UK bust 2? Galaxy under fire as £5,000 goes up in smoke

[emad]

From The Guardian

A radio station that burned £5,000 in a breakfast show stunt is being investigated by the Radio Authority. Chrysalis Radio's Galaxy station in Birmingham sent the cash up in smoke after listeners voted to burn the money rather than give it to a listener who wanted to spend it on a breast enhancement operation.

Despite Birmingham church representatives' impassioned pleas for the money to be given to charity, the station set the cash alight on November 13 in its Bank it or Burn it competition.The radio regulator has now received a complaint from a member of the public and is investigating to see if the stunt breached taste and decency guidelines.The Anglican church in Birmingham is also considering making a complaint."Members of the clergy were outraged at what was happening," said a spokesman for the church.

"The station told us it was bound by its decision but it could have given its listeners another choice - to give the money to charity. But they refused to do that."He said the church suggested the money be donated to a local Royal British Legion group whose £5,000 Remembrance Day collection had been stolen that week. But he said it received no reply. "What does this say about our society in terms of excess, responsibility and stewardship when it's a game to burn £5,000?" he added.

Paul Fairburn, the managing director of Galaxy, said he was unable to comment on the details of the complaint as the station was in the process of responding to it.He said Bank it or Burn it was funded from the station's marketing budget and competition winners were free to do what they wanted with winnings."We were aiming to involve the audience in a truly dramatic competition. I would stress the money was never earmarked for charity use; it would either have been burned or given to a listener to squander," said Mr Fairburn.He pointed out Galaxy will have raised £1m for charities in the area - including Cancer Research's Race for Life and Nordoff Robbins Music Therapy - by the end of next year.Galaxy's stunt follows, albeit on a smaller scale, the precedent set by art-rockers the KLF who set fire to £1m on a remote Scottish island in 1994. Although the group said they burned real money the claim was never corroborated but the notorious stunt still provokes heated debate.Birmingham's radio stations have a history of battling for listeners by staging bizarre events. BRMB, the city's Capital Radio-owned station, famously married two total strangers live on air, a coupling that, unsurprisingly, ended in the divorce courts. BRMB was taken to court and fined £15,000 after three listeners were left permanently scarred by frostbite during a competition that required them to sit on blocks of ice for as long as possible.

http://media.guardian.co.uk/radio/story/0,12636,1093862,00.html

[tlb]

1. Gives a new twist to radio ads to " burn off unwanted pounds"

Interesting to see how stupid shock jock radio stunts aren't just an American problem.

[Blue_Tires]

2. oh dear...

anyone ever heard of charities??? This reminds me of the time a rich and powerful RW church in CO spent like $40K on O.J. Simpson memorabilia, just to set on fire in a public burning (to protest the verdict)...So much for helping the needy or other meddlesome 'christian' ideals.

[xchrom]

3. stupid is as stupid does

need i say more?

[LivingInTheBubble]

4. What can I say?

DJs are at the very bottom of the intelligence and compassion scale in my opinion.

[Cronus Protagonist]

5. Pure sacrelige

Burning the official sacrament of the state. No wonder the churches were pissed off, their reverence for money is undisputed.

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