| RIP Steve Wright 17:25 - Feb 13 with 1805 views | InTimeAddedOn |
The BBC have just announced that DJ and broadcasting legend Steve Wright has died suddenly at the age of 69. Pretty much grew up listening to his show on Radio 1 and gravitated to Radio 2 with him. His ‘zoo format’ shows were a blast and even in the modern era with so much choice to listen to in terms of output his afternoon show drew a listening audience of over 7 million. Sara Cox is doing her best to keep it together as she broadcasts live on Radio 2, understandably they are in bits.
RIP Steve Wright, thanks for many happy listening memories. God Bless you. |  | | |  |
| RIP Steve Wright on 18:25 - Feb 13 with 1691 views | LondonSaint76 |
Really sad news, he was still broadcasting at weekends after the R2 controller, the bovine quadruped Helen Thomas, scrapped his afternoon show last year - his replacement Scott Mills was not fit to lace his boots and never will be.
I remember when premium rate telephone lines first came in he used to come up with more and more bizarre invented lines mimicing the radio and TV ads at the time - Three Rotarians and a egg whisk!! on 0989 698698 (or whatever) is one that comes to mind...
RIP Steve |  |
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| RIP Steve Wright on 18:56 - Feb 13 with 1633 views | cocklebreath |
Seemed like a really nice chap, enjoyed his sometimes quite random music in the afternoon and yes Scott Mills isn’t fit to lace his boots. |  |
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| RIP Steve Wright on 21:58 - Feb 13 with 1514 views | Jellybaby |
Another "died suddenly". Really sad news, consumate professional. Remember hearing him on radio Luxembourg on my crackly radio all those years ago. Proper DJ. |  |
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| RIP Steve Wright on 12:42 - Feb 14 with 1300 views | saint901 |
Can't say that I was a fan but I feel for his family.
His frantic "zoo" style was not to my taste and I found his repetition of listeners saying "great show Steve" in one in three of the talking segments, a bit grating.
Nonetheless, he was there a long time, was obviously popular and well thought of by his colleagues.
I hope his family are left alone to deal with their loss. | | | |
| RIP Steve Wright on 13:24 - Feb 14 with 1278 views | franniesTache |
I'm sure he's a nice guy and it's sad for his family but his radio show was utterly god awful, the epitome of the smashy and nicey stuff that was mocked by harry enfield and virtually unlistenable on radio2 |  | | |
| RIP Steve Wright on 16:27 - Feb 14 with 1237 views | InTimeAddedOn |
| RIP Steve Wright on 13:24 - Feb 14 by franniesTache |
I'm sure he's a nice guy and it's sad for his family but his radio show was utterly god awful, the epitome of the smashy and nicey stuff that was mocked by harry enfield and virtually unlistenable on radio2 |
Stand to be corrected if I am wrong, the smashy and nicey skits were aimed fairly and squarely at Radio 1 DJ Simon Bates and to a lesser extent Tony Blackburn. Steve Wright was the polar opposite to their almost sickly over smooth presentation style mocked so well by HE and chums. SR was the first to bring the American style ‘zoo format’ to mainstream Radio in the UK along with Kenny Everett who was just plain bonkers with it. You say his shows were awful, in the 90’s his R1 show had over 50% of the entire UK listening audience tuning in and on R2 there were regularly 7 million, me included who would disagree with your harsh assessment. That said, each to their own, it would be a boring world if we all liked the same thing and these days it’s not like there’s not plenty of alternative choices to listen to so there’s something out there for everyone. | | | |
| RIP Steve Wright on 16:42 - Feb 14 with 1229 views | franniesTache |
| RIP Steve Wright on 16:27 - Feb 14 by InTimeAddedOn |
Stand to be corrected if I am wrong, the smashy and nicey skits were aimed fairly and squarely at Radio 1 DJ Simon Bates and to a lesser extent Tony Blackburn. Steve Wright was the polar opposite to their almost sickly over smooth presentation style mocked so well by HE and chums. SR was the first to bring the American style ‘zoo format’ to mainstream Radio in the UK along with Kenny Everett who was just plain bonkers with it. You say his shows were awful, in the 90’s his R1 show had over 50% of the entire UK listening audience tuning in and on R2 there were regularly 7 million, me included who would disagree with your harsh assessment. That said, each to their own, it would be a boring world if we all liked the same thing and these days it’s not like there’s not plenty of alternative choices to listen to so there’s something out there for everyone. |
Yeah i think tony blackburn was the main butt of the smashy and nicey jokes but the changes made at radio one in the mid 90's to bring on people like chris evans, zoe ball, chris moyles etc were firmly aimed at kicking out the old guard like Steve Wright (IN THE AFTERNOON) and Simon Bates.
To be honest i didn't mind his show too much back then on radio one but in recent years it was like a pastiche of it's original self and really, really cringeworthy, kind of a cross between smashy and nicey and alan partridge. | | | |
| RIP Steve Wright on 17:25 - Feb 14 with 1211 views | InTimeAddedOn |
| RIP Steve Wright on 16:42 - Feb 14 by franniesTache |
Yeah i think tony blackburn was the main butt of the smashy and nicey jokes but the changes made at radio one in the mid 90's to bring on people like chris evans, zoe ball, chris moyles etc were firmly aimed at kicking out the old guard like Steve Wright (IN THE AFTERNOON) and Simon Bates.
To be honest i didn't mind his show too much back then on radio one but in recent years it was like a pastiche of it's original self and really, really cringeworthy, kind of a cross between smashy and nicey and alan partridge. |
You are quite right re Radio 1 in the 90’s and totally agree Steve Wright was no longer relevant for R1 in terms of format or the tracks he’d want to play. Migrating him to R2 was 100% the right thing to do as a large volume of his audience migrated with him. This opened up R1 to refresh its image and attract new listeners, as SR himself said in an interview, it meant millions switched over rather than switched off. As for SR on R2 I guess I just grew old with him, or maybe just never grew up in terms of listening habits. Will really miss his daftness but I do understand what you mean about the AP reference, I just felt that was him not taking himself too seriously. What did amuse me was people going into meltdown on R2’s social media when he always played sound effects in certain songs every time he played them. A particular Cockney Rebel song was one example. Silly, yep, but it just made me smile.
As I have said, each to their own and may that always be able to be the case 🙂 | | | |
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| RIP Steve Wright on 17:39 - Feb 14 with 1204 views | franniesTache |
| RIP Steve Wright on 17:25 - Feb 14 by InTimeAddedOn |
You are quite right re Radio 1 in the 90’s and totally agree Steve Wright was no longer relevant for R1 in terms of format or the tracks he’d want to play. Migrating him to R2 was 100% the right thing to do as a large volume of his audience migrated with him. This opened up R1 to refresh its image and attract new listeners, as SR himself said in an interview, it meant millions switched over rather than switched off. As for SR on R2 I guess I just grew old with him, or maybe just never grew up in terms of listening habits. Will really miss his daftness but I do understand what you mean about the AP reference, I just felt that was him not taking himself too seriously. What did amuse me was people going into meltdown on R2’s social media when he always played sound effects in certain songs every time he played them. A particular Cockney Rebel song was one example. Silly, yep, but it just made me smile.
As I have said, each to their own and may that always be able to be the case 🙂 |
It's a weird one, i hated tony blackburn growing up then as i've got older really enjoyed him, mainly because he plays loads of stuff like Motown and Atlantic Soul.
Saying that i've gone to the new middle aged radio and listen to 6music these days, which also seems to have gone downhill recently.
Of the shows on there i'd probably only really rate Gilles Peterson's show, Craig Charles funk show, Guy Garvey and Cery's Matthews on the weekend, and Stuart Maconie's freakzone. | | | |
| RIP Steve Wright on 19:34 - Feb 14 with 1143 views | InTimeAddedOn |
| RIP Steve Wright on 17:39 - Feb 14 by franniesTache |
It's a weird one, i hated tony blackburn growing up then as i've got older really enjoyed him, mainly because he plays loads of stuff like Motown and Atlantic Soul.
Saying that i've gone to the new middle aged radio and listen to 6music these days, which also seems to have gone downhill recently.
Of the shows on there i'd probably only really rate Gilles Peterson's show, Craig Charles funk show, Guy Garvey and Cery's Matthews on the weekend, and Stuart Maconie's freakzone. |
Yep, with you on Tony Blackburn, feel the same way. TBH I haven’t really tried 6music, the Craig Charles and Stuart Maconie shows sound interesting, will give them a go. | | | |
| RIP Steve Wright on 19:53 - Feb 14 with 1112 views | SalisburySaint |
| RIP Steve Wright on 17:39 - Feb 14 by franniesTache |
It's a weird one, i hated tony blackburn growing up then as i've got older really enjoyed him, mainly because he plays loads of stuff like Motown and Atlantic Soul.
Saying that i've gone to the new middle aged radio and listen to 6music these days, which also seems to have gone downhill recently.
Of the shows on there i'd probably only really rate Gilles Peterson's show, Craig Charles funk show, Guy Garvey and Cery's Matthews on the weekend, and Stuart Maconie's freakzone. |
Radcliffe and Marconie show on Saturday and Sunday mornings on 6 music is brilliant
Listen to a lot of daytime shows on 6 Music, and love the mix of old and current music, don’t like everything I hear, but it’s a great way to find out about new trending music and listen to classic songs imo [Post edited 14 Feb 23:12]
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| RIP Steve Wright on 22:42 - Feb 14 with 1065 views | franniesTache |
| RIP Steve Wright on 19:53 - Feb 14 by SalisburySaint |
Radcliffe and Marconie show on Saturday and Sunday mornings on 6 music is brilliant
Listen to a lot of daytime shows on 6 Music, and love the mix of old and current music, don’t like everything I hear, but it’s a great way to find out about new trending music and listen to classic songs imo [Post edited 14 Feb 23:12]
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Yeah I feel the same way about the mix of music on 6music, but I also grew up with John peel, and he’d play something I hated one minute and something I loved the next, so I think I have more patience for hit and miss when it comes to music | | | |
| RIP Steve Wright on 13:36 - Feb 15 with 934 views | saint901 |
You should try 6 Music.
Steve Lamacq puts on a good show if new music and alternative classics are your bag. (Local lad - comes from Verwood).
Maconnie and crew are more downbeat folky stuff but still worth a listen for their guests.
If you want more alternative. Jamie Cullum jazz show and Cerys Matthews blues show on R2.
Back on point, I fell out of R1's demographic a long time ago and R2 prime and day time offerings are too middle of the road for me. They also insist that has beens are still relevant. They're not. They were good/great in their day but I don't want to hear them sing "live" and without an autotune, 30 years after their time. | | | |
| RIP Steve Wright on 15:04 - Feb 15 with 906 views | yateleysaint |
BBC Radio 6 stops me feeling homesick.
Marc Riley introduced me to Bug Club, my new favourite band, after he had them on for a live set. |  |
| You cannot reason a person out of something they were not reasoned into. |
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| RIP Steve Wright on 21:34 - Feb 15 with 820 views | Wints76 |
| RIP Steve Wright on 15:04 - Feb 15 by yateleysaint |
BBC Radio 6 stops me feeling homesick.
Marc Riley introduced me to Bug Club, my new favourite band, after he had them on for a live set. |
Chris Hawkins is on 6Music very early in the morning and he is great. Got me in to Publc Service Broadcasting very early on and saw them play what is now The Painted Wagon as a result, and also a scouse band called The Shipbuilders
Radcliffe and Maconie at the weekend is a must listen as well |  | | |
| RIP Steve Wright on 21:58 - Feb 15 with 802 views | PaleRider |
| RIP Steve Wright on 22:42 - Feb 14 by franniesTache |
Yeah I feel the same way about the mix of music on 6music, but I also grew up with John peel, and he’d play something I hated one minute and something I loved the next, so I think I have more patience for hit and miss when it comes to music |
John Peel was just the best - bar none! Never been able to stand radio 2, which I just find bland and I haven't liked the radio 1 demographic for a long time. Sounds like I should try 6music. | | | |
| RIP Steve Wright on 19:57 - Feb 19 with 550 views | LondonSaint76 |
| RIP Steve Wright on 13:36 - Feb 15 by saint901 |
You should try 6 Music.
Steve Lamacq puts on a good show if new music and alternative classics are your bag. (Local lad - comes from Verwood).
Maconnie and crew are more downbeat folky stuff but still worth a listen for their guests.
If you want more alternative. Jamie Cullum jazz show and Cerys Matthews blues show on R2.
Back on point, I fell out of R1's demographic a long time ago and R2 prime and day time offerings are too middle of the road for me. They also insist that has beens are still relevant. They're not. They were good/great in their day but I don't want to hear them sing "live" and without an autotune, 30 years after their time. |
saint901, Wints76, franniesTache, SalisburySaint and any others I have not mentioned, thank you all for the steer towards 6music, listened over the weekend Sat PM & early evening and Sunday PM, a good weekend to try it with Saints playing Friday evening. Really enjoyed it - even got 5 tracks to add to my YouTube playlist and there will no doubt be more in the weeks to come.
👍🏼 Thanks one and all, much appreciated 🙂 [Post edited 19 Feb 19:59]
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