BBC Northern Ireland broadcaster Walter Love has died aged 88.
He was known for hosting Radio Ulster’s Day By Day and his own segment Love in the Afternoon, while also hosting Love Forty on a Sunday. After a whopping 77 years on air, he had his final show in 2023.
It was confirmed by his family that he had died on Friday morning (January 26) in a nursing home after a short illness.
Director of BBC Northern Ireland Adam Smyth described him as an “incredible performer on air”, branding him “genial, kind and cheerful”. He also said the broadcaster had a “hint of mischief” about him.
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Mr Smyth added: “He loved presenting radio programmes and his melodious voice, ability to create rapport, and his encyclopaedic knowledge of music made him one of our longest-serving and best-loved broadcasters.”
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The former head of programming at BBC Radio Ulster, Don Anderson, said he was the “gentle part of gentleman”, the Belfast Telegraph reported.
He told them he was a “superb broadcaster” who had joined the BBC in a role away from broadcasting before moving into news reading.
Don also said of him: “People liked him instantly and get had a great rapport with the audience.” He was also called a “pioneer of radio” adding: “His name could be validly linked with the history of BBC broadcasting in NI.
“His career had a huge span; he may have been the longest serving broadcaster on the whole of the UK BBC network.”
In 2014 he had been inducted into the Phonographic Performance Ireland Radio Awards Hall of Fame for recognition of his skill and passion. He was once awarded an MBE for his services to broadcasting in 1997.
Walter Love was beloved within the BBC after starting out a freelancer for the radio before ultimately landing a job as a studio manager in London, before joining Radio Ulster in 1978.
Tributes poured in for him online, with one user writing: “We lost our gorgeous Walter Love today. He was the best colleague and friend you could hope for. Walter never lost his sense of fun and always had a joke to tell when he came in. I’m so glad I got to know him but we will all miss him so much.”
Another said: “I’m so sad to hear of the passing of Walter Love. An absolute legend of Northern Irish radio. It wouldn’t and won’t be the same without him.”
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