Veteran 702 ABC Sydney announcer James Valentine has died aged 64 using voluntary assisted dying at home two years after a cancer diagnosis.
The broadcaster hosted radio and television shows across the ABC for 30 years, most notably presenting the Afternoons radio show for more than two decades.
Valentine retired from 702 ABC Sydney in February after 25 years with the station, citing the need to focus on his cancer treatment.
Loading…
“James passed peacefully at home surrounded by his family, who adored him,” Valentine’s family said in a statement.
“Throughout his illness, James did it his way, which lasted all the way until the end when he made the choice to do voluntary assisted dying.
“Both he and his family are grateful he was given the option to go out on his own terms. He was calm, dignified as always and somehow still making us laugh.”
Obituary: Valentine swapped microphones — and found a new audience who loved him
Valentine is survived by his wife, Joanne, and his children, Ruby and Roy.
Speaking with 702 ABC Sydney, Ruby and Roy said they were touched by the glowing tributes flowing for their father.
Ruby said her father wanted people to know that he used voluntary assisted dying to do things on his terms.
“He wanted it to be something that people knew that he did,” she said.
“If ever he could lend his voice to the argument of why this is such a necessary thing for so many people.”
Public memorial to come
In March 2024, Valentine announced his initial diagnosis — oesophageal cancer — and took a leave of absence from the ABC to receive treatment.
He returned to the Afternoons slot last year; however, he left the program in June after scans revealed tumours in his omentum.
At his farewell in February, Valentine spoke about his love for the middle-of-the-day show, where he got to explore humour from daily life and making listeners across Sydney and New South Wales feel heard.
“I could ask callers to make stuff up, to invent stories, to go with any sort of fanciful notion of the city that we had going on,” he said.
“What a huge buzz of enjoyment I got when you called in in response to something I’d suggest.”
Loading…
In a statement, ABC managing director Hugh Marks described Valentine as “more than a presenter”.
“He has been a trusted companion for so many people, part of the rhythm of everyday life for generations of our Sydney audience,” Marks said.
“James brought warmth, wit and humanity to radio as an exemplar of radio craft. His style was never about confrontation or noise — it was always about connection.”
Memorial arrangements and opportunities to honour Valentine would be shared in the coming days, the ABC said.
Valentine made a Member of the Order of Australia
Prime Minister Anthony Albanese told 702 ABC Sydney that Valentine was a warm and generous person with a strong sense of decency.
“He was someone who was always worth listening to,” Mr Albanese said.
“He was so interesting and he was so full of life.
“Amongst the sadness today, there’ll be joy as well about a life very well lived.
“All of our thoughts are with his family and his friends and, indeed, the ABC family today.”
James Valentine was made a member of the Order of Australia last Saturday. (Supplied)
Governor-General Sam Mostyn paid tribute to Valentine as a friend who always had ideas for making society kinder.
“His ideas were, as they were on radio, just lovely, gentle, sensible, really important things about how community comes together and how we all have a role to play.”
She said Valentine was made a Member of the Order of Australia (AM) at a ceremony last Saturday.
“As a pioneering broadcaster, gifted musician and passionate advocate for the arts, his lifetime of achievement has enriched the public conversation and championed Australian creativity,” the AM citation reads.
“On radio, screen and stage, James has reminded us that conversation and community matters, and kindness belongs at the heart of public life.”
NSW Premier Chris Minns said he was devastated by the news of Valentine’s passing, admitting he and his wife Anna once were anonymous talkback callers on a segment on his program called This Is What I Live With.
“He had a kind of quirky, unique way of talking with people in Sydney and he was both an interested and interesting person, which is unique. He will be hugely missed,” Mr Minns said.
Talented ‘conductor’ of talkback radio
Friend and veteran broadcaster Richard Glover told Hamish Macdonald on 702 ABC Mornings that Valentine would want his peers and listeners to spend the day “celebrating” and remembering the great times they shared.
“Certainly for me, it was the greatest professional, lucky stroke of my career that I got to meet him,” Glover said.
“He brought joy to me and fun to me every single day.”
Glover said no person had brought more joy to Sydney than Valentine.
“He lifted the spirit of the city every day for 25 years. How can that be? But that was his task.”
Veteran broadcaster and friend Richard Glover said Valentine brought him joy every day. (ABC News: Declan Bowring)
Glover said Valentine focused on joy and “the foibles of humanity” in his radio program rather than the grim news cycle.
Valentine was a jazz lover and talented saxophonist who performed concerts throughout his life.
“What he did really was to bring the spirit of jazz improvisation to talkback radio,” Glover said.
“He was the conductor. The audience was his instrument.”
Friend and former editor of The Australian Women’s Weekly, Deborah Thomas, first met Valentine 40 years ago at a cocktail party in Carlton, Melbourne.
At the time, Valentine was preparing to move to Sydney to join rock band Models.
“I just remember meeting him and thinking he was the most charming, charismatic [and] elegant [man],” she said.
“I know that is a funny word for James, but there he was in his retro white tuxedo jacket serving martinis and so on. He was absolutely unique and has forged such an incredible career right from the get-go.”
Former 702 ABC Sydney presenter Simon Marnie described Valentine as “incredibly generous”. (702 ABC Sydney: Declan Bowring)
Models drummer Barton Price recalled Valentine was a perfect fit when he joined the group to play saxophone in the 1980s.
“We were probably a big deal in our heads, but James never took it that seriously,” Price said.
“He was a very down-to-earth person. In fact, I’d have to say, annoyingly, he was the most mature one in the band,” fellow bandmate Roger Mason added.
Valentine found success in his early 20s with rock band Models. (Supplied: Countdown Magazine)
A polymath with an ear for his audience
Former 702 ABC Sydney presenter Simon Marnie said he was grateful for how Valentine took his listeners on the journey of his illness.
“He had full control over it right up until yesterday afternoon, when he determined that he would take his own life, and that was James right through,” he said.
Marnie first met Valentine in the offices of triple j in the early 1980s.
“That was a relationship that just blossomed and grew,” he said, adding that Valentine was “incredibly generous” to those he respected.
Valentine joined the ABC in 1987 as an afternoon presenter for ABC Kids TV. (ABC)
ABC chair Kim Williams told 702 ABC Mornings that Valentine was a “creative polymath”.
“He was a writer, a terrific musician and a born radio artist, and somebody who had that very rare ability in radio, which produces so many gigantic egos, to use himself as a vehicle for his guests and a vehicle for his audience, rather than vice versa.”
Valentine was an “indelible” part of the ABC and its audio memory, Williams said.