Radio sidekick learns what happens when you lick a bug-zapper

[font=Arial,sans-serif]DJ gives new meaning to shock jock [/font]


[font=Arial,sans-serif]Tuesday, December 07, 2004[/font][font=Arial,sans-serif]Clint O'Connor[/font]
[font=Arial,sans-serif]Plain Dealer Reporter [/font]
[font=Arial,sans-serif] Dieter is no 'skeeter. [/font]

[font=Arial,sans-serif] The Cleveland radio sidekick apparently missed that sage advice: Don't lick a bug-zapper. [/font]

[font=Arial,sans-serif] Dieter learned a harsh lesson Friday during a stunt on "Rover's Morning Glory" on "Xtreme Radio" (WXTM FM/92.3). He plugged in a dirty, back-porch hanging contraption and stuck his tongue on the wire grate. [/font]

[font=Arial,sans-serif] Zap. [/font]

[font=Arial,sans-serif] "He shook, contorted, and hit the floor," said Kim Monroe, WXTM's program director. "He was covered in goose-bumps." Unlike millions of summer mosquitoes and other flying annoyances, Dieter recovered. [/font]

[font=Arial,sans-serif] "I saw sparks and the next thing I knew I was just out," said Dieter, 25, on Monday. He was taken to the hospital for a few hours, and is now on pain killers, antibiotics and salve. "My tongue is so-ah," he added. "It's ha-hd to talk." The stunt drew a minor storm of media coverage, but there were still questions about whether it was just another goofy radio hoax. [/font]

[font=Arial,sans-serif] Seeing the brown, scabby, blecchy mess on Dieter's tongue is, well, shockingly real. [/font]

[font=Arial,sans-serif] "Dare Dieter" is a regular Friday feature. In true "Jackass" fashion, he has staple-gunned his testicles to his leg, snorted ants, placed his penis in a mousetrap, walked barefoot on glass, and had his butt branded (to prove it, he pulled down his pants and revealed a large, scarlike "D" on his rear end). [/font]

[font=Arial,sans-serif] A listener, "Mark in Westlake," had suggested Dieter stand in a bucket of water while licking a bug-zapper. Apparently, drier minds prevailed and the water was jettisoned. Standing by were Rover, sidekick Duji, and some EMS workers. [/font]

[font=Arial,sans-serif] "At first we didn't want to touch him," said Rover. "We didn't want to get electrocuted." [/font]

[font=Arial,sans-serif] Rover said he picks through about 300 suggestions each week and selects the dare, springing it on Dieter at about 8:30 a.m on Fridays. Dieter has yet to turn one down. [/font]

[font=Arial,sans-serif] "A lot of them are too visual to do on the radio," said Rover. "I don't look for life-threatening ones, just ones that involve a bit of pain." [/font]

[font=Arial,sans-serif] WXTM is one of four Cleveland stations owned by Infinity Broadcasting (a division of Viacom/CBS). Station management planned to meet with the show's trio to discuss the future of "Dare Dieter." [/font]

[font=Arial,sans-serif] Callers flooded the show Monday to say how worried they were or how stupid it was. Even Howard Stern weighed in on his nationally syndicated show. [/font]

[font=Arial,sans-serif] "That's why this industry gets no respect," Stern said. "We'll do anything for a listener, including putting our tongue on a bug-zapper." [/font]

[font=Arial,sans-serif] Dieter, who lives at home, was a little chagrined about telling his relatives. "My mom was crying, my aunt almost had a heart attack." But he said he had no regrets. "If you don't do stuff, you're not living." [/font]

[font=Arial,sans-serif] He knew the consequences, having been warned from a young age about the dangers of amps and volts. By his father. The electrician.
[/font]

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