Cock-a-doodle-doo: Michigan station gets wakeup call after airing unfortunate typo

WNEM, the CBS affiliate licensed to Bay City, Saginaw, and Flint, Michigan, aired a helpful reminder about daylight saving time on Oct. 31, 2020 — but sharp-eyed viewers got more than they bargained for.

The graphic was presumably supposed to read “Turn your clocks back one hour tonight,” but whoever created the image missed an “L” resulting in “Turn your cocks back one hour tonight.”

Ouch. That sounds painful.

In a Facebook post, the station wrote: “We regret the unfortunate typo in a spot for changing clocks this weekend. We’ve taken steps to address it,” accompanied by a different graphic with, thankfully, the correct spelling of “clocks.”

The incident sparked a variety of responses on social media, including some speculating that someone might have been fired. Like many businesses, TV stations typically don’t comment on personnel matters. 

“Are you hiring? I’m a desint proofe reeder (sic),” wrote one commented. 

The image quickly went viral and also began popping up as responses and comments on the station’s social media accounts. 

Reddit also quickly sparked some clever perhaps NSFW comments.

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Others pointed out that the graphic itself, in an effort to use the “C” in “back” as a counterclockwise arrow used a bit of artistic license.

The circular arrow started just before the “2” on the clock face — which is the time of 2 a.m. used to “fall back” (or “spring forward”) as it where.

However, the arrow ended just before the “3” leaving some wondering why the station appeared to be suggesting that at 2 a.m. it would become 3 a.m. (or, depending on how you read the graphic, even 4 a.m.).

The arrow could have been an attempt to represent either what would happen with the minute hand if a clock were to “run backward” or just the overall idea of time “going back.”

The station’s probably now regretting all the time (pun instead) it put into attempting to turn that “C” into a clock and arrow (complete with its logo in the middle) and maybe proofread the graphic once or twice.