Entertainment
Johnnie Walker: Radio 2 DJ quitting his BBC shows
Radio 2 DJ Johnnie Walker has said in a “very sad announcement” that he is quitting both of his BBC music programmes because of ill health.
Walker, who has been a broadcaster for 58 years, will step down towards the end of this month from his Sunday afternoon show Sounds Of The 70s and The Rock Show on Friday nights.
The presenter has pulmonary fibrosis which means the lungs become scarred and breathing is increasingly difficult.
Speaking earlier this year, Walker said his condition was “terminal” and getting “progressively worse”.
Walker at Radio 2 in 2004. Pic: PA
In a message live on air on Sunday during the Sounds Of The 70s, the 79-year-old star read out a letter from a listener whose father had enjoyed the show, but had died in 2022 due to the same condition.
The Birmingham-born host then told his listeners: “Now, that leads me to be making a very sad announcement.
“The struggles I’ve had with doing the show and trying to sort of keep up a professional standard suitable for Radio 2 has been getting more and more difficult… so I’ve had to make the decision that I need to bring my career to an end after 58 years.
“And so I’ll be doing my last Sounds Of The 70s on October 27, so I’ll make the last three shows as good as I possibly can.”
The broadcaster started his radio career in 1966 at offshore pirate station Swinging Radio England, before moving to Radio Caroline, where he hosted the night-time show.
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When the station shut he joined BBC Radio 1 in 1969, continuing until 1976, when he moved to San Francisco to record a weekly show which was broadcast on Radio Luxembourg.
He went back to the BBC in the early 1980s where he has remained ever since.
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Walker’s last episode of The Rock Show will air on 25 October and his final episode of Sounds Of The 70s will air on 27 October.
He will be replaced on the Sounds Of The 70s by Bob Harris.
And Shaun Keaveny will become the new presenter of The Rock Show.