Radio Station's Floating Cat Story Copies Cleveland Stunt

KALC-FM Admits Cat Tied To Balloons Never Happened

POSTED: 10:43 am MDT May 5, 2003

UPDATED: 4:06 pm MDT May 5, 2003

DENVER -- You can relax. The cat floating over the the metro area is a hoax.

Monday's claims of a local radio station that a cat was floating around Denver tied to balloons were strikingly similar to an on-air stunt aired last week by a Cleveland radio station.

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KALC-FM, known as "Alice," alarmed listeners Monday morning by reporting that a cat was floating around the city tethered to helium balloons. The report brought a flurry of e-mails and phone calls to other local media and to the police, asking for help.

The Alice morning disc-jockeys aired reports on the floating cat, complete with reports on the cat's location over Denver.

Lakewood police said their 911 switchboard received a number of calls from people worried about the cat and several animal control officers spent several hours searching for the cat.

The radio station later said the balloons were popped, one-by-one, and the cat floated safely to earth.

Cleveland radio station WXTM-FM did the same thing last Tuesday, claiming a cat was tethered to balloons and was floating over the city. During the Cleveland prank, someone reportedly shot out the balloons one-by-one and the cat floated safely to the ground.

"You want the truth?" asked a Cleveland radio station disc jockey known on the air as Rover. "No, there was no cat out there. It was all theater of the minds."

Despite demands from the Animal Protective League, the Cleveland station did not offer an apology for the stunt.

KALC-FM in Denver, however, did post an apology on the front page of its Web site Monday.

"On behalf of the staff and management of Alice at 106, we apologize for what was done on the Greg and Bo Show this morning. All of us are truly sorry for what happened and hope you will forgive Alice, and Greg & Bo."

During an interview with 7NEWS, a station employee admitted the floating cat report was a hoax and they got the idea from the Cleveland station.

WXTM-FM is owned by Infinity Broadcasting and KALC-FM is owned by Entercom Communications.