James Valentine, whose voice became a trusted companion to Sydney radio listeners over more than two decades on ABC Sydney Afternoons, has died at 64 at his home in Sydney, Australia.
His family confirmed that Valentine died April 22 through voluntary assisted dying, two years after his esophageal cancer diagnosis.
“James passed peacefully at home surrounded by his family, who adored him,” the 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.”
From Saxophone to Screen
Before radio made him a household name, Valentine was a working musician with a saxophone who carved out a career across Australian pop and rock. He joined Joe Camilleri’s group, Jo Jo Zep, in 1982, then spent 1984 to 1987 with the Models and 1989 to 1990 with Absent Friends. He also recorded and toured with Pseudo Echo, Kate Ceberano, and Iva Davies, weaving through a string of prominent Australian acts.
The Australian Recording Industry Association inducted him into its Hall of Fame in 2010 as a member of the Models, though Valentine had already shifted his focus to broadcasting by then.
Between 1987 and 1990, he hosted “The Afternoon Show” on ABC TV, a children’s program where he became, according to a 1997 student newspaper profile, “a preteen, demi-god, hip big brother of our generation.” His crimson sneakers left an impression nearly as lasting as his rapport with young viewers. But Valentine, characteristically self-aware, eventually called himself “past it” for children’s television and moved on.
He spent more than a decade as the movie reviewer on Showtime and made appearances on Good Morning Australia, Midday, Sunrise, and It Takes Two. He also presented TVTV and The Mix for the ABC.
Finding a Home on Radio
Valentine discovered his true medium through a fill-in shift at 666 ABC Canberra in the mid-1990s. The ABC brought him to Sydney in 1998 to present Sydney Mornings, though he later acknowledged struggling with the demand to “sound more like a journalist” during hard news coverage. The fit improved dramatically when he moved to ABC Sydney Afternoons in 1999.
For more than 20 years, Valentine sat behind the Afternoons microphone, building the kind of trust that transformed a daily program into a daily companion. He favored warmth over conflict in his approach to broadcasting.
“I think after a while people aren’t listening to the content; they’re listening to the friendship,” Valentine once said.
In 2020, the show won a Bronze Award for Best Two-Way Telephone Talk/Interview Show at the New York Festivals Radio Awards.
In late 2021, the ABC named him host of Breakfast, replacing Wendy Harmer and Robbie Buck. He started on Dec. 13 that year. Two years later, he returned to Afternoons, the program that always fit him best. Over his broadcasting career, he spent more than 30 years with the ABC, including 25 years at 702 ABC Sydney.
An On-Air Diagnosis
When Valentine learned in March 2024 that he had esophageal cancer, he did what came naturally: he told his listeners, then sat down with his surgeon for an on-air interview, transforming personal fear into public dialogue.
“It’s generally a jolly show, so let’s have a good time here for a few months rather than shade that whole time with my disease,” he told listeners at the time.
Following treatment, Valentine returned to broadcasting in 2025. But by June of that year, he disclosed another setback: tumors had been found in his omentum. He stepped away again and announced his retirement from the ABC in February 2026.
His family said Valentine made his final choice on his own terms. “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.”
As colleagues reflected following his death, Valentine’s career spanned writer, television host, musician, and radio presenter — roles that never felt disjointed but rather complementary. He once described creating worthwhile talk as both performance and a kind of music.
For nearly four decades, Australian audiences listened. And many, in his absence, will keep listening for him still.
Valentine is survived by his wife, Joanne, and children, Ruby and Roy.
