Tim Smith (born 1961 in Swindon)[1] is an English broadcaster and radio personality in the UK. He is best known as being part of the team for Steve Wright in the Afternoon on BBC Radio 2.[2]

On 1 July 2022 Wright announced that his afternoon show would end in Autumn 2022, after 23 years. It was also announced that Smith would be leaving BBC Radio 2, together with Janey Lee Grace.[3]

Career

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Smith started out on university radio whilst studying in York.[2] From 1984 he worked for several stations including BBC Radio York and BBC Radio Shropshire. On 1 April 1989, after a short stint with BBC WM, Tim joined BBC Radio 1 to present a new weekend early show to coincide with the station starting its day at the earlier time of 5 am.[4] He presented Top of the Pops on one occasion, alongside Anthea Turner.[2] During the 1990s he presented on BBC Radio London, hosting the Picture Show, which was nominated for a Sony Award. He also presented the breakfast show on Magic 105.8 and Jazz FM.[1] He joined BBC Radio 2 in 1999 as a co-presenter on Steve Wright in the Afternoon, as part of the team with Janey Lee Grace and the "old woman" Joyce Frost.[2][5] During his time on the show, he has interviewed a number of celebrities and, alongside Wright, co-interviewed the Prime Minister, Tony Blair.[2] He is well known on the show for reading out lists of trivial information known as "factoids".[6] He also presented his own show on BBC Radio Oxford on Saturday mornings until April 2019.[7]

Tim is a keen golfer, and regularly presents a podcast on the sport with BBC journalist Rob Nothman and comedian Patrick Kielty.[8][9] He has also co-presented online coverage of the Wimbledon Championships and the 2000 Open Golf Championship in St Andrews.[2] In 2018, he presented an episode of Celebrity Antiques Road Trip with Janey Lee Grace.[10]

Smith has provided podcasts for UK companies including Jaguar Land Rover, Diageo, Network Rail, BT, UK Power Networks and McVitie's.[11]

In April 2023, Smith returned to radio with Jazz FM presenting bank holiday programmes.[12]

References

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  1. ^ a b "Tim Smith". BBC Radio 2 : Steve Wright in the Afternoon. Retrieved 11 August 2020.
  2. ^ a b c d e f "Steve Wright in the Afternoon - Tim Smith - BBC Radio 2". BBC. Retrieved 29 December 2017.
  3. ^ "BBC Radio 2 Autumn Schedule Changes". www.bbc.co.uk. Retrieved 26 August 2022.
  4. ^ "BBC Radio 1 England - 1 April 1989 - BBC Genome". genome.ch.bbc.co.uk.
  5. ^ "Steve Wright show's Old Woman passes away". Radio Today. November 2016. Retrieved 11 August 2020.
  6. ^ Starkey, Guy (2013). Radio in Context. Macmillan International Higher Education. p. 61. ISBN 978-1-137-30224-3.
  7. ^ "BBC Radio Oxford - Tim Smith". BBC.
  8. ^ "Tim Smith's Golf Talk". Apple Podcasts. Retrieved 11 August 2020.
  9. ^ "Golf Talk". Premium Audio. Retrieved 11 August 2020.
  10. ^ "Celebrity Antiques Road Trip". BBC Two. 9 December 2019. Retrieved 12 August 2020.
  11. ^ "Riva Media | Tim Smith". riva-media. Retrieved 28 January 2024.
  12. ^ "Danielle Perry and Tim Smith to join Jazz FM". Jazz FM. Retrieved 3 April 2023.