A DUBLIN RADIO station which yesterday evening broadcast a live call with a man threatening to jump from a bridge in Loughlinstown, Co Dublin, has expressed hope that the caller was now “getting the appropriate support he requires”.
The FM104 Phoneshow took a call on Thursday evening from a highly distressed man identifying himself as “Jay”. He told the presenter he had a knife and threatened to jump off the bridge.
Jay talked to presenter Jeremy Dixon about his psychosis and the treatment he had received. He also became angry on several occasions and shouted at Gardaí who had been called to the scene, telling them to get off the bridge.
The man’s parents were also at the scene.
Dixon asked the man to drop the knifes and step back to safety. Jay then passed the phone to his father, to whom Dixon said:
To be honest I didn’t want this to happen on the radio, this was thrown upon me at the last minute. I’m dealing with it in the best way I can – I’m not qualified to deal with this.Your son clearly, for some reason, wanted to talk to FM104… is there any way he’ll come down off that bridge?
In answering to a number of queries about why the radio station continued to broadcast the call, Dixon said there was “no other way to deal with it”: “He wanted to talk to FM104. He didn’t ring anybody else, he didn’t ring his family, he rang FM104…When someone rings and they feel as desperate and that, there is only one thing to do and that is to talk to them…Hopefully it has worked.”
He added, “I would have preferred that conversation to happen off the air. Physically it was not possible for it to happen off air.”
Gardaí confirmed last night that an operation had taken place at Loughlinstown since about 9.50pm, but added no further details would be released.
Today, Programme Director at FM104 Dave Kelly commented on the incident, saying it was “a very highly charged emotional situation for all concerned”.
Our presenter’s priority throughout was his concern for the caller’s well-being while, behind the scenes, our production team got in touch with relevant organisations to help him directly. We hope Jay is now getting the appropriate support he requires and I would like to thank our staff for handling a very difficult situation with such care and sensitivity.
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