War of the Roses (radio show)

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War of the Roses is a radio play featured on morning radio shows where people are confronted via a phone. In the United States, these programs are staged by actors due to FCC regulations which prevent live phone calls from being aired without permission.^[1]

Segments typically involve a person in a committed relationship - the initiator - who believes that he or she is being cheated on. With the initiator silent on the phone, the host of the show calls the suspected party using a ruse to get them to talk - usually claiming that the suspect has just won a free dozen roses as part of a promotion to be delivered to anyone of his or her choice, with no other obligation other than to "please tell a friend about our great service".

During the phone call, the host asks the suspect questions that will hopefully reveal the identity of the subject of their affair, and other questions that may help understand the nature of it. For example, the host will typically ask the suspect for one or two sentences to be used as an optional "personal message" to be included with the gift, before asking for the name of the desired recipient. Once the suspect gives up the name and reveals the secret relationship, the spouse or significant other is free to jump in and chastise the guilty party over the phone.

The ruse may be improvised depending on what is believed to most likely attract the suspect's attention. Examples used include free concert tickets for a man who "couldn't stop talking about how Beyoncé is coming to town next week but who still hasn't asked [his wife] to go" with him, or a purported call from a venereal disease clinic. The VD ruse involved stating that "someone with a disease listed you as a recent sexual partner, but we can only tell you more (for confidentiality reasons) if you can tell us the name of the person who might have referred you".^[2]

Often, suspects are confused and bewildered when confronted on the phone, because they are unaware that they've been taken in by a ruse, and often believe their significant other is really at home listening on an extension. Suspects who believe this continue with the prize dialogue with the radio station host and continue to embarrass themselves, unaware that the entire call is a prank.

Other suspects turn out to not be cheating at all, and end up sending the roses - and the embarrassment along with them - to their significant other who initiated the call.

[edit] Station List

• The Rise Guys show on WTPT in Greenville, SC^[3]
• KRQQ in Tucson, AZ
• JohnJay and Rich Morning Show on KZZP in Phoenix, AZ^[4]
• The Kane Show on WIHT, Washington, D.C^{[5] [6]}
• KDWB ^[7]
• WFLZ-FM in Tampa, FL.

[edit] References