Popular ABC Radio Sydney and ABC Jazz presenter James Valentine has announced on 702 that he won’t be returning to his role hosting Afternoons.
James told James O’Loghlin who has been presenting the show in his absence:
“This decision has been hard for me to make, but look, I think my health is giving me a pretty clear message that it still might be a while until I could return and resume broadcasting.
[It] could still be another year or six months or so until I’ve got the energy or the strength to come back. I just think it’s too long. I think it’s time to say, come on, somebody else come and have a shot.
“I need to focus on getting better, on being with family and friends and making sure that I’m giving my health my best shot.”
James stepped back in March 2024 after being diagnosed with cancer of the oesophagus. He returned that August before having to step away again twice in 2025 following a return of the omentum cancer.
This Friday listeners will get to enjoy a two-hour James Valentine retrospective on ABC Radio Sydney Afternoons which will hopefully include (among many highlights) when Anna Minns, the wife of NSW Premier Chris Minns, called in for a segment called This Is What I Live With, to complain about her husband’s habit of pausing television shows after a funny joke.
Towards a permanent replacement, James said:
“Come and have a go at this marvellous shift and do what you can with it … that is just what’s so beautiful about Afternoons — no restrictions. It’s kind of infinite.”
We wish him well for his health and recovery.
Relates stories: