KEGL-FM personalities Kramer & Twitch pronounced Spears dead June 12, saying she was in a car wreck with her *NSYNC boyfriend Justin Timberlake in Los Angeles.

The prank prompted a flood of calls to Los Angeles police and fire officials, and no doubt devastated youngsters all over the world as word spread like wildfire through the Internet.

The station issued an apology the day after the stunt and the DJs were back at work that evening. They were given the boot June18.

Clear Channel Communications, which owns the radio station that broadcast the hoax, told The Dallas Morning News that other factors played into the decision to fire the duo.

For example, Kramer & Twitch cost the station $14,000 in fines in February for suggesting motorists open their car doors to hit bicyclists or run them over.

Kramer (aka Keith Kramer) said he and his partner were surprised by their ouster.

“We got permission to air the bit,” he told the Morning News. He added that when the duo decided to use Spears as their subject, they doubted any of her fans would be listening to the rock station.

“The last thing we expected was us, self-proclaimed morons, to create such a worldwide panic within one hour,” Kramer said. “That’s not what we set out to do.”

Kramer & Twitch had a reputation as pranksters on their “extreme nighttime radio” show, according to the Fort Worth Star-Telegram. The paper said their show always began with a disclaimer saying, in part, “portions of the Kramer & Twitch show are total fabrications.”