Large Judgement in Bad Radio Stunt - The UpStream

American radio stations remind me of Japanese TV stations. They come up with these crazy endurance trials that people willingly go through, and award the winner with something trivial. Somehow, however, both groups actually get contestants to participate. The difference is that Japanese broadcasters do research before subjecting unsuspecting people to dangerous tasks.

A few years ago, a radio station in Cali held a radio contest where you had to drink as much water as possible in a very little amount of time. The winner of the contest would win a brand new Wii. As this was going on, people were calling into the station telling the DJs that they should stop this because it can be very dangerous. As any good american radio personality does, they belittled their listeners and made fun of the concept of being harmed by water on the air. Unfortunately for Jennifer Strange, the callers were right, and she died from water intoxication.

Obviously, there was a lawsuit from the family against the station and its owners, Entercom Communications Corp. A ruling came down this week, and the family was awarded $16.5 million. Due to the nature of the contest and the relative ease of which information about water intoxication can be found and the general disregard for public safety the DJs displayed while making fun of their listeners who were concerned about the participants, I am glad there was such a large judgement. Any organization who puts people in danger without even doing a 30 second Google search and then insults the people who DID should be punished.

But that is all just my opinion. I want to know what you think. Was the judgement fair? Too high? Too low? Weigh in below.