Steve Wright, BBC Radio presenter, has died
DJ Steve Wright, a presenter on BBC radio stations, has died.
Wright, who was 69, presented for BBC Radio 1 and Radio 2 for more than four decades.
He was last on air hosting a pre-recorded Valentine’s show on Sunday, the BBC said, and died on Monday.
Paying tribute, his family said in a statement: “It is with deep sorrow and profound regret that we announce the passing of our beloved Steve Wright.
“In addition to his son, Tom, and daughter, Lucy, Steve leaves behind his brother, Laurence and his father Richard.
“Also, much-loved close friends and colleagues, and millions of devoted radio listeners who had the good fortune and great pleasure of allowing Steve into their daily lives as one of the UK’s most enduring and popular radio personalities.”
(L-R): Wright, production assistant Dianne Oxberry, and Paul McCartney. Pic: PA
Bosses at the BBC also paid tribute, with Lorna Clarke, director of music, describing Wright as “an extraordinary broadcaster – someone audiences loved, and many of us looked up to”.
She continued: “He loved radio, and he loved the BBC, but most of all… he loved his audience.”
‘The Godfather’: BBC presenters pay tribute
Former BBC radio colleagues including Ken Bruce, Simon Mayo and Tony Blackburn joined the tributes, with Mayo describing the DJ as “one of the greats” and “a fabulous, creative whirlwind of a presenter”.
Current Radio 2 breakfast presenter Zoe Ball said life would not be the same.
Dame Esther Rantzen, who was interviewed by Wright on many occasions, said he was a unique broadcaster.
“He created a kind of club which whether he was interviewing you or whether you were enjoying it as a listener, you looked forward to joining every day.
“It is a very rare quality, and he made it sound easy. It was frequently very funny, and when he left his daily afternoon show he really knocked a hole in the day for many of us who relied on his company.
“He will be a real loss.”
More than 40 years at the BBC
Born in Greenwich, south London, in 1954, Wright’s started his career at the BBC as a clerk, leaving the corporation to join Thames Valley Radio to start his broadcasting career in 1976.
Four years later, he was back at the BBC, presenting weekend programmes on Radio 1 before launching the show that would ultimately define his career, Steve Wright In The Afternoon, in 1981.
He had a brief stint hosting the Radio 1 breakfast show for a year from 1994, before Chris Evans was moved into the role, and then left to join Talk Radio – but was back at the BBC once again in 1996.
He began presenting a Saturday programme and Sunday Love Songs on Radio 2 from 1996, before launching his afternoon show in 1999, a slot he would keep until 2022.
Pictured with pop star George Michael in 1990. Pic: PA
(L-R): Wright, Mike Read and Bruno Brooks pictured in 1988. Pic: PA
Following schedule changes at the station the slot was taken over by Scott Mills, but Wright stayed with Radio 2 to present Sunday Love Songs as well as a series of specials and podcasts.
BBC director-general Tim Davie said staff were “heartbroken” to hear of his death, which comes just weeks after he was made an MBE for services to radio.
“Steve was a truly wonderful broadcaster who has been a huge part of so many of our lives over many decades,” Mr Davie said. “He was the ultimate professional – passionate about the craft of radio and deeply in touch with his listeners.
“This was deservedly recognised in the New Year Honours list with his MBE for services to radio. No one had more energy to deliver shows that put a smile on audiences’ faces. They loved him deeply. We are thinking of Steve and his family and will miss him terribly.”
(L-R): Tony Blackburn, Wright and Paul Gambachini pictured in 2002. Pic: PA
Radio 2 said it planned to celebrate Wright’s life with a range of programming across the station.
His death comes just a month after that of Annie Nightingale, Radio 1’s first female DJ.
This breaking news story is being updated and more details will be published shortly.
Please refresh the page for the fullest version.
You can receive Breaking News alerts on a smartphone or tablet via the Sky News App. You can also follow @SkyNews on X or subscribe to our YouTube channel to keep up with the latest news.
Zoe Ball is leaving her BBC Radio 2 breakfast show after six years.
The 53-year-old, who recently lost her mother to cancer, will present her last show on Friday, 20 December.
Ball leaves Wogan House with her replacement, Scott Mills. Pic: PA
She said she was leaving to focus on family, but will remain part of the Radio 2 team and will give further details next year.
Announcing the news on her Tuesday show, she said: “After six years of fun times alongside you all on the breakfast show, I’ve decided it’s time to step away from the early alarm call and start a new chapter.
“You know I think the world of you all, listeners, and it truly has been such a privilege to share the mornings with you, to go through life’s little ups and downs, we got through the lockdown together, didn’t we?
“We’ve shared a hell of a lot, the good times, the tough times, there’s been a lot of laughter. And I am going to miss you cats.”
Scott Mills will replace Ball on the breakfast show following her departure next month.
“Zoe and I have been such good friends now for over 25 years and have spent much of that time as part of the same radio family here at Radio 2 and also on Radio 1,” he said.
“She’s done an incredible job on this show over the past six years, and I am beyond excited to be handed the baton.”
Hugging outside the BBC building on the day of the announcement, Ball said she was “really chuffed for my mate and really excited about it”.
Ball was the first female host of both the BBC Radio 1 and Radio 2 breakfast shows, starting at the Radio 1 breakfast show in 1998, and taking over her current Radio 2 role from Chris Evans in 2020 after he left the show.
She took a break from hosting her show over the summer, returning in September.
Ahead of her stint in radio, Ball – who is the daughter of children’s presenter Johnny Ball – co-hosted the BBC’s Saturday morning children’s magazine show Live & Kicking alongside Jamie Theakston for three years from 1996.
She has two children, Woody and Nelly, with her ex-husband, DJ and musician Norman Cook, known professionally as Fatboy Slim.
Ball said in her announcement her last show towards the end of December will be “just in time for Christmas with plenty of fun and shenanigans”.
“While I’m stepping away from the Breakfast Show, I’m not disappearing entirely – I’ll still be a part of the Radio 2 family, with more news in the New Year,” she added.
“I’m excited to embrace my next chapter, including being a mum in the mornings, and I can’t wait to tune in on the school run!”
Helen Thomas, head of Radio 2, said: “Zoe has woken up the nation on Radio 2 with incredible warmth, wit and so much joy since January 2019, and I’d like to thank her for approaching each show with as much vim and vigour as if it were her first. I’m thrilled that she’ll remain an important part of the Radio 2 family.”
Mills, 51, got his first presenting role aged just 16 for a local station in Hampshire, and went on to present in Bristol and Manchester, before joining BBC Radio 1 in 1998.
He’s previously worked as a cover presenter on Radio 2, but this is his first permanent role on the station.
UK
More prisoners are being transferred to less secure jails to tackle overcrowding crisis, Sky News understands
The prison service is starting to recategorise the security risk of offenders to ease capacity pressures, Sky News understands.
It involves lowering or reconsidering the threshold of certain offenders to move them from the closed prison estate (category A to C) to the open estate (category D) because there are more free cell spaces there.
Examples of this could include discounting adjudications – formal hearings when a prisoner is accused of breaking the rules – for certain offenders, so they don’t act as official reasons not to transport them to a lower-security jail.
Prisoners are also categorised according to an Incentives and Earned Privileges (IEP) status. There are different levels – basic, standard and enhanced – based on how they keep to the rules or display a commitment to rehabilitation.
Usually ‘enhanced’ prisoners take part in meaningful activity – employment and training – making them eligible among other factors, to be transferred to the open estate.
Insiders suggest this system in England and Wales is being rejigged so that greater numbers of ‘standard’ prisoners can transfer, whereas before it would more typically be those with ‘enhanced’ status.
Open prisons have minimal security and allow eligible prisoners to spend time on day release away from the prison on license conditions to carry out work or education.
The aim is to help reintegrate them back into society once they leave. As offenders near the end of their sentence, they are housed in open prisons.
Many of those released as part of the early release scheme in October after serving 40% of their sentence were freed from open prisons.
Please use Chrome browser for a more accessible video player
Overcrowding in UK prisons
They were the second tranche of offenders freed as part of this scheme, and had been sentenced to five years or more.
Despite early release measures, prisons are still battling a chronic overcrowding crisis. The male estate is almost full, operating at around 97% capacity.
Read more from Sky News:
Find out what it’s really like inside prison?
Prison recalls soar as justice system struggles
Campaigners demand IPP sentences are scrapped
Sky News understands there continue to be particular pinch points across the country.
Southwest England struggled over the weekend with three space-related ‘lockouts’ – which means prisoners are held in police suites or transferred to other jails because there is no space.
One inmate is believed to have been transported from Exeter to Cardiff.
A Ministry of Justice spokesperson said: “The new government inherited a prison system on the point of collapse. We took the necessary action to stop our prisons from overflowing and to protect the public.
“This is not a new scheme. Only less-serious offenders who meet a strict criteria are eligible, and the Prison Service can exclude anyone who can’t be managed safely in a category D prison.”
-
Sports2 years ago‘Storybook stuff’: Inside the night Bryce Harper sent the Phillies to the World Series
-
Sports8 months agoStory injured on diving stop, exits Red Sox game
-
Sports2 years agoMLB Rank 2023: Ranking baseball’s top 100 players
-
Sports1 year agoGame 1 of WS least-watched in recorded history
-
Environment1 year agoJapan and South Korea have a lot at stake in a free and open South China Sea
-
Sports3 years ago
Team Europe easily wins 4th straight Laver Cup
-
Environment2 years agoGame-changing Lectric XPedition launched as affordable electric cargo bike
-
Business2 years agoBank of England’s extraordinary response to government policy is almost unthinkable | Ed Conway