Chris Evans remembers Steve Wright as ‘soundtrack to our afternoons’

Chris Evans has remembered Steve Wright as “the soundtrack to millions of our afternoons” after the broadcaster’s death at the age of 69.

Wright was a fixture on BBC Radio 1 and then Radio 2 for more than four decades, attracting millions of listeners.

Evans, who was also a stalwart on Radio 1 and 2 for many years before joining Virgin Radio, said Wright was to afternoons as Sir Terry Wogan was to breakfast.

Wake Up To Wogan on Radio 2 ran from 1993 to 2009 and was the most-listened-to radio show in the UK.

Evans wrote on Instagram: “Oh my goodness. What terribly sad news.

“It goes without saying that Steve was the soundtrack to millions of our afternoons for decades. Nobody will ever come close to the length and breadth of the way he encompassed all things entertainment, in his own highly original and light hearted style.

“He was to afternoons as Sir Terry was to breakfast. One half of the greatest morning and evening, drive time, double act UK radio has ever had the amazing good fortune of having on its airwaves.”

Wright was also a long-standing presenter of Top Of The Pops.

On Tuesday night Jo Whiley paid tribute to her colleague during her show on BBC Radio 2, saying: “It’s extremely hard to know what to say and to be talking about someone that you saw only days ago in this very studio where I am right now – doing a tribute show to that person just does not feel right.

“It’s very hard to find the words to say and to talk about someone in the past tense when it’s someone that you wish was very much still here.

“So it’s tough. The Radio 2 family are devastated.

“There have been many tears… we’ve all worked with Steve Wright for years and years and years, and it’s just very difficult to take in that he’s no longer here.”

She went on: “I mean, Steve was the soundtrack to our lives wasn’t he?”

Wright last appeared on air on Sunday, hosting a pre-recorded special Valentine’s Day edition of his Love Songs programme on Radio 2.

The broadcaster joined BBC Radio 1 in 1980 to host a Saturday evening show before moving on to host Steve Wright In The Afternoon a year later until 1993.

Wright then fronted the Radio 1 Breakfast show for a year until 1995, and completed a stint at commercial radio stations before returning to BBC Radio 2 in 1996 to host Steve Wright’s Saturday Show and Sunday Love Songs.

In 1999, he recreated Steve Wright In The Afternoon every weekday on Radio 2, with celebrity interviews and entertaining trivia featured in his Factoids segment, before stepping down in September 2022.

Former BBC Radio 1 host Scott Mills took over the afternoon slot as part of the station’s schedule shake-up.

Wright continued to present Sunday Love Songs on BBC Radio 2 and since October last year, he presented the long-running show Pick Of The Pops, which had previously been fronted by acclaimed radio DJ Paul Gambaccini.

His friend and long-time BBC radio colleague Ken Bruce said he was “totally shocked” by the news as he revealed they were planning to celebrate Wright’s “richly deserved” MBE with a lunch in the near future in a tribute post on social media.

“An outstanding and innovative broadcaster whose listeners loved him. What a loss to the world of radio,” he added.

In a heartfelt video message shared to Instagram, Gambaccini called Wright “one of the all time greats”.

Wright was made an MBE in the new year honours for services to radio.