Broadcaster; Born February 24, 1950; Died August 1, 2009. Steve Hamilton, who has died aged 59 after a heart attack, was a leading voice in Scottish broadcasting, the first DJ and presenter on Radio Forth and the exuberant announcer of the long-running Wheel of Fortune game show.

Although his face became somewhat familiar as a newsreader and announcer on STV in the 1980s, and in small roles in TV series including Taggart, High Road and Monarch of the Glen, it is his booming voice that will be remembered most.

Based in Edinburgh until he settled in Newtongrange, Midlothian, more than 10 years ago, Hamilton also commuted regularly to Glasgow to appear on STV and Radio Clyde before concentrating on doing voiceovers for TV and radio ads, and running a voice coaching school for would-be broadcasters.

The Scottish public first heard his voice on the morning of January 22, 1975, seconds after businessman Richard Findlay announced on his new radio station: "This, for the very first time, is Radio Forth." Hamilton introduced the station's first record, appropriately by a local Edinburgh group, Pilot, singing the song that was shooting towards number one in the UK charts - January.

He remained with Radio Forth for most of the next 13 years, taking the train to Glasgow to read the news or make continuity announcements on STV from its studios in Cowcaddens.

Friends recall that if he was introducing a movie he thought was rubbish, he would give the viewers more than a strong hint. Fellow broadcaster Tony Currie, now with the BBC, said: "At STV, his tongue-in-cheek style was new, and everyone loved it. He didn't take anybody or anything seriously and that was part of his appeal. Steve was always a hoot on screen." Currie said Hamilton was "always impeccably dressed" on TV, but only from the waist up. Viewers did not see the jeans or sneakers behind his desk. "He would say, No point in wasting money, dear boy'," Currie recalled.

In 1988, Hamilton won the role of announcer on a new game show imported from the US by STV and adapted for broadcast by independent stations around the UK. On the evening of January 3 that year, as many Scots were still trying to shake off their hangovers, Hamilton's voice boomed over the opening images of a colourful wheel in spin: "Wheeeel of Fortune with your host Nicky Campbell."

The voice, adding its own glitter to the prizes, became a familiar backdrop to the show throughout its 13-year run, with John Leslie among its later presenters.

Roland James Hamilton (he adopted the stage name of Steve when he joined Radio Forth, reckoning that Roland did not quite suit a DJ) was born in Dumfries but grew up in Ayr, where his father ran a motor dealership.

He went first to Carrick Academy and later to Ayr Academy, before studying at the Royal School of Music and Drama in Glasgow.

After gaining a diploma in speech and drama, he was forced to make ends meet by working as a salesman in Austin Reed's clothing store on Princes Street, Edinburgh, where his vocal delivery sold many an item to many a customer just in for a browse. During another job, as a props man at BBC TV in Glasgow, some of Scotland's top broadcasters recognised the unique quality of his voice and helped propel him to the job at the new Radio Forth.

"To see a bit of sky," Hamilton settled in Newtongrange with his second wife, Jilly, in 1998, earning him a new honorary title, bestowed on him by his close friend, the columnist John Gibson: Gibson dubbed him the Laird of Newtongrange, or simply the Laird of Nitten - the town's nickname.

Last year, Gibson recalled Hamilton telling him of a small part he played in Monarch of the Glen in a scene with Susan Hampshire: "It seems I've become rich beyond compare," Hamilton told Gibson. "ITV3 started to rerun it last week and my agent e-mails me confirming he's received my repeat fee royalties, amounting to 41 pence and to think I drove all the way to Inverness at my own expense for that role."

Hamilton was always amused to hear his voiceovers on TV ads in far-off countries of the world. His remains the voice that sells King Robert II whisky to TV viewers on the Indian Ocean island of Mauritius.

Friends said his Edinburgh funeral was "more a celebration of life", with his coffin carried in to the sounds of Lou Reed's Take a Walk on the Wild Side and Liza Minnelli's Come to the Cabaret.

Hamilton's first wife, Joan, died of cancer in 1985. He is survived by his second wife Jilly, whom he married in 1988, his children Nick and Debbie and his brother Campbell.

PHIL DAVISON