Gary Burgess

Did You Know?

• Gary married his long-term partner Alan Stirling in 2018, becoming the first same-sex couple in Jersey to convert a civil partnership to a marriage after the island legalised same-sex marriage.
• They had held an unofficial wedding ceremony in March, before the law came into effect.

Early life and education

Gary Burgess came into the world on 13 November 1975 in Bury, Greater Manchester. When he was six, his father's job prompted a family move to South Africa. Four years later, he returned to England, settling in Blackpool with his grandparents. At Montgomery High School, he got involved with the student radio station MHR. There, he hosted a golden oldies show at seven in the morning, a pop programme at lunchtime, and a short news bulletin. These experiences sparked his ambition to work in media.

Career

Gary Burgess got his start in radio at 17, right after leaving school. In 1992, his first job was making tea for the overnight show at Blackpool's new Radio Wave 96.5, working from 1 a.m. to 7 a.m., then heading to a call centre during the day. Still 17, he landed his own show. A few years on, he moved into the newsroom as a journalist, later hosting the afternoon and breakfast shows, and eventually becoming programme controller. He set a world record for the longest breakfast show, broadcasting for 76 hours and raising tens of thousands of pounds for a local cancer facility. His career also took him to Wire FM in Warrington, Q96 in Renfrewshire, Liverpool's Juice FM, and a role as group programme controller for UTV's northern England stations.

He first came to the Channel Islands in 2003, joining Guernsey's only commercial station, Island FM, as breakfast presenter and programme director, having instantly fallen for the island. He returned to Guernsey in January 2008 with no job lined up, but within weeks was covering the afternoon show at BBC Radio Guernsey, and within a month became their breakfast host. In 2011, he moved to ITV Channel Television's Guernsey office, then to their Jersey office in March 2012, where he started producing the nightly 6pm news programme. He was a finalist in the Royal Television Society Southern Awards in 2021. He went back to commercial radio in 2018, joining the presenting team at Channel 103, and also wrote regular columns for the Jersey Evening Post. On 23 September 2021, he was named Community Champion of the Year at the Pride of Jersey Awards for his journalistic work during the COVID-19 pandemic in Jersey.

Illness and death

Gary Burgess was 23 when doctors found testicular cancer in 1999. The disease had already spread to his chest and lungs, and he underwent three months of chemotherapy. After a long remission, the cancer returned to his lungs in 2014, leading to surgery the following year that removed parts of his right lung. In August 2016, he had another operation to cut out cancerous tissue located between his heart and windpipe. Later that same year, he started experiencing exhaustion, brain fog, headaches, and nausea. By January 2017, he was signed off work for 18 months and eventually diagnosed with myalgic encephalomyelitis, or chronic fatigue syndrome. He began a blog to document life with the condition and admitted to having suicidal thoughts. In October 2019, a CT scan revealed five inoperable tumours between his lungs and around his trachea and oesophagus, requiring salvage therapy. On 3 November 2020, during the COVID-19 pandemic, his oncology consultant in Southampton told him over a video call that his cancer was terminal, with no treatment available, and that he had six to twelve months to live. He retired from broadcasting in August 2021. Shortly after his final ITV report and radio show, Jersey's Bailiff, Timothy Le Cocq, awarded him a Silver Seal for his contribution to island life. Burgess had been open about his cancer through a blog, newspaper articles, and TV interviews, and worked to break the taboo around death. He died from cancer on 1 January 2022 at Jersey Hospice Care, aged 46.

Legacy

To honor Gary Burgess, the Pride of Jersey award was established and given each year to someone who “selflessly stepped up to support islanders and bring people together.” The first recipient, in 2022, was Ben Mason, who fundraised after his 14-year-old sister’s suicide. The 2023 award went posthumously to Dean Lowe, an inclusion advocate and disability champion. Also in 2023, the prize was awarded posthumously to Simon Boas, a humanitarian whose writings after his terminal diagnosis became a book.