ABC radio host James Valentine up for the challenge of breakfast timeslot

After the shock announcement Wendy Harmer and Robbie Buck would be leaving ABC breakfast radio, James Valentine is ready to face the pressure of maintaining the success of his predecessors.

James Valentine’s voice has been broadcast across ABC afternoon radio for the entirety of his 23-year-old daughter’s life. But now he’s moving to mornings and can’t wait for the new challenge, despite the 4am wake-up calls and pressure of breakfast radio ratings.

“In the course of my career, I think I’ve worked every hour of the day possible,” says the music and radio veteran.

“I was a musician for 10 years so was up all night for about a decade. I did breakfast TV for a few years and afternoons has been a very set routine for a long time now, so the thing I’m most excited about is just to have such a complete change.

“This is a completely different shift, a completely different attitude, my day will be totally different. I have to think about how to deliver information and entertainment in a completely different way, so it’s marvellous and I’m so excited to get the chance to do that.”

Radio presenter James Valentine is taking over the ABC breakfast program. Picture: Richard Dobson

Valentine, 60, is making the move to mornings after the recent shock announcement that popular duo Wendy Harmer and Robbie Buck would be leaving ABC Sydney Breakfast, with Valentine taking the reins from December 13.

The new face behind the mic will plunge straight into the challenging AM arena, under pressure to maintain the success of his predecessors who were consistently second behind 2GB’s Ben Fordham, who cemented his position as No.1 radio host in Sydney in the November ratings.

Fordham continued his leading share of the all-important breakfast market at 19.8 per cent – the station’s best breakfast result in more than a decade. ABC Sydney is his nearest rival, with Harmer and Buck, who have been on air together since 2018, registering a 15.9 per cent share, up 0.2 of a percentage point.

With industry experts saying their departure means the breakfast talk radio battle in Sydney will get even more “interesting”, Valentine is up to the job, saying his career as a musician put him in good stead for a career on radio – a medium all about timing, delivery and making listeners’ days that bit better.

“All media slants towards the dramatic and the tragic and the unusual … and the unusual, unfortunately, is often the bad news – people aren’t killed all the time, that’s why it’s news,” he says.

“But there are so many other things going on that are relevant to people’s days, that are extremely enjoyable and that’s the stuff that makes life worthwhile.

“What do they really need to know about the day so they arrive at work, arrive to coffee with friends, so they’ve got something to say? How can I make this an amusing five minutes, give them something so they feel better about the world?”

Wendy Harmer and Robbie Buck quit ABC Breakfast earlier this year. Picture: Supplied

Over a varied media career Valentine has been the movie reviewer on Showtime, a reporter and commentator on shows including Sunrise and Good Morning Australia, as well as narrating Lifestyle Channel’s Come Dine With Me Australia.

But it is his voice that is recognised by the public first, with people either greeting him as a long-lost friend, or with a “confused labrador” look, trying to figure out where they’d heard it before.

“You become a friend to people because being on air two or three hours a day for 25 years, you can’t be anything else but yourself,” he says.

Valentine’s two young adult children still live at home and as a family they’ve navigated the pandemic as best they can. Valentine and his wife Joanne Corrigan have both been employed, and their son Roy is studying at the Conservatorium of Music, sharing his father’s love of the industry.

James Valentine was a movie reviewer on Showtime earlier in his career.

Valentine is ready for the new challenge. Picture: Richard Dobson

While Valentine hasn’t performed professionally for about six years – he couldn’t keep up with the constant practice required – music is so integral to his day job that the stage isn’t too greatly missed.

“Radio is such a musical thing really – I use all of my musical skills,” he says.

“It’s the rhythm of speech, it’s the rhythm of the interview, the dynamic of the audio – it’s time now to hear from a caller, oh, I love this voice, let’s stay with this caller – they are musical kind of decisions.

“It’s ‘we need to build something here, it’s not going anywhere’ which is exactly the same as when you’re constructing a saxophone solo or a tune. So I’ve found my music training has been a perfectly good basis for broadcast media because it’s time, which is the same canvas as music.

“My first gigs were in the late 70s – music is so incredibly different – both in the way it is consumed, and understood. I’m not quite sure there’s any place for me (as a performer). But this change to morning radio is one I am incredibly excited for.”

Got a news tip? Email [e-mail]