Iqaluit (Sep 11/06) - Glenn Craig didn't have the patience for crank calls that day. With a radio station to host, program and manage, the Iqaluit rock DJ had enough to deal with aside from someone claiming to be Sammy Hagar.

Wait. Sammy Hagar?

Former Van Halen frontman Sammy Hagar makes a phone call at the airport in Iqaluit. The rocker was in town on a brief stop over from Europe, en route to California. - Photo courtesy of Curtis Kayfish

"Initially I was thinking, 'I'm a busy guy, I don't have time for pranksters'," he said.

The call came in on a busy Tuesday afternoon, during the station's "Drive at Five." Though he was skeptical, given the voice and how the caller conducted himself, Craig was convinced.

"I took the ball and ran with it," he said. He put Hagar on the air, a definite first for Iqaluit's Raven Rock.

He said the former Van Halen singer and well-known solo rocker was on a brief stop-over in Iqaluit, returning from a vacation with his family in Europe.

According to several sources, his wife overheard one of Hagar's songs ("Can't Stop Loving You") in the gift shop. Hagar, amused at hearing himself in a place he had never visited before, decided to give the radio station a call.

"He went over to the First Air counter and made a big to do about it and said, 'get than man on the phone!'"

Shortly afterwards, Craig said he rushed down to meet the rocker in person.

"We chatted for a few minutes. He signed a couple of autographs and I got an autograph for the station," he said.

"It was so surreal, it seemed like all the cosmic tumblers were in place," he said.

"I worked a lot of places, 21 years in radio and this has never happened before, where the guy just picks up the phone and calls you."

The story first appeared on an Iqaluit website, IqaluitOnline.com, along with a picture of Hagar on the phone at the airport.

According to the owner of the site, Curtis Kayfish, this has happened before. Earlier this year, Hollywood actor Jamie Foxx appeared in Iqaluit, where he was set upon by fans with cameras.

As for reactions from the listening public, it's what you might expect:

"I guess everybody had the same reaction as me: 'Was that really Sammy Hagar?'" Craig said, with a laugh.