Justin Wilcomes (born April 16, 1979), also known as Drex, is an

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country comprising mainland Australia, the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania and list of islands of Australia, numerous smaller isl ...

n radio host currently working in

Canada Canada is a country in North America. Its Provinces and territories of Canada, ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, making it the world's List of coun ...

Early career

Originally from the Sunshine Coast Region in

Queensland Queensland ( , commonly abbreviated as Qld) is a States and territories of Australia, state in northeastern Australia, and is the second-largest and third-most populous state in Australia. It is bordered by the Northern Territory, South Austr ...

, he began his career in Australian

community radio Community radio is a radio service offering a third model of radio broadcasting in addition to commercial broadcasting, commercial and public broadcasting. Community broadcasting, Community stations serve geographic communities and communities o ...

before joining

Triple J Triple J is an Australian government-funded national radio station founded in 1975 as a division of the Australian Broadcasting Corporation (ABC). It aims to appeal to young listeners of alternative music, and plays far more Australian conten ...

in 1995.David Rogerson
"Australians making it overseas – Justin Drex Wilcomes"
''Radio Info'', June 1, 2024. He remained with Triple J until 2001, and then worked for other Australian commercial radio stations until moving to

British Columbia British Columbia is the westernmost Provinces and territories of Canada, province of Canada. Situated in the Pacific Northwest between the Pacific Ocean and the Rocky Mountains, the province has a diverse geography, with rugged landscapes that ...

in 2009.

Canada

His style, which has sometimes been compared to a more

centrist Centrism is the range of political ideologies that exist between left-wing politics and right-wing politics on the left–right political spectrum. It is associated with moderate politics, including people who strongly support moderate policie ...

or progressive version of in-your-face

shock jock A shock jock is a radio broadcaster or DJ who entertains listeners and attracts attention using humor or melodramatic exaggeration that may offend some portion of the listening audience. The term is used pejoratively to describe provocative or ...

s such as Stan Zemanek or

Howard Stern Howard Allan Stern (born January 12, 1954) is an American broadcaster and media personality. He is best known for his radio show, ''The Howard Stern Show'', which gained popularity when it was nationally syndicated on terrestrial radio from 1 ...

,Charlie Smith
"Don't be surprised if Justin "Drex" Wilcomes brings a bit of Howard Stern to CKNW Radio"
''

The Georgia Straight ''The Georgia Straight'' is a free Canadian weekly news and entertainment newspaper published in Vancouver, British Columbia, by Overstory Media Group. Often known simply as ''The Straight'', it is delivered to newsboxes, post-secondary schools ...

'', August 17, 2014. became national news in December 2012 when, in an interview with British Columbia premier

Christy Clark Christina Joan Clark (born October 29, 1965) is a Canadian politician who served as the 35th premier of British Columbia from 2011 to 2017. Clark was the second woman to be premier of BC, after Rita Johnston in 1991, and the first female premi ...

on CFCP-FM, he asked her a listener-submitted question about how she felt about being labelled a MILF.Rob Shaw
"DJ who asked premier her thoughts on being a “MILF” is fired by Courtenay radio station"
''

Victoria Times-Colonist The ''Times Colonist'' is an English-language daily newspaper in Victoria, British Columbia, Canada. It was formed by the September 2, 1980 merger of the ''Victoria Daily Times'', established in 1884, and the ''British Colonist'' (later the ' ...

'', January 10, 2013. Following some controversy about the question, the station fired him in January 2013, although even Clark herself considered the controversy to be overblown, and he was offered a new job at

CFOX-FM CFOX-FM (identified on air and in print as ''CFOX'') is a Canadian radio station in Vancouver, British Columbia. It broadcasts on an assigned frequency of 99.3 MHz on the FM band with an effective radiated power of 100,000 watts (peak). Th ...

the very next day. In 2014 he moved to sister station

CKNW CKNW (730 AM) is a commercial radio station in Vancouver, British Columbia. Owned by Corus Entertainment, it broadcasts a talk radio format. Its offices and studios are in the TD Tower in Downtown Vancouver. CKNW is powered at 50,000 watts, ...

, hosting an evening

talk show A talk show is a television programming, radio programming or podcast genre structured around the act of spontaneous conversation.Bernard M. Timberg, Robert J. Erler'' (2010Television Talk: A History of the TV Talk Show', pp.3-4Erler, Robert (201 ...

for the station. In 2018 this show was expanded into ''The Shift with Drex'', airing on many of

Corus Radio This is a list of assets owned by Corus Entertainment, a Canadian multimedia broadcasting company. Approximately 80% of the voting control in Corus is held by the family of JR Shaw. The same family also owned about 80% of the voting rights in S ...

's talk stations across the country including CKNW, CHQR Calgary, CHED Edmonton, CJOB Winnipeg, CFMJ Toronto, CHML Hamilton and CFPL London. He left the show in June 2020 to pursue other opportunities, and joined CJAX-FM in Vancouver as its new morning host in December. In fall 2022 he had to take several weeks off from CJAX after suffering a

heart attack A myocardial infarction (MI), commonly known as a heart attack, occurs when Ischemia, blood flow decreases or stops in one of the coronary arteries of the heart, causing infarction (tissue death) to the heart muscle. The most common symptom ...

and undergoing surgery.Cheryl Chan
"Vancouver radio host Drex off the air until 2023 after heart attack"
''

Vancouver Sun The ''Vancouver Sun'', also known as the ''Sun'', is a daily broadsheet newspaper based in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada. The newspaper is currently published by the Pacific Newspaper Group, a division of Postmedia Network, and is the larg ...

'', November 22, 2022. but was back on air by spring 2023. His Jack FM show was cancelled in April 2024, and he was subsequently heard as a temporary fill-in host on Toronto stations CFIQ and Indie 88 in fall 2024. In February 2025, Corus announced that ''The Drex Show'' will be added to the lineups of its Edge-branded

modern rock Modern rock is an umbrella term used to describe rock music that is found on college and commercial rock radio stations. Some radio stations use this term to distinguish themselves from classic rock, which is based in 1960s–1980s rock music. ...

radio stations,

CFNY-FM CFNY-FM (102.1 Hertz, MHz, "102.1 The Edge") is a radio station city of license, licensed to Brampton, Ontario. Owned by Corus Entertainment, the station broadcasts a modern rock format serving the Greater Toronto Area. Its studios are in Downtow ...

Toronto Toronto ( , locally pronounced or ) is the List of the largest municipalities in Canada by population, most populous city in Canada. It is the capital city of the Provinces and territories of Canada, Canadian province of Ontario. With a p ...

and CFGQ-FM in

Calgary Calgary () is a major city in the Canadian province of Alberta. As of 2021, the city proper had a population of 1,306,784 and a metropolitan population of 1,481,806 making it the third-largest city and fifth-largest metropolitan area in C ...

, beginning March 3.Connie Thiessen
"The Drex Show joins the Edge lineup in Calgary, Toronto"
''Broadcast Dialogue'', February 27, 2025.

Personal life

Wilcomes, who is gay, married massage therapist Otto Chan in 2022, and has since sometimes gone by the names Justin Wilcomes-Chan or Drex Chan.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Wilcomes, Justin 1979 births Living people 20th-century Australian LGBTQ people 21st-century Australian LGBTQ people 21st-century Canadian LGBTQ people Australian radio presenters Australian LGBTQ broadcasters Australian emigrants to Canada Canadian talk radio hosts Canadian LGBTQ broadcasters People from the Sunshine Coast, Queensland Shock jocks Triple J announcers