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australian-djs-prank.jpg
Radio personalities Mel Greig and Michael Christian both say they are "so sorry" for the prank call that they never thought would go through to Prince William's pregnant wife Kate.(Photo courtesy 2DayFM radio)

Seattle radio personalities defend Australian DJ pranksters

December 10, 2012 @ 8:26 am (Updated: 2:41 pm - 12/10/12 )

We're "shattered, gutted, heartbroken."

Two Australian radio announcers, who made a prank call to a British hospital treating Prince William's pregnant wife Kate, broke a three-day silence Monday and cried as they described how horrible they feel after the nurse who took their call committed suicide.

Radio personalities Mel Greig and Michael Christian both say they are "so sorry" for the call that they never thought would go through.

"It was designed to be stupid," Greig says in an interview with the Australian Current Affair TV show. "It was meant to be a silly little prank that so many people have done before."

Nurse Jacintha Saldanha, 46, was found dead Friday after putting the hoax call through to a colleague who unwittingly disclosed details of Kate's morning sickness to the DJs.

A recording of the call was broadcast by stations around the world, while newspapers printed a transcript of the call.

"Unfortunately I remember that moment very well, because I haven't stopped thinking about it since it happened," Greig says, as she cried while being interviewed.

She says after hearing about the suicide, the first thing she wanted to know was whether the nurse was a "mum."

Saldanha had two children.

"I've wanted to just reach out to them and just give them a big hug and say sorry. I hope they're okay, I really do. I hope they get through this," Greig says. "I hope that they get the love, the support, the care that they need, you know."

This wasn't Christian's first stunt. A couple of weeks before the prank call, he angered fellow passengers with a harmonica playing stunt aboard pop star Rihanna's private jet.

Asked if he would do something like this again, Christian avoided a direct answer.

"I don't think anyone could have predicted what would have happened," he says. "It was just a tragic set of circumstances."

"There is nothing that could make me feel worse than I do right now," Greig adds, "We are so sorry."

The 2DayFM radio show's parent company has received thousands of complaints about the radio duo. They've both been taken off air. Their show was cancelled and an investigation is underway into the radio stunt.

Seattle morning radio host John Curley, with KIRO Radio, thinks taking the radio personalities off the air is the wrong move.

"By getting rid of them, the conversation doesn't continue and the issue is completely ignored," Curley says. "If you leave them on the air, it leaves the wound there and it allows the audience to experience their growth, we get a chance to see them become different people."

"The Australian DJs merely performed a staple of radio - one that has been outlawed here in the US. They meant no harm but there's a good reason why we have to ask permission before recording phone calls," says Arik Korman, director of The Bob Rivers Show on KJR FM. "The DJs should be suspended but not lose their jobs. They have learned an important life lesson."

Luke Burbank, with KIRO's late morning talk show Ross and Burbank, says he feels bad for the Australian DJs.

"We need to take a moment and realize there were probably other things going on in this nurse's life that we don't know about," Burbank says, "It's unfair to blame them [the DJs] for the death."

B.J. Shea agrees with Burbank. "It's a horrible tragedy for the family, but there had to be more going on that we don't know," says host of KISW's BJ Shea Morning Experience.

Shea points out FCC rules in the U.S. do not allow prank calling people without their prior knowledge.

He adds that ratings success or failure is the "ultimate resolution" for any radio show.

Dori Monson doesn't believe Saldanha's role in the call was the sole reason she chose to commit suicide. He thinks it's unfair the show was canceled.

"I think it's outrageous the way their company has handled this," says Monson. "They recorded the call. They didn't do it live on the air. Their attorneys for the radio station listened to the call and they pre-approved it running on the air."

I'm not surprised Seattle personalities would support their Australian peers, but I disagree with my radio friends.

I didn't snicker along with some of the above radio personalities who played the prank call to Kate's room repeatedly on their talk shows. I think it was appropriate to fire the DJs for the stunt, if nothing else so it'll send a message to other wacky radio people that their actions have consequences.

We can't know what was going on in the mind of the nurse who killed herself, but that's the reality we face every day when we turn our microphones on.

We never know how our words will impact others, so raise the bar guys and stop thinking humor at someone's expense is entertaining.

By LINDA THOMAS

More from Linda Thomas

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Comments (34)


  • Add A Comment

  • flipper wrote...
    Wow
    December 10, 2012 8:52 am
    If you LISTENED to the prank, anyone with 1/2 a brain would have known it was a prank straight away.
    { "Thumbs Up":"1","Thumbs Down":"-1" }
  • Chuck Gould wrote...
    Freedom of the press doesn't mean that you are exempt from responsibility
    December 10, 2012 9:24 am
    At least the two DJ's actually involved have the decency to cry over their stupidity and the tragic consequences. They know *exactly* how they are involved with the death of the hospital worker they pranked with the call.

    Wonder how the ratings were for that segment? Suppose they maybe sold an extra bottle of soap, some storm windows, or a new Chevy at the cost of somebody's life.

    It's possible to defend the principle of free speech without defending everybody who speaks freely- or speaks without any forethought for the potential consequences.

    { "Thumbs Up":"1","Thumbs Down":"-1" }
  • Shplunker wrote...
    poor chuck
    December 10, 2012 11:47 am
    you must have a really hard time making it through the day without drooling on yourself. FREEDOM of the Press has absolutely NOTHING to do with this issue. Anyone could have made that prank call and recorded it....put it on YouTube...put it on the radio.... You Libs ..IT'S ALWAYS "SOMEBODY ELSE'S FAULT" when bad stuff happens. The fact of the matter is that if this is what caused this woman to commit suicide, it was going to happen sooner than later anyway.
    { "Thumbs Up":"1","Thumbs Down":"-1" }
  • maplefish wrote...
    Exactley
    December 10, 2012 12:20 pm
    Leave it to the Liberals to Blame everybody else. No such thing as personal accountablity or resposiblilty. It's always somebody elses fault. That's why Obama is so popular. He blames rich people for all his FAILURES! And of course, the brain-dead, lazy, whiney, victim LIBERAL mentality excuses this BS. This poor lady had issues.
    { "Thumbs Up":"1","Thumbs Down":"-1" }
  • fredintheworld wrote...
    EXACTLY
    December 10, 2012 2:05 pm
    You dumb troll...I'm a lib and think the DJs were idiots, but in no way should they have been fired. The nurse did indeed have her own issues. How 'bout you get off your horse and leave accusations about party affiliations out of this?
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  • JMGilday wrote...
    everyone concerned is paying a price
    December 10, 2012 9:26 am
    the DJ's little prank at someone else's expense (as pranks usually are) cost them a couple weeks of pay...

    Nurse Jacintha Saldanha act as an unwitting accomplice in forwarding the call cost her her life.

    Sound fair to me.

    In all seriousness, when any of us do something stupid that harms another, we are held accountable. Text while driving and hit someone? You'll do jailtime. Fail to sterilize food processing equipment and have an E. coli outbreak - pay millions in restitution and fines.

    Everyone from DJ's to anyone in management that knew of this invasion of privacy should be held accountable in a court of law.

    { "Thumbs Up":"1","Thumbs Down":"-1" }
  • ron prevost wrote...
    Enough, already. ... Shinola happens !
    December 10, 2012 9:47 am
    And these Aussies have no more responsibility for the nurse's death than you would if you honked at a drunk driver who then drove into a phone pole. ... For all we know, this nurse had been planning suicide for weeks or months - it's not usually a snap decision, after all. And just what evidence have we that her suicide was even connected to the prank call?

    We, all of us as a people, need to get off the idea that someone ELSE is always to blame for whatever happens. ... And certainly NO ONE should be held accountable for innocent prattle. Freedom of speech, nor any freedom, can not exist if we are held liable for every unforeseen and completely unintended consequence.

    { "Thumbs Up":"1","Thumbs Down":"-1" }
  • Chuck Gould wrote...
    Ron, the entire purpose of a prank is an attempt to fool somebody
    December 10, 2012 10:23 am
    into believing the situation is real.

    In this case, the prank succeeded.

    Let's say I call you on the phone, and yell, "Quick, Ron, run out your front door right now! There's an angry guy with a loaded weapon climbing up your back steps." You believe me. You run out your front door, and in your panic you trip and fall in front of a garbage truck. Would you say I have no responsibility for your death or injury?

    Remember, this was a prank that involved the Royal Family, in Britain. Everybody in the country was angry at the nurse for putting the call through. Everybody knew her name. It's a lot more serious than calling some tobacconist and asking, "Do you have Prince Albert in a can?" She would have been ostracized for the rest of her life.

    Some prank.

    { "Thumbs Up":"1","Thumbs Down":"-1" }
  • Shplunker wrote...
    upchuck
    December 10, 2012 11:50 am
    if I tell you to go "play in the freeway" and you aren't smart enough to NOT do it...is it my fault?
    { "Thumbs Up":"1","Thumbs Down":"-1" }
  • Chuck Gould wrote...
    Shplunker..not, but it is your fault that you aren't able
    December 10, 2012 4:41 pm
    to disagree with a person without being insulting.

    You do know, I hope, that folks who lack faith in their own arguments are the first to wheel out the name calling, etc.

    { "Thumbs Up":"1","Thumbs Down":"-1" }
  • Shplunker wrote...
    really?
    December 10, 2012 8:57 pm
    Chuck...that's all you've got? I don't see any name calling, or insulting at all - and I certainly have no problem with faith in my argument. As I said, the only person in this whole thing that has any responsibility is the selfish person who committed suicide. Life's hard, get a helmet.
    { "Thumbs Up":"1","Thumbs Down":"-1" }
  • Chuck Gould wrote...
    Sphincter, er, I mean Shplunker
    December 10, 2012 11:24 pm
    the next time you refer to me as "upchuck" I'll have to remember that it's meant as a compliment. :-)
    { "Thumbs Up":"1","Thumbs Down":"-1" }
  • mnpat wrote...
    I agree with you Chuck,
    December 10, 2012 12:12 pm
    There are consequences to actions, no, the radio folks do not get a pass on this one. Media has long gone to extremes for ratings. Does not surprise me that media surrounds their own when they screw up. KIRO has thrown Bellevue under the bus regarding their police department, time they threw some of their own under the bus for their issues as well.
    { "Thumbs Up":"1","Thumbs Down":"-1" }
  • ron prevost wrote...
    AND.................... The entire putpose of ANY prank is to fool somebody.
    December 10, 2012 12:41 pm
    But I would hardly equate a warning to 'run' with a 3 second phone connect. ......... And what a dull world without pranks and jokes.

    As for 'Everybody in the country...' (England) being angry with the nurse and knowing her name........??????? Supposition???

    First, I suspect that a rather large part of that population was laughing - maybe more so BECAUSE the Royals had been spoofed. There's one heck of a lot of people in Britain who are NOT in love with the royal family. ..... And second (and this might be believable) about the ONLY way the general Brit tabloid=loving public could have even learned the nurse's name is if some 'newspaper' or magazine published it. ... But, then, wouldn't the tabloids be the major contributor to her suicide rather than 2 kids in Australia?

    .

    BTH, Prince Albert was the consort of Queen Victoria. And the tobacco joke is at least 150 years old. I highly doubt the good Queen was panicked when she first heard it.

    { "Thumbs Up":"1","Thumbs Down":"-1" }
  • ConservativeThinker wrote...
    well maybe....
    December 10, 2012 1:04 pm
    Actually, I think that people were more upset that the nurse gave out private information on the Royals. The Nurse that took that call - probably was working on papers and charts.. and just passed the call on. The Nurse that was actually caring for her - should have done a better job of determining who it was she was speaking to. The mistake of forwarding the call is nothing compared with the Nurse caring for her 1) not knowing who she was talking to, 2) giving out information on the phone... ....
    { "Thumbs Up":"1","Thumbs Down":"-1" }
  • Seattle Dad wrote...
    How could they be responsible
    December 10, 2012 10:06 am
    Does everyone that's ever talked to someone who's committed suicide bear some element of responsibility? Some could make that argument. In the end I don't think that's reasonable.
    { "Thumbs Up":"1","Thumbs Down":"-1" }
  • DesertRez wrote...
    This paragraph cracks me up
    December 10, 2012 11:03 am
    Read this over-educated libby-babble and try not to laugh: "By getting rid of them, the conversation doesn't continue and the issue is completely ignored," Curley says. "If you leave them on the air, it leaves the wound there and it allows the audience to experience their growth, we get a chance to see them become different people."

    It's pretty simple, you did something stupid, you get fired.

    { "Thumbs Up":"1","Thumbs Down":"-1" }
  • William Lawn wrote...
    The radio company and their lawyers cleared it, Rez
    December 10, 2012 1:52 pm
    If everyone hadn't agreed to run it it would not have been a problem.

    And someone released her name, they were as responsible.

    And yeah Rez, "over-educated", now that is a BIG problem.

    Better to be under-educated.

    Like you.

    { "Thumbs Up":"1","Thumbs Down":"-1" }
  • HLC wrote...
    Maybe being from the middle east her family has a high level of pride.
    December 10, 2012 12:05 pm
    This would be an embarresment to the whole family. It is a totally different culture then we live in. Especially in washington where we must not have any pride in ourselves.
    { "Thumbs Up":"1","Thumbs Down":"-1" }
  • Jeff Schroeder wrote...
    It's time for the "Royal" Family
    December 10, 2012 12:09 pm
    ...to remember they are just the Worlds biggest Welfare case...
    { "Thumbs Up":"1","Thumbs Down":"-1" }
  • MagneticPatriot wrote...
    People have to take responsibility...
    December 10, 2012 12:27 pm
    Prank or not, someone should take responsibility for this. I’m sure that they had no idea that someone would take their life over this but they did. Criminals think the same thing and a simple robbery that leads to someone getting killed, the criminal goes to jail for murder.
    { "Thumbs Up":"1","Thumbs Down":"-1" }
  • Sean wrote...
    "Someone?"""
    December 10, 2012 1:37 pm
    How about the woman who killed herself, forgodsake???? SHE is responsible. Period.
    { "Thumbs Up":"1","Thumbs Down":"-1" }
  • Sean wrote...
    Some of you are just insane.
    December 10, 2012 1:36 pm
    Let's say there have been, oh, 10,000 prank calls by media personalities in the history of radio. From my very unscientific data, I'd guess that, oh, 99.9999999999 percent of those did NOT result in the person on the receiving end of the prank taking their own life. But I guess many of you are saying that, if they had, it would be the prankster who's responsible? Are you serious??? So someone feels that a going through a bit of embarrassment caused by such an event is cause to take their own life, and you think the problem in this scenario is the prankster??? Simply unbelievable. This woman quite unfortunately had a very serious screw loose and, feeling such an out-of-proportion amount of embarrassment, she chose to end her own life instead of any of a hundred OTHER choices, such as seeing a psychologist -- and it's the DJs' faults, not hers??? That's about as unbelievable as it gets. Good luck in getting through the rest of YOUR day, too, by the way, without cutting your own wrists.
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