DJ Johnnie Walker has told listeners ‘may we walk into the future with our heads held high and happiness in our hearts’ as he closed his final radio show which featured messages from his wife Tiggy and Sir Rod Stewart.
The veteran presenter, 79, signed off his final Sounds Of The 70s show on BBC Radio 2 on Sunday afternoon after he hosted his last episode of The Rock Show on Friday by playing some of his ‘favourite rock anthems’.
Walker 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).
He said at the time: ‘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, hence my little jokes about Puffing Billy, so I’ve had to make the decision that I need to bring my career to an end after 58 years.’
After playing Johnny Nash’s I Can See Clearly Now, he closed his show today by saying: ‘Here we are at the end of a 15-year run on Sunday afternoon’s Sounds Of The 70s and 58 years on British radio.
‘It’s going to be very strange not to be on the wireless anymore. But also, by the same token, life will be slightly less of a strain, really, trying to find the breath to do programmes.
‘So thank you for being with me all these years and take good care of yourself and those you love, and may we walk into the future with our heads held high and happiness in our hearts. God bless you.’
He began his show earlier this afternoon, saying ‘the day has come I’ve always dreaded’.
Opening his last edition, he told listeners: ‘Good afternoon, Johnnie Walker here.
‘The day has come I’ve always dreaded, really, my last ever radio show, and most certainly, my last Sounds Of The 70s.’
Walker’s condition causes the lungs to become scarred and makes breathing increasingly difficult, according to the NHS.
For his final song he played Judy Collins’ version of Amazing Grace after opening with George Harrison’s track What Is Life.
Walker first started working in radio in 1966 before moving to BBC Radio 1, where he hosted a popular lunchtime show.
Since 2009, he has hosted Radio 2’s Sounds of the 70s and launched The Rock Show in 2018.
Reflecting on his years on the airwaves, Walker said: ‘It was just great spending Sunday afternoons with you and it’s going to be very strange for me next Sunday afternoon at 3 o’clock to think that I won’t be speaking to you. It’ll be somebody else, namely Bob Harris, who’ll be doing Sounds Of The 70s.
‘So I’ll miss you a lot and it’s been great connecting up for all these years. We’ve done a lot of living together, you and I.’
Walker chose all his favourite songs for his last show but dedicated his second track, Sister Sledge’s We Are Family, to Sounds Of The 70s listeners.
He added one last song to Johnnie’s Jukebox – Lynyrd Skynyrd’s Free Bird – before sealing it forever and joking that he would give it to SpaceX boss Elon Musk so it could be sent to space.
Other tracks to feature included Sir Elton John and Kiki Dee’s Don’t Go Breaking My Heart, Neil Diamond’s Holy Holy and Sir Rod’s Sailing.
Sir Rod sent a pre-recorded message to Walker to thank him for helping the careers of many rock bands over the years.
He said: ‘Hi Johnny, it’s Rod Stewart here. I have to thank you, my man, thank you from the bottom of my heart for playing not only my songs but The Faces and just about every other rock band in the world on your wonderful show over the years.
‘By doing so, you propelled the careers of a bunch of unknown layabouts to the top of the charts, and overnight fame and everything that goes with it.
‘It goes without saying, without your support, we never may have got there.’
The rock star ended the message by making Walker an offer, saying: ‘So if I do manage to get through the pearly gates, I’ll have a pint of Guinness, please mate, and guess what? I’ll pick up the tab. See you later, Johnnie. Rock on mate, rock on.’
Later in the show, Walker’s wife Tiggy praised him for continuing to broadcast after he became ‘very ill’ in January.
Tiggy, who has been married to the radio DJ for more than two decades, spent five months presenting alongside her husband during lockdown.
As she sat in on his last show on Sunday afternoon, she told him: ‘I think you should also be proud about how long you have gone on broadcasting this year.
‘You fell very, very ill in January this year, and I didn’t think you’d be doing shows into February. You’ve kept going for 10 months.
‘I know it’s been really hard for you. 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.
‘And I know there will be a lot of tears out there today, including mine.’
Walker admitted he might shed a tear or two as well as he thanked her for all her ‘wonderful care’, adding: ‘I certainly couldn’t have done the show without that so thank you for that.’
Earlier this year, Walker said his condition, which causes the lungs to become scarred and makes breathing increasingly more difficult, is ‘terminal’ and getting ‘progressively worse’.
He also credited his radio shows, saying he would ‘probably die a lot sooner’ without them.
Former Old Grey Whistle Test presenter Bob Harris is to take over Sounds Of The 70s from November 3, and Shaun Keaveny will become the new presenter of The Rock Show on November 1.
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