Stupid DJ Tricks: Part 7

Disc Jockeys may be entertaining, memorable or even charismatic.  But let's face it, they're usually not rocket scientists. They crave attention and they don't discriminate much between what we call "good attention" and "bad attention."  It was Oscar Wilde who summed up the problem thusly "There is only one thing in the world worse than being talked about, and that is not being talked about." I caught the news over the weekend and I saw a DJ making an ass of himself.I realized that it was time for another installment of STUPID DJ TRICKS. I have such a backlog I'm going to devote a full week and begin with my inspiration: Sebastian “Sebas” Bagby.

On September 11th Bagby, a co-host of the "Regular Guys" morning show on 100.5 WNNX went down to the Dove World Outreach Center to burn a Koran. because of the recent TV news coverage of The Center's Pastor Terry Jones book burning threats, the site was ringed by local police. Bagby identified himself not as a radio host, but as a student from Georgia Tech.  When asked by a reporter form the Gainesville Sun Newspaper if he was Sebas, he denied it. He commented that he was "...prepared to have a solidarity burning."  As things went bad he had to change his tune. More here.

It's important to note that WNNX is in Atlanta Georgia. The Dove World Outreach Center is in Gainesville Florida.  5805 NW 37th St Gainesville, FL 32653 to be specific. Gainesville is 350 miles away from WNNX.  These people had no idea who he was, nor could they listen to his radio program.  But they did know he was clearly kind of dim and wanted some attention. His media pandering was so grotesque he earned some scolding from random passersby.  

Ultimately the climax of his plan failed when Gainesville Police Officer Ryan McCazzio took away his Koran and grill lighter. Around 6pm he began taking questions from the media while filming himself.  To their credit the questions were mostly intelligent.  When asked about the consequences Bagby was indifferent to threats against Americans. "If there's violence perpetrated on others based on their religious beliefs, that's not our fault - it's theirs..."

He was not arrested, and was permitted to leave the area on foot. Despite the way it played out, Sebas was still yapping the next day, but had changed his story a bit. Now he was portraying the stunt as a prank on the media. I'll allow him to stumble through his own half-assed defense in this video he posted only yesterday.