Scott Mills to replace Steve Wright on BBC Radio 2.

[G6Tanuki]

I never really got on with Steve Wright and his 'zoo radio' stuff on Radio1; it was a poor, detuned, derivative version of the US AM-station "Shock Jocks" I loved in the 70s/80s90s.

These days I don't really listen to much where there are "deejays" interrupting the music; I'd rather have adverts!

[yes, I actually like hearing ads for a Fort Worth Jeep dealership or a Wyoming radio station's promotion of offers on cattle-worming medication].

[lightning]

I never listened to Steve Wright, too much banal banter and fake chum. l like Jeremy "Whine" 12-2pm and after that l alternative between Heart 70's and 80's to avoid the commercial breaks.

[Ted Kendall]

Wright and Vine shout. Why? Bruce doesn't, and what's more, like Wogan, he doesn't take himself seriously. It can be done.

Radio 3 is generally a haven, but I can do without the endless references to a composer's "sound world" and being told how much I'm going to enjoy what they are playing next. I'm all for getting people into the tent, but is that really the way to do it?

[kalee20]

Originally Posted by stevehertz

John Dunn as presenter of the drivetime show for 22 years was my favourite.

Yes I liked his show. Definitely Jimmy Young too, Ed Stewart, the later evening comedy shows (who remembers 'My Sainted Aunt' very late 1970's?)

Plus Semprini Serenade, Alan Keith's Your 100 Best Tunes, Sunday Half-Hour... oh and Ray Moore early morning before Terry Wogan!

Radio 2 had something for everybody.

[Nuvistor]

Originally Posted by stevehertz

John Dunn as presenter of the drivetime show for 22 years was my favourite.

Fully agree.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_D...adio_presenter)

[Ted Kendall]

Originally Posted by stevehertz

John Dunn as presenter of the drivetime show for 22 years was my favourite.

I worked with John Dunn a few times - thorough, unflappable, a pro through and through (he started as an SM) and a jolly nice bloke to boot.

[Junk Box Nick]

For me Steve Wright was the thin end the now very thick wedge that Radio 2 has become. When I had the misfortune to be exposed to it, usually in some workplace, I found his Radio One show irritating and somewhat puerile. That Mr Angry sketch was funny a couple of times – but every darned day... Latterly I had to suffer his R2 show at workplaces. In one place, thankfully, a PRS call put a stop to playing the radio.

To be fair, I was an early leaver of the daytime Radio One output and had abandoned the station completely by the time I was thirty. I had previously done my time with the offshore pirates and Radio Luxembourg so perhaps I was tired of pop radio.

Wright is credited with introducing the ‘zoo’ format to the UK featuring a main personality surrounded by a load of sidekicks. Instead of the presenter talking to you the listener – which to me is what good ‘disc jockey’ radio is about by providing company to the listener – you are then invited to listen in to a load of clever Dick banter designed mainly to augment the personality of the ‘star’ of the show.

After four decades and a bit, though more recently only listing to the specialist output that has been steadily removed, Radio 2 is off my presets and has been sometime. Radio 2 is just another version of Radio One to go with the other three flavours plus the various Radio One online spin-offs. The same is going on with the locals BBC LR is now Radio 2 lite.

The pushing of Radio 2 down to meet Radio One has been going on a while. The older set have been abandoning it in droves for years – hence Classic FM’s 5m listeners. Not because they all dig Rachmaninov and Beethoven but that the find they presentation and general ambiance far more pleasant.

The irony of the situation with Steve Wright is that at 67 he is knocking on a bit for Radio 2’s current target audience. Ken Bruce gets lauded and is the remaining favourite of the older set. What many don’t know realise is that there was a plan to remove him fourteen years ago. It was the Ross/Brand Sachsgate that put paid to that when the Controller was changed. Simon Mayo had been slated for the morning show.

I’ve long concluded that when it comes to popular output (as opposed to R3 and R4), the BBC is not interested in providing anything for me at all – and I don’t think my tastes are that esoteric.

[Junk Box Nick]

Originally Posted by stevehertz

John Dunn as presenter of the drivetime show for 22 years was my favourite.

Enjoyed John Dunn’s show enormously. Radio for grown ups.

And by gum do I miss Ray Moore, Jimmy Young, Desmond Carrington, Brian Matthew, Terry Wogan...

[Pilot Mariner]

Originally Posted by radio69

Steve Wright is actually not leaving Radio2; he will still continue with his 'Sunday Love Songs'

I'm not a fan of Steve Right, and being single, I wish there was something better to listen to on a Sunday morning than the sloppy cringiness of Sunday Love Songs targeted towards a particular audience.

At this time of day on a Sunday the potential 'listening pool' could be huge, but people like myself just turn off when this comes on, or change station.

[Junk Box Nick]

Gave up R2 Sunday mornings when Michael Parkinson left. Yep, can do without that SLS marlarky! Am on my own too and I think I’ve finally grown out of all that stuff!

I avoid Steve Wright, Chris Evans, Zoe Ball, Mark Radcliffe, Sarah Cox, Jeremy Vine, and all the other ex-Radio One, etc., people.

My listening suggestions:
Boom Radio DAB+ (massive and interesting pop playlist and presenters that talk to you like you are an adult)
Serenade Radio (Online only - old style Radio 2/Light programming and very professional. Johnny Beerling (ex-Radio One controller) presents the Big Band Show)
Radio Caroline 648 (Great for our vintage sets, of course)

Would welcome suggestions of any online gems that anyone has found.

Radio 2 is for 30-55 year olds these days! The BBC don’t wish to provide ‘popular’ output for oldies or whose tastes have veered away from current and four decades of pop.

[stevehertz]

Personally I don't class SW alongside sniggering Chris Evans and the like. To me, SW is genuinely witty, funny and self depreciating, unlike a lot of the newer 'R1 type' DJs that like nothing more than to laugh at someone else's bad luck. Like it or not (and I get that a lot don't) Steve Wright changed the face of radio presenting from being a person that named the next record to being the host of a 'show'. Tony Blackburn was kinda halfway there with his tales and witticisms but SW took it to another level. I like Tony too.

[duncanlowe]

Not to everyones tastes, but a lot of the time I like BBC R6. Yes the presenters have something to say, but mostly it's about music and it has a vast range of types. I don't like everything the play but as well as stuff from my youth and way before, they play some modern stuff. Yes it's DAB only, but it's at least one of the higher BW and Stereo ones.

When I first started work, BBC R1 was often on in the lab. AM mono so the bit of music they played between the presenter noise sounded awful compared to FM, so I preferred commercial radio at the time. By the time R1 went on to FM, I had grown out of the music they played. Apart from back in the seventies, when I would listen to shows on BBC R2 (like the Grumbleweeds) I've never really enjoyed R2. Until I found R6, I often listened to R4 in the car, but as they started playing more and more adverts, and the today programme on my way to work turned into a slanging match, so I started listening to much more recorded music using CD, or digital players (MP3, iPod).

My wife loves R2 more for the presenters than the music though, so she also made some comments about SW leaving.

[John M0GLN]

Originally Posted by stevehertz

Personally I don't class SW alongside sniggering Chris Evans and the like. To me, SW is genuinely witty, funny and self depreciating, unlike a lot of the newer 'R1 type' DJs that like nothing more than to laugh at someone else's bad luck. Like it or not (and I get that a lot don't) Steve Wright changed the face of radio presenting from being a person that named the next record to being the host of a 'show'. Tony Blackburn was kinda halfway there with his tales and witticisms but SW took it to another level. I like Tony too.

I couldn't agree more.

John

[G6Tanuki]

In times-past [the 1970s/early-80s] I listened to Radio1 [Tommy Vance's Friday Rock Show, John Peel's 10PM weekdays slot, Annie Nightingale on sunday evenings helped me through my crazy A-level and Uni revision-periods].

I never transitioned to Radio2; my only real exposure to it being when I woke up to the mucilaginous audio-horror of Terry Wogan when I'd fallen asleepm to John Peel and then the "shared" R1/R2 channel had reverted to Radio2.

To this day I really don't understand why the BBC's most-listened-to station - Radio1 - was the last to get its own FM channel. To me that smacks of either managerial incompetence or some sort of embedded sense of anti-populism.

These days I don't really listen to 'radio stations', instead choosing to build my own playlists [kinda like people did in times-past with cassette mixtapes] from Spotify and YouTube - meaning I can get a good six hours of music without any interruption from "Deejays".

[dougietamson]

Originally Posted by G6Tanuki

In times-past [the 1970s/early-80s] I listened to Radio1 [Tommy Vance's Friday Rock Show, John Peel's 10PM weekdays slot, Annie Nightingale on sunday evenings helped me through my crazy A-level and Uni revision-periods].

I never transitioned to Radio2; my only real exposure to it being when I woke up to the mucilaginous audio-horror of Terry Wogan when I'd fallen asleepm to John Peel and then the "shared" R1/R2 channel had reverted to Radio2.

To this day I really don't understand why the BBC's most-listened-to station - Radio1 - was the last to get its own FM channel. To me that smacks of either managerial incompetence or some sort of embedded sense of anti-populism.

These days I don't really listen to 'radio stations', instead choosing to build my own playlists [kinda like people did in times-past with cassette mixtapes] from Spotify and YouTube - meaning I can get a good six hours of music without any interruption from "Deejays".

Although it's internet 'radio' give 'radioparadise.com' a try, no adds and no data mining and funded wholly from users donations. just a dj who tells you the track name and artist no and then. Found it through a recommendation from my father-in-law.

Doug

[Junk Box Nick]

Originally Posted by stevehertz

Steve Wright changed the face of radio presenting from being a person that named the next record to being the host of a 'show'. Tony Blackburn was kinda halfway there with his tales and witticisms but SW took it to another level. I like Tony too.

I would say that the transition from ‘that was... this is...’ announcer to a personality driven show was initially brokered in the UK by the 1960s offshore pirates. Kenny Everett in particular on Radio London (who also did the then unusual thing of double presented shows with Dave Cash). Then there was Keith Hampshire with his ‘Keefers Commotion’ and Emperor Rosko on Caroline. (Caroline had to change its style quite dramatically with the arrival of Radio London – early recordings reveal the presentation to be very stiff.)

Kenny Everett was often under a cloud at the BBC for various misdemeanours so never fully developed his act on Radio One. Looking back, compared to today it was quite tame but, back then, taking the rise out of politicians (and their wives) was not the done thing at Auntie. Noel Edmonds had a bit of a regular sketch thing going on in his shows but in the 1970s presenting had gone back to one jock and a pile of records. Because of this Steve Wright’s ‘zoo’ format then appeared to be very radical amongst the DLTs, etc., of the time. It was imported from American commercial radio which, of course, had previously been a considerable influence on the offshore pirates.

[G6Tanuki]

Originally Posted by dougietamson

Although it's internet 'radio' give 'radioparadise.com' a try, no adds and no data mining and funded wholly from users donations. just a dj who tells you the track name and artist no and then. Found it through a recommendation from my father-in-law.

Doug

Will give it a try; though these days I am happy to build my own playlists using Spotify/YouTube and its DeeJay-free algorithmically-delivered suggestions.

You might like to listen to KEXP - https://www.kexp.org/ - they do some good stuff - it was via them that I got to appreciate the 'ambient' music of Nils Frahm - https://youtu.be/xLNeZogTsK8

[stevehertz]

Re post 36, that's as maybe, but I still think that it was SW who changed the style of DJing for the masses ie on R1 and R2, not pirate radio, and he did it for a very long time all told. Kenny Everett, whilst I found him very funny was far too off the page for his own good. You can only shock people so many times then the effect becomes the norm.

[Beobloke]

Steve Wright's program was repetetive, inane and annoying 15 years ago so this is a wonderfuil decision that is long overdue as far as I'm concerned.

Sadly a move to Scott Mills is straight out of the frying pan and into the fire!

Still, on the upside, an extra hour of Sara Cox isn't to be sniffed at.

[Junk Box Nick]

Originally Posted by stevehertz

Re post 36, that's as maybe, but I still think that it was SW who changed the style of DJing for the masses ie on R1 and R2, not pirate radio, and he did it for a very long time all told. Kenny Everett, whilst I found him very funny was far too off the page for his own good. You can only shock people so many times then the effect becomes the norm.

In a way our points of view are not that different. Radio One signed up many pirate jocks to show goodwill after sinking the pirates. It was a good bit of PR – though many were on judiciously short contracts. However, many ex-pirates could not operate under the constraints imposed by the BBC at the time – it hadn’t been so long since every announcement on the BBC had been scripted – and others, once the romance of being on ship or fort was stripped away were found not to be particularly good. The more anarchic side of the pirate jocks was suppressed and, within no time, the mainstays of Radio One were Jimmy Young, Pete Murray, Tony Brandon, Terry Wogan and a certain J Savile; with Tony Blackburn, Dave Cash and Ed Stewart being the legacy from the Jolly Roger days; plus, of course, John Peel, whose show was different from anything else on pirate radio or Radio One.

Steve Wright was certainly very different on Radio 2. This was a complete and radical change of direction from Ed Stewart, Terry Wogan, Ken Bruce, Jimmy Young and Johnnie Walker.

I’m afraid Steve Wright’s show was never to my taste and to me he seemed to do the same show for 24 years. The characters did change over the years: he would never get away with some of the early ones now. However, it was/is very light entertainment and a lot of people want that, as the listening figures prove. If Mr Wright wants to carry on I sincerely hope he finds a home for it somewhere on commercial radio to keep his fans happy. I undertstand how it feels to be deprived of programmes and shows you enjoy.