XLR Radio
In Memoriam — Ben Chester
Founder of Countywide Radio
It is with deep sadness that we have to share the news that the amazing founder of Countywide Radio, Ben, passed away at around 10pm on Thursday 18 June 2026.
Ben was with his best friend, Waron, who had been by his side throughout the last three weeks while Ben was being cared for at Wigan Hospital.
Things had started to look more positive. Ben had suffered triple organ failure, but his heart seemed to be recovering well. Only yesterday, he was his usual chatty self. However, overnight Ben’s condition took a serious turn for the worse, and the medical team made the difficult decision to stop further interventions and focus solely on keeping him comfortable.

As the lights dimmed on the ward, Ben drifted off to sleep and peacefully passed away.
As for Countywide Radio, the Chair of the Management Committee, Mark Jones, along with the rest of the committee, will be meeting in the coming weeks to discuss the future of the station.
Ben personally funded Countywide Radio, and Mark is not currently in a position to continue doing that himself. However, Mark is hopeful that together the team can find a solution and keep Countywide Radio on the air as a lasting tribute to everything Ben built and believed in.

XLR Radio also broadcasts our Breakfast show to Countywide Radio and a number of our presenters have broadcast on Countywide when it was Wigan FM. Our thoughts are with Ben’s family, friends, and everyone whose lives he touched. He will be greatly missed.
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The Chillout Zone

00:00 – 00:59
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Stuart James

Stuart James

Presenter

Show Schedule

Monday
The Golden Jukebox
12:00–13:59

About Stuart James

Stuart is married with a grown-up son and daughter; he lives in East Sussex just outside of Hastings.
His radio career began in 1976 in hospital radio for the Woolwich HospitalsBroadcasting Service. In the same year he went to work, as astudio assistant, for BBC Medway, now called BBC Kent.
In 1979 he joined P&O Cruises as an Entertainment Officer/Disc Jockey, on board SS Oriana and SS Canberra, Whilst overseas, he was offered freelance work in Gibraltar for the British Forces Broadcasting Service. He took up theiroffer and made regular visits to cover for holidays on the late show.
In 1983 he took up the full-time post of Breakfast Show Presenter with the Commercial Radio Station for Ipswich, called Radio Orwell, now called Heart.
At the end of his contract with Orwell, he was offered a full-time freelance position with Radio Wyvern and Radio Tees.
BFBS also offered him the role of Presenter/Producer, which would be a staff post, so in 1985 he joined their biggest radiostation BFBS Germany, first in the regional studios of Berlin, then in Cologne, as the Network Breakfast Show Presenter with a daily audience of 10 million listeners.
After leaving Germany Stuart travelled with BFBS to Gibraltar, Belize, Hong Kong, Paderborn Germany, Brunei, London, Bosnia and Catterick.
During his twelve years with BFBS Stuart held many positions, such as, Presenter, Senior Producer, Music Director,Station Manager, Head of Presentation and Deputy Controller Worldwide Programming BFBS London.

Stuart left BFBS in 1997 as he was very unhappy with the way radio had changed to a computerised music scheduling format with no opportunity to have any musical input in to his show. Stuart went on to work for KFM Tonbridge, European Klassic Rock via Satellite, Sovereign Radio Eastbourne and BBC World Service in Network Operations.
Stuart has also been seen on many tv programmes and films over the years as a walk on. he has appeared in The Bill, EastEnders, Holby, Star Wars, Jack & the Beanstalk and
many others.
Over the last few years Stuart has again been involved in radio, more behind the scenes with various internet radio companies.
But now he is really looking forward to getting back to his first love, presenting. Stuart said “I can’t wait to start broadcasting, picking my own music again and formatting the show, just like radio used to be. It’s going to be great” You can find out how ‘The Golden Jukebox’ project came to be by visiting his website
www.thegoldenjukebox.com