TnWatchdog
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DAVENPORT, IOWA — A disc jockey forced from his control booth because he would not stop playing ``Grandma Got Run Over by a Reindeer,`` has received a two-day suspension, station officials said Wednesday.
Jack Daniels, 33, said he was attempting to play the macabre Christmas favorite for his entire four-hour shift Tuesday at FM radio station KLLR in Davenport because he was depressed.
General Manager Larry Rosmilso said Daniels` stunt was ``unauthorized and totally against station policy`` and, therefore, he was being suspended for two days and placed on indefinite probation.
Daniels also was ordered to not play ``Grandma Got Run Over by a Reindeer`` for the rest of the year.
While some listeners thought Daniels` stunt was cute, many complained the song was irritating, Rosmilso said.
Rosmilso and Daniels repeatedly denied that Tuesday`s incident was a publicity stunt, but both admitted that the station had received an enormous amount of national publicity.
``I didn`t think it was that big a deal,`` Daniels said. ``The station made a big deal out of it after I did it, and now I`m getting calls from the BBC (British Broadcasting Corp.) and just about every place you can think of.``
Daniels, who has worked at stations in Minneapolis, Texas and Kansas, said he was in his ``usual Christmas-time depression`` when he decided to play the song over and over.
Daniels said he was so depressed at the time that he did not care whether he got fired from the station.
The disc jockey said he picked the ``reindeer`` song because ``a lot of people in this town are depressed because of unemployment and other things.``
My challenge, for any takers, is to play the song 28 times in a row. Don't give up...you can do it. Go for it!
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