Saul, Steve

Steve Saul was born on 4th October and, from an early age, felt the pull of broadcast media.

He would regularly visit his local station, Red Rose Radio in Preston, to watch programmes transmitted live.

At just 13, he became the youngest hospital radio presenter in the United Kingdom, hosting his own show on Chorley Hospital Radio. He also gained valuable on-air experience at Debenhams Network Radio, a live in-store station based in Preston.

Steve went on to study at the University of Central Lancashire, where he was among the first cohort in the country to attain an NVQ Level 5 in Broadcast Journalism – a qualification that placed him at the leading edge of a rapidly professionalising industry.

His paid broadcasting career got under way at what is now Bauer Media, where he served as a broadcast journalist from May 1997 to January 2001. During that period, he wrote, edited and delivered breakfast news bulletins across Rock FM and Magic 999.

On 10th January 2001, Steve joined the BBC in Leeds, initially reading the evening news across the corporation’s four local radio stations covering Yorkshire and Lincolnshire before going on to report for, and present, the drive-time programme on BBC Radio Leeds.

January 2006 brought a move to BBC Radio Manchester, where his responsibilities spanned acting news editor, daytime news presenter, reporter, producer and mentor.

He also played a formative role in developing one of the BBC’s earliest social media strategies for local news – a contribution that reflected both his editorial instincts and his awareness of the medium’s shifting landscape.

From 2012, his reach extended further still, with regular appearances on BBC Radio 5 Live presenting business news, Morning Reports and hourly summaries to audiences across the United Kingdom.

His time at Radio Manchester brought considerable recognition: among the honours he received were a Radio Academy Award for Breaking News Coverage and a Gold New York International Radio Festivals Award for best documentary.

Since April 2014, Steve has been a fixture on BBC One’sNorth West Tonight, fronting bulletins at breakfast, lunchtime, late evenings and weekends.

From 13th November 2019, he has additionally served as a cover presenter for the weekday 6.30pm programme.

In 2026, he marked a quarter of a century with the BBC.

Correspondence

Paul R. Jackson corresponded with Steve in March 2026.

Any anecdotes about things that went wrong, in studio or on location?

“We had a fire alarm once just before one of our late bulletins – it went off at 9.55pm, just before our headlines into the BBC News at Ten.

“Viewers would have seen our `buddy` site of Look North Leeds for the headlines.  We managed to get back into the building at 10.23pm and made it on-air – unrehearsed and soaking wet from standing in the rain – at 10.26pm!

“Another morning BBC Business were doing a budget special into BBC Breakfast with lots of guests. Unfortunately, they were doing it just outside the studio where we used to present our North West Today breakfast bulletins (where Newsround now broadcast from).

“I couldn’t access the studio.

“When they finished, I eventually got in, but in the panic, I’d forgotten that I’d significantly updated my running order, and I didn’t change my autocue and didn’t have a paper copy.

“I had to try and remember the scripts that I’d written – I think I just about got away with it!”

Any news stories from your career that stand out; and favourite interviewees?

“When I was just starting out and I was volunteering at my local radio station Rock FM in Preston. It was 1996 and we’d heard there’d been an explosion in Manchester city centre.

“Staff from our sister station Key 103 had been evacuated. They’d been playing their emergency tape – back then it was an actual reel-to-reel tape.

“After 90 minutes or so it had run out and they were broadcasting dead-air/silence.

“Their engineer managed to convince police to get back into the building and he connected up to us at Rock FM in Preston over an ISDN link.

“My colleague Steve Beech and teenage me then provided the news on 4 local commercial radio stations across the North West. That was my first major story.

“Really lucky in this job to meet celebrities and senior politicians.

“It’s always good to speak to people who find themselves in the news with a story to tell.”

Is there anyone you have mentored that is now appearing on screen?

“Several colleagues on-screen at North West Tonight and other TV news bulletins – with many more across radio, too numerous to mention.

“It must mean I’ve been doing this too long!”

 

Personal information

Clips of Steve on The TV Room

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Rewind | Clean Feed

Online presence

Acknowledgements