Johnnie Walker Radio 2 and Radio Caroline DJ

JOHNNIE WALKER - Digger talks to the man who played a key role in the sixties music scene as a pirate DJ and who these days as a BBC Radio 2 DJ continues to fly the flag for retro music lovers.



Johnnie then		Johnnie now

Johnnie Walker is a supremely important and influential man in the evolution of British Pop Culture. Not a producer, a songwriter or a musician. He and a handful of other 'pioneers' ensconced themselves on boats, rigs, forts and wrecks scattered around the British coast in the mid sixties and changed the face and values of broadcasting forever in the UK. As a result, the boundaries of music were moved forward, new music was immediately brought to the masses and the creative buzz that was Britain in the sixties was allowed to further flourish. They generated a national mood and an excitement that hadn't occurred since Beatlemania. For the first time, Britain had decent radio stations manned by people who knew their music and were keen to play it as much as possible.
This was at a time when the BBC had been allowed but a few measly hours of 'popular music' a week on one single station for the entire country.
The Pirates had at long last arrived.

Johnnie was a DJ on Radio England and Radio Caroline to name but two. Mostly operating outside of British territorial waters, these stations were nevertheless deemed illegal by the British government of the day. DJ's braved the elements, the tedium of long tours of duty away from the comforts of home, isolation and the knowledge that the powers that be were out to get them. In return they received huge audiences and huge acclaim.

Battle had commenced and the government, backed by the Post Office, the BBC and the rest of the establishment determined to rid our shores and airwaves of this 'menace'. Their illegal broadcasts were allegedly interfering with the legitimate transmissions of shipping.

Almost overnight, the Pirates' output had blown away that of the stuffy BBC and they attracted tens of millions of listeners eager to hear the latest tunes, hip and forthright banter and information from the radio Pirates. This was also the first time that commercials had appeared on British radio and high street names were queuing-up to advertise their wares and sponsor shows on the pirate airwaves. Soon legislation led to action and most Pirates were forced into submission by a mixture of starvation tactics, sieges, embargoes, bully-boy methods and threats - for example that they'd never work in Britain again. Johnnie bravely stayed longer than most others, he seemingly being the most passionate and dedicated to 'the cause'.

But in the end even he and the crew of Radio Caroline had to submit to the pressure of embargoes, sieges, boardings by the authorities and pressure on the advertisers who were the life-blood of the pirates and too soon the era of the Pirates was at an end. This last stand did, indeed, have an impact of his life and career in the short-term and he was blacklisted for a while. However, after the Pirates had 'gone' and the BBC had gained the monopoly again sense soon prevailed and terrestrial commercial broadcasting was soon established. This gave Johnnie and others like him a home, including, ironically, jobs at the BBC and, in the early seventies, at commercial stations springing-up around the country. He went to work abroad for some years but returned home and has worked on commercial radio in the west country and, more famously, recently on BBC Radio 2 with his popular Drivetime show.

Johnnie has a similar reputation to John Peel in the sense that he was the champion of many musical unknowns. He has received a number of awards for his unique contributions to the music industry.

Johnnie was diagnosed two years ago with cancer and has been fighting a new battle - this one he is winning and he is in remission at the moment. Johnnie is hugely respected by his peers and those in the music business as well as by old gits like me who grew up sane because of his efforts at supplying us with our life-blood which was non-stop music. It is with great joy that we found out that he agreed to answer a few questions for us.

Johnnie Walker has just celebrated his 60th birthday and proudly he tells me that he was born on the same day as Eric Clapton and muses that, by implication, he should have the same musical talent as Clapton - jokingly he asks me what must have happened to it.

Birmingham-born Peter Dingley grew up with a passion for motor cars, and so it was fitting that he had entered into a career in the motor trade in the early sixties. Peter was actually heading for a successful stint as a racing driver, enrolled as he was in the Jim Russell racing driver school, where he could follow in the footsteps of heroes Graham Hill and Jim Clark. This was at Snetterton in Norfolk and he was there all weekends. He pursued this car salesman job during the week but had also secured a tenure at the Locarno ballroom Birmingham one evening a week as resident DJ. This soon turned into three evenings a week and so he was faced with a dilemma. Should it be cars or music? At 21 years old, Peter chose the musical route, possibly due to some major rows with the boss at the car showrooms and so his fate was sealed. Amazingly, within three days, he had received an offer to DJ on Radio England. With a name change to a brand of whisky to avoid being mistaken for other DJs, he 'embarked' on this new career.

Johnnie's love of motor cars continues to this day. We discuss today's Formula One and Schumacher's stranglehold on the sport and Bernie Ecclestone's attempts to make it harder for him to win, or in fact to make it easier for others to beat him. Johnnie laughs and tells me "I love Formula One. Look out for Anthony Davidson who is a great up-and-coming driver." Cars and the love of speed are still very much in Johnnie's blood.

On board Radio England, and later more famously Radio Caroline, Johnnie Walker and the other DJs had no time for rehearsals. They spent a great deal of time reading their mail. He tells me they didn't tend to reply as there was just so much. They would sleep a lot, weather permitting. And a lot of time was spent in the record library searching for and researching new material. "The format was fantastic at Caroline, one single from the top 50 and one free choice - what a great format for a show" Johnnie tells me.

Gales were common. "We would baton down the hatches and metal shutters would go over the windows" he says. These would often last two or three days at a time "and we were really scared although bravado meant we didn't show it. It was like being on a submarine." On other days the sea would be like a mill pond. Johnnie still loves the sea. While on board, a big source of frustration was the fact that Johnnie couldn't drive his beloved cars. "My first I shared with my brother and sister. It was an Austin A35. I also had a Rover 90 and my favourite was a Jaguar XK120." I ask Johnnie if he ever owned an e-type. "No, never. Funnily enough, in the late 60s I was driving some stereo equipment in a van along Wood Lane and who did I see but Simon Dee in his e-type waving and blowing his horn at me in my old van." Ex-DJ Dee was the golden boy of TV for a couple of years at that time.

I ask Johnnie about his musical abilities. "Well, I have recently taken up the saxophone. I practise and am getting better....... slowly." I remark that Clapton is known as 'slow-hand', so Johnnie can be called 'slow-mouth'! Which records is he most proud of breaking? "I was proud to push the Atlantic, Stax and Tamla sounds and very pleased when I got the 'Uptight and Outasight' award. I was urging people to vote for Otis Reading and we knocked Elvis off of top position for the first time in years." What is he most proud of in terms of achievements? "I suppose I'd have to say surviving cancer. I also got the Sony Gold award, which was very nice to receive. I am happy to make good radio every day." How does Johnnie keep motivated? "It is hard to maintain energy five times a week. But people know if you don't sound like you are genuinely having a good time. I am still excited about what I do." There have been format changes to his Drivetime show which help to keep the show fresh for both listener and presenter alike. "I find the technology available now amazing" he says. "The internet and email make everything so accessible. In the sixties we had to communicate from the shore with car headlights!"

Johnnie refers to the 'Frinton flashing spot'. Motorists listening to Caroline would park their cars along the seafront with their headlights directed at the radio ship. Johnnie would ask them to flash their headlights in response to a series of questions i.e. names, registration numbers, initials, birth dates etc. Other DJs on deck relayed the information to Johnnie about the responses being received and by a process of elimination this would be whittled down to particular cars.
In a good session, Johnnie would conduct a conversation with the listeners to the point of establishing his/her name, place of birth and anything that came to mind.

When I ask Johnnie who his favourite bands from the sixties are, he says "The Who and Free". Favourite album? "That's impossible for me to say. It changes all the time." Biggest heroes and influences? "Ronan O'Rahilly (pioneer founder of Radio Caroline and arguably of Pirate Radio generally,) Chris Blackwell (founder of Island records,) The Beach Boys, John F. Kennedy, Simon and Garfunkel, The Beatles, of course." And who do you think are the most significant musicians and songwriters of the last fifty years? "Smokey Robinson, Lennon and McCartney, Ray Davies, Lieber and Stoller, Holland Dozier and Holland."

When not working on the pirate ships, the DJs would take a tender from the ship to shore and rush for the train from Harwich or Felixstowe into London Liverpool Street and then onto the West End where they would frequent trendy clubs like The Bag O'Nails, The Speakeasy or The Cromwellian. "It wasn't as glamorous as people think. Two thirds of our time was spent on board ship. So when we got back to London we had a lot to catch up on. Sometimes we were unlucky when coming ashore and the customs officer would think we were smuggling watches or whatever (after all, we were pirates) and make us spend hours emptying and sifting through our bags when we just wanted to get back to civilisation!" Can you tell us some of the most outrageous things that happened on board ship? "No! You'll have to wait for my book which comes out at the end of 2006."

Did Johnnie have any idea at the time that the Pirate days were numbered from the beginning? Could he anticipate the impact they would have? "No, we just took it one day at a time." We know that drugs were in ready supply, but were women allowed on board to make life more bearable? "Yes, it was against the rules but it did happen. They came out in small boats. The less attractive ones would be given a tour of the transmitter and generators while the prettier ones would be given another tour!"

I ask Johnnie what he enjoys most in life these days. "My motorbike, my wife and narrow boats. I am thinking of buying one. I gather they are about �1,000 per foot. My navigation skills aren't too bad."

Rather appropriate for a pirate to end up on somewhat calmer waters.

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