WAVM History
Just Beginning  
The Faculty Advisor  
The Early Years  
Church Services  
The Beacon Santa Telethon  
Cable Television  
Talkin' Trash  
YMCA  
The Maynard Web  
Expansions  
The Awards Banquet  
The Friends of WAVM  
Generations  
Just Beginning, Part II  
Credits  

The Danger of Live Television

During the 1994 school year, there was a member of WAVM who was also the drummer for a high school band. He tried convincing Mags to allow his group perform at the 1994 Beacon Santa Telethon, but Mags didn't want to let it happen. Mags' reason was primarily the noise level involved in a live band. However, Mags knew that this student's heart was really set on it. He acquiesced.

For several weeks, this drummer worked really hard, convincing the band to really rehearse. The drummer also promoted the event, making sure his whole family and many others would be watching.

Well just before the band was to go on live television, the troubles began. The lead singer started drinking alcohol. Of course, no one at the station knew about it, otherwise the band would have been instantly canceled.

The band set up in the cramped Studio A, which was already steaming from two days of telethoning. When the lights were thrown on again, the singer's stomach must have begun to rumble, and from the added nerves of performing live to a camera, the singer never made it through the first song. He lost his dinner on live television.

The studio fell into panic with the students trying to decide what to do next. After a minute or two of discombobulation, the signal was switched to the radio studio so everything in Studio A could be put back in order; and the band was told to leave.

Of course with live television, the damage was done. Half the town and local area saw the spectacle, and for the next couple weeks, WAVM received plenty of ribbing. It wasn't the station's finest moments.

The biggest victim was the drummer who had worked so hard to make the event happen. And allegedly, he was so mad and embarrassed that he socked the singer the moment they stepped outside the school.

On a happier note, Mags did allow a high school band to perform at the 1996 Beacon Santa Telethon, and it went off without a hitch. However, that's not to say something equally disasterous won't happen again. That's the danger of live television.



Return to The Beacon Santa