James Whale (radio presenter)

Whale began his broadcasting career in 1970 following a visit to a Topshop store on Regent Street, London. He spoke to manager Ralph Halpern who initially declined to hire a DJ for the store, after which he worked as an assistant stage manager at a theatre in Oxford. Whale was soon invited back to Topshop and accepted work as one of the launch DJs of Radio Topshop, the in-house radio station.[11][7] In 1974, he became the host of an evening talk radio show at Metro Radio,[7] serving northeast England from studios in Swalwell, Gateshead. He was the first presenter of the Nightowls program. During this time, Whale took up additional work as a voice over artist and acting roles in Doctor Who and Z-Cars.[7] In 1980, he moved to BBC Radio Derby[7] to host a morning phone-in, working with Terry Christian who later became a colleague at talkSPORT.

In 1982, Whale joined Radio Aire in Leeds to host the late night talk show; by 1986 he moved to the Breakfast Show, before returning to the late show in early 1987. He released two singles in 1987: "The Whaley Rap"/"I Hear James (On the Radio)"[12] and "Wrap it Up for Xmas". By late 1987, the radio show was simulcast on Red Rose Radio from Preston. In 1989, Whale's third single, "Bimbo", entered the UK top 100 singles chart. An edited version of the B-side, "A Big Big Egg", was the closing theme for his TV show.

In the late 1980s, Whale became influenced by American radio hosts, including "shock jock" Howard Stern, and changed his style, having become tired of the "lovely phone-ins" that he had been accustomed to.[13] Commencing on the night of Friday 18 November 1988, Whale's radio show at Radio Aire was simulcast with Yorkshire Television and was titled The James Whale Radio Show,[14] featuring live studio guests, music and listener phone calls. The show became a ratings success, and after several months it started to air nationally on ITV.[15] Conservative MP Jerry Hayes had a regular slot on the show and Steve Coogan would also make a regular appearance. By September 1989, the show attracted over one million viewers. It cost the television station £15,000 to run each hour.[16]

In January 1993, Whale began a new ITV series, Whale On[17] and in 1994 he presented a weekend afternoon show on LBC in London. He also presented The Blue Whale on Men and Motors.

From 1995 to 2008, Whale hosted a talk show on weekday nights on talkSPORT from 10pm to 1am. The James Whale Show featured as guests such individuals as Jodie Marsh, David Icke, Nick Pope, Alex Jones, David Shayler, Lembit Öpik, Myleene Klass, Peter Stringfellow and Alistair McGowan. Another regular guest was the psychic Uri Geller. Whale's friend Bernard Manning would often telephone on his way from gigs. On two occasions, Whale and American talk host Tom Leykis co-hosted shows that ran simultaneously as episodes of both their programmes.

Whale participated in a live Newsnight programme on 26 April 2007 on BBC Two, broadcast simultaneously on talkSPORT, in which he referred to two-week refuse pickup throughout the UK and the 'scandal' of global warming. Whale should have had a live 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 described recycling as a 'joke' and believed prisoners should sort rubbish and recyclable waste.

In May 2008, Whale was sacked because he twice called on listeners to vote for Boris Johnson before the London mayoral election in 2008.[18] Ofcom fined Talksport £20,000, saying he had "seriously breached the due impartiality rules at the time of an election".

On 7 May 2008 Whale said he would join Bid TV.[19] He continued to broadcast on JamesWhaleRadio.co.uk. On 20 May 2008, Whale began a four-hour weekly evening phone-in on Internet radio station Play Radio UK,[20] however, on 2 September 2008 he said on air he was leaving Play Radio for book promotion and TV work. He said he would continue his blog.

After standing in for Clive Bull on LBC 97.3 for six days in August 2008, Whale covered for Nick Abbot for two weeks from 29 September 2008 on LBC. In November the same year, he began presenting the drivetime show on LBC between 4 pm and 7 pm every weekday.[21][22] In March 2013, it was announced that existing presenter Iain Dale would replace him in this time slot as Whale's contract was not renewed.

After leaving LBC 97.3 Whale presented shows at BBC Radio Berkshire, BBC Three Counties Radio, BBC WM, occasionally BBC Radio Kent and a new online format of his hit 1989 TV show, Whales Weekly.

In September 2013, Whale launched his weekly podcast, The James Whale Radio Show,[23] which is produced by Rob Oldfield. The podcast has since run for over 300 original episodes.[23] He also hosted the first season of the show The Book Show, along with producer and co-host Paul Andrews, which was broadcast on the Sky satellite channel Information.TV from 2013 to 2014.

On 13 December 2013, Whale announced that he would be the new permanent presenter of the BBC Essex breakfast programme. He presented his last show on the station on 23 September 2016.[24] He also hosted "Something for the Weekend" on BBC Radio Kent Saturday mornings from 10 am until 2 pm.

On 28 July 2016, Whale entered the Celebrity Big Brother house to compete as a housemate in its eighteenth series. He was the sixth to be evicted, coming ninth overall.[25]

Whale began covering shows on talkRADIO in October 2016 and he started presenting the Monday to Thursday evening show between 7 pm and 10 pm from 7 November 2016. This show reunited Whale with former producer Ash.[26] NOT IN CITATION GIVEN

In August 2018, Whale was suspended by talkRADIO, pending a full investigation, after an interview with author and journalist Nichi Hodgson who had been sexually assaulted. talkRADIO subsequently described the interview as having been "conducted in a manner that did not reflect the values of the station and completely lacked sensitivity".[27] In a video clip from the interview, Whale was seen laughing when the interviewee described what had happened to her.[28][29] Whale returned to the air on 13 August.[30]