Darren James (broadcaster)

Darren Andrew James (born 7 December 1960) is a long-established Australian radio broadcaster on Melbourne radio station 3AW where he first started working in October 1979. He is also an MC and hosts corporate and public events.

For the American adult movie actor, see Darren James.

Darren James
Born (1960-12-07) 7 December 1960
OccupationRadio presenter, corporate host
Employer3AW

Career

Darren James radio career began in October 1979, when he started as an 'office boy' at 3AW. In that year he moved to a role as an audio engineer for 'Breakfast' and 'The Derryn Hinch Program', and in 1986 commenced on-air as co-host of the 3AW Breakfast Show with Uncle Roy (aka Bruce Mansfield), until 1990.[1]

In 1990–1991 James co-hosted (with Bruce Mansfield) 3AK's breakfast program[1] and in 1991, moved to TTFM where he co-hosted 'Breakfast' with Jane Holmes for a year[2] and then was a general presenter there until 1994, when he rejoined 3AW.

Since 1994, James has hosted twelve hours of 3AW programming on Saturday and Sunday mornings with 'Buy, Swap and Sell', the 'Big Backyard', 'The Big House' and the 'Sunday Morning' program.[3] James has also appeared every week on the light-hearted one-hour feature Friday Lunch, starting in 1996 with Ernie Sigley when Sigley was the afternoon host, and since November 2008, with Denis Walter's afternoon program, along with Andrew McLaren.

Since 1994, James has been the almost-permanent fill-in 3AW breakfast show co-host, firstly with Ian Cover, and then from 1996, with Tony Leonard covering for Ross Stevenson and John Burns when they are on leave, usually for eight weeks per year. The exception was the December 2013 - January 2014 summer break when James hosted 3AW's afternoon show whilst Denis Walter took a break. For that period, Peter Maher took the breakfast shift with Tony Leonard.[4]

James was a regular contributor to the radio comedy team 'The Coodabeen Champions' when they were on 3AW from the late 1970s to the 1990s. Darren provided character voices for the Coodabeen's phone-in segments.[5]

During his long career James has been part of broadcasts from many parts of the world including London, New York, Los Angeles, San Francisco, Ethiopia, Beijing, Hong Kong, Singapore, the Sudan, India and Alice Springs, while co-hosting 'Breakfast' with Bruce Mansfield and as the audio engineer for fellow broadcaster Derryn Hinch.[6]

James is also an MC and hosts corporate and public events[7] including gatherings of the AFL Collingwood Football Club coterie group, 'The Woodsmen'.[8]

Personal life

James is the son of veteran radio performer, the late Peter James, who worked in radio for around 30 years, including 17 years at 3AW.[9]

Darren James is married to Kathy (Kathryn Hopper James), a former television presenter, and they live in the eastern suburbs of Melbourne. They have two adult children, Michael and Alice. Following in the family tradition, Michael James also works at 3AW, in a production role, with occasional brief on-air snippets.[10][11]

James is a keen photographer and gardener,[12] is interested in aviation and training for his pilots licence.

Interests

Darren is a 'one-eyed' Collingwood Football Club supporter.[13]

gollark: How do I invite people into threads?
gollark: Oh, server-specific.
gollark: Oh, it's... not?
gollark: It seems to be channel-specific though.
gollark: How do I enable threads on another server I administratize?

References
  1. Bruce Mansfield. Australia Day website | Retrieved 15 April 2013 Archived 20 April 2013 at the Wayback Machine
  2. Darren James and Jane Holmes. Talking Television website | Retrieved 1 May 2013
  3. "3AW Weekends. 3AW website | Retrieved 1 May 2013". Archived from the original on 2 May 2013. Retrieved 1 May 2013.
  4. "Breakfast with Darren and Tony. 3AW website | Retrieved 15 April 2013". Archived from the original on 7 October 2013. Retrieved 15 April 2013.
  5. Breakfast a shock to the system. The Age14 December 2006 | Retrieved 15 April 2013
  6. "Gallery: Derryn Hinch at 3AW (click to view photos taken on location by Darren James). 3AW website | Retrieved 15 April 2013". Archived from the original on 7 October 2013. Retrieved 15 April 2013.
  7. "Awards Dinner MC Darren James" (PDF). Printing Industry Victoria. Printing Industries Craftmanship Awards. November 2013. Archived from the original (PDF) on 3 December 2013. Retrieved 30 November 2013.
  8. "The woodsmen coterie. Collingwood website | Retrieved 15 April 2013". Archived from the original on 11 April 2013. Retrieved 15 April 2013.
  9. Vale the veteran, Peter James. radioinfo 7 July 2009 | Retrieved 15 April 2013
  10. In the blood. The Age 5 February 2008 | Retrieved 31 March 2013
  11. The dynasty that’s worked at one Melbourne station for three generations. radioinfo 5 April 2013 | Retrieved 15 April 2013
  12. Big Backyard. 3AW website | Retrieved 5 April 2013
  13. "Grand Final Rundown-Rabid Collingwood Supporter Darren James... 3AW website | Retrieved 1 May 2013". Archived from the original on 7 October 2013. Retrieved 1 May 2013.
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