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Well-liked radio presenter Johnnie Walker, a former pirate radio DJ who started his profession with the BBC in 1969, has died aged 79.
The veteran DJ had been identified with a terminal sickness and introduced his retirement from radio, after a profession spanning nearly 60 years, in October 2024.
His spouse, Tiggy Walker mentioned she “couldn’t be extra proud” of her husband and “how he stored broadcasting nearly to the top and with what dignity and style he coped together with his debilitating lung illness”.
“He remained his charming, humorous self to the top, what a powerful superb man. It has been a rollercoaster journey from begin to end,” she mentioned in an announcement.
“And if I could say – what a day to go. He’ll be celebrating New Yr’s Eve with a stash of nice musicians in heaven. One 12 months on from his final dwell present. God bless that extraordinary husband of mine who’s now in a spot of peace.”
BBC director basic Tim Davie described Walker as a “pop radio pioneer and champion of nice music”, including: “No-one liked the viewers as a lot as Johnnie, and we liked him again.”
Walker had beforehand been identified with idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis (IPF), a situation by which “the lungs develop into scarred and respiratory turns into troublesome”.
The NHS says it isn’t clear what causes the situation and that, whereas remedies can cut back the speed at which it worsens, there’s nothing that may cease or reverse the scarring of the lungs.
Born in Birmingham, Walker started his radio profession in 1966 on Swinging Radio England, an offshore pirate station, earlier than shifting to Radio Caroline the place he turned a family title as host of the favored night-time present. He continued in defiance of presidency laws in opposition to broadcasters with out licences in 1967.
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Talking about being on the MV Mi Amigo when the regulation got here into drive, he advised the Radio Occasions: “It was such an emotional time… I used to be frightened to loss of life.
“I used to be exhilarated, excited. It was simply unbelievable. I knew the second that the second hand swept previous the 12, that if I mentioned a phrase I’d be a felony, answerable for prosecution for the following two years, dwelling in exile in Holland. It was an enormous second.”
He summoned up the braveness to play the tracks “We Shall Overcome” and The Beatles’ “All You Want Is Love” after telling listeners: “That is Radio Caroline, it’s now 12 midnight.”
Radio Caroline served as inspiration for the 2009 Richard Curtis movie The Boat That Rocked, starring an ensemble forged together with Invoice Nighy, Rhys Ifans, Kenneth Branagh and the late Philip Seymour Hoffman.
Hoffman’s character The Rely was loosely primarily based on Walker’s fellow Radio Caroline alumnus, American DJ Michael Joseph Pasternak, who offered beneath the moniker Emperor Rosko, whereas Walker himself served as a marketing consultant for the movie.
Walker interviewed Pasternak for a BBC particular in 2009, the place they recreated the period of pirate radio with kingles, commercials and music from the mid-Fifties to mid-Seventies.
When Radio Caroline closed, Walker joined BBC Radio 1 in 1969 and remained there till 1976, when he was concerned in a dispute with BBC administration over the music he performed.
He was additionally scolded for criticising the Bay Metropolis Rollers track “Give a Little Love”, which he described as “musical rubbish”.
Nevertheless, in 2015, the BBC stood by Walker after a listener complained that he hadn’t performed a single Bay Metropolis Rollers track in additional than 310 Radio 2 exhibits, accusing him of being “anti-Scottish”.
BBC viewers providers acknowledged Walker had made “no secret” of his “poor opinion and dislike” of the band, who the listener hailed as “Scotland’s reply to The Beatles”, however mentioned his job was to play traditional tracks he felt his viewers would “most take pleasure in”.
It added that the present was named after Walker and “mirrored his style”.
After his dispute with administration in 1976, Walker moved to San Francisco to report a weekly present for Radio Luxembourg, whereas additionally working for native stations KSAN, WHFS in Bethesda, Maryland, and KPFA in Berkeley, California.
He returned to the BBC within the late Eighties and remained there till his retirement in 2024, throughout which era he was dismissed from the then-newly launched native station, BBC GLR, for remarking that individuals can be “dancing on the street” over the resignation of Margaret Thatcher as UK prime minister.
His final episode of The Rock Present aired on Friday 25 October between 11pm and midnight, whereas his final Sounds of the Seventies present aired on Sunday 27 October between 3pm and 5pm.
Walker was changed on his Sounds of the Seventies present by former Outdated Gray Whistle Check presenter Bob Harris, whereas Shaun Keaveny took on the function of The Rock Present presenter from 1 November.
“I’m proud and honoured to be taking on a BBC Radio 2 establishment from a real broadcasting nice,” Harris mentioned of his new function on the time.
“Johnnie and I’ve been buddies since my years presenting Outdated Gray Whistle Check and the unique Sounds Of The Seventies and I’ll do the whole lot I can to take care of his legacy and curate the programme with the perfect music from that unbelievable decade.”
Saying his retirement on 6 October, Walker learn a letter from a listener whose father had liked his Sounds of the Seventies present, however who had died in 2022 from the identical situation Walker suffered from (IPF).
“Now, that leads me to make a really unhappy announcement,” he advised listeners. “The battle I’ve had with doing the present and attempting to maintain up knowledgeable commonplace has been getting increasingly troublesome… so I’ve made the choice that I must convey my profession to an finish after 58 years.
“I’ll make the final three exhibits nearly as good as I presumably can.”
Walker remained upbeat despite his prognosis, revealing in a Every day Mail interview that he had an “unshakeable perception in an after-life”.
“I feel it’s an exquisite place,” he mentioned. “Except you’ve performed some terrible issues down right here, I don’t assume there’s something to worry.”
Helen Thomas, head of BBC Radio 2, mentioned: “Everybody at Radio 2 is heartbroken concerning the passing of Johnnie, a a lot liked broadcasting legend.
“He made Sounds of the 70s and The Rock Present appointments to hearken to, sharing his private reminiscences and tales every week. He liked radio and impressed a era of presenters, passionately selling the artists and music he cared about so deeply.
“Johnnie’s wry sense of humour and his heat, open fashion of presenting ensured he was adored by his viewers. The airwaves merely received’t be the identical once more. He will probably be very a lot missed by Radio 2 presenters, employees and listeners alike, and our ideas are together with his spouse Tiggy and his kids.”
Walker used a wheelchair and relied on oxygen from a machine. He was cared for by his spouse of greater than twenty years, Tiggy.
