Australian hoax call radio show taken off air permanently

Melbourne, 28 Jan 2013, (PTI): The Australian radio show, whose royal prank call to a British hospital went awry and created a furore when it led an Indian nurse to commit suicide, has been junked by the radio network.

 

The Southern Cross Austereo (SCA) network has decided to permanently take the ’Hot 30’ show off air and has even announced a replacement show called ’The Bump’, a report in the AAP said.

 

It all started with what was supposed to be a prank call to a British hospital that was treating a pregnant Kate Middleton.

 

Jacintha Saldanha, 46, was the duty nurse when DJs Mel and Michael called the King Edward VII hospital pretending to be the Queen and Prince Charles, asking about the Duchess’s condition.

 

She forwarded the call to another nurse, who divulged confidential medical information about Kate.

 

The prank was broadcast by 2Day FM within hours, and made headlines around the world.

 

Saldanha was found dead on December 7 in the nurses’ quarters three days later, having hanged herself with a scarf.

 

The ’Hot 30’ was taken off air after Saldanha’s death, following a furore over the on-air prank by Christian and Greig.

 

While the show’s hosts Michael Christian and Mel Greig were sidelined after the tragedy, their future with the radio network was not immediately clear.

 

However, the show’s producers Ben Harlum and Emily Mills, who were also involved in the prank, have apparently escaped the axe, tweeting about their involvement in the new show, said the AAP report.

 

Christian and Greig have not spoken publicly since giving two television interviews following Saldanha’s death.