News4 reporter Tom Sherwood said years ago that he would get a tattoo of the D.C. flag if a WAMU 88.5 listener made a major donation during "The Politics Hour" -- and soon he'll be getting inked.
Sherwood, a regular guest analyst on "The Kojo Nnamdi Show" said on the show Friday that he would get a tattoo of the three-star flag when a donation of at least $3,000 was received. Nnamdi and D.C. Councilmember Mary Cheh, the guest on the show, said on the air that they would get the tattoos, too.
Within minutes, the long-sought donation arrived, the station announced on Twitter.
The local media stars and Cheh said they plan to keep their ends of the bargain.
"I'm too old to be getting a tattoo, but for WAMU I'm going to," Sherwood said.
Sherwood said he and Nnamdi first spoke in 2012 about the tattoo.
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"I wanted to do something for WAMU, so I thought I'd offer to get a D.C. flag tattoo like my son's if someone donates $5,000," he said, describing the image on the bicep of his son, Peyton Sherwood. "No one said OK, so I decided to drop the price to $3,000. Then, what do you know, someone did it."
Sherwood, an Atlanta native who has lived in the District since 1974, said his tattoo will be small and likely will be inked onto one of his arms. He said he was proud to contribute to the WAMU program.
"I think 'The Politics Hour' is a very good place where people can hear politicians for more than a minute or two," he said. "We get to talk about regional politics and have conversations. I think that's important."
Cheh said through a spokeswoman that the tattoo won't be her first and that she's happy to show support for the station in such a permanent way.
"I love public radio and WAMU in particular. Intelligent programming, great guests and every week I learn something new," she said. "I'm also a staunch D.C. statehood advocate, so when I was presented with the opportunity to join Tom and Kojo in the D.C. flag tattoo pledge, it was no question that I wanted to participate and support everything this effort stands for."
Plans on when and where to get the tattoos are in the works.
