James Hengist Reeve, born 25 June 1950, is an

English English usually refers to: * English language * English people English may also refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * ''English'', an adjective for something of, from, or related to England ** English national ide ...

broadcaster, journalist,

raconteur A humorist (American) or humourist (British spelling) is an intellectual who uses humor, or wit, in writing or public speaking, but is not an artist who seeks only to elicit laughs. Humorists are distinct from comedians, who are show business ...

and radio phone-in host based in the

Manchester Manchester () is a city in Greater Manchester, England. It had a population of 552,000 in 2021. It is bordered by the Cheshire Plain to the south, the Pennines to the north and east, and the neighbouring city of Salford to the west. The t ...

area. Reeve has hosted shows on

Piccadilly Radio Greatest Hits Radio Manchester & The North West is an Independent Local Radio station based in Manchester, England, owned and operated by Bauer as part of the Greatest Hits Radio Network. It broadcasts to Greater Manchester and North West Eng ...

BBC GMR BBC Radio Manchester is the BBC's local radio station serving Greater Manchester. It broadcasts on FM, DAB, digital TV and via BBC Sounds from studios at MediaCityUK in Salford Quays. According to RAJAR, the station has a weekly audience of ...

(now

BBC Radio Manchester BBC Radio Manchester is the Local BBC Radio, BBC's local radio station serving Greater Manchester. It broadcasts on frequency modulation, FM, Digital Audio Broadcasting, DAB, digital TV and via BBC Sounds from studios at MediaCityUK in Salford ...

BBC Radio 5 Live BBC Radio 5 Live is a British national radio station owned and operated by the BBC that broadcasts mainly news, sport, discussion, interviews and phone-ins. It is the principal BBC radio station covering sport in the United Kingdom, broadcast ...

, The New

Hallam FM Hallam FM is an Independent Local Radio station based in Sheffield, England, owned and operated by Bauer as part of the Hits Radio network. It broadcasts to South Yorkshire. As of September 2022, the station has a weekly audience of 283,000 ...

, talkSPORT,

TEAMtalk 252 TEAMtalk 252 was a short-lived UK national commercial sports radio station, based in Leeds in West Yorkshire with long wave transmission coming from the Clarkstown radio transmitter in Trim, County Meath in Ireland, formerly used by Atlantic ...

stations and, up until July 2006, presented the late night phone-in show at

Key 103 ''For the Network, see Hits Radio. For the National DAB station, see Hits Radio UK.'' Hits Radio Manchester is an Independent local radio station owned and operated by Bauer as part of the Hits Radio network. It broadcasts to Greater Manchester ...

BBC GMR

Reeve joined the Manchester BBC Local radio station GMR in April 1995, presenting the afternoon show. In April 1998, he rejected an opportunity to join new station

Century Radio Century Radio, also known as ''Century 100'' and later ''Century FM'', was a short-lived national commercial radio station in the Republic of Ireland, broadcasting from 4 September 1989 to 19 November 1991. History Launch Launched at 8am on M ...

to stay with GMR. Just a few months later, he left GMR in controversial circumstances with Reeve claiming he had been unfairly dismissed and had to explain complaints of "gratuitous use of racist language on and off-air."

Career chronology

*Late 1970s-1981

*February 1986-mid-1994

(Saturday Sport, late night phone-in until 1989 then breakfast show) *June 1994 -

Fortune 1458 Fortune 1458 was a radio station based in Trafford Park, Manchester, England. History The station began broadcasting in 1994 on the old BBC Radio Manchester medium wave frequency. It was seen as a direct competitor to Piccadilly 1152 as the statio ...

*Mid 1994 - April 1995 - The New Hallam FM (now

) (late night phone-in) *April 1995-September 1998 GMR (now BBC Radio Manchester) *1999-2000 TalkSPORT *2000 105.4 Century Radio (football phone-in show) *2002

TeamTalk 252 TEAMtalk 252 was a short-lived UK national commercial sports radio station, based in Leeds in West Yorkshire with long wave transmission coming from the Clarkstown radio transmitter in Trim, County Meath in Ireland, formerly used by Atlantic ...

*June 2005-July 2006

(late night phone-in) *May 2008 106.1 Rock Radio *September 2008 - May 2009 96.2 The Revolution

Surgery

In July 2006, Reeve had his gall bladder removed at Manchester Royal Infirmary by surgeon Jon Bell, son of Colin Bell, formerly of

Manchester City Football Club Manchester City Football Club are an English football club based in Manchester that competes in the Premier League, the top flight of English football. Founded in 1880 as St. Mark's (West Gorton), they became Ardwick Association Football ...

and England.Manchester Evening News, August 2, 2006, p7

External links

Long time hillman Gary Burt and assorted James gags circa 2000

* * ttp://www.jameshreeve.co.uk Simon Sandiford-Mitchell's JHR site
Manchester Evening News article re James' departure from Key103

DJ's fight with BBC - Lancashire Evening Telegraph article from 21 Sept 2001

References

British radio personalities British radio DJs Living people People from Prestwich 1950 births {{UK-radio-bio-stub