We have received some tragic news from the son of former Phoenix FM presenter Chris Helme. He has informed us that his father sadly passed away in the early hours of Thursday 24th April 2025 at St James’ Hospital in Leeds. Chris had been battling with illness for a long while.
Chris Helme was one of our first presenters, hosting the rather unique Sunday Bandstand show, sharing his passion for all things brass band ever since 2007, when Phoenix became an FM broadcast station in Calderdale. He was before this a serving police officer in the West Yorkshire Police force, and awarded the British Empire Medal in 1990 for his service to the community.
Over the years he had written seven local history books, and also wrote the weekly nostalgia column for the Brighouse Echo for more than thirty years. His written articles were published in UK regional magazines, and for almost thirty years he was the editor of the quarterly Talking Newspaper Magazine in Halifax. For five years he was the editor of The Conductor, the in-house magazine of the National Association of Brass Band Conductors.
In 2007, having just completed his latest local history book, he was invited for an interview at the newly launched 96.7 Phoenix FM, and it was during this visit that he was approached about presenting a weekly brass band programme. Since then the programme grew from its original one hour broadcast to a two hour show. Not long after the show started, and proving that he was a natural at the presenting challenge, other community stations asked if they could also air the Sunday Bandstand show.
The show was aired across several UK community radio stations, and up to five licensed community stations overseas. These included; New Zealand, Australia, Cyprus, USA and Expat Radio based in France. Despite the popularity across the globe for Chris Helme’s Sunday Bandstand show, 96.7 Phoenix FM will always be where it started, and such was Chris’s commitment and passion to it, he was still determined to get shows recorded for broadcast throughout his illness.
Although a public speaker, he was very private about his health. As a collective Phoenix FM held the greatest respect for Chris, a unique individual that represented what makes us proud of who we all are. As host of one of our longest running shows, he will be greatly missed.
Our deepest sympathy goes out to all of his family and friends.
