Steve Wright tribute: DJ was a friend you only had to switch on your radio to summon

Sign up to our free IndyArts newsletter for all the latest entertainment news and reviews Sign up to our free IndyArts newsletter Sign up to our free IndyArts newsletter SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Tony Blackburn pays tribute to Steve Wright after presenter's death aged 69 At the time, there was a rumbling ageism controversy around Wright’s departure from the station and Radio 2 boss Helen Thomas’s decision to replace him so that they could “do something different in the afternoons”. “He is obsessed by the medium, which is why he’s stayed at the top for so long.” open image in gallery BBC radio DJs Simon Bates, Gary Davies and Steve Wright That dedication and single-mindedness helped Wright win a stack of awards throughout the Nineties, including Best DJ of the Year and TRIC Personality of the Year. In April 1996, he moved to Radio 2 to present two shows for the network: Steve Wright’s Saturday Show in the morning and Steve Wright’s Sunday Love Songs. Back in 2022, at the end of his final Steve Wright in the Afternoon, the DJ signed off by playing Queen’s “Radio Gaga” – fun, slightly anarchic and openly and repeatedly proclaiming its love for radio, it was a perfect choice for Wright’s final song.