Steve Wright, who has died aged 69, helped to redefine the function of a disc jockey when he established his BBC Radio 1 afternoon present within the Eighties. To the same old formulation of linking virtually back-to-back music, he added gossip, trivia, visitors from the world of leisure similar to Paul McCartney and Warren Beatty, and a basic feeling of chaos that grew to become often called the “zoo” format. It made him the preferred UK radio presenter of the period, with audiences of greater than eight million.
“The present’s somewhat little bit of every little thing you fancy,” he stated. “I invented the format myself. It’s a tabloid newspaper of the airwaves – quick, enjoyable and filled with information. One thing for everybody.”
A few of the common “visitors” or “listeners” phoning in – together with Mr Offended, Gervaise the hairdresser and Damian the social employee – had been fictional spoof characters voiced by actors, whereas Phil Cornwell, whom Wright described as “a crazed, impressed genius”, offered impersonations of David Bowie, John Lennon, Robert De Niro, the Rolling Stones and others. Cornwell’s interactions with the DJ had been improvised. A compulsive collector of knowledge, Wright was significantly keen on the “factoids” and weird true tales he dug as much as entertain his listeners.
Alongside the showbiz visitors, Wright was additionally trusted by politicians, though issues didn’t all the time go effectively. On one event he was ready within the prime minister’s research at 10 Downing Avenue, getting ready to conduct an interview with John Main, when he noticed two paracetamol tablets on a desk. As he was affected by a headache himself, he popped them into his mouth.
“When Mr Main walked in, I feel he noticed the empty packets – as a result of there was an instantaneous environment,” recalled Wright. “He wouldn’t actually loosen up. I requested him what garments he preferred to put on and he stated, ‘Er, um, informal.’ I requested what kind of informal, however he wouldn’t be drawn.” Nonetheless, Wright did elicit the revelation that the prime minister’s favorite report was the Marty Robbins western ballad El Paso. “A really unusual tune certainly,” noticed the DJ.
Wright first took to the Radio 1 airwaves with a Saturday night present in 1980 and, inside weeks, was presenting High of the Pops on BBC tv. Then, he hosted the Saturday mid-morning present earlier than switching to his long-running post-lunch weekday slot in a programme finally titled Steve Wright within the Afternoon (1981-93).
At first of 1994 he moved to the flagship Radio 1 breakfast present, titled Steve Wright within the Morning, in a bid by the BBC to halt declining scores. He added 250,000 listeners inside 4 months and stored a gradual viewers of seven million whereas audiences for different reveals plummeted. Nonetheless, Wright walked out on his £165,0000-a-year job in 1995 – following variations with Matthew Bannister, the just lately appointed controller of Radio 1 – and joined Speak Radio for an sad few months.
He was again on the BBC in 1996, switching to Radio 2 to current a Saturday present and launch Steve Wright’s Sunday Love Songs, a mixture of basic songs, dedications and real-life romance tales, earlier than returning to acquainted territory in 1999 with Steve Wright within the Afternoon. When his departure from the afternoon slot was introduced in 2022, he handed over sometimes graciously, saying “Now, I’ve been doing this programme for twenty-four years at Radio 2, and so how can I presumably complain? Actually, I can’t hog the slot for ever, so let’s give anyone else a go.”
Wright was born in Greenwich, south-east London, and introduced up in New Cross, the son of Richard Wright, who managed a Burton’s menswear retailer, and his spouse, June (nee Saunders). Following the household’s transfer to Southend-on-Sea, Essex, Steve attended Eastwood highschool, the place he broadcast on faculty radio over a speaker system from the inventory cabinet.
Leaving with three O-levels, he went by means of jobs as a delivery insurance coverage firm clerk, phone engineer and backstage theatre employee, in addition to operating his personal jingles enterprise. He additionally had an unsuccessful stint singing on the membership circuit, and labored in hospital radio in his spare time.
Becoming a member of the BBC within the early 70s, he spent three years working in its pop report library, digging out vinyl discs for DJs to play, adopted by a interval as a researcher in radio. He left in 1975 to host a present on Radio Atlantis in Belgium, then labored as a reporter and presenter on LBC in London.
In 1976, he moved to the newly launched business station Radio 210 in Studying, making promotional trailers and jingles earlier than internet hosting his personal present – he and a fellow 210 DJ, Mike Learn, additionally contributed a pop column to the native newspaper, the Studying Chronicle. Wright switched to Radio Luxembourg three years later and returned to the BBC in 1980.
Radio fame introduced Wright tv appearances not simply on High of the Pops (1980-89), but in addition as a panellist on gameshows similar to Blankety Clean (1987-89) and That’s Showbusiness (1990-93). He then grew to become the presenter of Residence Truths (1994), with celebrities answering basic data questions and revealing skeletons of their closet, and Steve Wright’s Folks Present (1994-95), that includes movie star visitors. From 1997 till 2009, he narrated the High of the Pops archive footage programme TOTP2.
On radio, Wright’s different reveals included Wright Across the World for the BBC World Service (1999-2003) and Radio 2’s Choose of the Pops (2022-24), and he continued to current Sunday Love Songs till his demise.
He was appointed MBE on this 12 months’s new 12 months honours checklist.
In 1985, Wright married Cyndi Robinson; they divorced in 1999. He’s survived by their kids, Tom and Lucy, his father and his brother, Laurence.
