[James Vertigan]

Yes, there's no way she'd not have had any notice of it, for a start she'd have had to have had some songs for after the news ready in the system. The lead up to the ness was quite subdued to start to set the tone.

One fairly non-scientific guide to when Radio 2 knew could be going by when Steve Wright appeared in the top of the hour station ID... going by BBC Sounds his last appearance was at 11am

Sara did say during the show that Steve’s producer had come in to put all of the songs on the playlist so it was probably known for a while.

[Ash101]

One fairly non-scientific guide to when Radio 2 knew could be going by when Steve Wright appeared in the top of the hour station ID... going by BBC Sounds his last appearance was at 11am

Interesting point! How often do these come round?

If it wasn’t “known” (as the below seems to imply the newsreader didn’t know till midway through his bulletin).. I wonder how the instruction was given to remove those IDs

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[Worzel]

Really sad news. He'll always be known as Mr Radio 2 to me.

I'll just leave this here...

youtu.be 

[RhysJR]

A fitting end to tonight's Newsnight.

Such a sad loss

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[Larry the Loafer]

Thought this was worth sharing. There hasn't been much talk of his TV work besides TOTP.

youtu.be 

[Ash101]

Interesting piece from The Telegraph where Paul Gambaccini speaks about Steve.

Mentions he was shocked to be asked to step away from the weekday show in 2022, but always thought he’d get back to a daily show eventually.
And also that “virtually every commercial company” had made contact about taking him on, but wouldn’t offer him the chance to have guests or have a say in the music - so he stayed put at the BBC.

I guess that makes sense for GHR as it doesn’t fit in with what they do all, but I’m surprised Virgin couldn’t make it work. Although how many guests are there to share between him, Chris & Graham!

[Transmission]

Was a shock to hear the news even though I was never a listener myself. One thing that's struck me is how many people I've met in broadcasting for whom he was a hero.

[Keith]

Interesting point! How often do these come round?

If it wasn’t “known” (as the below seems to imply the newsreader didn’t know till midway through his bulletin).. I wonder how the instruction was given to remove those IDs

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I'd suggest it may have been known earlier in the day that he was very unwell / taken to hospital, and that things weren't looking good. This might have prompted a few 'precautionary' measures, such as removing the ID and preparing a playlist for potential near-future use. It's also some people may have heard unofficially and/or directly from Steve's family prior to 5pm, hence how Jeremy Vine may have been aware by 2pm. The BBC would have also needed some time to prepare a statements to release with the news.

It's quite possible that Sara Cox and her colleagues only found that he'd died out once she'd handed over to the 5pm news. Perhaps fortunately the bulletin was about 5 minutes long, compared to the usual short midday bulletin at the start of Vine's show. This would fit in with what Mike Powell has said on twitter about him only knowing as he read it out.

[South]

It would be reasonable for management to find out first with an agreed time set with the family to make a public press release. No on air talent would be able to be briefed about the news prior to the announcement as this may mean they inadvertently release the news early.
Other key people may be advised prior, for instance Steve's old producer was brought in to place his music in the system.
I would imagine there was also a contingency arrangement made incase anyone was unable to continue to present.
I will say the half hour that I heard after the news was incredibly well handled, you can tell Steve was a much loved colleague by all and I commend Mike, Sarah and Bobby for their professionalism in such sad news.

[VMPhil]

It's struck me how the tributes have come in from a whole range of people - some people I wouldn't ever have expected. Think that shows both the impact he had on radio but also clearly how nice he was as a person off the radio too.