James Valentine has announced his retirement from the ABC after almost four decades, ending a 25-year run as the host of Sydney’s Afternoons on ABC Radio, as he continues treatment for cancer.
The 64-year-old broadcaster told listeners on Monday that ongoing health challenges had made it clear he would not be able to return to the program in the near future.
“It’s sad news, it’s definitely sad news for me,” Valentine said on ABC Sydney.
“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 [should] 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.”
Valentine revealed live on air in 2024 that he had been diagnosed with oesophageal cancer and would take time off for surgery, telling listeners he was “equal parts hopeful and terrified”.
He returned following treatment but stepped away again last June after new tumours were discovered.
He said he had been thinking for some time about how to tell his audience he would not be coming back, after twice sharing details of his illness on air.
Listeners responded with an outpouring of emotion, with calls and messages flooding in to Afternoons fill-in host James O’Loghlin.
Many listeners cried as they spoke about what the program had meant to them.
Callers shared favourite segments including rant, petty crimes, this is what I live with and Valentine’s long-running conversations with comedian HG Nelson.
Valentine said he wanted to leave permanently to allow someone else the chance to take over the role.
“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.”
Valentine joined the ABC in 1987 as host of the Afternoon Show for kids on ABC TV, after a decade working as a musician. He went on to become one of the broadcaster’s most recognisable voices, with stints across Afternoons, Breakfast and Mornings.
He later revealed his cancer was discovered after he “choked and retched” while eating curry at a party. A gastroscopy soon after found a 4cm tumour where his oesophagus meets his stomach.
Alongside broadcasting, Valentine has remained active as a musician, playing saxophone with artists including Jo Camilleri, Wendy Matthews, Kate Ceberano, Pseudo Echo and Stephen Cummings, and continuing to perform in Sydney with the James Valentine Quartet.
His longtime producer Jennifer Fleming is preparing a two-hour retrospective of Afternoons, to air on Friday.
“I wanted to capture what we made in those 25 years, look at the ways in which we pushed talkback into completely new territory,” Valentine said.
Image: ABC
