Whispering Bob Harris’s voice is as much a soundtrack to the life of his listeners as the music he plays.
Radio 2 has been a quieter place for the past few months without it. Since April, Harris’s shows – Sounds of the 70s and Bob Harris Country – have been covered by stand-ins and special guests, so it was not a huge surprise to hear the news today that he is retiring from the BBC after 56 years due to ill health. But it is still incredibly sad.
Harris, who was diagnosed with prostate cancer in 2007, has long been open on Instagram about his treatment – and how much it’s been giving him a kicking – and in April shared that the cancer had spread to his spine. He has been having radiotherapy and recovering at home since, but in a statement today, he announced that he had made one of the hardest decisions of his life.
“It’s incredible to think that my broadcasting career has spanned almost 56 years,” he said. “I am very fortunate to have spent my entire working life doing something I love so much. I am a massive BBC loyalist, and I’m grateful that I have always been given the freedom to build my programmes in my own way.”
I’ve been dreading this day. I have been listening to Bob Harris for as long as I can remember. When I was a teenager, before Taylor Swift had released her first single and when country music didn’t have a chance in hell of being played on any other show, listening to Bob Harris Country on Thursday nights felt like being part of a special little club, where I’d hear my favourite songs by the Dixie Chicks or Alison Krauss or Emmylou Harris and realise I wasn’t the only one (though I did wonder if I was the youngest). He was also the first person to play Swift on UK radio.
