When I was 16, I wanted to be Steve Wright.
I know, I know, all you cool 80s kids were busy taping John Peel and archiving Fall sessions, while I was the one setting the clock/alarm/cassette player to record the first hour of Steve Wright In The Afternoon so I could catch up on what I'd missed while I was at school.
When Terry Wogan left Radio 2 at the end of 1984, I finally turned to the station all my mates had been listening to for years and discovered a wealth of new music, along with some very dodgy presenters. Simon "Our Tune" Bates. Gary "Bit In The Middle" Davies. Whoever was on the breakfast show back then. But Steve Wright... he was a revelation. While he didn't have the warmth and charm of El Tel, he did pioneer the "Zoo" radio format in the UK, and more than any other jock, it was Steve Wright who made me want to go into radio. Because of Sid The Manager. Gervais the hairdresser (different times). The Pub Singer. The Pretentious Music Journalist - "Sonic cathedrals of sound!" (He became a blogger, I suspect.) And then there was The Pervert - "I got this strap from an Arab I used to know"... at 16, I had no idea what an Arab Strap was... but I used to cry with laughter all the same. Best of all was Mr. Angry from Purley. "You make me so angry, I want to throw the phone down!"
(That was a terrible single, and didn't do Mr. Angry any justice at all.)
Spurred on by Steve Wright, I started working in local and hospital radio, and eventually ended up with my own co-presented Saturday morning show with loads of silly characters and competitions, all influenced by Steve Wright. At the age of 18, I recorded a demo tape that still makes me shudder to think of it, and posted it off to Broadcasting House. I had this great idea, you see, that what Steve's posse really needed was a young lad from Huddersfield to join the ranks...
I never heard anything back, but I bet they all had a good laugh.
It all started to go wrong for Steve Wright when he transferred to the Radio 1 breakfast show. After that he had his wilderness years, then reinvented himself as a cheesy and smug Radio 2 DJ. I remember Mark 'n' Lard ripping the piss out of his "Big Show" every afternoon... ironic, really, when you consider that they'd picked up the baton of Steve Wright In The Afternoon and were running with much the same format in their glory days. But the Mark 'n' Lard show had a similar shelf life... it makes me wonder if that kind of show can only last so long before the presenters have to change their ways. If they want to survive. I know Steve Wright didn't invent the zoo format - he just stole it from American DJs like Rick Dees - but everything has its day, especially in radio. Nobody knows that better than me.
I couldn't listen to Steve Wright on Radio 2. The sound of one man constantly patting himself on the back grew tired after about ten minutes. But I'll always have a warm place in my heart for his Radio 1 golden age. And let's not forget, if it wasn't for Steve Wright, we wouldn't have this...
Rest in peace, Steve. You were alright, boy.
