What's so strange about this? The guy probably remembered that his schoolmate was abducted as typically these things are highly publicized (for good reason) but didn't know her well enough to remember her name or be able to identify her.

Seems to me he just saw the program and thought "that sounds like the girl at my school!"

Am I wrong?

The only thing noteworthy about it, which isn't mentioned here, is that his tip led to the other girl's recovery.