Jo Whiley facts for kids
Quick facts for kids
Jo Whiley
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Whiley hosting a performance at BBC's Broadcasting House in 2021
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| Born |
Johanne Whiley
4 July 1965 Northampton, Northamptonshire, England
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| Spouse(s) |
Steve Morton
(m. 1991) |
| Children | 4 |
| Parent(s) | Martin Whiley (father), Christine Whiley (mother) |
| Career | |
| Station(s) | BBC Radio 2 |
| Time slot | 19:00–21:00 Monday to Thursday |
| Style | DJ |
| Country | United Kingdom |
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Johanne Whiley-Morton (born 4 July 1965), known as Jo Whiley, is an English radio DJ and TV presenter. She hosted The Jo Whiley Show on BBC Radio 1 for many years. Later, she started presenting her weekday evening show on BBC Radio 2. Jo Whiley is also a main presenter for the BBC's coverage of the Glastonbury Festival.
Contents
Early Life and Education
Jo Whiley was born in Northampton, England. Her father, Martin, was an electrician, and her mother, Christine, was a postmistress. Jo went to Campion School near Northampton. After school, she studied languages at Brighton Polytechnic. She was also a competitive swimmer for Northamptonshire.
Career Journey
Starting in Radio and TV
In her last year of university, Jo Whiley was not sure what job she wanted. A teacher suggested she try working at BBC Radio Sussex. She got a job on a show called Turn It Up. This show let anyone get on the radio. Jo's job was to go to music shows and interview musicians.
After a year, Jo went to City University London to study radio journalism. She wrote many letters and got a job as a researcher for WPFM. This was a BBC Radio 4 show about youth culture and music. When the presenters left, Jo took over and became a presenter herself.
She then moved into television. First, she worked at British Satellite Broadcasting. There, she produced and presented a show about indie music. Next, she worked at Channel 4 as a researcher for The Word.
Time at BBC Radio 1
Jo Whiley joined BBC Radio 1 in September 1993. She worked there until March 2011. This was a very popular time for Britpop music, with bands like Blur and Oasis. She hosted a weekday evening show called The Evening Session with Steve Lamacq. This show focused on music that was not mainstream dance music. In late 1995, Jo Whiley started presenting her own show on Saturday afternoons.
From 1995 to 1998, Jo was a regular guest presenter on Top of the Pops. She first presented with Steve Lamacq. Later, she presented alone or with Zoe Ball and Jayne Middlemiss. These three women were known as the '90s girls' on the Top of the Pops website. They presented almost every show in 1997. On 24 November 2002, Jo Whiley became the first female presenter of the Radio 1 Chart Show.
In July 2009, Jo Whiley released her autobiography. It was called My World in Motion and was available on CD.
The Jo Whiley Show on Radio 1
From February 1997, Jo Whiley had a weekday lunchtime show. It was first called The Jo Whiley Show and later The Lunchtime Social. This show included parts of her evening show, like tour dates and live music sessions. These sessions took place at Maida Vale Studios.
In February 2001, Simon Mayo left BBC Radio 1. Jo Whiley's show then moved to a mid-morning time slot. In July 2008, the BBC took action regarding an incident on The Jo Whiley Show. A BBC staff member pretended to be a member of the public in a competition. The BBC stated that Jo Whiley did not know about this at the time.
Jo Whiley's weekday show on Radio 1 ended in September 2009. This was part of a big change to Radio 1's weekday schedule. Her last weekday show was on 18 September 2009. After that, The Jo Whiley Show moved to weekends, from 1 pm to 4 pm. It still had Live Lounge performances from visiting artists. Her last show on BBC Radio 1 was on 27 March 2011.
Moving to BBC Radio 2
Since August 2009, Jo Whiley has sometimes filled in for Claudia Winkleman on BBC Radio 2. She first appeared on the network on 21 August 2009. She also made other appearances later that year.
In March 2010, it was announced that Jo Whiley and Steve Lamacq would present a special Evening Session. This was the first one in 13 years. It aired on Good Friday (2 April) for BBC Radio 6 Music. They presented another Evening Session on 28 January 2011. After filling in, Jo Whiley started presenting In Concert on Thursday evenings in April 2010.
On 1 February 2011, it was announced that Jo Whiley would leave BBC Radio 1. She had been there for 17 years. She joined BBC Radio 2 to present an evening show from Mondays to Thursdays. This started on 4 April 2011. Since 2011, she has also co-hosted Radio 2 Live in Hyde Park.
In March 2012, the BBC announced a celebration of Britpop's 20th anniversary. As part of this, Whiley and Lamacq presented a week of Evening Sessions on Radio 2. In January 2018, Jo Whiley joined Simon Mayo for a drivetime show on Radio 2. This was the first time a woman had co-presented a Radio 2 daytime show in 20 years. However, in October that year, Simon Mayo left Radio 2. Jo Whiley then moved back to an evening slot.
Television Work
Jo Whiley presents TV coverage of big music festivals, like the Glastonbury Festival. She also narrated the BBC Three series Little Angels. In October 2007, she became a judge on the T4 (Channel 4) show Orange unsignedAct. This show looked for a band trying to get a record deal. Jo Whiley also hosted a music TV show on the channel TMF. From late 1998, she hosted her own music discussion show on Channel 4. It was called The Jo Whiley Show and ran for four series until late 2001.
On 15 March 2010, Jo Whiley presented an episode of the Panorama documentary series. It was called Are the Net Police Coming for You?. In this show, she looked at a new law called the Digital Economy Bill. This law aimed to stop people from downloading music illegally from the internet.
In 2014, Jo Whiley was a contestant on a special episode of Swashbuckle. This was for Children in Need, and she appeared with her daughter Coco. In July 2021, Jo Whiley was a co-presenter for the BBC's coverage of the Hampton Court Garden Festival. In 2022, The Killers' singer, Brandon Flowers, dedicated a song to her. He said she had always supported their band.
Personal Life
Jo Whiley married music executive Steve Morton in July 1991 in Northampton. They live in Towcester, Northamptonshire. They have four children together. In October 2014, she received a BASCA Gold Badge award. Jo Whiley is a pescetarian, meaning she eats fish but not other meat.
In February 2021, Jo Whiley's sister, Frances, was in the hospital. Frances has learning difficulties and diabetes. She also has Cri du chat genetic syndrome. Jo Whiley spoke publicly to ask for people like her sister to get the COVID-19 vaccine sooner. She repeated this request on BBC's The Andrew Marr Show on 21 February 2021. On 24 February, the government announced that everyone with a registered learning disability would be a priority for a COVID-19 vaccine.
Charity Work
Since 2021, Jo Whiley has been a patron of Sibs. This charity helps the brothers and sisters of disabled children and adults. She is also an ambassador for Mencap. Mencap is a UK charity that supports people with learning disabilities. Jo hosts the Little Noise Sessions concert to raise money for Mencap. She also supports Tommy's – The Baby Charity. Jo Whiley is the patron of the cri du chat syndrome support group.
On 19 March 2014, Jo Whiley took on a challenge for Sport Relief. She walked, jogged, and ran on a treadmill for 26 hours. She had a five-minute rest break each hour. She did this to raise money for the Sport Relief appeal that week. While doing the challenge, she also hosted two radio shows. The band Coldplay was impressed by her achievement. They donated £260,000 to Sport Relief.
