Radio 2 DJ Johnnie Walker has said it will be “sad to say goodbye” after going through a lot over the years with his listeners ahead of hosting his final show.
The veteran presenter, 79, announced earlier in the month that he was retiring from radio after 58 years due to ill health, having been previously diagnosed with idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis (IPF).
Walker signed off his last episode of BBC Radio 2’s The Rock Show on Friday and is set to host his final Sounds Of The 70s show on the station on Sunday.
Speaking to Radio 4’s Today programme on Saturday, he said he had “mixed emotions” about his radio career coming to a close but it was “mostly one of sadness”.
“Myself and the radio listeners over the years, we’ve done an awful lot of living together and we’ve been through a lot of experiences, so we’ve developed a very close bond”, he said.
“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.”
For his last Radio 2 show, he said he will play all of his favourite songs instead of taking listener requests like usual.
Birmingham-born Walker began in pirate radio with Swinging Radio England in 1966 before moving to the offshore station Radio Caroline.
He departed, after the station closed, for BBC Radio 1 in 1969, continuing until 1976 and later moving to San Francisco, where he recorded a weekly show broadcast on Radio Luxembourg.
In the early 1980s, he returned to the BBC and has remained there ever since. For several years he has regularly broadcast from his home in Dorset.
Reflecting on how the radio industry has changed over the years, Walker admitted he is not a “big fan” of famous TV stars being lined up for radio shows.
“It always used to be you learned your radio craft”, he said.
“A lot of people started off on local stations and gradually work their way up and I think, nowadays, it seems to be the way to get a radio show is to get a television one first.
“Because you’re good on TV doesn’t automatically mean you’re going to be good on the radio, but that’s the way it is. We’re in the age of celebrity.”
During his last episode of The Rock Show, which he launched in 2018, Walker played some of his “favourite rock anthems”, opening with Sweet Jane from Steve Hunter, Dick Wagner and Lou Reed.
Walker’s condition causes the lungs to become scarred and makes breathing increasingly difficult, according to the NHS.
Former The Old Grey Whistle Test presenter Bob Harris is set to take over presenting duties of Sounds Of The 70s from November 3, while Shaun Keaveny will become the new presenter of The Rock Show on November 1.
