James White (born 12 July 1957) is a Scottish radio and

television presenter A television presenter (or television host, some become a "television personality") is a person who introduces or hosts television show, television programs, often serving as a mediator for the program and the audience. It is common for people ...

. He currently co-presents the weekday mid-morning sports programme ''White and Jordan'' on

talkSPORT Talksport (styled as talkSPORT) is a sports radio station in the United Kingdom and Republic of Ireland, owned by News Broadcasting. Its content includes live coverage of sporting events, interviews with the leading names in sport and entertai ...

, alongside businessman and media personality

Simon Jordan Simon Jordan (born 24 September 1967) is an English businessman and media personality. He is the former chairman of Crystal Palace Football Club, and is currently a co-presenter on the weekday mid-morning sports programme Talksport, ''White an ...

. White is also known for his work with previous employer,

Sky Sports Sky Sports is a group of British broadcasting of sports events, subscription sports channels operated by the satellite television, satellite pay television company Sky Group (a division of Comcast), and is the dominant subscription television ...

Early life

White was born on in

Glasgow Glasgow is the Cities of Scotland, most populous city in Scotland, located on the banks of the River Clyde in Strathclyde, west central Scotland. It is the List of cities in the United Kingdom, third-most-populous city in the United Kingdom ...

, Scotland. After completing a pre-entry

journalist A journalist is a person who gathers information in the form of text, audio or pictures, processes it into a newsworthy form and disseminates it to the public. This is called journalism. Roles Journalists can work in broadcast, print, advertis ...

course at Napier College in

Edinburgh Edinburgh is the capital city of Scotland and one of its 32 Council areas of Scotland, council areas. The city is located in southeast Scotland and is bounded to the north by the Firth of Forth and to the south by the Pentland Hills. Edinburgh ...

, White began his media career with Scottish & Universal Newspapers in 1974.

Broadcasting career

Television

In 1979, White moved into television as an entertainment reporter on STV's flagship ''

Scotland Today ''Scotland Today'' was a Scottish regional news programme covering Central Scotland, produced by STV Central (formerly Scottish Television). Despite its name suggesting a national remit, the programme was actually limited to stories around STV's C ...

'' news programme. In 1986, he was appointed sports reporter and one of his first assignments was to travel with the Scotland team to the World Cup Finals in Mexico. In 1988, he became the main host of ''

Scotsport ''Scotsport'' is a Scotland, Scottish sports television programme, broadcast on STV (TV channel), STV in northern and central Scotland between 1957 and 2008, as well as on ITV Border in southern Scotland. It was first broadcast in 1957 as ''S ...

''. In 1990 White presented coverage of Scotland's campaign in the

World Cup A world cup is a global sporting competition in which the participant entities – usually international teams or individuals representing their countries – compete for the title of world champion. The event most associated with the name is ...

and in 1991 he was part of the team that won a

Scottish BAFTA BAFTA in Scotland is the Scottish branch of the British Academy of Film and Television Arts. Formed in 1986, the branch holds two annual awards ceremonies recognising the achievement by performers and production staff in Scottish film, televis ...

. White became presenter of STV's ''

'' in 1989, succeeding

Arthur Montford Arthur Montford (25 May 1929 – 26 November 2014) was a Scottish Television sports journalist, best known for his 32-year tenure as the presenter of Scottish Television's '' Scotsport''. Although he was most associated with football, he covere ...

. He also presented its spinoff show ''Scotsport Extra Time''. White joined Sky Sports in 1998. In June 2003 he travelled to Senegal with

Arsenal An arsenal is a place where arms and ammunition are made, maintained and repaired, stored, or issued, in any combination, whether privately or publicly owned. Arsenal and armoury (British English) or armory (American English) are mostly ...

captain

Patrick Vieira Patrick Paul Vieira (; born 23 June 1976) is a French professional association football, football manager and former player who is the head coach of Serie A club Genoa CFC, Genoa. He was named in the FIFA 100 of the greatest living footballers i ...

to report on Vieira's Diambers charity. He is especially known for his round-the-clock presenting marathon on

transfer deadline day In association football, a transfer window is the period during the year in which a club can add players to their squad who were previously under contract with another club. Such a transfer is completed by registering the player into the new clu ...

. In August 2019, White was criticised for his reporting style of the news that

Bury FC Bury Football Club is an English association football club based in Bury, Greater Manchester. It most recently played in the Premier Division of the North West Counties League, the ninth tier of the English football pyramid, following a 2023 m ...

had been expelled from the EFL. He was seen reporting for Sky Sports in front of a countdown clock. In June 2021, Sky Sports announced that White was leaving the channel after 23 years as a presenter.

Radio

In September 2016, White took over

Talksport Talksport (styled as talkSPORT) is a sports radio station in the United Kingdom and Republic of Ireland, owned by News Broadcasting. Its content includes live coverage of sporting events, interviews with the leading names in sport and entertai ...

's morning programme from

Colin Murray Colin Murray (born Colin Wright on 10 March 1977) is a Northern Irish radio and television presenter. He has hosted the Channel 4 game show '' Countdown'' since 2022. Born and raised in Dundonald, east of Belfast, Murray first trained and wor ...

Personal life

White was fined £750 and banned from driving for a year in 2005 after refusing a breath test. In 2010 he was stopped from boarding a British Airways flight due to being drunk. In October 2021, he stated on his TalkSport radio programme that he had been sober for 10 years.

References

Scottish television presenters Living people Anglo-Scots Sky Sports presenters and reporters 1957 births {{scotland-footy-bio-stub