Steve Wright: Radio legend’s passing will feel to so many like a death in the family

I was only listening to him three days ago. He’d taken over one of my favourite programmes, Pick of the Pops on Radio 2, last October and on Saturday I tuned in as he ran us through a chart from 1978, one of my favourite musical years.

In fact I now feel terrible, because I made a throwaway comment on Twitter that if he’d talked a little less during the hour, he wouldn’t have had to cut off ELO’s Mr Blue Sky before its conclusion.

Wright’s radio career has spanned most of my life and the same will be true of millions of people who used to listen to him.

I remember him so well from his Radio 1 afternoon show, which was so pioneering, with his characters like Mr Angry (“Steve Wright, this is me again from Purley, Mr Angry, I want to have a word with you about...”) and Sid the manager (“Hello boy, it’s Sid ’ere”) and his ‘posse’ – a format that we’d never heard on the wireless in this country before then.

He did that show for well over a decade – and more recently presented in the same spot for Radio 2 for more than 20 years, before giving up the afternoon show in 2022. He did other shows too, including the Radio 1 breakfast show in the mid-90s.

Wright was not everyone’s cup of tea. Some will not have liked his style, some will have switched him off just as quickly as many others switched him on, but that’s the nature of radio.

There’s no right and wrong way to present a show – what one listener loves, another will hate. But when a presenter lasts as long at the top level as Wright, and commands the listening figures he consistently did over so many decades, you cannot argue with the facts. And it’s why his passing will be felt personally by people who were used to him talking to them – yes, to them, personally – every day or every week for years and years.

Everyone will have their own memories of him – a favourite era of his, or a favourite show. Many will have had requests played by him or namechecks from him on his shows, others might have spoken to him live on air.

There was widespread criticism of Radio 2 when his weekday afternoon show was given to Scott Mills getting on for 18 months ago. Some saw it was a sign of Radio 2’s demise – other well-known and long-serving presenters have also left or been ousted in recent years and plenty of listeners, themselves just as long-serving, were and are not happy.

But in Wright’s case, not as it has been with others, it was not the end of his voice being heard on the station. He still presented a Sunday morning love songs show and did various other one-offs and podcasts for the BBC. He seemed, publicly, to take the changes as a sign that things move on; nothing lasts forever.

Now, he is not there to present any more programmes or record any more podcasts – and his death will leave a big gap in many listeners’ lives. The tributes have been flooding in already and they are fulsome.

And you can be sure we will get to hear much of Wright’s best work again in the coming weeks, on Radio 2 and BBC Sounds. It will be poignant to listen to but will bring back wonderful memories for many.

The BBC said Wright was born in Greenwich, London, in 1954, and career at the Beeb began when he started working as a clerk. His broadcasting career began in 1976, when he left the BBC to join Thames Valley Radio.

“Four years later, he joined BBC Radio 1, presenting weekend programmes before launching Steve Wright in the Afternoon in 1981 - the show that would ultimately define his career,” said the BBC.

"After a brief stint hosting the Radio 1 breakfast show for a year from 1994, Wright left to join Talk Radio, but rejoined the BBC in 1996. He began presenting a Saturday programme and Sunday Love Songs on Radio 2 from 1996, before launching his afternoon show in 1999, a slot he would keep until 2022.

“Scott Mills took over the afternoon programme during a string of schedule changes at the station in 2022, but Wright stayed with Radio 2, continuing to present Sunday Love Songs as well as a series of specials and podcasts.”

RIP Steve, sorry I moaned about you the other day, and thanks for that 1978 chart, it was a belter...

Were you a Steve Wright devotee? Did he ever play you a love song or other request, or did you speak to him on air? Email [email protected] with your memories or tributes.