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Steve Penk is a British radio and TV presenter. He was born in Rusholme, Manchester and is renowned for his wind-up calls. Penk has worked for various national and local UK radio stations. Aged just 16 he started his radio career at Piccadilly Radio in 1978 (subsequently rebranded Key 103), where his breakfast show delivered record ratings, the highest in the station's history to this day.
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In 1997 Penk moved on to work at Capital Radio London presenting the mid-morning show. On his programme he regularly did his famous radio wind-ups. It was during one of these "wind-up" calls that Penk had the idea to call the then British Prime Minister, Tony Blair. He was able to get through the No.10 switchboard and managed to get Blair on the air for a few minutes. Blair later mentioned during Prime Minister's Questions that Penk had prank-called him that morning, and at that point it became a global media story.
In 2000, Penk moved to Virgin Radio where he replaced Chris Evans on the breakfast show and increased the audience by 300,000 listeners in the first 3 months. Penk then returned to Capital FM in 2002 to present a networked late show. In the interim, he appeared on Lily Savage's Blankety Blank.
After a year presenting the late show on Capital Radio networked to a number of other stations, Penk returned to Manchester's Key 103, however, he left at the end of 2006. Penk returned to the airwaves on Fox FM in Oxfordshire in March 2007 as its new breakfast show presenter. It was effectively a return to the station as his late show for Capital was simulcast on Fox. However, he announced on 15 January 2008 he would be leaving the station by March 2008 due to 'internal politics'.
He also presented TV Nightmares, The Way They Were, When Athletes Attack and made guest appearances on Blankety Blank and a few series of TV's Naughtiest Blunders on ITV1.
On Thursday, 4 September 2008, it was announced that Penk had bought the entire share capital in the radio station 96.2 the Revolution. Almost immediately after the purchase, Penk made major changes both to the schedule and to the playlist. The changes led to outrage from some listeners to the station and departure of some of the station's DJs. However, after changing the station's format Penk managed to quadruple the audience.
In January 2010, Penk was condemned by mental health charities for playing Van Halen's "Jump" on 96.2 the Revolution breakfast show at the request of a motorist stuck on the M60 due to a woman on a bridge. Shortly after, the woman jumped 30 ft from the bridge, but only received minor injuries.
In December 2012, Catherine, Duchess of Cambridge spent three nights in the King Edward VII Hospital in central London being treated for severe pregnancy sickness. Two DJs, Mel Greig and Michael Christian from 2Day FM, an Australian radio station, made a wind-up phone call to the hospital, claiming to be the Queen and Prince Charles. Jacintha Saldanha, a nurse at the hospital, was duped by the wind-up phone call. The prank call was reported worldwide. A few days later the nurse committed suicide. Speaking about the death of the nurse, Penk said: "I think there will be huge fallout. I think it will be, for want of a better phrase, the death of the wind-up phone call on British radio." Penk was proved right.
In January 2014, he sold 96.2 the Revolution.
In 2015, Penk launched his own 'best of' wind-up phone calls radio station, showcasing the best of his wind-up calls and other calls from around the world. Available online and on the Manchester DAB multiplex, the station has become extremely popular considering it's the first of its type in the world. In March 2016, he launched another, online only, app-based radio station, Radio Dead. Radio Dead is another Penk brainchild and the first radio station in the world featuring only music from artists that are no longer alive, such as Freddie Mercury, George Michael, David Bowie, Prince, Whitney Houston, George Harrison, Elvis Presley, John Lennon, Buddy Holly, and Michael Jackson, along with many others. It is available by downloading the Radio Dead app from the App Store or listening via www.stevepenk.co.uk
Also search 'Steve Penk Radio' app.
Steve Penk also has a radio show on Coast FM in Tenerife.