Yes, yes, David Rodigan. But what about Tony Williams?

On BBC Radio London around 1978, a great reggae show was hosted on alternate weeks by David Rodigan and Tony Williams. Whereas Rodigan was a trained actor – smooth, white and middle-class – Williams was Jamaican, grittier and more urban than urbane. As Rodigan moved on to fame, fortune and an MBE, Williams was left behind on Radio London. And yet I always preferred his Sunday lunchtime Reggae Rockers show to anything Rodigan ever did. I listened religiously throughout the 80s, as he introduced me to tracks like this. In the 90s, he disappeared from the airwaves and I often wondered what happened to him. Apparently, he died in April. I was a huge fan and yet it was three months before I found out. Tony Williams was a true broadcasting pioneer and I do wonder whether his achievements might have been more widely recognised if he too had been smooth, white and middle-class.