Frank Wappat (17 February 1930 – 17 February 2014) was an English

radio personality A radio personality (American English) or radio presenter (British English) is a person who has an on-air position in radio broadcasting. A radio personality who hosts a radio show is also known as a radio host, and in India and Pakistan as a rad ...

, disc jockey and singer from

Hebburn Hebburn is a town in the metropolitan county of Tyne and Wear, England. It governed under the borough of South Tyneside; formerly governed under the county of Durham until 1974 with its own urban district from 1894 until 1974. It is on the south ...

County Durham County Durham ( ), officially simply Durham,UK General Acts 1997 c. 23Lieutenancies Act 1997 Schedule 1(3). From legislation.gov.uk, retrieved 6 April 2022. is a ceremonial county in North East England.North East Assembly �About North East E ...

. He worked with The Premier Band, Bobby Thompson,

Renato Pagliari Renato Pagliari (28 June 1940 – 29 July 2009) was an Italian tenor, who was the lead vocalist alongside Hilary Lister in the short-lived 1980s pop duo Renée and Renato. The pop duo were best known for their UK Christmas Number 1 hit from ...

(of

Renée And Renato Renée and Renato were a female/male vocal duo, who had a UK number-one hit in December 1982 with " Save Your Love". The follow-up single " Just One More Kiss" peaked at No. 48. Their third single, "Jesus Loves Us All", failed to reach the UK Si ...

fame), The Pipe-dreamers,

Flintlock Flintlock is a general term for any firearm that uses a flint-striking lock (firearm), ignition mechanism, the first of which appeared in Western Europe in the early 16th century. The term may also apply to a particular form of the mechanism its ...

The Dooleys The Dooleys were a British male–female pop group comprising at its peak eight members – six of them in the Dooley family. The group achieved several UK chart hits between 1977 and 1981, including top-ten hits " Wanted", "Love of My Life" a ...

and many others, in a career spanning from the 1950s to the 2010s.

Biography

Wappat founded the

Al Bowlly Albert Allick Bowlly (7 January 1898 – 17 April 1941) was a Mozambican-born South African–British vocalist and jazz guitarist, who was popular during the 1930s in Britain. He recorded more than 1,000 songs. His most popular songs include ...

Circle, ''Memory Lane'' magazine, the British Band-Leaders Club and The Thirties Club. He was the longest serving presenter on

BBC Radio Newcastle BBC Radio Newcastle is the BBC's local radio station serving Newcastle upon Tyne, the neighbouring metropolitan boroughs, Northumberland and north east County Durham. It broadcasts on FM, DAB, digital TV and via BBC Sounds from BBC studio ...

, having started in 1970, following his early broadcasting via

Radio 390 Radio 390 (1965–1967) was a pirate radio station on Red Sands Fort, (near Whitstable), a former Maunsell Fort on the Red Sands sandbar. Previously the fort had been used by Radio Invicta (c June 1964 – February 1965) and KING Radio (March � ...

on the

Thames Estuary The Thames Estuary is where the River Thames meets the waters of the North Sea, in the south-east of Great Britain. Limits An estuary can be defined according to different criteria (e.g. tidal, geographical, navigational or in terms of salini ...

. In 1999, he won a

Sony Radio Academy Award The Radio Academy Awards, started in 1983, were the most prestigious awards in the British radio industry. For most of their existence, they were run by ZAFER Associates, but in latter years were brought under the control of The Radio Academy ...

for his Master Joe Peterson programme (a thirties

music hall Music hall is a type of British theatrical entertainment that was popular from the early Victorian era, beginning around 1850. It faded away after 1918 as the halls rebranded their entertainment as variety. Perceptions of a distinction in Bri ...

star whose real name was Mary O'Rourke), and in 2000, he won a second Sony award, for Investigative Journalism, with Wappat unearthing the truth about the death of 1940s singer Chick Henderson, later publishing a short biography of him. Both his Gospel and Inspiration and Nostalgia shows continued on BBC Radio Newcastle,

BBC Radio Humberside BBC Radio Humberside is the BBC's local radio station serving East Yorkshire and North & North East Lincolnshire. It broadcasts on FM, DAB, digital TV and via BBC Sounds from studios at Queen's Gardens in Hull. According to RAJAR, the stat ...

and

BBC Radio York BBC Radio York is the BBC's local radio station serving the county of North Yorkshire. It broadcasts on FM, DAB, digital TV and via BBC Sounds from studios in the Bootham area of York. According to RAJAR, the station has a weekly audience o ...

until August 2010, when Wappat decided to retire after 40 years. Commenting on this, he said, "The reality is that I can no longer give 110% to my radio shows, so I have sadly resigned from my broadcasting commitments. No one likes to make tough decisions and this one has been the hardest of my life". This came several months after Wappat suffered a stroke, which left him

aphasia Aphasia is an inability to comprehend or formulate language because of damage to specific brain regions. The major causes are stroke and head trauma; prevalence is hard to determine but aphasia due to stroke is estimated to be 0.1–0.4% in th ...

. Wappat's son, Paul, was a radio presenter at BBC Radio Newcastle, before moving to 97.5 Smooth Radio in January 2008. Frank Wappat died of heart failure on 17 February 2014, his 84th birthday, at the

Royal Victoria Infirmary The Royal Victoria Infirmary (RVI) is a 673-bed tertiary referral hospital and research centre in Newcastle upon Tyne, England, with strong links to Newcastle University. The hospital is part of the Newcastle upon Tyne Hospitals NHS Foundation Tru ...

Newcastle Newcastle usually refers to: *Newcastle upon Tyne, a city and metropolitan borough in Tyne and Wear, England *Newcastle-under-Lyme, a town in Staffordshire, England *Newcastle, New South Wales, a metropolitan area in Australia, named after Newcastle ...

. He lived in Blyth with his wife, Susan.

References

External links

*
Memory Lane Magazine
{{DEFAULTSORT:Wappat, Frank Radio Academy Awards People from Hebburn Musicians from Tyne and Wear English radio personalities 1930 births 2014 deaths