James Whale (radio)
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| James Whale | |
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| Birth name | Michael James Whale |
| Website | http://www.jameswhaleradio.com/ |
Michael (James) Whale is a British radio and television broadcaster, born on 13 May 1951 in Ewell, Surrey, England. Whale has won three Sony Radio Awards, and on 1st October 2007, his autobiography Almost a Celebrity: A Lifetime of Night-Time was published. In May 2008, he was sacked from Talksport for calling on his listeners to vote for Boris Johnson in the London mayoral election. Whale is now a presenter on bid tv and a radio presenter of Play Radio UK.
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[edit] Biography
Whale 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. Whale enjoyed playing Poker during his youth, specifically Texas Hold Em and considered taking up the game professionally.
He has been married to Melinda Whale since 1970, and has two children, James and Peter[1].
[edit] Early career (1974-1995)
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 hosted a simultaneous television and radio show called The James Whale Radio Show and "Whale On", which was broadcast on ITV. In 1994 he presented a weekend afternoon show on LBC in London.
[edit] talkSPORT Radio Show (1995-2008)
| The James Whale Show | |
| Running time | 3 hours |
|---|---|
| Country | United Kingdom |
| Languages | English |
| Home station | talkSPORT |
| Syndicates | Talk 107 |
| Hosts | James Whale |
| Producers | Asher Gould |
| Recording studio | Central London |
| Air dates | to |
| Audio format | Stereophonic sound |
| Opening theme | Junkie Chase |
Whale hosted regular phone-in shows on talkSPORT from 1995 to 2008, and is best-known for his late night show, in the 10pm - 1am slot. For a while, the Sunday show was broadcast in the afternoons and Whale occasionally filled in as a morning presenter. During major breaking news stories when regular programming was suspended, Whale tended to be called upon to do 'specials'.
The show featured celebrity guests, including Derek Acorah, Jodie Marsh, David Icke, Nick Pope, Alex Jones, David Shayler, Lembit Opik and Alistair McGowan with whom he had a somewhat awkward exchange of views regarding the environment. Recently, the former Chancellor Nigel Lawson appeared on the show, also to discuss the environment. Another regular guest was Uri Geller although he has not featured recently. Whale's friend Bernard Manning would often telephone the show on his way back from gigs across the country.
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.
In May 2008, after a period of suspension Whale was sacked because he called on his listeners to vote for Boris Johnson on two separate occasions days before the 2008 London Mayoral elections.[2] His agent, Stuart Hobday, said that Whale was "deeply disappointed", adding "He's spent 13 happy years at Talksport, he's saddened at the way this has happened and it's come as a huge shock." Ofcom are currently investigating the situation, following three complaints from listeners which led to Whale's eventual sacking.
[edit] Play Radio UK (2008-present)
On 7 May 2008 it was announced that Whale would join television auction station Bid.tv.[3] He also continues to broadcast on his official site, JamesWhaleRadio.com. On Tuesday 20 May 2008, Whale began broadcasting a four-hour live weekly evening phone-in on Play Radio UK.[4]
[edit] Kidney cancer and related charity work
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.[5] Whale has often spoken of his dyslexia and is not ashamed to mention this on air.[6] Whale is a patron of the National Literacy Association.[7]
[edit] Political beliefs
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' slogan, 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.
[edit] 2008 London Mayoral Election
After interviewing United Kingdom Independence Party leader Nigel Farage on his TalkSport show, James Whale announced that he hoped to run for election as UKIP candidate in the 2008 London Mayoral Election, although this did not transpire. Ofcom had 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."[8]
[edit] Books
- 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. Following the release of 'Almost a Celebrity' Whale shamelessly plugged the book on air (albeit in a tongue in cheek manner) with the aim of out-selling fellow Talksport presenter Jon Gaunt's book which was published at around the same time. Initially, Whale appeared concerned that the book was not widely available in some outlets and sales were somewhat slow as a result; however, this problem appeared to be resolved and eventually the book sold well. A paperback edition is soon to be available.
[edit] References
- ^ http://www.jameswhalefund.org/AboutUs_trustees.html Bio at the James Whale Fund site
- ^ http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/entertainment/7385370.stm BBC News: Radio host James Whale is sacked
- ^ Sacked DJ Whale becomes TV host. BBC News (2008-05-07). Retrieved on 2008-05-07.
- ^ James Whale to host talkshow on internet radio site Play Radio UK | Media | guardian.co.uk
- ^ Telegraph article
- ^ DFS 110
- ^ National Literacy Association - Our Patrons
- ^ "Radio host 'could challenge Ken'", BBC, 2006-10-24. Retrieved on 2006-10-24.
