Music News

We start off this year, and finish last, with some sad news, the passing of radio presenter, Johnnie Walker.

With sadness, 2024 ended with the news that Radio DJ and broadcaster, Johnnie Walker had passed away, following an illmess, due to which had had quit his ‘Sounds Of THe Seventies’, programme on BBC Radio 2.
Mr. Walker had a span of almost 60 years in radio, and for most of the time, he worked at the B.B.C.
He presented the station’s only programme range in the late 80’s, and early 1990’s called, “The Saturday Sequence”, which lasted most of Saturday afternoon, but only a small part of which was pretsented by Walker. This included the American Record Chart Show, hosted by former American singer, Gary Byrd.

He was regarded as one of the great DJ’s, close to John Peel, and one of Peel’s former colleagues Andy Kershaw’s programme, was also briefly part of The Saturday Sequence.

However, he will probably be best remembered for his work at BBC Radio 2, where he presented various programmes, and events, latterly, ‘Sounds Of The Seventies;, which fellow colleague, Bob Harris has since taken over, and who announced his passing live on Radio 2.

Johnnie Walker is survived by his wife, Tiggy, who stated she was “proud of her husband”.

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We will start this Monday, 30th December, with a brief review of this year’s gigs and festivals.

This year has not been great for festivals, with promoters and venues taking less and less risks with having newer artists and band playing.

Credit must be given to ‘Summer By The River’ Festival, for the events at The Scoop at the South Bank in London. They showcase a lot of new artists and bands, particularly for BBC Radio London’s Introducing programme.

The larger festivals and events, such as Reading, Leeds, and Glastonbury could learn a lot from the organisers. Glastonbury in particular who dropped The John Peel Stage, the focus of which was to promote new artists and bands, and are getting a reputation for using the higher profile names too often,such as Coldplay, who seem to have featured every year, for the last few years as headliners.

The Scoop on The South Bank, near London Bridge.