Geary Tells Jury He Was Unaware of Wii Contest

RADIO ONLINE | , , | :am CT

Entercom/Sacramento VP/Market Manager John Geary told a Sacramento Superior Court jury Tuesday that he was "stunned" after learning of Jennifer Strange's death of water intoxication, simply because he didn't know anything about it.

Strange, 28, died of water intoxication in January, 2007, after finishing second in KDND-FM (107.9 The End)'s "Hold Your Wee For a Wii," the now infamous bladder buster stunt put together by the Morning Rave.

Plaintiffs' lawyers in wrongful-death lawsuit filed on behalf of Strange's survivors sought to establish that Entercom lacked the internal controls to prevent dangerous contests from taking place, reports the Sacramento Bee.

Entercom lawyer, Carmela Masi, testified in a deposition played to the jury Monday that the company had written policies stating that contests "which are illegal, dangerous, misleading, rigged, or in bad taste must be avoided." She also said it was her own policy that any contests that involved "physicality" or "ingestion" required the presence of an on-site medical professional.

In his testimony Tuesday, Geary said he was not aware of the attorney's policy "until this litigation." He testified that he generally has little or nothing to do with contests, but he fired Promotions Manager Robin Pechota, Station Manager Steve Weed and the Morning Rave, which conducted the contest.

However, Geary testified, he did not believe that the morning personalities knew of the danger of drinking too much water. "Do I believe they knew it was dangerous? Absolutely not," Geary testified. "I don't think any of them had any indication or sense that it was dangerous."