Bomb Threat, Now What?

So I was talking to a friend of mine earlier when we were talking about messed up things that has happened in our radio career. All of a sudden I remembered a memory that came back to me that I had forgotten about for a little while now.

Okay I won't say what station I was at nor will I name drop my former program director, but looking back at this situation it is pretty messed up. This happened early in my career one late night when I was on the air and I got a strange call from the listener line. Granted I was still a rookie DJ but even I knew how serious this was. I pick up the phone and I hear a mans voice on the other end. He then tells me three words. "There's a bomb" His voice was very low and sounded very serious. Almost instantly it made me think of every exit/entrance door in the building and if the doors could be penetrated.

I admit my initial reaction was this....



And all I could think of was....



So instead of going into full on panic mode I responded with the first word that came to mind. "Where?" He then said another three words. "In the building"



He then hung up the phone and probably went to sleep for all I know all while I stood there beside myself for a moment to think about what had just happened. In another radio station in the same building we had a manilla folder with the words "BOMB THREAT" on it. It was basically instructions on what to do if a bomb threat occurred. Keep in mind this is around three o'clock in the morning when this all happened and I made the decision to skip the instructions and just call my boss for how I was to handle the situation.

Here was a guy who would sleep with a tiny radio under his pillow and next to his cell at all times. The one time I really needed him he doesn't answer the phone. I didn't care and blew up his phone until he finally answered. Finally I told him what had happened not knowing if my life could end at any moment. I am sure he could clearly hear the concern in my voice not knowing if it was real or not. I didn't want to take any chances.

His response came as a surprise. "Well, do you think he was serious?"

WHAT THE HELL???

I told him I had no idea if he was serious or not. I also told him if the station was going to be blown up, I preferred to not be inside it. He then tells me that the man was probably screwing with me and not to worry about it. What he said next was something that simply amazed me. He says "I'm going back to bed, call me if something happens"

I was shocked....



I could not believe how nonchalant he was about it. Plus how he made me out to be as if I was overreacting. Needless to say I don't think I over reacted. If our sister station had a folder with instructions on what to do during a bomb threat, then that alone says that the situation needed to be taken serious. I obviously did not die that night and yes the man was in fact screwing with me. But at that time I was upset because I wanted him to had done something, ANYTHING! And yet, he did not.

Now so many years later in all honesty, it makes me kind of angry to think about it. To think that my life was taken into such a small regard is flat out insulting.