After 58 years career, DJ Johnnie Walker quits BBC shows amid terminal illness

An On-Air-Personality, Radio 2 DJ Johnnie Walker has announced that he is leaving his BBC music broadcasts due to illness.

Walker, who has been a broadcaster for 58 years, has revealed that he will be leaving his Sunday afternoon show 'Sounds Of The 70s' and Friday night show 'The Rock Show' at the end of the month.

The presenter has pulmonary fibrosis, which causes the lungs to scar and makes breathing more difficult.

Walker stated earlier this year that his condition was "terminal" and "progressively worse".

In a live broadcast on Sunday, the 79-year-old entertainer read aloud a letter from a listener whose father had enjoyed the show but died in 2022 from the same ailment.

The Birmingham-born host then told his listeners: "Now, that leads me to be making a very sad announcement.

"The struggles I have 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 began his radio career in 1966 with Swinging Radio England, an offshore pirate station, before going to Radio Caroline, where he hosted the nightly show.

When the station closed, he joined BBC Radio 1 in 1969, where he stayed until 1976, when he relocated to San Francisco to record a weekly show carried on Radio Luxembourg.

He returned to the BBC in the early 1980s, where he has stayed ever since.
Walker's final edition of The Rock Show will run on October 25th, while his final episode of Sounds Of The 70s will air October 27th. Bob Harris will replace him on Sounds of the 70s.