DJ plays 'Jump' as suicidal woman holds up traffic
By Raphael G. Satter - THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
LONDON — A British radio DJ is being criticized for playing Van Halen’s “Jump” as police tried to talk a suicidal woman down from a highway bridge last week.
A British mental health charity said it was horrified by the incident Thursday morning, and would bring it up with Britain’s media regulator.
Disc jockey Steve Penk, who owns Revolution Radio and hosts its morning show, said he played the song at the request of a commuter sitting in traffic on a highway shut down while police negotiators tried to talk the woman off the bridge. He said several commuters had called to express frustration at the delays. Penk said he made no reference to the woman in playing the song.
“This audience was just climbing the wall,” he told The Associated Press. “They were frustrated” in traffic on the highway that rings the northwest English city of Manchester.
Penk refused to apologize for the decision, saying he was standing by his audience. He said he was stunned by the media coverage. The Sun newspaper quoted a listener saying that playing the song was “pathetic and nasty.”
Paul Farmer, who leads the Mind lobbying organization on mental health issues, said the DJ showed “a complete lack of compassion and sensitivity.”
The 30-year-old woman eventually jumped, sustaining only minor injuries in shattering her heel bones, Manchester police said. She would not have heard the song on the bridge, and so it could not have affected her actions, police said.
A call placed with Ofcom, the media regulator, was not immediately returned.
I once played Fat by Weird Al Yankovic while I spun at a Weight Watchers summer camp, I you not. It was fine by the campers, but the camp directer gave me lip for it.
Ever drop an unwelcome bomb?
kotsy
The very weekend after Hurricane Katrina happened I played "New Orleans Is Sinking". Too soon?
Orko
quote:
The 30-year-old woman eventually jumped, sustaining only minor injuries in shattering her heel bones, Manchester police said. She would not have heard the song on the bridge, and so it could not have affected her actions, police said.
That should be the end of the story. The song had no effect on the women.
How about going after the women for holding up traffic, and wasting municipal money? , if you are going to harm yourself, do it in the quiet dignity of your own broom closet, so that you don't scar anybody else.
Abercrombie
quote:
Originally posted by Orko
That should be the end of the story. The song had no effect on the women.
How about going after the women for holding up traffic, and wasting municipal money? , if you are going to harm yourself, do it in the quiet dignity of your own broom closet, so that you don't scar anybody else.
This is awesome! Stop wasting everyone's time... Either or get off the pot... LOL
PivotTechno
I can think of a couple of times when ladies became more than a little unsettled when I used to drop DJ Rush's "Makin' Love":
Needless to say, it isn't in my box anymore. I still play pretty dark at times, but I've made a conscious effort to weed violent content out of my sets.
ChemEnhanced
why would you ever take that out of rotation....love that track....complete mind
PivotTechno
Because these days I prefer to with people's minds in a less obvious manner.
