Some TV and radio presenters are show-offs, inviting us to bask in their wit and glamour. Others are different — they step back and put their audience first instead.
BBC radio hero Steve Wright, who has died aged 69, was firmly of the latter group. Wright’s afternoon show, which he presented for a total of 36 years on both Radios 1 and 2, was loved by listeners who felt like they were friends with their host.
Wright’s fellow broadcasters revered him too, as seen in their gushing tributes today, while guests looked forward to being on his shows — as the host was genuinely interested in the books, films and TV shows they came on to talk about.
Wright is credited with bringing the “zoo” radio format to the UK — he was the master of jingles, “factoids”, and characters including Mr Angry. Morrissey and The Smiths didn’t like it — they wrote Panic after hearing Wright play a cheery tune soon after discussing Chernobyl — but so many of us did.
While his work could seem light and frivolous, Wright was an obsessive — in the days before digital radio, he’d go on holiday to America to sit in his hotel room and listen to US rivals.
Born in Greenwich, Wright was a Londoner — in his youth, his dad managed the Trafalgar Square Burton’s. In later life he moved to a flat near BBC Broadcasting House to be near his studio.
Little else is known about his personal life. Wright said he didn’t have much time for romance after a divorce in 1999, as he spent all his time working. It’s thought that he was one of the BBC’s few quiet Tories, though his shows were places where politics was left at the door.
It seems particularly apt to celebrate him on Valentine’s Day, as perhaps Wright’s masterpiece was his Sunday Love Songs, an unashamed two-hour sentimental cheese fest, where listeners from around the UK sent gentle tributes to their partners and friends to be read out on air.
People marked engagements, wedding anniversaries, and the other ups and downs of life with their letters to his show, and it was a mark of their feeling for Wright that they trusted him to read them out. Love the show Steve.
