Shelagh Fogerty, who presents Five Live's Breakfast show with Nicky Campbell, is a brilliant broadcaster. She's bright, well-informed, capable of hitting the humorous note and a terrific interviewer. She's not the only one on Five Live. The place is full of immensely talented people, many of them women. You wouldn't bat an eye if you passed any of them in the street. That doesn't have any effect on their ability to do their jobs. It's radio. But now we read Shelagh's taking a break and being replaced by Gabby Logan. Gabby Logan is a TV sports anchor, recently "poached" or "wooed" or brought over from ITV via some similarly meaningless verb, pictured above. Now call me a cynic....
Thursday, February 01, 2007
Is it just me?
Shelagh Fogerty, who presents Five Live's Breakfast show with Nicky Campbell, is a brilliant broadcaster. She's bright, well-informed, capable of hitting the humorous note and a terrific interviewer. She's not the only one on Five Live. The place is full of immensely talented people, many of them women. You wouldn't bat an eye if you passed any of them in the street. That doesn't have any effect on their ability to do their jobs. It's radio. But now we read Shelagh's taking a break and being replaced by Gabby Logan. Gabby Logan is a TV sports anchor, recently "poached" or "wooed" or brought over from ITV via some similarly meaningless verb, pictured above. Now call me a cynic....
Apart from the obvious visual appeal I have never got Gabby Logan as she comes across as bland and uninvolving, a female Steve Rider. BBC radios insistence on drafting in celebrities into shows is annoying, see Russel Brand and half the presenters on radio 6, which seems to act as common room for bored 20's something comics.
ReplyDeleteChris
I don't mind her on TV because she twinkles and TV loves twinkle. One of the many lessons I learned from watching The West Wing was from the girl who coached Toby Ziegler to do the press briefings. "You have a watchable quality," she says, giving voice to a profound truth about how different media work. When you're on TV nobody's actually listening to what you're saying. They're just running their eyes over every inch of you. But radio's a different thing. You would have thought the BBC would know this.
ReplyDeleteI hope that photo was taken BEFORE she had twins, rather than after. Otherwise my wife will be sticking pins in a Gabby doll.
ReplyDeleteI have to agree - nothing against her, but I can't remember her ever being insightful or particularly good on ITV. Nothing that make me think she will thrive on Five Live. And you do need a strong personality to control Nicky Campbell.