Metro TV "Big Radiation Wave" hoax

It's debunking tiiime! ='D

I'm back! and I consider it a good returning, since I'm a skeptic, and "claim investigations" are among my favorite things :')

I came home from setting up a neighbor's computer, and my mother told me she forwarded me a message (I left my cellphone at home). This was the message I received (unedited):

Pass... Pls switch OFF all ur handphone 2NITE.According to Metro TV,an international news,there will be a BIG RADIATION WAVE circulating thru the handphone towers at 11PM 2nite which is very DANGEROUS to human. Pls inform ur friends NOT 2 keep their phone with them.

Pls FORWARD.(confirmed s radio knina*)

*confirmed sa radio kanina = confirmed on the radio [news] earlier

I Googled some words together: "Metro" "TV" "radiation"

http://www.google.com.ph/search?client=opera&rls=en&q=Metro+TV+radiation&sourceid=opera&ie=utf-8&oe=utf-8

and I was surprised to discover that it's been around as early as May 2008. The message wording and details are almost unchanged.

click image to enlarge

I also found Metro TV on Wikipedia. It's not international. It's a local 24-hour news channel, and the only "internationality"(?) it has (based on the website) is Indonesia Now, their internationally broadcast program about Indonesia.

[Used without permission, but for illustration and identification purposes only. No copyright infringement intended. This link refers to the image details on Wikipedia: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Metrotv.jpg]

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One good thing about this is that I started blogging again. Another is that I discovered that Conan O'Brien has come back to life! ='D

(headline with that nice pink arrow)

I can't turn off my cellphone at 11pm when I can help it. Someone might call me up.

~LAI†