Stephen Rhodes

Stephen Rhodes (1951 – 20 February 2017[2]) was a voice-over artist and weekday daytime presenter on BBC Three Counties Radio and BBC Radio Northampton. He originally hosted the Consumer Programme from 10 am until 1:30 pm, but moved to the breakfast show broadcast from 6 am to 9 am. However, after his breakfast show on Tuesday 16 March 2010, he handed his resignation in to the radio station and left with immediate effect, as he prepared to stand as an independent candidate at the 2010 general election.[3][4]

Stephen Rhodes
Born	Thomas Keenan[1] 1951 Dublin, Ireland
Died	20 February 2017 (aged 66)
Occupation	Radio personality, television host, independent candidate, voice-over
Years active	1970s–2017
Children	4

Rhodes was born in Dublin as Thomas "Tommy" Keenan, the son of a dentist, but later moved to England. It was not publicly revealed why he changed his name. He died of motor neurone disease on 20 February 2017, aged 66, at home in Eaton Bray.[5] He was survived by his wife and four children.[6]

Broadcasting career

Radio

Rhodes started his broadcasting career at Dublin pirate radio station "ARD Radio" at the end of the '70s, moving over to the UK and Birmingham radio station BRMB in 1980, before moving to Beacon Radio in Wolverhampton and then WABC (now called Classic Gold WABC) in the early 1990s. Rhodes then joined BBC Radio Shropshire as Breakfast Show host where he won the first of many Sony Radio Academy Awards. In early 1994, Rhodes took over the weekday mid-morning show on the station. He remained on the slot until mid 1995, when Rhodes turned up at BBC Three Counties Radio, presenting a consumer programme five days a week. In the course of his time on the consumer programme he became well known for his undercover work which won him a number of National Radio Academy Awards.

Television

Rhodes' television credits include presenting Central Weekend live on a number of occasions as well as presenting This Morning for Granada Television as relief presenter for Richard Madeley from 1994 to 1997. He was a presenter of the Politics Programme for the Eastern Region, BBC for four years. He has also presented occasional documentaries/reports for both BBC East and BBC London Television. He was the voice of Family Fortunes from 1987 to 1999.[7]

Sony Awards

• 1993 Speech based Breakfast Show – Bronze
• 1998 The Stephen Rhodes Show, Daytime Talk – Silver
• 1999 The Stephen Rhodes Consumer programme, Daytime Talk/News – Bronze
• 2001 Interactive – Gold
• 2001 Short Form Award – Bronze
• 2003 Speech Broadcaster of the year – Nominee
• 2005 Speech Broadcaster of the Year – Bronze

Political career

Stephen Rhodes announced to the press on the afternoon of Tuesday 16 March 2010 that he had quit his radio presenter job to become an independent candidate for the Luton South parliamentary constituency in the general election, following the expenses controversies of the constituency's former MP Margaret Moran. He received 463 votes, 1.1% of those cast.[8]

References

1. "Award winning broadcaster Stephen Rhodes dies of motor neurone disease". Luton Today.
2. "Former This Morning presenter Stephen Rhodes dies from motor neurone disease". BBC News. BBC. 22 February 2017. Retrieved 2 January 2019.
3. Celebrity election Archived 5 June 2011 at the Wayback Machine, itv.com, 16 March 2010.
4. Radio presenter to stand as election candidate, LutonToday.co.uk, 16 March 2010.
5. "Remembering Stephen Rhodes". BBC Local Live: East of England (west). 14 March 2017. Retrieved 10 January 2021.
6. Former BBC Three Counties presenter Stephen Rhodes dies, bedfordshire-news.co.uk; accessed 22 February 2017.
7. "Stephen Rhodes Obituary". 3 March 2017.
8. "Election 2010 results for Luton South". BBC News. Retrieved 4 August 2013.

External links

• Three Counties Radio profile
• Family Fortunes