John Walters (broadcaster)

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For other persons named John Walters, see John Walters (disambiguation).

John Walters (May 16, 1938 – July 30, 2001) was a British radio producer and presenter and musician. Initially a teacher and a jazz enthusiast, he played trumpet in the 1960s pop group The Alan Price Set before joining BBC Radio One in 1967.

He was long-term producer of DJ John Peel's radio show, and as such was responsible for giving many recording artists their first big break. He turned down the Sex Pistols for a Peel session when, drawing on his schoolteacher's experience, he said that Johnny Rotten "didn't look like the kind of boy you would trust to give out the scissors". He reportedly regretted this decision later on - but he was responsible for getting The Smiths their first session after witnessing an early concert by them.

As a broadcaster he presented the long-running Radio One arts magazine "Walters' Weekly" and was regularly heard reviewing the music papers on the Janice Long show in the 1980s. In the 1990s he was a reporter on the BBC's current affairs magazine "Here and Now".