Dwight Whylie, the Jamaican broadcast journalist who had the distinction of becoming the first black voice on the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) radio in the 1960s, died in Barbados last night of a heart attack.

He was in his sixties.

Whylie, the chairman of Jamaica’s Broadcasting Commission, had gone to Barbados to be among a panel of judges for the Caribbean Broadcasting Union’s (CBU’s) media awards on Saturday. He was discovered ill in his hotel room on Saturday.

The brother of respected Jamaican musician, Marjorie Whylie, he has, in recent years, written a column for the Sunday Observer.

His was among the pioneers of the now defunct Jamaica Broadcasting Corporation (JBC), after it was launched in 1959. Whylie later moved to London where he joined the BBC’s domestic service.

He returned to Jamaica in the 1970s and served as general manager of the JBC, before emigrating to Canada where he joined the staff of the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation (CBC) – again becoming one of its early black voices.

Last night, Information Minister Colin Campbell praised Whylie’s contribution to broadcasting and journalism and said that his death represented “a huge loss to Jamaica and the Caribbean”.

“He was the senior broadcaster in the country, both in terms of experience and exposure,” Campbell said.

Among Whylie’s more recent Caribbean assignments was his monitoring, with Barbadian journalist Harry Mayers, of domestic media coverage of Guyana’s race-tainted general election in March 2001.