Favorite April Fools joke

[tommykjensen]

Whats Your favorite April Fools joke?


Mine is one that I was part of many years ago when I was working in my free time on a local radio station here in Denmark.

The radio had a club for listeners to join for a small fee in order to support the radio station. This was before comercials was allowed in danish local radio (mid 1980's). So the radio station highly depended on listeners to join this club to support it.

The joke was following:
In order to get more listeners to join the club it was decided that the radio signal should be "scrambled". So we announced a week ahead that the new scrambling would start on 1/4 at 1800. This would mean that the left channel of the stereo signal would be transmitted on the usual frequence and the right channel would be sent on a frequence outside the normal range radios could receive. So in order to hear the radio in stereo a decoder was required.

Now the real fun was something I had the pleasure of doing. On the 1/4 at 1800 I was in the studio and at precise 1800 I cut the right channel so everybody listening to the radio now only heard the left channel.

Several listeners actually did call to order a decoder. :lol: :lol:

[robertwgross]

Some other guys did that sort of thing, but instead of completely cutting one channel, they simply cut the level by about 30 dB on one channel. The listener was completely faked out, but there was no real harm done, which is the point of an April Fool Joke.

---Bob Gross---

[ExC]

Year was 1989.
Finnish nationwide computer magazine "Mikrobitti" published a mock-up review for a game called ILLUMINATUS.

It was described as an impossible achievement, best computer game in history.
For Atari ST. Boxed with 200 page manual "Guide to the universe", huge star map, 4 different keyboard schemes and five discs it would take players to another world.

The playing experience was well written. Storyline was described in detail, it was supposed to be larger than anyone could imagine. The AI was excellent, gameplay challenging etc. Storyline had quite many similarities with Star Wars/ Star Trek, combined with huge amount of technical quirks to appeal the engineer-type minds.

Review was loaded with adjectives and passion. Game was supposed to be developed from 1986 - and the review included a small interview with the designer ("Jurgen Sternreise" :lol: - Hannover university computer science student). Combined with a human story which stated that the developers had everything at stake (mortgages for the house etc.).

Almost everybody took the bait.
So many eager finnish gamers contacted the computer game import-companies (2 large and 1 smaller was affected quite heavily) that their businessmen had to start search around the world for this game.
Also, a director from english company CRL called to the magazine headquarters. He was not pleased to hear about this april fool-trick.

Trick for the nerd-community. And they bought it. :rolleyes:

[Jesper]

Here's a whole list: Top 100 April Fools Jokes (http://www.museumofhoaxes.com/top100.html/)
This one is funny too: International Hide & Seek (http://www.hideandseek2005.com/)

[samdring]

Whats Your favorite April Fools joke?


Mine is one that I was part of many years ago when I was working in my free time on a local radio station here in Denmark.

The radio had a club for listeners to join for a small fee in order to support the radio station. This was before comercials was allowed in danish local radio (mid 1980's). So the radio station highly depended on listeners to join this club to support it.

The joke was following:
In order to get more listeners to join the club it was decided that the radio signal should be "scrambled". So we announced a week ahead that the new scrambling would start on 1/4 at 1800. This would mean that the left channel of the stereo signal would be transmitted on the usual frequence and the right channel would be sent on a frequence outside the normal range radios could receive. So in order to hear the radio in stereo a decoder was required.

Now the real fun was something I had the pleasure of doing. On the 1/4 at 1800 I was in the studio and at precise 1800 I cut the right channel so everybody listening to the radio now only heard the left channel.

Several listeners actually did call to order a decoder. :lol: :lol:


Tommy
Nice one - in UK, however, April Fool finishes at 12 midday - this is obviously not universal

[R_Alexander]

Radio Station here in Sydney got a lot of people.

Remember how Athens was looking like not being finished? They told everyone because of this some of the events were going to be held in Olympic Park in Sydney where the 2000 games were held.

They had the New South Wales Premier on the Phone confirming it as well as a few ex-athletes as well, was quite a laugh.

Rob

[PhotosGuy]

The Swiss Spaghetti Harvest: I remember that one. It was great!
So was the "Planetary Alignment Decreases Gravity" one... all those fools jumping up & down. "Try it again. Maybe your watch is off." :D:D:D
The one I hated most was the one where the GF says, "You didn't remember our anniversary" & I tried to bluff it out. :cry:

[vcutag]

My personal favorite happened in Hampton Roads, Virginia, on April Fool's Day, 1992. DJ's for the local rock station, FM99 (WNOR), went on the air saying that a local park in Virginia Beach, Mount Trashmore, which is an old landfill, was going to explode from methane gas buildup.

http://www.museumofhoaxes.com/email/2002Feb.html

"Another Griffiths' stunt involving Mount Trashmore wasn't received so well. On April 1, 1992, Griffiths and then partner, Henry "The Bull'' Del Toro, pulled off a modern classic April Fool's caper. Like the Orson Welles' 1939 Mars Invasion spoof, the radio duo used a mock news report, complete with phony seismic information from the University of Virginia and on-air calls from "experts'' (who in reality were Griffiths' friends). Though they thought they were giving obvious clues by naming fictitious evacuation highways the jokesters convinced hundreds of gullible residents that the hill was about to explode from a gas buildup inside. In the days following the event, numerous radio employees were temporarily suspended from the airwaves without pay. It seems the FCC was not amused when local "911'' lines were deluged with calls from concerned citizens.The disc jockeys and citizens were unaware that the methane gas the decaying matter inside the hills actually generates is harmlessly vented by three inconspicuous hollow flagpoles planted along the ridge of the hills."