Revolution 96.2 owner and breakfast DJ Steve Penk finds himself at the centre of a story in The Sun this morning, after reacting to news of a suicidal woman on a local motorway bridge by playing the Van Halen classic Jump.

'Moments later', according to The Sun, the woman plunged off the M60 bridge.

Penk: no regrets

The woman subsequently leapt from the bridge but escaped with only minor injuries after a 30 ft fall.

Despite criticism from listeners (one of whom suggested she could have heard the song playing from a car radio) and the charities Mind and The Samaritans in the paper, Penk remained unrepentant.

He commented: "The entire area had been thrown into total chaos by a single, troubled woman.

"I was, of course, very sorry to hear that the lady had subsequently jumped from the bridge but relieved that her injuries were minor.

"If, as has been suggested, the woman jumped because she heard the song from a passing car radio that's unfortunate."

"But I don't regret playing it for a minute."

Penk hit How-Do headlines last week with his criticism of the BBC's promotion of the new Chris Evans Breakfast Show.

You can read the full Sun story here.

UPDATE:

How-Do has now manged to contact The Revolution and has received the following from Penk. This is the full, unedited quote he gave to The Sun:

“In these challenging times I get so bloody annoyed when someone comes along – clearly with too much time on their hands - trying to make something out of nothing.

Since buying the radio station 16 months ago listening has increased by 107 per cent and that’s because we’ve set out to relate to local people with entertaining, informative and topical programming.

My show is highly interactive and each day I receive several hundred e-mails and text messages. Listeners have become conditioned to suggesting ‘topical’ songs and I play them all the time. “Hey Penky – it’s raining….why don’t you play Raindrops Keep Falling On My Head?”

On Thursday a regular listener, we’ll call him ‘Bob’, (because that’s his name!), was seething with frustration because, along with thousands of other ordinary people, his daily routine had been completely wrecked. The entire area had been thrown into total chaos by the inexplicable actions of a single, troubled woman.

Bob texted me to request the classic rock track ‘Jump’ by Van Halen and, after careful consideration, I decided to play it because I knew it would send out a clear signal of ‘empathy’ to all those gridlocked drivers who were going to be late for work, school, a hospital appointment, etc. through no fault of their own.

I was, of course, very sorry to hear that the lady had subsequently jumped from the bridge but relieved that her injuries were minor.

If, as has been suggested, the woman jumped because she heard the song from a passing car radio that’s unfortunate but I don’t regret playing it for a minute."

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Comments (22)

1  By George Dearsley , on 18-01-2010 09:06 I have followed Steve's career for 20 years, interviewed him many times and admired the way he went to London and forged a great career. Then I thought it was terrific how he came back (although someone claims he still lives in London, not sure about that) and bought Revolution. However, I think when he reflects he'll admit he has made a serious error of judgement on this one and I just hope it doesn't come back to bite him via the regulators. I recall years ago someone called a national newspaper in Manchester threatening to jump off a building and was given short shrift by a telephonist. The person jumped and left a note (read out at an inquest) about the callous way he had been treated by the paper. You can trivialise a lot of things in life but not mental illness. Sorry Steve. Report