Tuesday, January 31st is probably a day Sactown Sports afternoon host Ramie Makhlouf will never forget.
The station’s afternoon show — Cattles & Ramie — began without him. Nick Cattles explained to listeners why Makhlouf was absent.
“I am here to tell you that my co-host, my friend Ramie Makhlouf is stuck in an elevator,” Cattles said. “This is not a joke. Ramie is stuck in his apartment building’s elevator. I have a lovely drive into work from Roseville — suburbia — and I was driving in, during this 35-minute trek I felt my pocket vibrating. I felt my phone moving. I thought ‘Someone is sending me a bunch of texts. Something is happening right now. I hope all is good’.”
Cattles then read verbatim the texts he received from his co-host as Makhlouf was stuck in the elevator.
“He usually does the crossover with Deuce and Mo, ’cause I get here too late…At 1:36 PM, Ramie texts in ‘Fellas, I’m currently stuck in the elevator of my building…no joke. Not even sure if you’re getting this. I’ll keep you posted’. I just imagine Ramie stuck in that elevator thinking ‘I hope they’re getting these texts, I hope they’re getting these texts’. Five minutes later, no one has responded to Ramie’s text yet. Ramie texts in ‘And the lights went out’.
“Three minutes later, at 1:44 PM, he texts in ‘Can someone please text me if you all are getting these texts?’ So I text back one minute later ‘I’m getting this’. Ramie then sends back a picture. A very dramatic, moviesque picture…a dark elevator, no lights on, looks like a blue hue in the top left, coming from some energy source, and then you can see the panel of the elevator — just to freak him out even more — with a red light on underneath.”
Cattles then had Makhlouf call into the show from the elevator, with the Sactown Sports host thankful he had his phone with him.
“Thank god for phones, man,” Makhlouf said. “Otherwise, I’d just be sitting here in the dark. I don’t get scared of the dark, I just lose my mind when it’s complete darkness and nothingness. I have the flashlight and the entertainment of Twitter, and you, and other friends I’ve texted to fill them in on my situation to get material out of. I’m fine, just chilling in here waiting to get me out of the elevator.”
After joking that he was stuck in the elevator literally feet away from his apartment, Ramie Makhlouf took listeners through the play-by-play of how he got in the predicament, before saying a technician was 10-15 minutes away. He later joked that his girlfriend offered to come talk to him through the elevator door, but was reserving that offer until he “really started to freak out”.
While on the phone with his co-host, Makhlouf was freed from his encapsulation and was on his way to the studio to resume the normal show.