BBC workmen ripped apart Steve Wright's old studio in week he died

Daily Mirror

6 days ago

BBC Radio 2 presenter Jeremy Vine told how workmen ripped apart Steve Wright's old studio and showed lack of compassion to older staff members
BBC workmen ripped apart Steve Wright's old studio in the very week that he died. The Radio Two presenter passed away in February last year aged 69 from a ruptured stomach ulcer.
Two years before he had been axed from his very popular weekday show by the station – a move which had angered his army of listeners. Instead he had continued hosting his Sunday Love Songs programme.
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Now details have emerged that when the BBC moved out of Wogan House in London in the spring last year, their timing for tearing out rooms and removing equipment could not have been worse.
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Radio 2 host Jeremy Vine has revealed: ' Steve Wright – what an amazing man. 'His studio was torn out in the week he died very sadly because they were changing offices and of course the way they tear these things out is not particularly respectful of the history of all the machines that were in there because Steve had asked for them.. that microphone was Steve's microphone!'
Vine, who also has a Channel 5 daytime show, said staff were in tears when word reached them that 'Wrightie' - who had been at the station since the 1980s - had died.
And he had to console one newsreader who was especially close to him – but even that moment was ruined by a workman who showed a lack of compassion.
He added: 'When he died, there was a particular news reader who was very very close friends with him and she was very upset because she was in the newsroom and she found out he had died because she saw the script for it. Terrible.
' I said 'Let's go and talk about it' and we went off. Now this was all part of this big office move and there was a sign outside (his old studio) saying 'Do Not Enter'... so we of course ignored that.
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'So we go into the studio and we start talking, hugging, crying and talking about Steve and then we must have appeared on some camera because a guy comes up with a clipboard and opens the door and says 'Excuse me.. can you not read this sign?'
'I said 'Sorry' but I can see my friend the news reader is about to go ballistic. And she said 'This is our church!' which is such a great line. It made me think how deep all this runs.'
Former Strictly contestant Vine also admitted that it was a sad sign of the times that the BBC is staffed with many younger employees who do not know the history of the station nor the legendary radio presenters who helped make the channel what it is today. And a recent experience made him realise how easily famous DJs can be forgotten.
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The star, who has recently released a murder mystery novel Murder On Line One, explained at the Bath Literary Festival: 'Obviously all my producers now are 22 or 23 years old and as we cleared out the desks in the old building which is called Wogan House, one of them pulled this massive lump of metal out.
'And it was a bust in bronze and they said 'Who the hell is this?' It was a guy with a collar and tie on. And I said 'Look at the name!' And they looked at it and turned it around and said 'Jimmy Young. Who's that?'
I said 'Guys he presented the show for 29 years'. But it was a bit of a reminder of the generational gap – and once you are gone, you are gone! And I suppose a lot of broadcasters do worry about that.'
A BBC spokesman said: "Radio 2 moved out of Wogan House and all the studios were decommissioned on the same weekend that Steve tragically passed away. Steve's microphone was saved, mounted on a stand and featured prominently in the celebration of his career that took place at the BBC recently. The event was recorded and will be broadcast later this year."