James Stannage (born 22 February 1950)James Stannage
– Manchester Radio Online 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 ...

late night talk show radio host. He presented ''The Late Night James Stannage Talk Show'' on

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 ...

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 Mancheste ...

until being dismissed in June 2005 after numerous warnings and a history of run-ins with regulator OFCOM.£125,000 fine for radio host's racist comments
''

The Independent ''The Independent'' is a British online newspaper. It was established in 1986 as a national morning printed paper. Nicknamed the ''Indy'', it began as a broadsheet and changed to tabloid format in 2003. The last printed edition was publish ...

'', 25 November 2005 He now hosts an online radio show.

Early career

Stannage originally started out as an amateur actor and secondary school teacher.

Radio career

He first worked for

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 ...

in the mid-1970s, presenting his own late-night phone-in show. Occasional guests on the show were

Mike Harding Mike Harding (born 23 October 1944) is an English singer, songwriter, comedian, author, poet, broadcaster and multi-instrumentalist. Harding has also been a photographer, traveller, filmmaker and playwright. Early life and education Harding's ...

and

Jasper Carrott Robert Norman Davis (born 14 March 1945), best known by his stage name, Jasper Carrott, is an English comedian, actor and television presenter. Early life Born in Shaftmoor Lane, Acocks Green, in Birmingham, Carrott was educated at Acocks Gr ...

. He was renowned for his abrasive and aggressive style even then, so much so that the Bishop of Salford publicly condemned him as a bad influence. After leaving Piccadilly Radio, he went on to work for other local radio stations such as TFM Radio during the 1980s before returning to

Piccadilly 1152 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 ...

in 1989. In the early days of his second stint at Piccadilly, his style was mellower than it had been before, but as time wore on became increasingly aggressive again and insulting comments to callers were stoked up as well.

''The James Stannage Show''

His show was in the format of a phone-in where callers could discuss anything they wanted, from sport, religion, current affairs or politics. Stannage would often argue his case severely (which were usually anti-politics and anti-religion) if he disagreed with callers. Stannage was a well known fellow around Manchester as a result of his

talk show. In many surveys, Stannage came out as the number one Manchester DJ.

Rivals

Stannage had a long-standing rivalry with Radio City talk show presenter, Pete Price. Infrequently, each would 'slag' the other off on their respective shows, and upon Stannage's sacking, Price posted on his forum a topic entitled "James Stannage Sacked"

Fines

On 24 November 2005, Emap Radio Group, owners of

received a fine of £125,000 (then a record for UK radio) after reading out comments and jokes submitted by a listener about the death of Ken Bigley (just two days after his death was confirmed) in October and November 2004.

received several fines during Stannage's 20-year career on the station, formerly Piccadilly Radio. One outburst cost £15,000 and in 2001, Stannage came under fire for describing

First World War World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...

soldiers as ''"thick and ignorant"'' and he was questioned by police in the same year over allegations that he made a racist remark on his show. In May 2004, he got into trouble because of his jokes in the aftermath of the death of Chinese cockle pickers in

Morecambe Bay Morecambe Bay is a large estuary in northwest England, just to the south of the Lake District National Park. It is the largest expanse of intertidal mudflats and sand in the United Kingdom, covering a total area of . In 1974, the second larges ...

Manchester Radio Online

Following his sacking James Stannage was one of the presenters on the online radio station ManchesterRadioOnline.com.

Miscellaneous

Comedian

's album ''Jasper Carrott Live at Drury Lane'' features a routine about James Stannage.

Personal life

Stannage has two grown up sons, and two grandchildren. His elder son Darren Stannage is a sports journalist (currently working for

Sky News Radio Sky News Radio is the radio arm of Sky News, owned by Sky UK. It has been operating since June 1999, providing a news bulletin service for UK commercial radio stations operators across the UK and for a number of English-speaking radio stations aro ...

) while his younger son Dominic Stannage is a member of Manchester rock band Hiatus. Both Darren and Dominic also work for NK Theatre Arts at the Forum Theatre in Stockport. His best friend is Sean Gallagher.

References

External links

Official Ofcom Adjudication (24 November 2005)

James's tribute myspace page with audio.

James's official myspace page.

Manchester Radio Online

A selection of James Stannage airchecks.
{{DEFAULTSORT:Stannage, James British DJs British radio DJs Living people 1950 births