquired why. I told
her that we were delivering a big
screen TV to a third floor apart
ment and he slipped, falling
Crank Yankers is a show on Comedy Central that uses puppets to
give faces to the voices on prank calls.
Entertainment
a day, seven days a week.
Rios supported a separation
between the FCC and WPSH.
"This will truly be a student sta
tion," said Rios. "I will give no
editorial influence."
"We definitely want to keep it
professional, but this way we
have freedom to play different
genres of music, said Martarano.
"The club won't be tied down to
one generic style, it can be as
diverse as everyone here is."
Although the station will not be
operational by the end of this
down the steps with the big
screen TV landing on top of him.
I told her that he was at the hos
pital in intensive care and that
only his family was permitted to
visit. I then told her that if she
wanted to do anything she
should send a get well card to
the store.
When I got back to the store
from my day's deliveries, I had to
answer to an angry boss. He
said that the client came in with a
fruit basket and card for my
coworker and emotionally voiced
her sentiments. My boss, who
had no idea of my prank, was
bewildered but played it off as
cool as he could. I still have the
get well card as a souvenir.
Probably one of my favorite
pranks during my Rent World
days is the time I quit someone
else's job for them without that
person even knowing. It was the
middle of a hectic delivery day
and a co-worker and I stopped at
a local Wendy's for a quick
lunch. As usual, the zit-ridden
burger flippers completely
destroyed our order and we
began plotting ways to exact
semester, the club is confident
that WPSH will be ready by the
end of 2005 at the latest. The
group is aiming to be broadcast
ing by the end of Spring semes
ter if the SAF grant is available.
Daryl Wiest, computer engi
neering major, has been working
behind the scenes of the station
since last year. He said he spent
about 5 hours a day in the sta
tion, and sometimes did not
leave the room until 2 or 3 in the
morning. "I don't need to sleep.
Sleep is optional," he said,
laughing. Over the summer,
Wiest sorted thousands of CDs,
and he said he is looking forward
to seeing his hard work pay off
when WPSH is heard on the air.
There are two studios the radio
station uses. Studio A has a
computer, phone, 50-CD player,
turntable and mixer board, and
is considered the "main room"
because usually whatever is
sent from that room is what is
heard on the air. Studio B has a
CD writer, and is mainly used for
recording purposes, but can be
used in tangent with studio A to
incorporate material from both
studios into the live broadcast.
The current radio club mem
bers and interested students are
excited about working in the stu
dios. "I just hate to see some
thing go to waste," said
Dougherty. "We have something
here that could be good - no,
great - but unless it's used it's
just another room taking up
space."
One of Comedy Central's Crank Yankers characters makes a prank
call.
revenge
While we were eating our artery
clogging meal, I took notice of
the manager's name, Eric. I also
noticed that one of the workers,
Steve, was getting ready to go
home from his shift. When we
finished eating we went out to
the Rent World truck and I imme
diately grabbed my cell phone. I
called Wendy's and asked for the
manager, Eric. When Eric got on
the phone I pretended to be
Steve, the worker who had just
gone home.
"Eric this is Steve," I said in a
vaguely disguised voice.
"Steve...," the manager was try
ing to place a face to a name.
"It's Steve. Come on man I just
left my shift," I said.
"Oh yeah, Steve," says the
manager. "What can I do for you,
guy?"
"Well, I'm sorry I didn't tell you
while I was there but I found
another job," I said as I held back
my laughter. "It pays a lot more
and they need me to start tomor
row."
"Hey, you got to do what you got
to do," says the manager. "So,
was today your last day?"
The Capital Times
I'arnhelm,
the art magazine,
is now accepting
fall submissions.
Contact Student
Activities or Cindy
Leach in W-356 to
receive a copy of the
guidelines.
AMERICAN
ART HISTORY
EVENT
Friday, November 19
12-1:30 in the
Gallery Lounge,
Olmsted Building
Video lecture by
Dr. Wendy Katz,
University of Nebraska,
on "The Theatre of
Genre," to be followed
by a discussion with Dr.
Robin Veder, PSH. This
event is brought to you
by a Student Activity Fee
grant. Questions?
Call 948-6330.
"Yes. I'm real sorry for doing this
to you," I said in mock sympathy.
"Should I just hand in my uniform
when I pick up my last check?"
"Sure," says the calm and pro
fessional manager. "Just make
sure you bring in your uniform
before we can give you your last
check. I am going to have to go
now and try to get someone to
cover your hours. Anyway, I wish
you luck."
Steve must not have been the
best employee. Eric didn't even
put up a fight about losing an
employee. His tone even sug
gested that he was glad to see
him go. I only wish I could have
been there when Steve showed
up the next day for his shift.
All the aforementioned pranks
were conducted solely during my
employment at Rent World. I
have a million other stories like
them. If you would like to hear
more of my pranks or would like
to share some of your own,
please email me. Laughter is the
best medicine. The fact that
sometimes laughter has to occur
at the expense of others is sim
ply an illustration of natural
selection at work.