Why they call me radio’s rudest man

HELLO everyone. Let me introduce myself. As you can see, my name is James Whale, but I’ve been called many other things in the almost 50 years that I’ve been doing this. When I started back in the Seventies, my proudest moment was to be dubbed the “rudest man on radio”.

I’ve never considered myself to be rude, but I have considered myself to be entertaining. Of course, one person’s entertainment is not necessarily another’s…

I started my broadcasting career on Metro Radio in Newcastle upon Tyne in the early Seventies as a young man in his 20s. I was given a late night show and told to play soothing music.

That lasted about two months and I began to get very bored, so I asked if I could take some phone calls on equipment the radio station had just bought.

The boss told me bluntly I could do anything I wanted because no one was listening at that hour, so I had nothing to lose.

But one of the first callers made a very racist comment, to which I replied that he was an absolute idiot, though perhaps I was a little more erudite than that.

Since then I’ve been on many radio stations around the country. I ended up, 25 years ago, on the very new Talk Radio, and I’ve been there ever since. In the Nineties I even had a TV show.

I’ve been called controversial. You’ll have to listen to me on Talk Radio – 7-10pm – to make up your own mind!

This week happens to be special to me because it’s National Kidney Cancer Awareness Week.

I had kidney cancer 20 years ago. It’s quite rare. A lot of people, including me, had no idea you could get cancer of the kidney.

I had my left kidney removed and for the last 20 years I’ve been fine. Then six months ago I was diagnosed with stage four kidney cancer.

There is no stage five. But please don’t feel sorry for me: I’m being treated at St Bartholomew’s Hospital in London and couldn’t be in a better place.

These things happen to everybody at some point and it’s not a question of being brave; it’s a question of getting on with life. Which is what I’m doing.

I would, however, like people to visit kcuk.org.uk. If you know the symptoms and are treated early it could all turn out well.