This week we take a look at an interview with the BBC’s Stephanie Hirst back in 2017.
Stephanie Hirst started in radio at a very early age when she went to make tea at her local station 96.3 Radio Aire FM in Leeds, UK. Her career began on local stations in and around Yorkshire where she became known as part of a highly successful breakfast show on Viking FM in Hull which went on to win a Sony award in 2002.
From local commercial stations she then went regional on Galaxy Yorkshire, again her show and her team were an award wining combination, with The Daily Dose winning ‘Commercial Radio Presenters of the Year’ and being nominated for another Sony. As a natural progression she took over the national show Hit40UK for Capital Radio which was also broadcast as part of T4, the youth section of commercial station Channel 4. The radio show won another Sony.
Following her success on Hit40UK she expanded what was originally a small slot into a full show on Gold called ‘Vinyl Heaven’, playing only songs from the original vinyl version. At this time she moved from radio to a prime time morning TV show called ‘Lorraine’ where she presented a slot on celebrities who have made changes to their lives. This slot tied in with Hirst’s own gender change. Hirst is a strong advocat of gender issues and gives a large proportion of her time to helping this community. She was a key figure in the film of Pride In London’s ‘No Filter’ campaign and has been included in the ‘Rainbow List’ which recognises influential figures in the LGBT community.
From September of 2017 she has been broadcasting her ‘Vinyl Revival’ show on BBC Manchester and has a podcast of her format ‘Nothing But The 90’s’.
