What terrible news we all woke up to this morning. The BBC Radio 2 broadcaster Sir Terry Wogan has died at the age of 77 following a short illness.
His breakfast show Wake Up to Wogan was one of my earliest radio memories. Before I’d really ‘got in to radio’, Wogan was the soundtrack of my weekday mornings.
By the time I left primary school I was an avid Radio 2 listener, and throughout my time at secondary school I’d take a pair of headphones with me and listen to Wogan while I walked to school.
So Terry Wogan isn’t ‘just one of many radio presenters’ I listen to on the radio these days: he’s the one who started my love of radio; It is perhaps because of Wogan that I skipped the phase of listening to Radio 1 in my teens, went straight to Radio 2. It is perhaps because of him that my love of radio developed.
For the last six years his radio home as been on a Sunday morning between 11am and 1pm. I will miss his Sunday morning show. I might see if I can dig out some old recordings of his shows. I’ve got them somewhere…
Terry Wogan’s legacy will live on. He has influenced me (and many others who work in radio) a lot. Even today I can play a piece of music on my radio show and think to myself “I’ve not heard this since Wogan played it on Radio 2 10 years ago”!
Terry Wogan *IS* Radio 2 – and I don’t think the station will be quite the same without him…
Twitter has gone mad this morning – I will leave you with some of the comments from Wogan’s friends and colleagues as well as those of other people whose comments I found interesting.
Friends & Colleagues: Remembering Terry Wogan
Radio will never quite sound the same again. It just lost one of its finest voices #terrywogan
— Nick Ferrari (@NickFerrariLBC) January 31, 2016
Just woken to the news that the world has lost one of our greatest communicators. So sad. Rare talent. #terrywogan
— Duncan Barkes (@DuncanBarkes) January 31, 2016
I'm so sad about Terry's passing. Not just a nice guy and a great personality – but someone who really loved and understood radio.
— Chris Reay (@MrCReay) January 31, 2016
So sad that Terry Wogan has died. Met him a few times in the Radio 2 lift and always had a giggle. A radio genius.
— Julia Hayball (@juliahayball) January 31, 2016
So sad about Wogan. He was a master broadcaster and a warm and lovely person. I first met him when I did my first ever radio show in 1970…
— Bob Harris (@WhisperingBob) January 31, 2016
…my Dad was with me and he and Terry sat chatting in the studio while I prepared for my first show. He was encouraging and supportive.
— Bob Harris (@WhisperingBob) January 31, 2016
1/2 My thoughts are with Terry Wogan's family. Britain has lost a huge talent – someone millions came to feel was their own special friend.
— David Cameron (@David_Cameron) January 31, 2016
2/2 I grew up listening to him on the radio and watching him on tv. His charm and wit always made me smile.
— David Cameron (@David_Cameron) January 31, 2016
So the Wogan era of Radio 2 is over.
FH.
