Veteran Australian talkback radio host James Valentine dies at 64

James Valentine, a veteran talkback radio host on Australia's national broadcaster, has died at 64, two years after a cancer diagnosis.

Best known as host of the Australian Broadcasting Corporation's (ABC) Afternoons radio programme in Sydney, a role he held for more than 20 years, Valentine was also an accomplished musician.

In 2024, he was diagnosed with oesophageal cancer and took time off for treatment. He returned to the airwaves briefly last year before retiring in February.

ABC Managing Director Hugh Marks described him as a "trusted companion... for generations of our Sydney audience" who brought "warmth, wit and humanity to radio". Valentine is survived by his wife and two children.

In a statement, Valentine's family said he had died "peacefully at home surrounded by his family who adored him".

"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," the statement said, according to the ABC.

"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."

Outside of radio, Valentine played saxophone in a number of bands including The Models who had two number-one hits and toured in the US and Europe.

Tributes flowed for the much-loved broadcaster on Thursday, with ABC presenter Robbie Buck describing him as "joyous, irrepressible and unbelievably sharp".

Former ABC colleague Richard Glover said Valentine had "lifted the spirit of the city every day for 25 years" while Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese told ABC radio that Valentine was "someone who was always worth listening to".

Australia's Governor-General Sam Mostyn said that Valentine had recently been recommended and awarded for a Member of the Order (AM) for his work in broadcasting, as a musician and an advocate of the arts.

"His ideas were, as they were on radio, just lovely, gentle, sensible, really important things about how community comes together and how we all have a role to play," Mostyn told ABC radio.

The award had been presented to his wife and children last Saturday.