Stephanie Hirst | |
|---|---|
 Stephanie Hirst during an invited visit to 10 Downing St in 2016 | |
| Born | 31 July 1975 Barnsley, South Yorkshire, England |
| Career | |
| Style | Presenter |
| Previous show(s) | Hit40UK Hirsty's Daily Dose |
| Website | www |
Stephanie Hirst (born 31 July 1975) is an English radio and television presenter on Hits Radio & Greatest Hits Radio. She hosted the National UK Top 40 chart show Hit40UK and the weekday breakfast show on Capital Yorkshire, Hirsty's Daily Dose .
 | This section of a biography of a living person needs additional citations for verification .(June 2019) |
Hirst started her career at 96.3 Radio Aire in Leeds as a helper making tea for DJs, before joining the overnight show at age 16.[ citation needed ] She moved to Minster FM in York, then to The Pulse of West Yorkshire in Bradford in 1995 to present the evening show. In 1997 she moved to Hallam FM in Sheffield, her local station, where she hosted the drivetime programme for three years. She then returned to The Pulse of West Yorkshire to co-host the breakfast show with Elisa Hilton, but quickly left to take over the breakfast show at Viking FM in Hull after the departure of JK and Joel. Hirst left Viking FM, to present Hirsty's Daily Dose at Galaxy Yorkshire, a station covering all areas of Yorkshire.
After Neil Fox quit as the host of Hit40UK in 2004, Hirst – one of Fox's stand-ins previously from 2003 – was recruited, initially with Katy Hill, to host the programme each Sunday from the studios of Capital Radio in London and went on to host the programme alone. Hirst presented her last Hit40UK chart on 15 October 2006.
In May 2013, Hirst returned to presenting nationally on Gold on Saturday afternoons where she created a show called 'Vinyl Heaven', with every song played live from the original vinyl copies.
In June 2014, Hirst left her presenting roles at Capital and Gold. In April 2018, she began hosting The Stephanie Hirst Show, broadcast on BBC Radio Leeds. [1]
She made a return to commercial radio for Bauer's Hits Radio Pride, to launch 'Stephanie Hirst's Belters' which is a celebration of 90s 00s & 10s dance anthems, with the first show taking place on 28 August 2020. Due to the show's immediate succes, it was extended onto the main national Hits Radio network from August 2021 and airs each Saturday nights from 11-2am.
She can be also be heard on Greatest Hits Radio 60's, each weekday from 1pm with 'Spinnin' the 60s'. [2] An hour of the biggest 60s songs all played from the original vinyl singles, along with regularly covering for presenters on the main Greatest Hits Radio station.
She is a Fellow [3] & former trustee of The Radio Academy [4] and can be seen on Channel 5 as an occasional panelist on Jeremy Vine .
Alongside her Radio & TV work, she also dedicates a large amount of her time as a Public Speaker, sharing her inspirational ‘Believe Achieve’ keynote to businesses and conferences worldwide. [5]
Stephanie tells her powerful story of how she achieved her broacasting dreams, but had to make the brave decision to pause her career in order to put her mental health first. She talks candidly about this journey from her unique lived experience.
Hirst first publicly talked about her gender transition on 11 October 2014 during an interview with Stephen Nolan on BBC Radio 5 Live. [6] [7] In 2014 and 2015, Hirst was included in The Independent On Sunday 's "Rainbow List", an annual celebration of 101 LGBT people in the UK. [8]
In July 2016, Hirst was awarded an Honorary Doctorate from Leeds Beckett University for her LGBT activism. [7]
In 2016 she was nominated for the Top 10 LGBT+ Celebrity Rising Stars award by the British LGBT Awards. [9]
