'Revolutionary' LBC and BBC radio host Brian Hayes dies at 87

Brian Hayes is namechecked in the lyrics of 1990 track Hello by British electronic outfit The Beloved

Tributes have been paid to influential former LBC and BBC radio presenter Brian Hayes following his death at the age of 87.

The Australian helped to transform radio phone-ins from the 1970s onwards with his conversational and at-times confrontational interview style, during a career that spanned five decades.

He said callers should be treated as "real people with something to say" and that the phone-in should be treated "like a conversation that matters".

LBC presenter James O'Brien paid tribute on air on Monday, telling listeners: "If he didn't invent the genre of radio that we all attempt to provide you with every day, then he certainly revolutionised it."

He added: "Brian changed the format for all of us, or most of us, in that you [the listener] are now are expected to be able to explain yourself."

O'Brien remembered encountering Hayes for the first time when he worked as a contributor to a BBC radio show and watched him in action in the studio.

"I had no idea you could do this kind of thing for a living," he remembered. "I just didn't know that you could adopt this approach - curiosity and interest in the news."

'What do you mean?'

Fellow LBC presenter Clive Bull said that before Hayes arrived, there had been very little genuine interaction between presenters and callers on UK radio.

"Brian took over and shocked people really by daring to actually ask them difficult questions like, 'What do you mean?', and questioning the logic and the facts. And he had great attention to detail.

"I should say he was not a shock jock. It was very much about analysing people's arguments and questioning. But that really did revolutionise phone-ins, because before that, it was just, 'Have your say'."

Hayes's former LBC colleague Steve Allen broke the news of his death, posting on X: "Brian Hayes has passed away, what a legend RIP."

Another former colleague, Jonathan Perry, also paid tribute, writing: "Very sad to hear the news that my friend and former LBC radio colleague Brian Hayes passed away in his sleep in the early hours of Saturday morning.

"Brian had been battling with increasing frailty for several years now, but up until this year was still able to get out and about with a bit of help and a taxi. RIP Brian."

'Argue them into a corner'

Born in Perth, Australia, in 1937, Hayes worked in both newspapers and broadcasting before moving to the UK in the early 1970s.

He helped to launch Capital Radio in 1973, working as a producer before moving in front of the microphone.

It was as the morning interview and phone-in show host on LBC from 1976 that he properly began to make a name for himself.

Known for not suffering fools gladly while on air and giving some callers short shrift, he was once satirised in Private Eye.

He pioneered a style whereby callers had to be on their mettle because he was known to treat them in the same way he would treat a politician.

Speaking to the Guardian in 2003, he reflected: "In my years at the station I interviewed many heroes and villains, including political, trade union and business movers and shakers, the greatest writers, musicians, performers and, of course, the informed, loveable and infuriating Londoners who flooded the phone lines ready to tell the rest of us how the world should be organised.

"And they were even prepared for me to argue them into a corner. Sometimes there was a lot of heat in my kitchen and I loved it."

Brian Hayes (right) interviewing Law Lord Baron Leslie Scarman on LBC in 1981

In the early 1990s, Hayes hosted BBC Radio 2's breakfast show for a year - ultimately being replaced by Terry Wogan - then moved to the Sony Award-winning weekly phone-in, Hayes Over Britain.

He went on to present Friday nights on BBC Radio 5 Live in the 2000s, as well as programmes such as Not Today, Thank You on Radio 4.

Hayes also later returned to the LBC airwaves on Sunday nights.

Blunt, but balanced

TalkTV broadcaster Mark Dolan noted how the man known as the "piranha of the airwaves" had "reinvented the phone-in format in the UK - with stunning success".

"Ruthlessly impatient with his callers, he treated them as equals to the prime minister."

Dance DJ Dave Pearce recalled how the "talented" broadcaster's LBC show "back in the day was must-listen radio".

Paying tribute, broadcaster and journalist Paul Rowley said he had been "privileged to work with him" at LBC and the BBC, calling Hayes "the best phone-in presenter on British radio".

He added: "Blunt and forthright on air, but knowledgeable, fair and balanced whether talking to Cabinet Ministers or George from Hampstead. Modern day broadcasters take note."

Helen Thomas, head of Radio 2, said: "We were saddened to hear of the passing of the former Radio 2 presenter Brian Hayes.

"He was much loved by our listeners. We send our condolences to his family at this sad time."

'Absolute legend'

BBC Scotland news correspondent Jamie McIvor reminisced about fond memories of working with Hayes as a teenager on a viewer access programme in the late 1980s.

"Brian was the presenter of the programme at the time and I saw a lot of him that week," he said. "It was incredible to watch him at work up close and learn from him - so supportive, encouraging and kind.

"An absolute legend and it was a privilege to see him at work. He's one of the people I credit with my career. Years later, when I started broadcasting professionally I always thought of his encouragement."