{"id":627834,"date":"2026-04-24T12:26:16","date_gmt":"2026-04-24T12:26:16","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/627834\/"},"modified":"2026-04-24T12:26:16","modified_gmt":"2026-04-24T12:26:16","slug":"james-valentine-talented-musician-who-elevated-the-art-of-talk-on-abc-sydney-radio-obituary-australian-media","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/627834\/","title":{"rendered":"James Valentine, talented musician who elevated the art of talk on ABC Sydney radio \u2013 obituary | Australian media"},"content":{"rendered":"

James Valentine was a hugely popular talkback radio star on ABC Sydney<\/a>, but adjectives often associated with that role did not fit him. Inclusive rather than combative, jovial rather than controversial, he became one of Australia\u2019s favourite presenters for his thoughtful curiosity, his playful manner and the deep connections he nurtured with his guests and audience.<\/p>\n

Valentine, who has died aged 64,<\/a> made his mark on Australia\u2019s cultural landscape as a writer, television host and musician as well as a radio presenter. He was a passionate and talented saxophonist who played with the Models, Jo Jo Zep and the Falcons, Absent Friends and Pseudo Echo.<\/p>\n

But for more than two decades Valentine\u2019s was the voice ABC Sydney listeners would hear presenting the afternoon or, briefly, the breakfast program, becoming known for his considered questions and his intimate and relatable approach to broadcasting.<\/p>\n

Sign up for the Breaking News Australia email<\/a><\/p>\n

\u201cI think after a while people aren\u2019t listening to the content; they\u2019re listening to the friendship,\u201d he said. \u201cCreating talk that\u2019s worth listening to is a form of performance and a kind of music.\u201d<\/p>\n

In March 2024, Valentine became the news story after announcing on air that he had oesophageal cancer<\/a>, before then interviewing his surgeon.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s generally a jolly show, so let\u2019s have a good time here for a few months rather than shade that whole time with my disease,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

From 1987 to 1990, he was the quirky, crimson sneaker-wearing presenter of ABC TV\u2019s The Afternoon Show, endearing himself to another generation of fans. He was popular, but he knew he did not want to make children\u2019s television, declaring himself \u201cpast it\u201d.<\/p>\n

\u201cA preteen, demi-god, hip big brother of our generation,\u201d is how he was described in a 1997 interview in Woroni, the Australian National University\u2019s student newspaper.<\/p>\n

Valentine went on to work as a reporter, movie reviewer and host with Good Morning Australia, Showtime, Midday and TVTV, later hosting Exhumed<\/a> and The Mix on the ABC. But he became hooked on radio after being offered a fill-in job by the ABC and recognised his appetite for performing live.<\/p>\n

James Valentine and Amanda Pelman in September 2006. Photograph: Tracey Nearmy\/AAP<\/p>\n

Working at ABC Canberra in the mid-1990s led to him being offered the ABC Sydney Mornings slot in 1998, although he admitted to being racked with insecurity, feeling the burden of trying to \u201csound more like a journalist\u201d in a high-pressure news environment.<\/p>\n

The following year, he moved to ABC Sydney Afternoons and immediately felt at ease, appreciating that it was the ideal time slot to show his true colours, experiment with comedy and make the show more playful. In 2020, his program was named one of the world\u2019s best in the New York Festivals radio awards.<\/p>\n

\u201cI realised you could get listeners to create radio that\u2019s really fun and engaging just by allowing them to be imaginative,\u201d he told the Sydney Morning Herald<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Valentine was behind the Afternoons microphone for the next 22 years until he was announced as the new host of Breakfast in late 2021, replacing Wendy Harmer and Robbie Buck<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhat I am going to do in Breakfast, I haven\u2019t a clue. We will find out together,\u201d he told his listeners.<\/p>\n

Two years later, Valentine returned to Afternoons. After his diagnosis he stepped away from the program to receive treatment, returning in September 2024.<\/p>\n

In June 2025, he was again sharing a cancer diagnosis with his audience, this time cancer of his omentum and announcing he would be off-air once more to receive further treatment.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m already missing you, I\u2019m already wanting to get back on air,\u201d he wrote at the time.<\/p>\n

\u2018Pretending to be a rock star\u2019<\/p>\n

James Matthew Valentine was born in Ballarat, Victoria, on 12 September 1961, the third son of Peter, a car salesman, and Nina (n\u00e9e Reakes), who taught elocution. His mother worked part-time at the local ABC radio station 3BA, recording items for The Women\u2019s Hour and Australia All Over.<\/p>\n

Like so many of his generation, James was introduced to the recorder in kindergarten. He realised he had a talent of his own that did not require competing with his sports-mad older brothers, Mark and Andrew. His parents were not musical, but they encouraged his desire to learn classical flute and saxophone.<\/p>\n

He attended Ballarat Grammar School and went on to study classical saxophone and jazz at Melbourne State College. It was the early 1980s, Australian music was taking off and Valentine soon discovered himself an in-demand session musician.<\/p>\n

He first appeared on ABC TV in 1982, playing the saxophone with Joe Camilleri on Countdown, a moment that transformed his life and led to him playing with musicians such as Wendy Matthews, Richard Clapton and Kate Ceberano.<\/p>\n

\u201cI was this scrawny little jazz musician in Melbourne \u2026 and I land this gig with Jo Jo Zep and the Falcons,\u201d he recalled. \u201cI am this skinny idiot in the middle pretending to be a rock star.\u201d<\/p>\n

In the late 1980s, worn down by five years of incessant touring with the Models, Valentine chose to find more stable work in radio and television, although he continued to play music and before his illness was scheduled to tour his theatre show, Upbeat Revue.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhat happened with being a musician was that I realised I wasn\u2019t John Coltrane. I wasn\u2019t that good, but I loved to play,\u201d he said. \u201cRadio is very akin to music. It\u2019s all about rhythm and time, spacing and pace.\u201d<\/p>\n

Valentine released an album, Debut, in 2009 and wrote several young adult fiction books, including a science fiction trilogy. He was a regular columnist for various publications and hosted his own jazz show, Upbeat, on Sunday mornings on ABC radio.<\/p>\n

Valentine was made a Member of the Order of Australia shortly before he died.<\/p>\n

He is survived by his wife, Joanne Corrigan, and children Ruby and Roy.<\/p>\n

James Valentine, radio presenter and musician, born 12 September 1961; died 22 April 2026<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"James Valentine was a hugely popular talkback radio star on ABC Sydney, but adjectives often associated with that…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":626105,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[64,63,134],"class_list":{"0":"post-627834","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-entertainment","8":"tag-au","9":"tag-australia","10":"tag-entertainment"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/627834","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=627834"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/627834\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/626105"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=627834"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=627834"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=627834"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}