Steve Wright

Stephen Richard "Steve" Wright 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.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.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 changed, dumping most of the characters and instead having a "zoo" format, with spoof guests and comedy sketches. A "posse" of producers and radio staff joined in.Wright and his Posse moved to the breakfast show in 1994, but he resigned in 1995 due to differences with the BBC Radio 1 management after the station was restructured by new controller Matthew Bannister, which led to many of the more established DJs leaving, or being sacked, around this time. He was picked up by the new commercial station Talk Radio, where he presented a Saturday morning show & also presented a syndicated show on Sunday mornings on various commercial stations in the UK.He returned to the BBC in 1996, when he joined BBC Radio 2, presenting Steve Wright's Saturday Show on Saturdays 10 am-1 pm and Steve Wright's Sunday Love Songs on Sundays 9–11 am. In 1999, Steve took over Radio 2's weekday afternoon show (from Ed Stewart) and he is also the voice of the retro pop show on BBC television, Top of the Pops 2 between 1997 and 2009. The last episode of TOTP2 he presented was the Michael Jackson special broadcast on 27 June 2009. Wright can currently be heard on BBC Radio 2 weekday afternoons in Steve Wright in the Afternoon.