ABC Sydney afternoons host James Valentine diagnosed with oesophageal cancer

James Valentine tells how he found out he has oesophageal cancer as he takes three months off to recover from surgery.

ABC Sydney’s afternoons radio host James Valentine has oesophageal cancer and will be off air for the next three months.

Valentine – who shifted from breakfast to afternoon host at the beginning of the year – penned an article for the ABC website on Thursday revealing his cancer diagnosis.

Valentine said he was celebrating his friend Tom’s birthday in December when takeaway Thai food was served and it quickly left him “choking and retching”.

His wife, Joanne, became concerned and referred him to see her sister’s endoscopy clinic to get a gastroscopy.
Valentine said he was later told by his doctor: “It’s bad. You’ve got a 4-centimetre tumour where your oesophagus meets your stomach.”

Valentine said he has received chemotherapy and radiation but it hasn’t stopped him from going to work, hosting his show and playing his saxophone.

Valentine in the studio. Picture: Richard Dobson.

He wrote in the article that he will be taking the next three months off as he undergoes surgery.

“The surgery will remove my entire oesophagus and then stretch my stomach up and attach it to my throat,” Valentine said.

“Marvellous what they can do these days.

“After that, I’m very likely to feel like absolute crap for quite some time. It is likely I will recover, although that may take some months.”

He said he refrained from telling his listeners earlier about his diagnosis because he had only just returned to hosting afternoons and he didn’t want to make the show sombre.

“It’s generally a jolly show, so let’s have a good time there for a few months rather than shade that whole time with my disease,” Valentine wrote.

Valentine also told listeners ahead of his surgery: “Cancer is confronting and of course I’m equal parts hopeful and terrified.

“I hope I’ll be OK, but I also know that I won’t be the same.”

In the latest official radio ratings by GfK, Valentine’s show came eighth in the afternoons’ timeslot with an audience share of 3.5 per cent, down 1.7 percentage points.

Valentine hosted the breakfast program for two years until the end of 2023, prior to this he hosted aftenoons for 22 years.

He replaced Josh Szeps who departed the public broadcaster at the end of last year and Craig Reucassel replaced Valentine.

The ABC has not yet announced who will replace Valentine while he takes leave.