{"id":7958,"date":"2025-12-01T06:45:35","date_gmt":"2025-12-01T07:45:35","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.unlockingsite.com\/?p=7958"},"modified":"2025-12-01T12:36:20","modified_gmt":"2025-12-01T12:36:20","slug":"bbc-radio-presenter-brian-hayes-dies-aged-87-after-legendary-career","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.unlockingsite.com\/index.php\/2025\/12\/01\/bbc-radio-presenter-brian-hayes-dies-aged-87-after-legendary-career\/","title":{"rendered":"BBC radio presenter Brian Hayes dies aged 87 after legendary career"},"content":{"rendered":"
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\n\t\t\"BBC\t<\/div>
Brian Hayes has died, leaving behind an influential legacy (Picture: Evening Standard\/Shutterstock)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Radio legend Brian Hayes has died aged 87.<\/p>\n

The former BBC<\/a> and LBC presenter, whose career spanned five decades, was a pioneer in broadcasting as he has been credited with ushering in the modern conversational and confrontational style<\/a> for phone-ins.<\/p>\n

His former LBC colleague Steve Allen <\/a>revealed the news on X, writing: ‘Brian Hayes has passed away, what a legend RIP.’<\/p>\n

Hayes, who was born in Australia<\/a>, started his career in newspapers and broadcasting, before continuing his growth in the UK in the early 1970s.<\/p>\n

He initially started as a producer for Capital Radio when the station launched in 1973, and soon became on-air talent.<\/p>\n

Hayes later joined LBC radio<\/a> as a host of both morning interview and phone-in show, where he was incredibly influential in the development of the format.<\/p>\n

\n
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Hayes pioneered the art of the radio phone-in (Picture: BBC)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

He famously explained that callers should be treated as ‘real people with something to say’, noting that the medium needs to sound ‘like a conversation that matters’.<\/p>\n

After leaving LBC in 1990, he joined BBC Radio 2’s breakfast show Good Morning UK!<\/p>\n

During the 90s, he also fronted the station’s Hayes Over Britain phone-in, which earned him a Gold Sony<\/a> Radio Award, while he would also have stints on BBC Radio 4 and Radio 5 Live.<\/p>\n

In the 2000s, he made his return to LBC for a Sunday night programme, before retiring from full-time broadcasting.<\/p>\n

Fans and fellow professionals have paid tribute to Hayes’ legacy.<\/p>\n

\n
\n\t\t\"Brian\t<\/div>
Hayes helped inspire the modern day style (Picture: LBC)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Journalist and broadcaster Neck Metcalfe wrote on X: ‘Bloody hell, Brian Hayes has died. What a voice. My mum used to call his LBC show in the 80s.<\/p>\n

‘Did shock jocking before it was a thing in Britain really. A broadcaster with genuine authority and gravitas. RIP Brian.’<\/p>\n

Aidan Radnedge added: ‘Ah, RIP Brian Hayes. Was a keen listener here each morning in student days way back when to Five Live morning phone-ins, Diana Modill then Nicky Campbell, and also his semi-regular stints stepping in, seeming sterner with guests\/callers but warmth for pacy and penetrating debate.’<\/p>\n

And listener Sandy Walker recalled: ‘R.I.P. radio presenter Brian Hayes. He kept the family amused and informed, late 70s\/80s listening to LBC.’<\/p>\n

Got a story?<\/strong><\/p>\n

If you\u2019ve got a celebrity story, video or pictures get in touch with the Metro.co.uk<\/a> entertainment team by emailing us celebtips@metro.co.uk, calling 020 3615 2145 or by visiting our Submit Stuff<\/a> page – we\u2019d love to hear from you.<\/p>\n


\n\t\t\tComment now<\/title><\/span><br \/>\n\t\t\t<span class=\"share-bar-comments__label\">Comments<\/span><br \/>\n\t\t<\/a><a class=\"metro-button share-bar-preferred-source\" data-vars-position=\"bottom\" href=\"https:\/\/google.com\/preferences\/source?q=https:\/\/metro.co.uk\" target=\"_blank\"><br \/>\n\t\t\t\t<span><title>Add Metro as a Preferred Source on Google<\/title><\/span><br \/>\n\t\t\t\t<span class=\"share-bar-preferred-source__label\">Add as preferred source<\/span><br \/>\n\t\t\t<\/a><\/section>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Brian Hayes has died, leaving behind an influential legacy (Picture: Evening Standard\/Shutterstock) Radio legend Brian Hayes has died aged 87. The former BBC and LBC presenter, whose career spanned five decades, was a pioneer in broadcasting as he has been credited with ushering in the modern conversational and confrontational style for phone-ins. His former LBC […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":7927,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-7958","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-featured"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.unlockingsite.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7958","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.unlockingsite.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.unlockingsite.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.unlockingsite.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.unlockingsite.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=7958"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"http:\/\/www.unlockingsite.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7958\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":7963,"href":"http:\/\/www.unlockingsite.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7958\/revisions\/7963"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.unlockingsite.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/7927"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.unlockingsite.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=7958"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.unlockingsite.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=7958"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.unlockingsite.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=7958"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}