He lifted the spirit of a city every day for 25 years: farewell to James Valentine

For more than two decades, somewhere between noon and four o’clock on a weekday, something quietly wonderful was happening on ABC Radio Sydney. James Valentine was on the air – and for hundreds of thousands of listeners across Sydney and New South Wales, that was reason enough to feel a little better about the day.

Valentine, who died at home aged 64 using voluntary assisted dying, surrounded by his family, was one of the most beloved broadcasters in the history of Australian radio. He leaves behind his wife Joanne and his children Ruby and Roy, and a city that will feel his absence in the afternoon for a very long time.

“James passed peacefully at home surrounded by his family, who adored him,” his family said. “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.”

A life lived in music first

Valentine began his professional life as a saxophonist after studying classical saxophone and jazz at Melbourne State College, performing with prominent Australian acts including the Models in the 1980s, Jo Jo Zep and the Falcons, Absent Friends, and artists such as Kate Ceberano and Wendy Matthews. For those who grew up with Australian music in the 1980s, Valentine joined the Models in late 1984 when they relocated to Sydney, playing saxophone with them until 1987 and appearing on their studio albums Out of Mind Out of Sight and Models’ Media.

It was music that gave him his ear – for rhythm, for timing, for the moment when something lands. And it was those qualities that made him so extraordinary on the radio.

The voice of the afternoon

Valentine transitioned into television in the late 1980s as the host of The Afternoon Show on ABC TV, a children’s afternoon program that ran from 1987 to 1990. But it was radio where he found his truest home – and where his audience found him.

For more than 20 years, Valentine hosted the Afternoons slot on 702 ABC Sydney, crafting a program that was unlike anything else on Australian radio. While most talkback shows invited listeners to argue about politics, Valentine asked them to do something far more interesting: tell stories, invent things, air their grievances about the small absurdities of domestic life, and celebrate the wit and warmth of ordinary Sydney.

His segment “This is What I Live With” – in which listeners aired their partner’s most loveable and infuriating quirks – became a national institution. Long-time listener Jacqueline captured what so many felt: “James Valentine turned me into a serial pest. I just couldn’t resist his segments. He kept me company through parental leave, through boring days during lockdown when I was living alone. He brought so much joy to all of us.”

What made him different

Former ABC Radio Sydney Drive presenter Richard Glover, who shared a daily on-air handover with Valentine for more than 20 years, described him this week with a grief and a gratitude that was palpable.

“He lifted the spirit of the city every day for 25 years,” Glover said. “How can that be? But that was his task.”

“It was a daily effort to get people to concentrate on life, ordinary life, and how important and beautiful it is – and he did that every day for 20 years,” Glover said. “So you end up sitting, listening to radio, thinking, ‘Gee, Sydneysiders are funny and lively and witty and gorgeous.'”

Former ABC Radio Sydney manager Peter Wall, who hired Valentine in the early 1990s, said he could tell he was a natural from his very first shift. “When you listen to the first hour, you punch the air and you know that you’re happy with what you got – that’s what I did with him,” Wall said. “Some of those people just have this thing which breaks through. They manage to stay themselves, notwithstanding the pressures on them – he was one of those special people on radio.”

ABC managing director Hugh Marks described Valentine as far more than a broadcaster. “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.”

His final months

Valentine first announced his oesophageal cancer diagnosis in March 2024, taking a leave of absence before returning to the Afternoons program. In June last year, scans revealed tumours in his omentum, and he stepped back from the show. He formally retired from 702 ABC Sydney in February this year, telling his listeners he needed to focus on his health and his family.

At his farewell, he spoke with characteristic warmth about what the show had meant to him. “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.”

Glover told 702 ABC Mornings this week that Valentine would want his peers and listeners to spend the day celebrating. “Certainly for me, it was the greatest professional, lucky stroke of my career that I got to meet him,” he said. “He brought joy to me and fun to me every single day for 26 years.”

He did it his way

Valentine was also an author – writing the JumpMan science fiction trilogy for young readers – and continued performing as a musician throughout his broadcasting career, leading the James Valentine Quartet and performing his Upbeat Revue show, which blended live jazz with comedy and stories from his years on air.

But it is the afternoons that will define him. The warmth of a voice that never talked down to anyone. The curiosity that made every caller feel genuinely heard. The wit that never tipped into cruelty. The sound of a man who loved his city, and showed it every single day.

He did it his way. Right to the very end.

James Valentine is survived by his wife Joanne and his children Ruby and Roy. Memorial arrangements will be announced in coming days.