Presenter Stephanie Hirst marks 30 years on radio as she returns to the studio where she started

Making a brew for the DJs at Leeds-based former Radio Aire studios felt like an honour for 12-year-old Stephanie Hirst, who aspired to be on radio just like her idols.

Some of Stephanie’s personal highlights include working with all of her radio heroes which weren’t any ‘big names’ but all the DJs, producers and bosses making the shows she was brought up listening to.

Also broadcasting from places such as Australia, Hong Kong, Maldives to DJ’ing in Ibiza, winning many awards, interviewing some of the world's biggest stars and hosting the biggest breakfast show outside of London for over a decade, were among Stephanie’s top memories.

She said: “A real highlight was becoming the host of the Sunday national Top 40 chart show Hit40UK, which had millions of listeners. As a music fan it was a dream job which gave me my first taste of broadcasting nationally to a huge audience.”

In the video, Stephanie can be seen putting on her headphones listening to the first ever radio show she presented at the exact date and time, three decades later.

Her first show in that very studio aired in the early hours of the morning in late August 1992, meaning it had a limited audience of “truckers and insomniacs.”

Sitting in the now Pulse 1 & Greatest Hits Radio studios in Leeds, she joked: "A big hello to all you truckers out there.”

Stephanie is now enjoying a new period of her life as she is touring the world as a motivational speaker in between working on her weekend Hits Radio show’s and appearing on TV.

“Everytime I have had a hurdle or I have a mountain to climb, I just believe I can achieve it.

Here's to 30 years on the air and to 30 more. Believe. Achieve,” said Stephanie in the candid video.

It is those words “believe, achieve,” which have guided Stephanie throughout her life building her own resilience and tenacity ever since her schooldays.

Stephanie said: “I was badly bullied at school, so instead of leaving the front gates with all the other pupils, I used to occasionally stay behind for 20 minutes or so and sit in the school library reading anything I could get my hands on.

One day whilst reading a book, young Stephanie saw a paragraph which said “And she believed and achieved her dreams.”

Stephanie added: “This spoke to me in an unbelievably powerful way, and from that day forth, I have said ‘Believe. Achieve’ to myself.

“Little did I know back then as a young teen, that those two words would help me reach my goal of achieving my dream of working in radio, but in times of need, when I was feeling lost in life it helped me find my purpose and achieve my goal of true authenticity.”

She continues to believe and achieve her dreams and is closer to achieving her next dream as an established international speaker through her Believe Achieve brand.

“Since coming out of the pandemic, it’s been amazing to get back in front of huge live crowds with my ‘Belters’ DJ sets too,” she said. “It started back in 2016 on Facebook Live in my kitchen with views over 100,000 playing dance classics from the 90s, 00s and 10s, which naturally evolved into a radio show, which I now host every Saturday night’

When Stephanie is not presenting her national weekend radio show, delivering talks or appearing on TV, she is a passionate property investor and lover of interior design.

Stephanie Hirst can be heard nationally on Hits Radio, Saturday’s 9pm-midnight & Sunday’s 7-10pm.