BBC’s Steve Wright dying newest: Tributes pour in for beloved Radio DJ

Steve Wright’s household confirmed his passing at this time.

They stated: ‘It is with deep sorrow and profound remorse 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 shut mates and colleagues, and thousands and thousands of devoted radio listeners who had the nice fortune and nice pleasure of permitting Steve into their day by day lives as one of many UK’s most enduring and common radio personalities.

‘As all of us grieve, the household requests privateness at this immensely tough time.’

Wright appeared on air on Sunday, internet hosting a pre-recorded particular Valentine’s Day version of his Love Songs programme.

At the beginning of her slot on BBC Radio 2, Whiley stated: ‘[This is] a really unusual present to be doing. It’s extraordinarily laborious to know what to say and to be speaking about somebody that you just noticed solely days in the past on this very studio the place I’m proper now – doing a tribute present to that individual simply doesn’t really feel proper.

‘It’s very laborious to search out the phrases to say and to speak about somebody up to now tense when it is somebody that you just want was very a lot nonetheless right here. So it is robust. The Radio 2 household are devastated.

‘There have been many tears… we have all labored with Steve Wright for years and years and years, and it is simply very tough to absorb that he is now not right here.’

She added: ‘I imply, Steve was the soundtrack to our lives wasn’t he? Richard who labored with him years in the past, stated that Steve as soon as stated that he was radio and I feel that might not be nearer to the reality.

‘He lived for radio and the truth that he died however his present went out simply the opposite day is the best way he would have needed it to be.’

Tim Davie stated: ‘Steve was a very fantastic broadcaster who has been an enormous a part of so a lot of our lives over many many years.

‘He was the final word skilled – passionate concerning the craft of radio and deeply in contact along with his listeners.

‘This was deservedly recognised within the New Year Honours checklist along with his MBE for providers to radio.

‘No-one had extra power to ship reveals that put a smile on audiences’ faces. They beloved him deeply. We are pondering of Steve and his household and can miss him terribly.’

Wright was honoured for his providers to radio within the December 2023 New Year Honours checklist and stated he needed to dedicate it ‘to all of the individuals in broadcasting who gave consolation and public service in the course of the pandemic’.

In an Instagram video, he stated: ‘[Wright] was not solely the most effective at what he did, he was mainly the one at what he did.

‘There had been zoo radio within the United States with Scott Shannon, however Steve actually perfected it. And he is among the all time greats and can by no means get replaced, as a result of he can by no means get replaced.

‘No one else right here did what he did, and he did it recurrently.’

He added: ‘We will love him eternally.’

Wright took over from Gambaccini on BBC Radio 2’s Pick Of The Pops in October 2023 and was identified for honing the zoo radio format along with his present Steve Wright In The Afternoon.

‘We have been all shattered within the Radio 2 household as a result of it is very sudden and we’re starting to listen to the final programme he recorded and that unimaginable life that he had, that power in his voice is there,’ Jeremy Vine stated.

‘In reality once I give it some thought, it all the time amazed me. He was my neighbour on-air at BBC Radio 2 for 20 years. He had completed 20 years earlier than that.

‘The final present he did, which was three or 4 days earlier than he died, he nonetheless had the identical power he had when he was 25.

‘He is an absolute professional, he’s somebody all of us look as much as.’

Head of BBC Radio 2, Helen Thomas, stated Wright ‘understood the connection and companionship that radio engenders higher than anybody, and all of us beloved him for it.

‘He was a consummate skilled whose consideration to element was all the time second to none, and he made his visitors chuckle, he was truthful, and he needed to showcase them and their work in the very best mild, bringing good tales to our listeners’, she added.

She recalled feeling ‘pure amazement’ watching him 20 years in the past when he grew to become the primary presenter she produced.

‘For all of us at Radio 2, he was an exquisite colleague and a good friend along with his glorious sense of humour, generosity along with his time, and limitless smart phrases,’ she added.

‘We have been fortunate to have him with us for all these many years, and we’ll miss his expertise and his friendship terribly.’

‘He created a form of membership which whether or not he was interviewing you or whether or not you have been having fun with it as a listener, you appeared ahead to becoming a member of every single day,’ she stated.

‘It is a really uncommon high quality, and he made it sound straightforward. It was regularly very humorous, and when he left his day by day afternoon present he actually knocked a gap within the day for many people who relied on his firm.

‘He will probably be an actual loss.’

Tony Blackburn instructed Sky News tonight: ‘I heard about it this afternoon and could not consider it.Steve and I have been nice mates and he was a one-off and we obtained on so nicely collectively.’

He stated each Sunday, ‘up till lately’ they might meet up and ‘discuss full garbage’ collectively and make one another chuckle.

Mr Blackburn stated Steve Wright was considered one of his favorite DJs ‘of all time’.

‘He will probably be remembered as a better broadcaster who made lots of people very comfortable together with myself and I’ll miss him very a lot.’