Stephen Richard "Steve" Wright (born 26 August 1954 in
Greenwich,
London) is a radio broadcaster in the
United Kingdom. He presents the afternoon show on
BBC Radio 2. He rose to prominence in the early 1980s while working with
Peter Dickson on
BBC Radio 1.
Early career
The son of a company director, Wright was educated at
Eastwood High School,
Essex. In the early 1970s he worked behind the scenes at Radio 2, as a Gramophone Librarian. He started broadcasting in 1976 on Reading's Thames Valley Radio
Radio 210 alongside
Mike Read. In 1979 he joined
Radio Luxembourg, and then
BBC Radio 1 in 1980, presenting a Saturday evening show, then Saturday morning before moving to
Steve Wright in the Afternoon from 1981.
In 1984, Wright took over a Sunday morning show entitled
Steve Wright on Sunday, which meant he presented weekday afternoons Mondays–Thursdays only, 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.
Steve Wright in the Afternoon 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, Peter Dickson,
Richard Easter and
Phil Cornwell. The show went out of its way to be irreverent, including stories taken from the
Weekly World News. The success led to a hit single, "I'll Be Back", released under the name "
Arnee & The Terminators". In later years the style...
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