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May 6, 2008

James Whale sacked for urging listeners to back Boris

TalkSport presenter James Whale has been sacked for urging listeners to vote for Boris Johnson in the London mayoral elections.

The veteran host, who has been presenting the show since it began in 1995, was found to be in breach of Ofcom regulations after a number of complaints were received during his show on 20 March.

TalkSport owner UTV conducted an internal investigation and sacked Whale before Ofcom had finished its own investigation.

UTV described the incident as “very unfortunate”.

The station said in a statement: “We have investigated the matter and after serious consideration, the station reached the decision that there was a clear breach of the rules and that we had no choice but to terminate his contract. James Whale is guilty of a gross error of judgment which we found to be totally unacceptable.”

In a statement on his website, Whale described the recent events as “somewhat unplanned, to say the least”.

Max Rushden has temporarily replaced Whale while the station looks for a permanent replacement. The Ofcom investigation is still open.

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