Johnnie Walker
Born Peter Dingley, he attended Solihull School, worked in the motor trade, and joined the short-lived pirate ship Swinging Radio England in 1966. He soon transferred to Radio Caroline and was the first DJ to be heard after the passing of the Marine etc. Broadcasting Offences Act in August 1967. He remained with the Caroline South ship until March 1968 when the Dutch tender company forced the stations off the air. After truck-driving for a while he joined the BBC in 1969 and stayed with them until 1976, when he left for the USA. There, Johnnie found it more difficult to break into radio than he expected, and was soon without a job, apart from a weekly show he recorded for Radio Luxembourg. The impending return of Radio Caroline brought him back to the UK, but that station let him down, and on advice from friends he moved to Bristol, met up with his “old mate” Dave Cash, and found himself presenting Radio West’s evening show Modern World (6:30-10 p.m.) from October 1982, as well as a Saturday show from 10 a.m. – 2 p.m. which included a local chart.
Modern World was originally produced by the newsroom and included discussion elements, such as the Nuclear Debate (in which Johnnie memorably told MP Winston Churchill to “shut up”) as well as good music, but it seemed sensible to use one of the station’s biggest names during the daytime. He therefore returned to his post-lunchtime Radio One slot, which included RadioMarket (West’s Tradio), as well as retaining some of his evening Modern World shows. (In Johnnie’s autobiography, he doesn’t get his show times quite right: he claims he presented the morning show from 10 a.m. but during his time at the station, that show was presented by Roger Day.) In September 1983 he was tempted away by an enormous salary offer from Ralph Bernard at Wiltshire Radio, where he presented the 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. show.
When the two stations merged, Johnnie’s was the first networked show to be heard on GWR, at first (in Bristol at least) on one stereo channel only! His show included a news hour between midday and 1 p.m. which had a “phone-out” format – journalists such as James Cameron could be heard in the background phoning the great and the good: “You’ll be speaking to Johnnie Walker”. In the last hour, Johnnie’s old quiz Pop the Question made a reappearance. All this fun came to an end in January 1987, when Johnnie joined Radio One to present the Saturday afternoon “Stereo Sequence”.
Johnnie wasn’t earning enough money from one show a week on Radio One, so he left to join the short-lived Richard Branson venture The Superstation, which was heard overnight on a number of ILR stations including GWR. He soon left there (his autobiography is scathing about the way that service was run) and fetched up on BBC GLR and the original Radio Five. He was sacked from GLR by Matthew Bannister after making a comment about Margaret Thatcher on his evening show. (I wonder how he and Bryan Chalker got on.) Work then took him to Radio One again (where, once again, he was sacked by Matthew Bannister), to LBC’s weekend breakfast show and back to GWR with a networked weekend show on the Classic Gold service. But Radio Two was changing, and in the late 1990s he started presenting the weekday drive-time show, which he held for seven years. He can now be heard on Sundays between 3 p.m. and 5 p.m. with a show called “Sounds of the Seventies”.
“New boy of the form but a bright, intelligent lad who has made an excellent start. Strong knowledge in specialist subjects like independent chart, imported singles and local music scene. Peculiar taste for obscure Californian bands but otherwise seemingly unaffected by his years spent in odd American boarding schools. Leads vigorous class discussions and is a pleasure to teach.” (Venue, November 1982)
Johnnie Walker’s Sounds of the 70s
Read more about Johnnie at the Pirate Radio Hall of Fame
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Studio webcam after Johnnie |
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Johnnie Walker counts down the Radio West Top 40 on a Saturday morning, late 1982 |
Johnnie opens Radiomarket for business on his last show for the station, Friday 30 September 1983 |
Johnnie plays the old trick of going up to the news with an i nstrumental on his last show, Friday 30 September 1983 |
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