Rod Roddy radio PSA

[brianhenke]

Did you know that Rod Roddy taped a Public Service Announcement for some colon cancer organization? It was on this morning on public broadcaster WOBO-FM out of Batavia, Ohio.

    In it, Roddy says he's feeling better after his colonscopy two years ago - but given the fact that he's been sick the last several months, this seems to have been taped some time ago.

    Brian

    Wary blue waters?

    We want some more pro wrestling (STILL) and NASCAR questions!

[Adam Nedeff]

We have a copy of this at the campus radio station here at Marshall where I'm working. It was sent as a CD with Rod's picture on the cover, with the title (I'm not making this up) "Rod Roddy Encourages Americans to 'COME ON DOWN' and Get Tested for Colorectal Cancer"
Here's a partial transcript of the 60-second cut of the PSA, from the liner notes...

"Hi, this is Rod Roddy from The Price is Right. I call lucky contestants to 'Come on Down' on TV's longest running game show. My luck almost ran out in 2001 when doctors discovered a tumor the size of an orange during a colonoscopy."

Everyone at the station was in agreement that this was accidentally the most offensive thing we had heard on a PSA, as Rod reads the entire PSA in his "Mister Announcer" voice, and "a tumor the size of an orange" is said the same way Rod would say "A New Car!" It's truly peculiar if you ever have the chance to read it. Don't get me wrong, I'm not mocking Rod or his unfortunate plight, but we couldn't believe how little thought he had put into how to say those words.

[uncamark]

[quote name=\'Adam Nedeff\' date=\'Oct 27 2003, 04:22 PM\']We have a copy of this at the campus radio station here at Marshall where I'm working. It was sent as a CD with Rod's picture on the cover, with the title (I'm not making this up) "Rod Roddy Encourages Americans to 'COME ON DOWN' and Get Tested for Colorectal Cancer"
Here's a partial transcript of the 60-second cut of the PSA, from the liner notes...

"Hi, this is Rod Roddy from The Price is Right. I call lucky contestants to 'Come on Down' on TV's longest running game show. My luck almost ran out in 2001 when doctors discovered a tumor the size of an orange during a colonoscopy."

Everyone at the station was in agreement that this was accidentally the most offensive thing we had heard on a PSA, as Rod reads the entire PSA in his "Mister Announcer" voice, and "a tumor the size of an orange" is said the same way Rod would say "A New Car!" It's truly peculiar if you ever have the chance to read it. Don't get me wrong, I'm not mocking Rod or his unfortunate plight, but we couldn't believe how little thought he had put into how to say those words.[/quote]
I'm sure that Rod or the people behind the campaign thought that his voice would not be recognized any other way (and the feeling also probably was to keep the tone upbeat).  Seems to me that the proper thing to do would have been to have him do a "COME ON DOWN!" to establish who he is and then do the rest of the spot in a more conversational tone.

[Jay Temple]

IIRC, Orson Welles died of lung cancer, and he did a PSA which intentionally did not air until after he died, where he said plainly that his death was the result of smoking.

[Mike Tennant]

[quote name=\'Jay Temple\' date=\'Oct 28 2003, 01:17 PM\']IIRC, Orson Welles died of lung cancer, and he did a PSA which intentionally did not air until after he died, where he said plainly that his death was the result of smoking.[/quote]
William Talman, who played Hamilton Burger, the D. A. on Perry Mason, did something similar.

[Matt Ottinger]

[quote name=\'Jay Temple\' date=\'Oct 28 2003, 02:17 PM\'] IIRC, Orson Welles died of lung cancer, and he did a PSA which intentionally did not air until after he died, where he said plainly that his death was the result of smoking. [/quote]
 You don't recall exactly correctly.  That famous, chilling PSA was recorded by Yul Brynner shortly before his death.

[zachhoran]

[quote name=\'Matt Ottinger\' date=\'Oct 28 2003, 02:55 PM\'] [quote name=\'Jay Temple\' date=\'Oct 28 2003, 02:17 PM\'] IIRC, Orson Welles died of lung cancer, and he did a PSA which intentionally did not air until after he died, where he said plainly that his death was the result of smoking. [/quote]
You don't recall exactly correctly.  That famous, chilling PSA was recorded by Yul Brynner shortly before his death. [/quote]
 As per IMDB, Welles and Brynner died on the same day(10/10/85), just two days before Johnny Olson died.

[Brandon Brooks]

[quote name=\'Mike Tennant\' date=\'Oct 28 2003, 01:39 PM\'] William Talman, who played Hamilton Burger, the D. A. on Perry Mason, did something similar. [/quote]
 Wow... In all honestly, that I would've scared me straight if I had seen that and if I had smoked.

Brandon Brooks

[rugrats1]

Foe the Yul Brynner ad, which was for the Cancer Society, it started with an announcer saying, "Ladies and Gentlemen -- Mr. Yul Brynner", over a black screen saying "Yul Brynner, ?-1985" (sorry, don't know his birth year). This is followed by an interview clip from "Good Morning America" (I think), in which Yul tells of the evils of smoking, with him saying "Don't smoke" at the end.