Veteran BBC DJ Johnnie Walker shares farewell on final show after 58 years

Veteran BBC DJ Johnnie Walker has shared a farewell on his final show after 58 years.

The 79-year-old presenter announced earlier this month that he would be retiring from radio after nearly 60 years due to ill health.

During his final broadcast of Sounds Of The 70s yesterday (October 27) on BBC Radio 2, Walker told listeners that he wouldn’t be taking requests at the time as he would be closing out his final show by “playing all the ones I love”. The segment also included emotional messages of support from Sir Rod Stewart and Walker’s wife, Tiggy.

He opened the show with the George Harrison solo track ‘What Is Life’, before playing Sister Sledge‘s ‘We Are Family’ afterwards and dedicating it to his listeners throughout the years.

Walker became the presenter of Sounds Of The 70s back in 2009, but his career in British radio has lasted for 58 years.

He started out as a DJ on the pirate station Radio Caroline in the ‘60s, before landing a slot on BBC Radio 1 at the end of the decade. He would leave the UK and the BBC in the mid-’70s to move to San Francisco, before returning in the ‘80s and rejoining BBC Radio 1 for The Stereo Sequence show in 1987.

His most famous shows over the years since have included The Rock Show, which airs on Fridays and BBC Radio 2 Drivetime. The latter saw him work there for seven years, beginning in 1999, and he hosted his last episode of The Rock Show last week by breaking out more of his favourite tracks.

These included ‘Sweet Jane’, which featured on The Velvet Underground’s 1970 album ‘Loaded’, and The Who’s ‘Won’t Get Fooled Again’.

In his final broadcast yesterday, he told listeners (via BBC): “I get cards from people saying: ‘You’re the friend I’ve never met’ and things like that. So it will be sad to say goodbye.”

The presenter was diagnosed with idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis 20 years ago. Due to his health, Walker had been presenting his shows from his home in Dorset, where he is being looked after full-time by his wife.

In honour of Carers Week back in June, the two of them shared details about their life on the Walker And Walker: Johnnie and Tiggy podcast. There, Johnnie opened up about having “only a finite amount of time left here in the physical before I pass over”, calling it “a very reflective time for us”.

In his final episode of the Sounds Of The 70s show, Rod Stewart recalled how Walker had “propelled the careers of a bunch of unknown layabouts to the top of the charts, and overnight fame and everything that goes with it”.

His wife Tiggy made an emotional speech as well, saying: “I’m the one person who knows how hard it’s been for you, and I just want to say well done for keeping going as long as you have, because you make a lot of people very happy.

“I know there will be a lot of tears out there today, including mine.”

He will be replaced on the Sounds Of The 70s programme by former The Old Grey Whistle Test presenter Bob Harris from November 3. You can listen to Walker’s final episode here.

The post Veteran BBC DJ Johnnie Walker shares farewell on final show after 58 years appeared first on NME.