Everyone in Hong Kong knew this “record player” – now “Uncle Ray” is no longer on the air.
After more than 70 years “on air”, Hong Kong radio host Reinaldo Maria Cordeiro, listed by the Guinness Book of World Records as the “most persistent DJ in the world”, has died at the age of 98.
Cordeiro died in Hong Kong on Friday surrounded by family and friends who sang “You’ll Never Walk Alone” to him, a committee organizing his funeral said on Saturday.
“Uncle Ray” made “important contributions to the Hong Kong music scene,” said Minister of Culture Kevin Yeung in recognition of the deceased. Cordeiro promoted the careers of many local musicians and introduced generations of Hong Kong fans to the latest trends in pop music through his radio shows. Over the decades of his career he has interviewed numerous stars from Ella Fitzgerald and Frank Sinatra to the Bee Gees and the Beatles.
Reinaldo Maria Cordeiro proudly shows his Beatles autographs
These hands lifted some discs onto the turntable
Cordeiro was born in Hong Kong in 1924 to a family of Portuguese immigrants. He first worked as a prison guard and bank clerk before getting his own radio show in 1949.
His late-night program All The Way With Ray, launched in 1970, became RTHK’s longest-running show. In 2000, the Guinness Book finally named the presenter the “most persistent DJ in the world”. “Uncle Ray” finally retired in 2021.
(AFP/cbu)
