Earlier this year Jim White was at Wembley working as a host for the Football League at the Carabao Cup final between Manchester United and Newcastle. United owner Avram Glazer entered the room and a familiar instinct kicked in.
‘I just desperately wanted to get my phone out and get some quotes from him,’ recalls White. ‘The next day I could have had: “This morning on talkSPORT, a world exclusive: Avram Glazer speaks to us. Avram are you in the last days of your ownership?”
‘But I was there for the EFL. So I couldn’t. It wouldn’t have been right. But then part of me thinks it would have been worth getting thrown out for.’
White, 66, was for years the face of Sky Sports News, a crackling ball of energy and insight synonymous with transfer deadline day and that bright yellow tie that came with it.
For a while he tried combining that with a late morning show on talkSPORT but the experiment landed him in hospital.
Jim White (above) is riding high with his weekday show on talkSPORT with Simon Jordan
White is an old school reporter at heart, brought up on local papers in Scotland
‘Having two jobs was killing me,’ he reveals. ‘I ended up badly ill with a kidney problem.’
So now it’s radio only for White. Every weekday between 10am and 1pm with Simon Jordan. But that tells only half of the story of this charismatic and fascinating man.
For White is a reporter at heart. Old school. Brought up on local papers in Scotland, his first big scoops when he eventually graduated to television were interviews with Mick Jagger, David Bowie and the ballet star Rudolf Nureyev.
‘I am a reporter who happens to present a show,’ he explains. ‘I’ve been in a studio with a shirt and tie on quite a lot. Scotsport, Sky. But the best times I have had were when I have been out there running riot, going after people.
‘They either speak to you or they don’t. That’s the biggest adrenaline rush in the business, especially when you walk away from someone and you’ve got it. It’s a different discipline from presenting but it gets me more, yeah. And over the years I have really had to work on it.
‘Someone at Sky said to me once, “You are one of the best I have ever met at getting into position and getting big names… and then asking them f*** all”.
‘That made me realise it’s one thing getting into positions but if you then don’t execute the questions then…