Ongoing History Daily: The world’s most durable DJ
Once you get into radio, it’s in your blood forever. Take the case of Uncle Ray—real name Reinaldo Maria Cordeiro—a radio DJ who was on the air for more than 70 years. He worked as a prison warden and bank clerk before he was hired to do a jazz radio show in Hong Kong in 1940.
Uncle Ray stuck with it, especially in the 1960s when he got a job with Hong Kong’s public broadcaster, playing pop hits on a late-night radio show. Uncle Ray kept going and going and going, eventually being named “the world’s most durable DJ” by the Guinness Book of World Records.
He stayed on the air until 2021 when heart problems forced him to retire. He was 96. A stroke had him hospitalized in January 2021 and last month, he died at the age of 98. That’s one long radio career.
