Following BBC Radio Sussex, she left for London to undertake a one-year journalism course. With passion and tenacity, she set out to get her foot in the radio door, and she got a job as a researcher on WPFM, a youth culture and music show on BBC Radio 4. When the presenters left, she stepped in, landing her first presenter role. She moved into TV at BSB, producing and producing an indie show, then onto Channel 4, where she was a researcher on The Word.
Radio was calling her though and she moved back to the BBC – Radio 1 to present her own show from 1993 to 2011. She fronted an evening show called The Evening Session with Steve Lamacq which featured less-mainstream, non-dance music. Whiley presented her show on Saturday afternoon in late. 1995 to 1998 she was still appearing on TV as a regular presenter on Top Of The Pops. On 24 November 2002, a new media milestone, Whiley became the first female presenter of the BBC Radio 1 Chart Show. In July 2009, she published her autobiography My World in Motion, through Random House, on CD/audiobook. From February 1997, she presented the weekday lunchtime show The Jo Whiley Show and later The Lunchtime Social. 2011 heralded the move for The Jo Whiley Show over to Radio 2 following a station-wide re-jig.
In 2018 undeserved criticism reared its ugly head when she and Simon Mayo co-hosted the drivetime show – the first time a woman had presented a Radio 2 daytime show for a couple of decades. She has said that she was struggling with perimenopause in that year “It all came at a time when I was most worried about brain fog I felt I couldn’t do the Drivetime show with such a lot of pressure and things to remember”. She has become a trailblazer for the cause of perimenopause and menopause alongside Davina McCall whom she praised saying: “When I was going through it, I think the conversation wasn’t being had that vocally, like it wasn’t on social media with Davina and her campaign. I really lost myself.”
She doesn’t refrain from standing up to other issues that affect herself and others. During the coronavirus outbreak in 2021, Whiley campaigned for those like her sister Frances, who has the genetic syndrome cri du chat to receive priority in the COVID-19 vaccination roll-out. On 24 February the government announced that everyone with a registered learning disability would be prioritised for a COVID-19 vaccine.
She also champions the charities Sibs, Mencap and Tommy’s. Following her Sport Relief challenge, in which she walked, jogged and ran on a treadmill for 26 hours, with a five-minute rest break each hour whilst also hosting radio shows members of Coldplay donated £260,000 after being so impressed by her endeavours. She’s also been the lead presenter on the BBC’s Glastonbury coverage as well as a slew of TV entertainment and documentary shows.
In 2022, The Killers’ Brandon Flowers dedicated a performance of their song Pressure Machine to her saying “She’s always sorta championed us … she’s said some wonderful things about this song and she’s requested it tonight”. Back to the present day and after selling Concorde 2 out in January 2024 Jo Whiley will be bringing her 90s Anthems back to the C2 stage!
Whiley is quite simply the ultimate authority on British music – and the voice and face of a generation is headed your way with a dazzling new show as she rummages through her record bag to dig out the very best of 90s Anthems. No one knows the 90s like Jo – she was right there in the thick of it, leading the charge as Britpop blew up, dance music exploded and indie went wild.
Now you can relive those magical memories on a dancefloor once again… from Oasis to Blur, the aforementioned Chemical Brothers to The Prodigy, let Jo take you on a personal tour of her finest musical memories of the decade that defined them all. She’ll be bringing you all the best tracks from her personal collection. She’ll take you on a journey through music history because she was there sharing the studio and stage with the greatest acts of the decade. Get down to Concorde 2 to celebrate the 90s and this remarkable radio queen. Saturday, 25th January 9:30 pm – 11:00 pm.
