Steve Allen (radio presenter)

Stephen Allen (born 17 March 1954) is an English radio presenter. He hosted the early morning breakfast show on LBC until 2023 and was the station's longest-serving presenter.[1]

For other people named Steve Allen, see Steve Allen (disambiguation).

Steve Allen
On stage at the Queen's Theatre, Hornchurch in 2010
Born (1954-03-17) 17 March 1954
Bromley, Kent, England
Occupation(s)Radio presenter, television presenter

Radio career

Allen first worked as a nightclub disc jockey where he met long-time friend Dale Winton[2] and subsequently joined the United Biscuits Network, a radio station broadcasting to workers in the United Biscuits factories.[3][4] His voice was heard in Scotland, Liverpool, Manchester and London.

UBN closed in 1979, and Allen joined LBC as presenter of the Night Extra programme. He then moved on to present The Night is Young on the station. When LBC was separated into two stations- 1152 AM and 97.3 FM, Allen presented the afternoon show for 'London Talkback Radio' (later known as LBC London News 1152) and Saturday Night Out. Allen has also worked for Blue Danube Radio in Vienna, a station sponsored by the United Nations.

Allen presented the early breakfast show on LBC between 4am and 7am from Monday to Friday. On 24 February 2023, he announced that he had stepped down from LBC, after presenting his last show on 17 February.[5][6]

In addition to these shows, Allen pre-recorded another programme for LBC – Steve Allen in Conversation. The final episode of this show was broadcast in spring 2020.

Allen won the Gold Award at the 2016 Arqiva Commercial Radio Awards.[4][7][8] In a Radio Times poll that year, he was voted readers' tenth favourite male radio voice.[9]

In 2006 and 2007, he embarked on a live tour visiting theatres around the London area. In 2009 and 2010, Allen continued his sell out 'audience with' stage shows at the Queen's Theatre in Hornchurch and at the Mermaid Theatre in Central London. He was supported by fellow LBC presenter Anthony Davis. In February 2011, he performed again at the Mermaid Theatre, supported by mind-reader Graham P Jolley.

In 2015, Allen released a book entitled So You Want to be a Celebrity?.[10]

Style of radio show

Allen did not take listeners' calls during his programmes, although he did read out texts and tweets. His early breakfast shows involved discussion of stories from the day's newspapers, Allen's personal anecdotes, his gripes about daily life, and his often critical and derogatory comments about celebrities.[11][12] Writing in The Guardian, David Hepworth observed that "listening to him is like being taken to the airport by an opinionated cabbie who doesn’t require you to respond in any way."[13]

Controversy and criticism

In 2015, the RMT union complained to Ofcom that Allen's comments about striking London Underground workers were "likely to encourage or incite crime". Ofcom's investigation found that Allen did not breach the Broadcasting Code.[14][15]

In 2018, Ofcom found that Allen's comments about the traveller community had breached the Broadcasting Code. LBC argued that "listeners would have considered these comments in the context of Steve's familiar style of fast-moving, continuous rhetoric that rarely dwells significantly on any subject."[11][16] In the same year, he was also found to have breached the code by appearing to mock a blind BBC journalist's guide horse.[17][18][19]

In 2021, Allen's comments about Tilly Ramsay, who was appearing in Strictly Come Dancing, were the subject of some media attention.[20] Ofcom received 860 complaints, which where not upheld "given the brevity of the comments and the likely audience's expectations of this provocative presenter and programme".[12]

Television experience

Allen was one of the presenters of 5's Company, a magazine programme broadcast on Channel 5 when it was launched in 1997.[21]

Personal life

He has been diagnosed as diabetic[22] and has since promoted testing on and off air.

References
  1. Gapper, John (12 December 2019). "Inside LBC: the radio station capturing the political zeitgeist". Financial Times. Retrieved 14 November 2022.
  2. Video on YouTube
  3. "More About Steve Allen, LBC Website". Archived from the original on 3 June 2009.
  4. Lloyd, David. "Steve Allen - UBN and LBC Presenter". Radio Moments - Conversations.
  5. Martin, Roy (24 February 2023). "Morning presenter Steve Allen has hosted his last show on LBC". RadioToday. Retrieved 24 February 2023.
  6. "LBC presenter Steve Allen to leave station after 44 years". BBC News. 24 February 2023. Retrieved 10 March 2023.
  7. "Media Awards: Arqiva Commercial Radio Awards, winners, 2016 - allmediascotland…media jobs, media release service and media resources for all". www.allmediascotland.com. Retrieved 10 March 2023.
  8. "Steve Allen Wins Prestigious Gold Award". LBC. 17 May 2016. Retrieved 10 March 2023.
  9. Plunkett, John (26 July 2016). "John Humphrys says he's 'over-friendly' – and misses top slot in Radio Times poll". The Guardian. Retrieved 10 March 2023.
  10. Allen, Steve (2015). So You Want to be a Celebrity?. London: Elliott & Thompson. ISBN 9781783961078.
  11. "Complaint upheld against LBC host Steve Allen". RadioToday. 9 April 2018. Retrieved 14 November 2022.
  12. "Ofcom clears LBC's Steve Allen after Tilly Ramsay comment – listeners used to him being "provocative"". Radio Times. Retrieved 14 November 2022.
  13. Hepworth, David (23 May 2015). "Up All Night: talk radio in the small hours". The Guardian. Retrieved 14 November 2022.
  14. Burrell, Ian (1 September 2015). "LBC investigated after presenter 'urged listeners to 'beat up' Tube staff'". The Independent. Retrieved 14 November 2022.
  15. Sweeney, Mark (28 September 2015). "LBC warned by Ofcom over presenter's beat up striking tube workers remark". The Guardian. Retrieved 14 November 2022.
  16. "Broadcast Standards cases" (PDF). Broadcast and On Demand Bulletin. 8 April 2018. p. 5. Retrieved 14 November 2022.
  17. Tobitt, Charlotte (4 December 2018). "LBC host Steve Allen breached Ofcom code by mocking blind BBC journalist's guide horse". Press Gazette. Retrieved 16 November 2022.
  18. "Broadcast Standards cases" (PDF). Broadcast and On Demand Bulletin. 3 December 2018. p. 6. Retrieved 16 November 2022.
  19. "LBC host criticised for mocking reporter's 'guide horse'". BBC News. 4 December 2018. Retrieved 16 November 2022.
  20. O'Connor, Roisin (21 October 2021). "Stars support Tilly Ramsay over Steve Allen 'chubby' remark". The Independent. Retrieved 14 November 2022.
  21. "5's Company (1997)". The A.V. Club. Retrieved 10 March 2023.
  22. Brown, Andrew M. (4 September 2019). "Diary: The radio presenter who makes the early hours bearable". Catholic Herald. Retrieved 10 March 2023.
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