James Whale (radio)

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James Whale
Show The James Whale Show
Station(s) TalkSPORT
Time slot 10pm-1am, Sunday-Thursday
Style Talk radio
Country United Kingdom

Michael (James) Whale is a British radio and television broadcaster, born on 13 May 1951 in Ewell, Surrey, England. He was brought up in and around Epsom, Surrey by his Welsh mother and English father, who was of at least partial Scottish descent and owned a pub.

He has been married to Melinda Whale since 1970, and has two children, James and Peter[1].


Contents

James Whale started a long career as a phone-in chat show host at Metro Radio in Newcastle where he was the original presenter of the Nightowls Late Evening Phone-In Show from the station's launch date in 1974. He later moved to Radio Derby hosting a morning phone-in, where he first worked alongside his now talkSPORT colleague Terry Christian and then to Radio Aire in Leeds (which was also simulcast with Red Rose Radio from Preston - both being part of the same group, Transworld, owned by Owen Oyston).

In the early 1990s Whale's hosted a simultaneous television and radio show called The James Whale Radio Show, which was broadcast on ITV.

Whale has hosted a regular phone-in show on talkSPORT from Sunday to Thursday since 1995, and is best-known for his late night show, in the 10pm - 1am slot. As a host, much of Whale's content covers current affairs and he is outspoken on politics, politicians and issues of the day. He doesn't suffer fools gladly and can abruptly disconnect callers who cannot substantiate their points of view. He has little or no interest in football and becomes annoyed if callers, who may have mistaken his show for a football phone-in programme, wish to talk with him about the subject. He has though, in the past, described himself as a Crystal Palace supporter. Balancing Whale's often serious demeanour, sidekick and show producer Ash often provides light relief with his dry humour. On Sunday nights, guests play music live in the studio.

James Whale has a good rapport with truck and taxi drivers and frequently honks a horn over the airwaves as an acknowledgement.

The show often features celebrity guests, including Derek Acorah, Jodie Marsh, David Icke, Nick Pope, Alex Jones, David Shayler, Lembit Opik and Alistair McGowan.

On 21 December 2006, he presented The Mike Dickin Tribute Show, dedicated to a fellow talkSport presenter who had recently died in a car accident.

James Whale has won three Sony Radio Awards.

In late 2007 he launched his own website jameswhaleradio.com from which people can contact, interact, listen to podcasts and watch videos.

On 1st October 2007, his autobiography Almost a Celebrity: A Lifetime of Night-Time was published.

  • Bald on Top (1997) ISBN 978-0860519911, inspired by his own premature hair loss was published in 1997, telling the story of how he tried to get it back.
  • Almost a Celebrity: A Lifetime of Night-Time (2007) ISBN 978-1843172611, his autobiography.

In 2000, Whale was diagnosed with kidney cancer, and announced on air why he would be leaving. He survived, and says it has affected his outlook on life. Whale set up a charity in 2006, the "James Whale Fund for Kidney Cancer", to fund research and raise awareness of the disease. As part of this he is developing the "James Whale Network" where sufferers or their carers can contact the Fund and ask to speak to other survivors of kidney cancer. Whale also loudly attacks the government for the 'postcode lottery' in which selective hospitals receive life saving drugs to treat cancer and other diseases while others do not.[2] Whale has often spoken of his dyslexia and is not ashamed to mention this on air.[3] Whale is a patron of the National Literacy Association.[4]

After interviewing United Kingdom Independence Party leader Nigel Farage on his TalkSport show, James Whale announced that he hopes to run for election as UKIP candidate in the 2008 London Mayoral Election, although this is now in doubt as Ofcom has said Mr Whale would not be able to continue his radio show while being Mayor of London. Nigel Farage said that Whale "not only has guts, but an understanding of what real people think". Whale has still not ruled this out and says he is still 'toying' with the idea.[5]

Whale participated in a live Newsnight programme shown on 26 April 2007 on BBC 2, also broadcast simultaneously on talkSPORT, in which he referred to the controversial subject of two week refuse pickup throughout the UK and the 'scandal' of global warming. Whale should have had a live webcam link to the Newsnight studio, but due to a technical failure this was not possible. Whale announced he believed global warming was solely a natural phenomenon. He also described the notion of recycling as a 'joke', and that he believed instead of house owners, prisoners should be used to sort rubbish and recyclable waste. When asked while on the show if he thought Green councillors were a good idea, Whale replied 'I don't think Green anything's a good idea!'. Whale also often criticises politicians for jumping on the Green bandwagon, in particular frequently attacks Conservative Party leader David Cameron for his 'vote blue, go green' policy, as well as stating that Cameron is 'not fit to govern'. As expected, Whale is also strongly against the introduction of a 'green tax' which is a possible government policy. Whale has often stated his admiration for Margaret Thatcher and has described himself as a Tory voter, however he has added on many occasions that he will no longer vote Conservative as long as David Cameron is the party's leader.

  1. ^ http://www.jameswhalefund.org/AboutUs_trustees.html Bio at the James Whale Fund site
  2. ^ Telegraph article
  3. ^ http://www.bdadyslexia.org.uk/downloads/goodpractice.pdf
  4. ^ http://www.nla.org.uk/patrons.php
  5. ^ "Radio host 'could challenge Ken'", BBC, 2006-10-24. Retrieved on 2006-10-24. 
v • d • e
talkSPORT
Breakfast Alan Brazil  · Mike Parry  · Ronnie Irani  · Andy Townsend
Morning Jon Gaunt
Afternoon Hawksbee & Jacobs
Drive Adrian Durham  · Ian Wright  · Mike Parry  · Andy Townsend
Evening Kelly Dalglish  · Jim Proudfoot  · Rhodri Williams  · Ian Danter  · Russ Williams
Talk James Whale  · George Galloway  · Mike Mendoza  · Ian Collins
Matchday Live Adrian Durham  · Alan Brazil  · Nigel Pearson  · Alvin Martin
Fishing Keith Arthur
Cricket Jack Bannister  · Chris Cowdrey  · Ronnie Irani  · Andrew McKenna
Retrieved from "http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/James_Whale_%28radio%29"
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