In the Spotlight | Afternoon Walker

In this series of reviews, we’re putting some of our shows into the spotlight. Led and run entirely by volunteers, Radio Harrow broadcasts 24 hours a day, 7 days a week from our studios in Northwick Park, and this week, we caught up with Gary Walker, who hosts Afternoon Walker.

Firstly, tell us about yourself. What brings you to Radio Harrow?

I worked as presenter in a number of roles in USA, mainly in the breakfast slot before making the decision to move to Africa. Whist in Africa, I did manage to make my way onto radio a few times, but spent much of the time hosting events and providing music from a selection of nearly a thousand CDs. When I moved to Harrow, I wanted to get back into radio and was fortunate to become the breakfast presenter for Harrow Community Radio which then became Radio Harrow. Following Covid, I have reduced my involvement to a weekly show.

And now, the show. What is Afternoon Walker all about?

The show is hopefully two hours of fun, packaged into an eclectic variety of music ranging from current chart hits to music through the decades. This includes my long-running feature – The Saturday BrainBuster, The Saturday Three for One (three great songs with a common theme), Interesting Stories in the News (a collection of fascinating things that have happened during the week) and The Wayback Machine (a look at a particular date in time talking about the important stories in the news of that date, what was popular in the cinema, and of course we play the number one song from that period). As a side note – The term Wayback Machine comes from an old cartoon show which was part of Bullwinkle the Moose where Mr. Peabody (a brilliant scientist) and his young protégé Sherman (a cartoon version of one of my past co-presenters) would go back in time using the “Wayback Machine”.

What should listeners expect in a typical week on the show?

Great music to appeal to people of all ages and lots of fun

Do you have a radio idol?

For me it is a toss-up between Paul Harvey and Casey Kassem. Both are American DJs from the 1980 and were widely syndicated.

Lastly, you’re stuck on a remote island for the rest of time! Who would you bring with you for the ride?

I would like a comfortable chair please.

How to listen!

You can listen to the Afternoon Walker every Saturday from 3pm via this website, on the TuneIn app, or through your smart speaker by telling it to ‘Play Radio Harrow’.

Contact the studio!

You can contact the studio during the show by calling 0208 869 3959 or by sending a Whatsapp to the same number. You can also email studio@radioharrow.org.