Media

Bauer DJ drops prank calls in respect for Middleton nurse

By | Published on Tuesday 11 December 2012

Robin Galloway

Another UK radio presenter has said he is dropping prank phone calls from his show, in the short term at least, following the death last week, seemingly by suicide, of a nurse caught up in a practical joke on an Australian radio station.

As previously reported, Jacintha Saldanha, a nurse at the London hospital that last week cared for Kate Middleton, was found dead on Friday, just days after becoming involved in a global news story when she answered an early morning phone call from two Aussie radio presenters pretending to be the Queen and Prince Charles. Believing the call to be genuine, Saldanha put the DJs through to another nurse who discussed Middleton’s condition. The call was then aired on Sydney’s 2Day FM.

The exact circumstances of Saldanha’s death are not yet known, and experts stress that suicide is never the result of a single incident. However, the tragedy has thrown into the spotlight the sort of prank call features that can be found on radio stations around the world, especially those where victims are picked at random, rather than being nominated by friends or family. While such prank calls are rarely problematic, random selection of victims means there is always a risk the person involved will not be able to cope with any unwanted attention, especially if a call is aired without the participant’s prior knowledge or permission, as occurred with the 2Day FM piece.

Steve Penk, one of the best known prank callers in British radio, has said he is parking, for the time being at least, the joke call show that airs on the radio station he owns, The Revolution in Manchester. Now Robin Galloway, who airs prank calls on both the drivetime show he hosts for Glasgow station Clyde 1, and on a Sunday afternoon show networked across Bauer’s Scottish stations, has said he won’t be airing any such features for the foreseeable future. He’s also stopped promoting a ‘best of the prank calls’ CD on his show.

Writing for Radio Today, Galloway says: “The way I feel right now, I may not resume them at all; which would be strange, having done literally thousands over the years with little or no complaint”.

He goes on to admit that when the 2Day FM prank call first became a global news story he was a little jealous of the attention the Aussie DJs Mel Greig and Michael Christian were getting. But “then came the devastating news that a human being had taken her own life as a result of what was supposed to be a light hearted prank, albeit [one] in poor taste. The whole sorry affair has left me shattered”.



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