DJ played ‘Jump’ as woman threatened suicide leap

TV and radio personality Steve Penk has defended his decision to play a song called “Jump” while police were attempting to talk a suicidal woman down from a motorway bridge.

Mr Penk said he played the Van Halen classic “Jump” following a request from a frustrated driver stuck in traffic on the M60.

A 30-year-old woman had been threatening to jump from the Nut Bank bridge near junction 19, Middleton.

The incident closed all three lanes of the M60 anti-clockwise and two lanes of the clockwise carriageway between junction 19 and 21 Chadderton, with hundreds of drivers affected.

Despite police spending nearly nine hours trying to talk her down, the woman jumped shattering her heels.

Mental health charity Mind said Penk’s decision to play the song was “in very poor taste” while the Samaritans said it showed a “lack of compassion”.

Listener Lorna Guinn slammed the move as “irresponsible” because the woman could have overheard the song on a car radio. However Mr Penk, who bought 96.2 The Revolution, which is based at the Sarah Moor Studios, Henshaw Street, in September, 2008, said he did not regret playing the song.

He said: “The entire area had been thrown into total chaos by the inexplicable actions of a single, troubled woman.

“A listener 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 woman 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.”