Ed James (born Edward Charles Stirk 23 March 1976 in Knighton,

Radnorshire , HQ = Presteigne , Government = Radnorshire County Council (1889–1974) Radnorshire District Council (1974–1996) , Origin = , Status = historic county, administrative county , Start ...

) is a British

disc jockey A disc jockey, more commonly abbreviated as DJ, is a person who plays recorded music for an audience. Types of DJs include Radio personality, radio DJs (who host programs on music radio stations), club DJs (who work at a nightclub or music f ...

, broadcaster and

journalist A journalist is an individual that collects/gathers information in form of text, audio, or pictures, processes them into a news-worthy form, and disseminates it to the public. The act or process mainly done by the journalist is called journalism ...

, who currently hosts Drive Time for

Heart West Midlands Heart West Midlands is a regional radio station owned and operated by Global as part of the Heart network. It broadcasts to the West Midlands from studios in Birmingham. History Heart began broadcasting to the West Midlands on Tuesday 6 Septem ...

Birmingham Birmingham ( ) is a city and metropolitan borough in the metropolitan county of West Midlands in England. It is the second-largest city in the United Kingdom with a population of 1.145 million in the city proper, 2.92 million in the West ...

alongside Gemma Hill. He moved to the Drive Time Show in 2019, after presenting the Breakfast Show since 2002 on Heart. He is also a

columnist A columnist is a person who writes for publication in a series, creating an article that usually offers commentary and opinions. Column (newspaper), Columns appear in newspapers, magazines and other publications, including blogs. They take the fo ...

with the

Birmingham Mail The ''Birmingham Mail'' (branded the ''Black Country Mail'' in the Black Country) is a tabloid newspaper based in Birmingham, England but distributed around Birmingham, the Black Country, and Solihull and parts of Warwickshire, Worcestershire ...

, Chairman of the

Birmingham Press Club Birmingham Press Club is a press club based in the English city of Birmingham. Established in 1865, just six years after Concordia Press Club in Vienna, became the second oldest organisation of its type in the world. The club hosts a number of p ...

and is the co-founder of content marketing agency HDY Agency.

Career

He started on the radio aged twelve on

BBC Radio York BBC Radio York is the BBC's local radio station serving the county of North Yorkshire. It broadcasts on FM, DAB, digital TV and via BBC Sounds from studios in the Bootham area of York. According to RAJAR, the station has a weekly audience o ...

. While studying at Newcastle University, he presented at various radio stations across England before getting his first 'proper' job at a station in Manchester. James presented many shows before joining 100.7 Heart FM in Birmingham as Breakfast Show presenter in 2002 taking over from

Daryl Denham Daryl Denham is a British disc jockey, radio presenter and songwriter. Early career Denham's career started at school, where he was active in producing pop music productions in school concerts, organizing pop quizzes and writing and performing p ...

. He worked alongside Hellon Wheels until 2006, and

Sarah-Jane Mee Sarah-Jane Mee (born 10 July 1978) is a Sky News presenter and the anchor of ''The Sarah-Jane Mee Show''. From October 2016 until October 2019, Mee anchored ''Sunrise''. Career After graduating from the University of Manchester, Mee joined Sky ...

from 2007 to 2008. Rachel New was his co-presenter from 2008 to 2016 after moving from neighbouring station

Kerrang! 105.2 Kerrang! Radio is a specialist digital rock music radio station owned and operated by Bauer and forms part of the Kiss Network. As of September 2022, the station has a weekly audience of 341,000 listeners according to RAJAR. Stations Hist ...

. Since January 2017, his co-presenter has been Gemma Hill. In 2011 the Heart Breakfast Show won a Gold

Sony Radio Award The Radio Academy Awards, started in 1983, were the most prestigious awards in the British radio industry. For most of their existence, they were run by ZAFER Associates, but in latter years were brought under the control of The Radio Academy ...

for Best Competition for its ''Beat The Star'' quiz that saw members of the public from around the

Midlands The Midlands (also referred to as Central England) are a part of England that broadly correspond to the Kingdom of Mercia of the Early Middle Ages, bordered by Wales, Northern England and Southern England. The Midlands were important in the Ind ...

competing alongside celebrities such as

Gok Wan Kowkhyn Wan (; born 9 September 1974), known as Gok Wan, is a British Wardrobe stylist, fashion consultant, author, television presenter, actor, DJ, chef and event manager. Initially training in the performing arts at the Central School of Sp ...

and

Leona Lewis Leona Louise Lewis (born 3 April 1985) is a British singer, songwriter, actress and activist. Born and raised in the London Borough of Islington, she attended the BRIT School for Performing Arts and Technology in Croydon. Lewis achieved nationa ...

to answer general knowledge questions. On 17 April 2012 James celebrated ten years as the Heart Breakfast Show presenter with a champagne breakfast in the studio, while Rachel New presented him with a pet lamb as a gift. James presented

ITV Central ITV Central, previously known as Central Independent Television, Carlton Central, ITV1 for Central England and commonly referred to as simply Central, is the Independent Television franchisee for the Midlands. It was created following the rest ...

's ''The Biz'', a weekly round-up of the latest goings-on in the Midlands for Films, Music and Gigs. In 2009 he became a columnist for the

, writing about entertainment and showbiz. In April 2012 he was named as Chairman of

, narrowly beating former ''

Central Tonight ''ITV News Central'' is a British television news service for The Midlands, broadcast and produced by ITV Central. History Launched on Friday 1 January 1982, replacing ''ATV Today'', ''Central News'' was initially a pan-regional service base ...

'' presenter

Llewella Bailey ''ITV News Central'' is a British television news service for The Midlands, broadcast and produced by ITV Central. History Launched on Friday 1 January 1982, replacing ''ATV Today'', ''Central News'' was initially a pan-regional service based ...

to secure the position. Birmingham Press Club is the oldest organisation of its kind in the world. James's mother is TV chef Anne Stirk, who appeared on

Gloria Hunniford Mary Winifred Gloria Hunniford, OBE (born 10 April 1940) is a Northern Irish television and radio presenter, broadcaster and singer. She is known for presenting programmes on the BBC and ITV, such as '' Rip Off Britain'', and her regular appear ...

's Channel 5 daily show '' Open House'' as the resident chef. In June 2018, James co-founded content marketing agency HDY Agency with marketeer Angel Gaskell. James is a qualified NLP practitioner and a member of Create Central.

References

External links

Profile at Heart

edjames.com
{{DEFAULTSORT:James, Ed 1976 births Living people British radio DJs British radio personalities British television personalities British male journalists People from Radnorshire Welsh radio DJs Welsh radio personalities Welsh television personalities Welsh journalists Heart (radio network)