James Stannage
James Stannage, born February 22, 1950, is a British late night talk show radio host. He is most well known for
presenting The Late Night James Stannage Talk Show on Manchester's Key 103. He was dismissed from Key 103 in June 2005 after numerous warnings and a history of run-ins with regulator OFCOM.
The show used to be a talk show where you could discuss anything you 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, and it was usual for Stannage to hang up on the caller, followed by a string of insults. Stannage was a well known fellow around Manchester as a result of his Key 103 talk show. In many surveys, Stannage came out as the number 1 Manchester DJ.
James H Reeve was Stannage's immediate successor for the late-night phone in on the station. Since then, the show has been cut back to three hours from four. However, in 2006, James H Reeve left Key 103 also, leaving the chatshow with yet a new presenter. Sadly though the show has never really regained its grip on the Manchester market.
Early career
Stannage originally started out as an amateur actor and secondary school teacher and spent a few years in San Francisco studying drama. He first worked for Piccadilly Radio in the mid-seventies, presenting his own late-night phone-in show. Occasional guests on the show were Mike Harding and Jasper Carrott. 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 Metro Radio during the eighties before returning to Piccadilly 1152 around 1990. 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.
Rivals
It was a well known fact that throughout his career, James Stannage made many friends, but just as many enemies.
One such was Radio City Talk Show Presenter, Pete Price. Infrequently, each would "slag" the other off on their respective shows. Upon Stannage's sacking, Pete infamously posted on his forum a topic entitled "James Stannage Sacked" [citation needed]
Fines
On 24 November 2005, Emap Radio Group, owners of Key 103 received a fine of £125,000 (then a record for UK radio) after comments and jokes about the death of Ken Bigley (just two days after his death was confirmed) in October and November 2004.
Key 103 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 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.
Manchester Radio Online
Stannage is one of the presenters on the Manchester online radio station, simply titled 'Manchester Radio Online', alongside Irish Alan, Paul 'Ripman' Ripley and Dave Foran (Dairy Lee Dave). As the station is based online it is not subject to the same regulations as conventional radio stations, giving it greater scope to deliver top quality broadcasting at all hours of the day, whilst allowing the likes of Stannage to voice his outspoken opinions. The station launched on Sunday 9 September 2007 at 9pm. According to the site's own figures, over 150,000 people viewed the site pre-launch.
Miscellaneous
The Boxing kangeroo Jasper Carrott once wrote a spoken sketch about James Stannage. It's featured on his album Jasper Carrott Live at Drury Lane.
James is currently barred from 'The Buffet Bar' in Stalybridge, (historically James' favourite drinking hole) following an inappropriate joke.
James is the father of Darren Stannage Sports Journalist, currently working for Key 103.
External links
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