Stephen Richard Wright (born 26 August 1954) is 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 ...

and

disc jockey A disc jockey, more commonly abbreviated as DJ, is a person who plays recorded music for an audience. Types of DJs include Radio personality, radio DJs (who host programs on music radio stations), club DJs (who work at a nightclub or music f ...

, credited for introducing the

zoo format Morning zoo is a format of morning radio show common to English-language radio broadcasting. The name is derived from the wackiness and zaniness of the activities, segments, and overall personality of the show and its hosts. The morning zoo conce ...

on British radio, with its zany, multi-personality approach. He presented '' Steve Wright in the Afternoon'' for 12 years on

BBC Radio 1 BBC Radio 1 is a British national radio station owned and operated by the BBC. It specialises in modern popular music and current chart hits throughout the day. The station provides alternative genres at night, including electronica, dance, ...

and 23 years on

BBC Radio 2 BBC Radio 2 is a British national radio station owned and operated by the BBC. It is the most popular station in the United Kingdom with over 15 million weekly listeners. Since launching in 1967, the station broadcasts a wide range of content. ...

, two of the BBC's national radio stations, the latter being most popular station in the

United Kingdom The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Europe, off the north-western coast of the continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotland, Wales and North ...

, ending on 30 September 2022. He continues to present his ''Sunday Love Songs'' weekend mid-morning show on Radio 2. On BBC Television Wright has hosted ''Home Truths'', ''The Steve Wright People Show'', ''Auntie's TV Favourites'', ''

Top of the Pops ''Top of the Pops'' (''TOTP'') is a British Record chart, music chart television programme, made by the BBC and originally broadcast weekly between 1January 1964 and 30 July 2006. The programme was the world's longest-running weekly music show ...

'' and ''

TOTP2 ''Top of the Pops 2'' (also known as ''TOTP2'') is a British television music show broadcast on BBC Two showing archive footage from the long-running ''Top of the Pops'' show, some dating back to the 1960s when the programme first aired on Britis ...

''. Wright has won awards, including Best DJ of the Year as voted by the ''

Daily Mirror The ''Daily Mirror'' is a British national daily tabloid. Founded in 1903, it is owned by parent company Reach plc. From 1985 to 1987, and from 1997 to 2002, the title on its masthead was simply ''The Mirror''. It had an average daily print ...

'' Readers Poll and by ''

Smash Hits ''Smash Hits'' was a British music magazine aimed at young adults, originally published by EMAP. It ran from 1978 to 2006, and, after initially appearing monthly, was issued fortnightly during most of that time. The name survived as a brand fo ...

'' in 1994. In 1998 he was awarded TRIC Personality of the Year for his radio programmes.

Early life and career

Born in

Greenwich Greenwich ( , ,) is a town in south-east London, England, within the ceremonial county of Greater London. It is situated east-southeast of Charing Cross. Greenwich is notable for its maritime history and for giving its name to the Greenwich ...

, South London, the elder of two boys in a working-class family, Wright was raised in

New Cross New Cross is an area in south east London, England, south-east of Charing Cross in the London Borough of Lewisham and the SE14 postcode district. New Cross is near St Johns, Telegraph Hill, Nunhead, Peckham, Brockley, Deptford and Greenwich, ...

. His childhood ambition was to work in the entertainment business. His father, Richard Wright, was a tailor and the manager of the Burton's store in

Trafalgar Square Trafalgar Square ( ) is a public square in the City of Westminster, Central London, laid out in the early 19th century around the area formerly known as Charing Cross. At its centre is a high column bearing a statue of Admiral Nelson commemo ...

. Wright was a quiet child, and never very scholarly. He was educated at

Eastwood Eastwood may refer to: Places ;in Australia *Eastwood, New South Wales **Eastwood railway station **Electoral district of Eastwood *Eastwood, South Australia ;in Canada * Eastwood, Ontario *Eastwood, Edmonton, Alberta, a neighborhood ;in the Ph ...

High School for Boys, near

Southend-on-Sea Southend-on-Sea (), commonly referred to as Southend (), is a coastal city and unitary authority area with borough status in southeastern Essex, England. It lies on the north side of the Thames Estuary, east of central London. It is bordered ...

Essex Essex () is a county in the East of England. One of the home counties, it borders Suffolk and Cambridgeshire to the north, the North Sea to the east, Hertfordshire to the west, Kent across the estuary of the River Thames to the south, and G ...

. Steve occasionally broadcast a nascent radio show over the school speaker system from the school stock cupboard. Wright originally joined the BBC staff in the early 1970s working as a returns clerk in the Gramophone Library in

Egton House Egton House in Langham Street in Central London was home to BBC Radio 1 for many years from 1985 until 1996. Radio 1 moved to Yalding House on Great Portland Street in 1996, and Egton House was demolished in 2003 to make way for the Egton Wing o ...

, opposite Broadcasting House, in London before leaving to start broadcasting in 1976 at Thames Valley Radio

Radio 210 Heart Berkshire (formerly 2-Ten FM) was an Independent Local Radio station, serving Berkshire and North Hampshire from studios in Reading. About Launched as Radio 210 (Two-One-Oh), the station commenced broadcasting in March 1976 on its medi ...

Reading Reading is the process of taking in the sense or meaning of Letter (alphabet), letters, symbols, etc., especially by Visual perception, sight or Somatosensory system, touch. For educators and researchers, reading is a multifaceted process invo ...

Berkshire Berkshire ( ; in the 17th century sometimes spelt phonetically as Barkeshire; abbreviated Berks.) is a historic county in South East England. One of the home counties, Berkshire was recognised by Queen Elizabeth II as the Royal County of Berk ...

alongside

Mike Read Michael David Kenneth Read (born 1 March 1947) is an English radio disc jockey, writer, journalist and television presenter. Read has been a broadcaster since 1976, best known for having been a DJ with BBC Radio 1, and television host for musi ...

. In 1979 Wright got his big break at

Radio Luxembourg Radio Luxembourg was a multilingual commercial broadcaster in Luxembourg. It is known in most non-English languages as RTL (for Radio Television Luxembourg). The English-language service of Radio Luxembourg began in 1933 as one of the earlies ...

, where he presented his own nightly show, presenting a Saturday evening show, then Saturday morning.

BBC Radio 1

In 1980, Wright joined

, taking over a Saturday evening slot before moving to Saturday mornings later that year.

''Steve Wright in the Afternoon'' (March 1981 to December 1993)

Wright moved to daytime radio with '' Steve Wright in the Afternoon'' in 1981, later introducing the

to the UK. In 1984, Wright took over a Sunday morning show entitled ''Steve Wright on Sunday'', which meant he presented weekday afternoons Mondays to Thursdays, with Mark Page and Paul Jordan presenting Friday afternoon's show. In 1986 his Sunday morning show ended, and he returned to five afternoons a week. The original incarnation of ''Steve Wright in the Afternoon'' ran from 1981 to 1993 on BBC Radio 1. The show became known in its Radio 1 incarnation for its cast of telephone characters created and performed by

Gavin McCoy Gavin McCoy is an English radio broadcaster born and educated in Oxford Oxford () is a city in England. It is the county town and only city of Oxfordshire. In 2020, its population was estimated at 151,584. It is north-west of London, ...

, Peter Dickson, Richard Easter and

Phil Cornwell Philip Cornwell (born 5 October 1957) is an English actor, comedian, impressionist and writer. He is part of the '' Dead Ringers'' television and radio series, and was the voice of Murdoc Niccals in the virtual band Gorillaz. Cornwell has co-w ...

. Like his mentor,

Kenny Everett Kenny Everett (born Maurice James Christopher Cole; 25 December 1944 – 4 April 1995) was an English comedian, radio disc jockey and television presenter. After spells on pirate radio and Radio Luxembourg in the mid-1960s, he was one of the fi ...

, Wright went out of his way to be irreverent, including stories taken from the ''

Weekly World News The ''Weekly World News'' was a tabloid which published mostly fictional "news" stories in the United States from 1979 to 2007, renowned for its outlandish cover stories often based on supernatural or paranormal themes and an approach to news t ...

''. The success led to a hit single, ''I'll Be Back'', released under the name Arnee and the Terminaters. In later years the style changed, dumping most of the characters and instead having a "

zoo A zoo (short for zoological garden; also called an animal park or menagerie) is a facility in which animals are kept within enclosures for public exhibition and often bred for Conservation biology, conservation purposes. The term ''zoological g ...

" format, with spoof guests and comedy sketches. A "posse" of producers and radio staff joined in. This format was new to British radio and marked the beginning of the marginalisation (and eventual departure) of several established Radio 1 DJs over the years that followed.

The Smiths The Smiths were an English rock band formed in Manchester in 1982. They comprised the singer Morrissey, the guitarist Johnny Marr, the bassist Andy Rourke and the drummer Mike Joyce. They are regarded as one of the most important acts to emerg ...

' 1986 hit single "

Panic Panic is a sudden sensation of fear, which is so strong as to dominate or prevent reason and logical thinking, replacing it with overwhelming feelings of anxiety and frantic agitation consistent with an animalistic fight-or-flight reactio ...

" was inspired by Wright playing " I'm Your Man" by

Wham! Wham! (briefly known in the US as Wham! U.K.) were an English pop duo formed in Bushey in 1981. The duo consisted of George Michael and Andrew Ridgeley. They became one of the most commercially successful pop acts of the 1980s, selling more ...

following a news report about the

Chernobyl nuclear disaster The Chernobyl disaster was a nuclear accident that occurred on 26 April 1986 at the No. 4 reactor in the Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant, near the city of Pripyat in the north of the Ukrainian Soviet Socialist Republic, Ukrainian SSR in the Sov ...

on his show.

Johnny Marr Johnny Marr (born John Martin Maher, 31 October 1963) is an English musician, songwriter and singer. He first achieved fame as the guitarist and co-songwriter of the Smiths, who were active from 1982 to 1987. He has since performed with numerous ...

and

Morrissey Steven Patrick Morrissey (; born 22 May 1959), known professionally as Morrissey, is an English singer and songwriter. He came to prominence as the frontman and lyricist of rock band the Smiths, who were active from 1982 to 1987. Since then ...

, who had been listening to the broadcast, viewed this as an insensitive and disrespectful act.

''Radio 1 Breakfast'' (January 1994 to April 1995)

Wright and his Posse moved to ''

The Radio 1 Breakfast Show ''Radio 1 Breakfast'' is a radio show that is broadcast across the UK on BBC Radio 1. It is hosted by Greg James since 20 August 2018 as the show's 16th presenter. The show ran six days a week until February 1968 (seBBC Genome Project, then fi ...

'' in 1994. He resigned from the Breakfast Show in 1995 due to differences with the

management; he was unhappy with the plummeting listening figures of the station due to its restructuring under new controller

Matthew Bannister Richard Matthew Bannister (born 16 March 1957) is a British media executive and broadcaster. Early career After attending King Edward VII School, Sheffield, he graduated in law at the University of Nottingham in 1978, and joined BBC Radio Not ...

, which led to many of the more established DJs leaving, or being sacked, around this time.

Commercial radio

Wright was picked up by the new station

Talk Radio Talk radio is a radio format containing discussion about topical issues and consisting entirely or almost entirely of original spoken word content rather than outside music. Most shows are regularly hosted by a single individual, and often featur ...

in 1995, where he presented a Saturday morning show. He presented various syndicated shows on Sunday mornings on a number of other British commercial stations.

BBC World Service

Wright joined the BBC World Service on 5 January 1999, presenting a 1 hour programme, ''Wright Around The World'' This show ran every Saturday afternoon until the final show on 25th October 2003. This meant that he was now on BBC Radio 7 days a week.

BBC Radio 2

He joined BBC Radio 2 in March 1996, where he began presenting ''Steve Wright's Saturday Show'' (1996–1999) and ''Steve Wright's Sunday Love Songs'' (1996–present), and his afternoon show beginning in July 1999. In 2006, Wright was said to earn £440,000 a year at Radio 2.

''Steve Wright in the Afternoon'' (July 1999 to September 2022)

In mid-1999 following a shake-up at Radio 2, '' Steve Wright in the Afternoon'' was revived, with Wright taking over this slot from

Ed Stewart Edward Stewart Mainwaring (23 April 1941 – 9 January 2016), known as Ed "Stewpot" Stewart, was an English radio broadcaster and TV presenter. He was principally known for his work as a DJ on BBC Radio 1 (particularly the Saturday morning ''Ju ...

Jonathan Ross Jonathan Stephen Ross (born 17 November 1960) is an English broadcaster, film critic, comedian, actor, writer, and producer. He presented the BBC One chat show ''Friday Night with Jonathan Ross'' during the 2000s, hosted his own radio show on ...

took over Wright's Saturday morning slot. Wright presented his Radio 2 version of ''Steve Wright in the Afternoon'' on weekday afternoons from 2pm to 5pm, alongside

Tim Smith Tim, Timothy or Timmy Smith may refer to: Musicians * T. V. Smith (born 1956), British singer and songwriter *Tim Smith (Cardiacs) (1961–2020), English singer-songwriter and frontman of Cardiacs *Timmy Trumpet (born 1982), Australian DJ and prod ...

and Janey Lee Grace, who have both also occasionally appeared as relief presenters on the station, as well as traffic reporter Bobbie Pryor. Another frequent contributor, "The Old Woman", was played by Joyce Frost who died in November 2016. On 1 July 2022 Wright announced that the show would end in September, to be replaced by a new show with

Scott Mills Scott Robert Mills (born 28 March 1973) is an English radio DJ, television presenter and occasional actor. He is best known for presenting the '' Scott Mills'' show on BBC Radio 1 from 2004 to 2022 and since then, on BBC Radio 2. Mills has also ...

. Wright would remain on Radio 2 to continue hosting ''Sunday Love Songs'', along with a new ''Serious Jockin'' podcast, seasonal specials and other projects. The final show was broadcast on 30 September 2022, with Wright playing "Radio Ga Ga" by Queen as his last record.

''Sunday Love Songs'' (March 1996 to present)

''Sunday Love Songs'', which Wright presents solo between 9am and 11am, features a blend of classic

love song A love song is a song about romantic love, falling in love, heartbreak after a breakup, and the feelings that these experiences bring. A comprehensive list of even the best known performers and composers of love songs would be a large order. ...

s, dedications and real-life romance stories. In 2013 it was revealed that the show was recorded on a Friday afternoon. The

BBC Trust The BBC Trust was the governing body of the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) between 2007 and 2017. It was operationally independent of BBC management and external bodies, and its stated aim was to make decisions in the best interests of ...

's editorial standards committee said the failure to inform listeners breached guidelines on accuracy and interacting with the audience.

Career outside radio

Wright presented a BBC TV series, ''The Steve Wright People Show'', from 1994 to 1995. His next stint in television was as the narrator and writer of the retro pop show ''

Top of the Pops 2 ''Top of the Pops 2'' (also known as ''TOTP2'') is a British television music show broadcast on BBC Two showing archive footage from the long-running ''Top of the Pops'' show, some dating back to the 1960s when the programme first aired on Britis ...

'' between 1997 and 2009. The last episode of ''TOTP2'' he presented was the

Michael Jackson Michael Joseph Jackson (August 29, 1958 – June 25, 2009) was an American singer, songwriter, dancer, and philanthropist. Dubbed the "King of Pop", he is regarded as one of the most significant cultural figures of the 20th century. Over a ...

special broadcast on 27 June 2009; Mark Radcliffe presented the next episode, which was the 2009 Christmas special broadcast on 23 December 2009.

UK Chart Hits

Whilst a radio presenter on BBC Radio 1, Wright was involved in a number of UK chart hits with members of his Afternoon Posse (the drive time radio team) including the UK Top 10 hit "I'll Be Back" which was performed in character by Mike Woolmans as ' Arnee' and which featured Wright as one of his backing band, 'the Terminaters', on the 29 August 1991 edition of BBC One's ''Top of the Pops''. * Young Steve & The Afternoon Boys - "I'm Alright" (RCA Records 1982, single) UK Singles Chart number 40 * Steve Wright And The Sisters Of Soul - "Get Some Therapy" (RCA Records 1983, single) UK Singles Chart number 75 * Steve Wright - "The Gay Cavalieros (The Story So Far...)" (MCA 1984, single) UK Singles Chart number 61 in December 1984. * Mr. Angry With Steve Wright - "I'm So Angry" (MCA 1985, single) UK Singles Chart number 90 in August 1985. * Arnee and the Terminaters - "I'll Be Back" (Epic Records 1991, single) UK Singles Chart number 5 In addition to these records, Mr Food's number 62 single from 1990 "And That's Before Me Tea!", was based on a jingle by Dave Sanderson recorded for Wright's afternoon show.

Personal life

Little is known about Wright's personal life. He was married to Cyndi Robinson until they divorced in 1999, and has two children. He is allergic to

feather Feathers are epidermal growths that form a distinctive outer covering, or plumage, on both avian (bird) and some non-avian dinosaurs and other archosaurs. They are the most complex integumentary structures found in vertebrates and a premier ...

s and

penicillin Penicillins (P, PCN or PEN) are a group of β-lactam antibiotics originally obtained from ''Penicillium'' moulds, principally '' P. chrysogenum'' and '' P. rubens''. Most penicillins in clinical use are synthesised by P. chrysogenum using ...

Bibliography

*Steve Wright ''Steve Wright's Book of the Amazing But True: Trivia for the Connoisseur'', Pocket Books (1995) *Steve Wright ''Just Keep Talking: Story of the Chat Show'', ‎ Simon & Schuster (1997) *Steve Wright ''Steve Wright's Book of Factoids'', HarperCollins Publishers (UK), (2005) *Steve Wright ''Steve Wright's Further Factoids'', HarperCollins Publishers (UK), (2007)

References

External links

*
''Steve Wright's Sunday Love Songs''
(BBC Radio 2)

* ttp://www.radiorewind.co.uk/radio2/steve_wright_page.htm Radio Rewind: Steve Wright – profile, pics and audio clips – BBC Radio 2br>'Sid the Manager' site
* archive.org: Steve Wright in the Afternoon Airchecks {{DEFAULTSORT:Wright, Steve 1954 births Living people English radio DJs English radio presenters BBC Radio 2 presenters BBC Radio 1 presenters People from Greenwich Radio Luxembourg (English) presenters Top of the Pops presenters