Talk:Steve Wright (DJ)

Criticism

Needs citations of these supposed criticisms. At the moment it appears that someone just doesn't like him so is filling up space with their own rants. 81.145.240.124 23:56, 22 December 2006 (UTC)

"Love the show"

Shouldn't this be under the Current Work section? It refers to his Radio 2 show & current co-presenters (Kennedy & Wogan), rather than his Radio 1 show. --Whoosher 16:03, 14 August 2007 (UTC)

Shouldn't this section not be in the article at all. It's trivial and it's not encyclopedic as such it violates Five pillars of Wikipedia WP:5P wikipedia is not a vanity press Hmcst1 (talk) 08:50, 23 July 2017 (UTC)

Tend to agree. Probably all true, but all unsourced and looks like trivial fancruft. Martinevans123 (talk) 11:07, 23 July 2017 (UTC)

Disambiguation

Shouldn't there be a disambiguation page here? Because there is more than one person named Steve Wright... ^Talk User:Fissionfox 09:02, 6 October 2007 (UTC)

Chernobyl/Smiths

[The following link and quote relate to this edit. Neglecting to sign this has caused a misunderstanding on the part of one or more other editors. I haven't made an edit that requires tildes for 3 months, and totally forgot about them. Apologies.] Mannafredo (talk) 09:25, 13 November 2008 (UTC)

http://www.last.fm/user/alephnaught/journal/2008/08/21/24jjv8_%22panic%22:_call_snopes

"I can NOT emphasize this enough. There seems to be a terrible bias among some editors that some sort of random speculative 'I heard it somewhere' pseudo information is to be tagged with a 'needs a cite' tag. Wrong. It should be removed, aggressively, unless it can be sourced. This is true of all information, but it is particularly true of negative information about living persons." – Jimmy Wales

Well you're right, but please don't pretend to be Jimmy Wales when you're actually someone else 81.158.143.105 (talk) 22:11, 11 November 2008 (UTC)

See here. Mannafredo (talk) 09:06, 13 November 2008 (UTC)

No worries. FYI I was actually the anon ip (I got timed out and didn't realise until after I'd made the post). Glad everything's sorted out. Cheers TheRetroGuy (talk) 20:16, 13 November 2008 (UTC)

Place of birth

Clarification (preferably with reference) to confirm Wright's birthplace - given as Blackheath and Greenwich (and there's also a claim on the Deptford page). Of course, parts of Blackheath are also in the London Borough of Greenwich, but would be good to sort it out. Paul W (talk) 17:12, 19 December 2009 (UTC)

This was changed to variously Brent or Southend-on-Sea to mislead entrants of this competition: http://www.bbc.co.uk/radio2/events/children-in-need/2011/evans-competition/ I've put it back to Blackheath, but this page does say Greenwich: http://www.bbc.co.uk/radio2/presenters/steve-wright/ 26 November 2011 — Preceding unsigned comment added by 213.104.218.134 (talk) 12:44, 16 November 2011 (UTC)

Beginning of Broadcasting Career

When Steve went into his first broadcasting post, as far as I am aware the radio station was called Radio Thames Valley, rather than Radio 210. I can remember Steve telling me that he had got the position with "Thames Valley" when I was working at Radio 2. I have added this station name to the article, but please correct me if I am wrong. LynneMcC (talk) 18:19, 6 January 2011 (UTC)

- I have never heard of the station being known as 'Radio Thames Valley' 46.208.99.250 (talk) 22:45, 15 February 2024 (UTC)

He is listed as having worked at Radio Six International between 1970 and 75 prior to being in hospital radio. http://www.radiosix.com/ — Preceding unsigned comment added by 194.75.49.254 (talk) 11:24, 6 June 2012 (UTC)

He makes mention of working at LBC for a short while before 210: https://www.bbc.co.uk/sounds/play/p0hbv34v 46.208.99.250 (talk) 22:45, 15 February 2024 (UTC)

Personal life

The "Personal life" section includes the following anecdote:

"Once, while on a road trip in New England, he was listening to a song on the radio by Santana when he pulled up to a gas station. At the gas station was Carlos Santana himself.[9]"

Are anecdotes of this type really worthy of inclusion? I realise not much is know about Wright's personal life, but this really feels like effort to pad out an an otherwise sparse section for the sake of it. Rgrayuk (talk) 12:40, 17 January 2021 (UTC)

We need to add that Steve's ex-wife died in 2020 aged 65. Yet because this fact was revealed exclusively to the Daily Mail in an interview with Steve's son and has not been picked up elsewhere, it is deemed ineligible for inclusion by Wikipedia and my edit was reverted. I tried adding it without attribution, and that too was attributed. It is definitely true, and relevant to Steve's declining mental health over the last 3 years, so what do we do?

I'm sure you were editing in good faith. And that information is probably accurate. But WP:DAILYMAIL means we can't use that newspaper as a source. So we can't actually include anything that has been "revealed exclusively to the Daily Mail, unless we also condone some kind of copyright violation. Martinevans123 (talk) 20:23, 19 February 2024 (UTC)

Tend to agree, Rgrayuk. I expect Carlos gets that all the time at gas stations... Martinevans123 (talk) 20:25, 19 February 2024 (UTC)

Southend or New Cross

If he was raised in New Cross, how come he went to a school in Southend? (There's not much about the school on the internet, but it doesn't appear to have been a boarding school) — Preceding unsigned comment added by 49.131.27.148 (talk) 13:22, 3 January 2022 (UTC)

News regarding Death

Wow a lot of people are editing this, understandably why, but a lot of the page is getting broken by edits then re-edits and so on, so forth. Could we just amalgamate all changes needed to make sure it's not gonna keep getting broken? Ta. --NorthernSystems (talk) 17:22, 13 February 2024 (UTC)

Unfortunately, I did not see a citation at the very beginning, but rather a couple sentences further. I ended up edit warring/too many reverts because I had only seen words. Tropicalkitty (talk) 17:27, 13 February 2024 (UTC)

Death date confusion

The date of death was the 12th, news was published today

please refer to the BBC Press Release https://www.bbc.com/mediacentre/statements/steve-wright-mbe 2A02:8010:67ED:1:9CFC:BA68:37CF:C49F (talk) 17:28, 13 February 2024 (UTC)

Too early to say if the BBC is correct, as the family statement does not state date of death. We should state that his death was announced on the 13 February. Tony Blackburn found out today and was a good friend. Jaymailsays (talk) 19:06, 13 February 2024 (UTC)

This is correct the date of death was 12th February...too many edit conflicts to change it though. 17:35, 13 February 2024 (UTC)

Both current sources just say "has died", with no date: Singh, Anita (February 2024). "BBC radio Steve Wright dies aged 69". The Telegraph. Retrieved 13 February 2024. "Steve Wright, BBC Radio presenter, dies aged 69". The Guardian. 13 February 2024. Retrieved 13 February 2024.? Martinevans123 (talk) 19:10, 13 February 2024 (UTC)

But the BBC Tribute is pretty clear. Martinevans123 (talk) 19:26, 13 February 2024 (UTC)

GB News bulletins are saying Wright died on World Radio Day, 13 February! https://www.unesco.org/en/days/world-radio/radio-next-century

I'm reluctant to specify either the 12th or 13th until we get sight of the death certificate. The public were informed on the 13 February 2024, that is all we have as a reference. Jaymailsays (talk) 03:22, 14 February 2024 (UTC)

No Jaymailsays we have this [1] which clearly says 12 February. Theroadislong (talk) 08:18, 14 February 2024 (UTC)

GB News are the kind of media outlet one might expect to report that a V2 rocket had been found on the moon. Martinevans123 (talk) 08:35, 14 February 2024 (UTC)

Jaymailsays, as far as I know, BMD certificates can't be used as sources here because of WP:PRIMARY. I've always thought this to be quite bizarre. Martinevans123 (talk) 11:08, 14 February 2024 (UTC)

I would be more trusting of the official press release from his employer(Which seems to have been made in co-operation with his family) than GB News, which is at most a secondary source in this context. Ioangogo (talk) 09:49, 14 February 2024 (UTC)

Reading one of your edit notes, There is a lot to unpack about you concerns about the BBC that are not for discussion here, but i do want to make an important distinction. The source we are referring to is the BBC Media Centre(Essentially a Press Office where news about the organisation is shared) not BBC News, so even your comment about the BBC News not handling things correctly when they first get a story does not apply here. Ioangogo (talk) 17:03, 14 February 2024 (UTC)

WP:BLP

WP:BDP says this: "Generally, this policy does not apply to material concerning people who are confirmed dead by reliable sources. The only exception would be for people who have recently died, in which case the policy can extend for an indeterminate period beyond the date of death—six months, one year, two years at the outside. Such extensions would apply particularly to contentious or questionable material about the subject that has implications for their living relatives and friends, such as in the case of a possible suicide or particularly gruesome crime." Not sure Wright ever committed a "particularly gruesome crime", but one might still want to wait a while? Martinevans123 (talk) 21:42, 13 February 2024 (UTC)

Wait a while for what? Andrew🐉(talk) 11:10, 14 February 2024 (UTC)

I guess to watch for claims of "possible suicide or particularly gruesome crimes". Alleged gruesome crimes involving BBC DJs seems to have occurred in the past. One wouldn't want spurious claims, from unreliable sources, appearing the article. Martinevans123 (talk) 11:22, 14 February 2024 (UTC)

Marriage

There seems to be some confusion over the date of his marriage. So far as I can see, the BBC date of 1985 is correct - the England & Wales Civil Registration Marriage Index shows a marriage in Henley, Oxfordshire, in June 1985, between Stephen R Wright and Cynthia L Robinson. This source reports the end of his 14-year marriage in 1999, which matches. I have no idea why some sources give the 1972 date (when he was 17 or 18), apparently incorrectly. Ghmyrtle (talk) 11:05, 14 February 2024 (UTC)

This source, currently used in the "Personal life" section, says 1972? And also says it was in the US? It also says Cyndi, not Cynthia, lol. Martinevans123 (talk) 11:11, 14 February 2024 (UTC)

Who knows where they got it from? It's wrong, and the BBC is simply more reliable. I know that this source also mentions 1972, but more reliably gives these details: "Steve met Cyndi while working with DJ Mike Read at independent radio station in Reading in 1976. She was a local newspaper journalist who had been sent to interview the pair and it did not appear to go well.... Any hopes of romance were scuppered by a move to Radio Luxembourg. He returned to Britain in 1980 to join Radio 1 and pursued Cyndi once more. But unable to propose marriage in person, Steve did it live on air in 1983...." Ghmyrtle (talk) 11:16, 14 February 2024 (UTC)

There is another couple, Cindy and Steve Wright, in the US, who were married in 1972 and whose story appears on sites like this. He looks quite similar to "our" Steve Wright, but he is quite obviously not the same person. It looks to me as though some journalist, somewhere, has found that article (or a similar one) and misinterpreted it. Mistaken identity. Ghmyrtle (talk) 11:22, 14 February 2024 (UTC)

Ah I see, many thanks for clarifying. Yes, confusion is possible. Martinevans123 (talk) 11:24, 14 February 2024 (UTC)

...and also, the US Sonic the Hedgehog voice actress Cindy Robinson (b.1968) is not the same person as his ex-wife. Ghmyrtle (talk) 13:08, 14 February 2024 (UTC)

I think The Daily Telegraph also mentions the marriage correctly, but it is subscription-only. Martinevans123 (talk) 13:12, 14 February 2024 (UTC)

@Jaymailsays, that article in The Mirror seems to be the only source that claims Cindy was "US-born". I wonder did they maybe get that wrong? Thanks. Martinevans123 (talk) 16:02, 14 February 2024 (UTC)

The Mirror' also claims (here) that they married in 1972 - which is simply untrue. It can't be treated as a reliable source for information about his marriage. Ghmyrtle (talk) 16:16, 14 February 2024 (UTC)

PS: To be fair, the Reading Chronicle, covering the time of his early work in the town, states here: "His first wife [sic], American Cyndi Robinson, was also involved in local journalism. She worked for the Chronicle and the Evening Post. " Ghmyrtle (talk) 16:23, 14 February 2024 (UTC)

Oh dear. Seems kinda muddled! Martinevans123 (talk) 16:26, 14 February 2024 (UTC)

This Telegraph source now gives more details about the circumstances of his death. I was able to see that he lived in Marylebone, but the source is subscription only. Martinevans123 (talk) 17:36, 14 February 2024 (UTC)

"Panic"

Editors should note that the connection with Wright has been challenged at Talk:Panic (The Smiths song)#Steve Wright. Thanks. Martinevans123 (talk) 13:18, 14 February 2024 (UTC)

And now The Times has published it (subscription only)? I must admit it still looks like rubbish to me. Oh well. Martinevans123 (talk) 13:23, 15 February 2024 (UTC)

Morrissey seems not to have commented directly on this recently, but did provide a tribute to Wright: "Steve Wright, Annie Nightingale, Janice Long, John Peel … a generation gone. I once bumped into Steve outside Woolworths in Henley-on-Thames. He said "what the hell are YOU doing here?" and I replied "precisely." During an interview he edited out diarist when I mis-pronounced it as diary-ist … he resisted the perfect opportunity to make fun of me. He played 'I Have Forgiven Jesus' and 'That Joke Isn't Funny Anymore' when no other radio DJ would. Great minds play the music, small minds block the music. But it's too late for compliments now. Appreciating the living is still a ludicrous concept for most people, alas." Not sure whether that quote merits a mention in the article. Ghmyrtle (talk) 15:41, 15 February 2024 (UTC)

Adding some or all of that tribute might establish some "balance". But balance with something that might not be true, or may at least have been exaggerated (on both sides)? Surprising nonetheless. Martinevans123 (talk) 20:05, 15 February 2024 (UTC)

I notice someone removing this and so put it back. The Times has three paragraphs on the matter and cites a biography of the Smiths with several quotes and so seems quite sure of the story.

It's not a big deal in itself but seems helpful in showing the light-hearted nature of Wright's output as opposed to the more political and heavy position of some other entertainers.

Andrew🐉(talk) 09:09, 16 February 2024 (UTC)

I suspect the Radio 1 Playlist was the reason "I'm Your Man" got played after a bulletin about Chernobyl. I don't have access to that biography of the Smiths. I wonder it it's available online. Martinevans123 (talk) 09:16, 16 February 2024 (UTC)

Is it important enough to mention in the article about "Panic"? Probably. Is it important enough to mention in Wright's biography? Not really. Ghmyrtle (talk) 09:40, 16 February 2024 (UTC)

Tend to agree. His only real agency in this was the claim that he bought a T-shirt? Any that bit sounds very easily made-up. It really doesn't prove any of the back story. Martinevans123 (talk) 09:49, 16 February 2024 (UTC)