David Michael "Ram Jam" Rodigan

MBE Mbe may refer to: * Mbé, a town in the Republic of the Congo * Mbe Mountains Community Forest, in Nigeria * Mbe language, a language of Nigeria * Mbe' language, language of Cameroon * ''mbe'', ISO 639 code for the extinct Molala language Molal ...

OD (born 24 June 1951) is a British radio DJ who also performs as a

disc jockey A disc jockey, more commonly abbreviated as DJ, is a person who plays recorded music for an audience. Types of DJs include Radio personality, radio DJs (who host programs on music radio stations), club DJs (who work at a nightclub or music f ...

. Known for his selections of

reggae Reggae () is a music genre that originated in Jamaica in the late 1960s. The term also denotes the modern popular music of Jamaica and its diaspora. A 1968 single by Toots and the Maytals, " Do the Reggay" was the first popular song to use ...

and

dancehall Dancehall is a genre of Jamaican popular music that originated in the late 1970s. Initially, dancehall was a more sparse version of reggae than the roots style, which had dominated much of the 1970s.Barrow, Steve & Dalton, Peter (2004) "The Rou ...

music, he has played on stations including Radio London, Capital 95.8,

Kiss 100 Kiss is a British digital radio station owned and operated by Bauer as part of the Kiss Network. It is primarily aimed at the 15-34 age group and broadcasts nationally to the UK on DAB Digital Radio, as well as on FM in London, Bristol an ...

BBC Radio 1Xtra BBC Radio 1Xtra is a British digital radio station owned and operated by the BBC. It broadcasts black music and urban music, including hip hop and R&B and is a sister station to Radio 1. Launching at 18:00 on 16 August 2002, it had been cod ...

BBC Radio 2 BBC Radio 2 is a British national radio station owned and operated by the BBC. It is the most popular station in the United Kingdom with over 15 million weekly listeners. Since launching in 1967, the station broadcasts a wide range of content. ...

and BFBS Radio.

Life

Rodigan was born on a military base in

Hanover Hanover (; german: Hannover ; nds, Hannober) is the capital and largest city of the German state of Lower Saxony. Its 535,932 (2021) inhabitants make it the 13th-largest city in Germany as well as the fourth-largest city in Northern Germany ...

, Germany. He attended

Gosford Hill School Gosford Hill School is a co-educational secondary school with academy status in the village of Kidlington in Oxfordshire, England. History The school, originally called the Kidlington Church of England Central School, was built to teach child ...

Kidlington Kidlington is a major village and Civil parishes in England, civil parish in Oxfordshire, England, between the River Cherwell and the Oxford Canal, north of Oxford and 7 miles (12 km) south-west of Bicester. It remains officially a village ...

, Oxfordshire. He has stated that his passion for

Jamaica Jamaica (; ) is an island country situated in the Caribbean Sea. Spanning in area, it is the third-largest island of the Greater Antilles and the Caribbean (after Cuba and Hispaniola). Jamaica lies about south of Cuba, and west of His ...

n music was initiated by watching

Millie Small Millicent Dolly May Small CD (6 October 1947 – 5 May 2020) was a Jamaican singer and songwriter who is best known for her 1964 hit " My Boy Lollipop". The song reached number two in both the UK and US charts and sold over seven million ...

perform her 1964 hit "

My Boy Lollipop "My Boy Lollipop" (originally "My Girl Lollypop") is a song written in the mid-1950s by Robert Spencer of the doo-wop group The Cadillacs, and usually credited to Spencer, Morris Levy, and Johnny Roberts. It was first recorded in 1956 by American ...

" at the ''

Ready Steady Go! ''Ready Steady Go!'' (or ''RSG!'') was a British rock/pop music television programme broadcast every Friday evening from 9 August 1963 until 23 December 1966. It was conceived by Elkan Allan, head of Rediffusion TV. Allan wanted a light enter ...

'' TV show as a schoolboy.David Rodigan
By the age of 15, Rodigan was DJing at school dances and youth clubs. Leaving school in 1970, he spent a year studying economics before leaving to study drama. Despite pursuing an acting career, Rodigan kept his passion for music alive, selling records in Oxford then Putney, before obtaining a job on Radio London in 1978 to alternate with Tony Williams on the ''Reggae Rockers'' programme. A year later he was offered a permanent slot at

Capital Radio Capital London is a radio station owned and operated by the Global media company as part of its national Capital FM Network. As Capital Radio it was launched in the London area in 1973 as one of Britain's first two commercial radio stations. I ...

to present ''Roots Rockers'', which ran for 11 years. In 1990 a change in management and music policy at the station led to Rodigan leaving to start a new show for

Kiss FM Kiss FM, Kiss Radio or variants may refer to: Asia-Oceania * Various Kiss FM-branded stations in the Philippines ** 95.1 Kiss FM, Lucena, Quezon ** 102.3 Kiss FM, Tagbilaran, Bohol * Kiss92 FM, Singapore * KISS 969, Sri Lanka * Kiss Radio Taiwan ...

when it relaunched that September as London's first legal 24-hour dance music station. He hosted the Sunday-night slot from 11pm till midnight until November 2012, when the slot was moved to midnight and he resigned in protest over what he called the "continued marginalisation" of the reggae genre. Rodigan has clashed established soundsystems like

Killamanjaro Founded in the summer of 1969, Killamanjaro is a Jamaican sound system best known for their clashes and large amount of classic reggae dubplates. It is owned by Noel "Papa Jaro" Harper and named after Mount Kilimanjaro. The name was changed ...

, Stone Love, Barry G and

Bass Odyssey Bass Odyssey is a Jamaican reggae and dancehall sound system founded in 1989 by Keith Walford. History Founded in Alexandria, St.Ann, in rural Jamaica, hence the famed tagline "from way out in the country", Bass Odyssey is one of the few s ...

. Rodigan was the winner of World Clash 2012, in which he competed with international soundsystems at Club Amazura, New York. During the 1980s Rodigan hosted a long-running residency at Gossips nightclub in Soho, London, in collaboration with fellow DJ Donald "Papa Face" Facey. He has acted as tour DJ for reggae and

artists including

Shinehead Shinehead (born Edmund Carl Aiken; 10 April 1962 in Kent, England) is a British Jamaican reggae singer/toaster/rapper. Career He began his music career by performing for different New York City reggae dancehall sound systems in the 1980s, mo ...

. During the 1970s and 1980s, he worked as an actor and appeared in films and a variety of TV programmes, including roles in ''

The Office Party ''The Office Party'' is a 1976 British sex comedy directed by David Grant and starring Alan Lake, Johnny Briggs, Pamela Grafton, Ellie Reece-Knight and Theresa Wood. It depicts the sexual misadventures of staff enjoying an office party where ...

'' (1976) and the ''

Doctor Who ''Doctor Who'' is a British science fiction television series broadcast by the BBC since 1963. The series depicts the adventures of a Time Lord called the Doctor, an extraterrestrial being who appears to be human. The Doctor explores the u ...

'' serial, ''

The Trial of a Time Lord The twenty-third season of British science fiction television series ''Doctor Who'', known collectively as ''The Trial of a Time Lord'', aired in weekly episodes from 6 September to 6 December 1986. It contained four adventures: ''The Mysterious ...

'' (1986). In 1984 he joined BFBS (British Forces Broadcasting Service) where he broadcast his weekly reggae show for 25 years until 2009. In 2006, Rodigan was added to the

Radio Academy The Radio Academy is a registered charity dedicated to "the encouragement, recognition and promotion of excellence in UK broadcasting and audio production". It was formed in 1983 and is run via a board of trustees, with a chair and a deputy chair ...

hall of fame. Vocal samples of Rodigan can be found on the dubstep track "Hard" by Breakage, on the introductory track of

Caspa CASPA or the Centralized Application Service for Physician Assistants is an application service for graduate-level PA programs. Similar to the Common Application used by some undergraduate institutions and the American Medical College Applicatio ...

's 2009 album '' Everybody's Talking, Nobody's Listening'', and on the intro to

Alborosie Alberto D'Ascola (; born 4 July 1977), better known by his stage name Alborosie, is an Italian reggae artist. He is sometimes called the "Italian Reggae Ambassador". Music career Early life (2001–2005) Born Alberto d’Ascola and raised in ...

's debut album ''Soul Pirate'', and the main vocal of Sukh Knight's "Ganja", and other jungle/drum & bass tracks.

Ad-Rock Adam Keefe Horovitz (born October 31, 1966), popularly known as Ad-Rock, is an American rapper, guitarist and actor. He was a member of the hip-hop group Beastie Boys. While Beastie Boys were active, Horovitz performed with a side project, BS ...

mentions Rodigan by name on the 2011

Beastie Boys Beastie Boys were an American rap rock group from New York City, formed in 1978. The group was composed of Mike D, Michael "Mike D" Diamond (vocals, drums), Adam Yauch, Adam "MCA" Yauch (vocals, bass), and Ad-Rock, Adam "Ad-Rock" Horovitz (voca ...

track "Say It". He is also name-checked on

Stylo G Jason McDermott (born 15 September 1985 in Spanish Town, Jamaica), better known by his stage name Stylo G, is a British-Jamaican dancehall recording artist known for his three hit singles "My Yout", "Call Mi a Leader" and " Soundbwoy". "Soundbwo ...

's 2014 single "Move Back". He is the DJ for RamJam FM in '' Grand Theft Auto: Episodes from Liberty City''. Rodigan was appointed

Member of the Order of the British Empire The Most Excellent Order of the British Empire is a British order of chivalry, rewarding contributions to the arts and sciences, work with charitable and welfare organisations, and public service outside the civil service. It was established o ...

(MBE) in the 2012 New Year Honours for services to broadcasting. He was winner of the Best Specialist Music Programme award at the Sony Radio Awards in 2012 for his BBC Radio 2 show, having won the same award in 2009 for his reggae show on Kiss FM Sony Radio Academy Awards 2009: Full list of winners
Published by The Guardian on May 12, 2009, retrieved on July 27, 2019 He has hosted a two-hour Sunday evening show on

since 17 February 2013, and has hosted summer series on

since 2011. Rodigan said: "I am absolutely delighted to be joining BBC Radio 1Xtra where I can share my passion for both new cutting-edge reggae and classic cuts, reflecting a genre of music which continues to play a paramount role in urban bass culture music." For 2014's

Red Bull Red Bull is a brand of energy drinks of Austria, Austrian company Red Bull GmbH. With 38% market share, it is the most popular energy drink brand as of 2019. Since its launch in 1987, more than 100 billion cans of Red Bull have been sold worldwid ...

Culture Clash, Rodigan joined forces with

Chase & Status Chase & Status are an English electronic music duo composed of Saul Milton (Chase) and Will Kennard (Status). In addition, Andy Gangadeen is the drummer when the band performs live. MC Rage formerly performed as MC with the group, but left in Ju ...

Shy FX Andre Williams, better known as Shy FX, is a British DJ and producer from London. He specialises in drum and bass and jungle music. Biography Shy FX's debut record was "Jungle Love", released in 1992 on the Permission to Dance label. Soon after ...

and MC Rage to form the soundsystem Rebel Sound. They went on to win the clash, defeating fellow crews Stone Love,

Boy Better Know Boy Better Know, often abbreviated as BBK, is a British grime collective and record label. The collective was founded in North London in 2005 as an independent record label by brothers Jamie and Joseph Adenuga, better known as Jme, and Skepta. ...

and A$AP Mob.

References

External links

''David Rodigan''
(BBC Radio 1Xtra) * *
David Rodigan
on Myspace * Nazma Muller
David Rodigan - the Gentleman Rude Bwoy
{{DEFAULTSORT:Rodigan, David 1951 births Living people BBC Radio 1Xtra presenters BBC Radio 2 presenters English radio DJs Members of the Order of the British Empire