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March 19, 2008
Get to know David "Ram Jam" Rodigan
By: Joseph Cunningham
On the eve of the "Death Before Dishonour" sound clash, YardFlex has taken the initiative to highlight a few of Reggae music's foremost Disc Jockeys.
David Rodigan, born 1951 on a military base in Hanover, Germany, is a British radio DJ who also performs as a selector for his sound system. Known for his selections of Reggae and Dancehall music, he has played on stations including Radio London, Capital95.8, Kiss 100 London and BFBS Radio 1.
By the age of 15, David Rodigan was deejaying 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, David 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 to present Roots Rockers, which ran for 11 years.
In 1990 a change in management and music policy at the station lead to David leaving to start a new show for Kiss FM when it re-launched that September as the capital's first legal 24-hour dance music station. He currently hosts the Sunday night slot from 11pm till 1am.
David "RAM JAM" Rodigan is known as the "British White Father" of Reggae music. In the 1980, his famous Saturday night radio show on Capital Radio 194 (London) was legendary for it's in depth information, variety of reggae, roots, dub and other Jamaican music. In those day before the Internet and lack of readily available pictures, very few people would accept that he was a "white guy" as his accent sounded totally Jamaican; and a huge influence on black music in London in the 80's.
Rodigan has clashed established sound systems like Bodyguard, Killamanjaro (selected by Ricky Trooper), Stone Love and Bass Odyssey. In 2006, Rodigan was added to the Radio Academy hall of fame.