He began his career working at radio and television stations in the United States Midwest, including Ohio and Kansas. From there, he took minor roles in television, on such shows as Get Smart, The Partridge Family and The Rockford Files.
Jump also enjoyed working in theater.
Jump had been suffering from pulmonary fibrosis, a disease that leaves the lungs scarred, restricting oxygen to tissue in the body and eventually causing heart or respiratory failure. He finally succumbed to the condition when he was 71.
"As God is my Witness, I thought turkeys could fly!" —Gordon Jump, playing Arthur Carlson, on WKRP in Cincinnati