Table Of ContentPersonality Presenters
Television’s Intermediaries with Viewers
Frances Bonner
personality presenters
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personality presenters
television’s intermediaries with Viewers
FranCes Bonner
University of Queensland, Australia
© Frances Bonner 2011
all rights reserved. no part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval
system or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying,
recording or otherwise without the prior permission of the publisher.
Frances Bonner has asserted her right under the Copyright, Designs and patents act,
1988, to be identifed as the author of this work.
published by
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British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data
Bonner, Frances.
personality presenters : television’s intermediaries with
viewers.
1. television personalities. 2. television viewers.
3. television--social aspects.
i. title
302.2'345-dc22
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Bonner, Frances.
personality presenters : television’s intermediaries with viewers / by Frances Bonner.
p. cm.
includes bibliographical references and index.
ISBN 978-0-7546-7654-6 (hbk) -- ISBN 978-1-4094-2503-8 (ebk)
1. television programs--Great Britain. 2. television personalities--Great Britain.
3. television programs--United states. 4. television personalities--United states. 5.
television programs--australia. 6. television personalities--australia. i. title.
pn1992.3.G7B644 2011
791.4502'80922--dc22
20010049360
ISBN 9780754676546 (hbk)
ISBN 9781409425038 (ebk)
V
printed and bound in Great Britain by the
MPG Books Group Ltd
Contents
Acknowledgements vii
Part I the PeoPle Who lead Programmes
1 Introduction 3
2 What Do Presenters Do? 13
3 Where Do Presenters Come From? 33
4 What Makes a Successful Presenter? 55
5 Presenters and Celebrity 75
Part II the Content of PresentatIon
6 Discourses of Sobriety, Maybe 99
7 Opportunity Knocks 115
8 Instruction, Information and Infotainment 133
9 Ethical Lives 155
10 Conclusion 177
References 181
Index 191
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Acknowledgements
The project to rectify the gap in the scholarly investigation of television
presenting that I identifed when writing Ordinary Television has been a major
theme of my research for the last eight years. During this time a large number of
individuals have contributed in various ways to the project in private and public
conversations, responses to seminar and conference papers and anonymously
referring publications. In getting started, I was helped immensely by a grant
from the Australian Research Council for the project ‘Television Presenters as
Cultural Intermediaries’, but many organizations and individuals have helped
since. The Cultural Research Network (also ARC funded) and especially its
Media History Node was particularly valuable. Staff at the National Film and
Sound Archives and at the ABC Archives helped, especially in my studies
on Graham Kerr, Maggie Tabberer and Peter Wherrett. The University of
Queensland Television Research Group was a fne site for discussion of some
of this material and brought together several of my closest and most valued
colleagues from both my own School, English, Media Studies and Art History
(EMSAH), and the Centre for Critical and Cultural Studies, in particular Mark
Andrejevic, Lisa Bode, Jason Jacobs, Tom O’Regan and Graeme Turner. At the
very end the newly established Media Transformations Research Group helped
fesh out a resistant section.
Other members of EMSAH who helped at various stages were David Carter,
Stuart Glover, Sandra Gough, Ros Gresshof, Melissa Harper, Beck Hurst, Tim
Keenan, Susan McKay, Vicki McNicol, Fiona Nicoll, Kate Nuttall, Cathy
Squirrell and Angela Tuohy, as elsewhere at UQ did Ben Goldsmith and Abigail
Loxham.
Many research assistants helped gather and organise the daunting amounts of
information available on popular media fgures and on television schedules. My
thanks for this go to Eleanor Cappa, Adam Dodd, John Gunders, Deb Thomas
and Matthew Willmett. RHD students past and present not mentioned elsewhere
who were always willing to chat about their television viewing include Kirsty
Leishman, Andrea Mitchell, Deb Steele, Elizabeth Tomlinson, and Kate Warner.
The women I interviewed for their opinions on Top Gear must remain anonymous,
but I appreciate their comments still, and they aided my understandings well
beyond that show.
Elsewhere in Australia, Graeme Blundell, Jason Bainbridge, Susan Bye, Jackie
Cook, Bridget Griffn-Foley, Melissa Gregg, Chris Healy, Susan Luckman, David
Marshall, Alan McKee, Guy Redden, Zoe Soufoulis, and Sue Turnbull all helped
in various ways. Offshore, Charlotte Brunsdon, Stella Bruzzi, Julia Hallam, Karen
viii Personality Presenters
Lury, Brett Mills, Nickianne Moody, Joe Moran, Rachel Moseley, Dana Polan, Bev
Skeggs, Helen Wheatley and Helen Wood contributed broadly or to a particular
section.
For sustaining my spirits during the long process of fghting the data into a
shape that could be made public and putting up with my obsessions, I want to thank
Paul du Gay, Jessica Evans, Henrietta Lidchi, Veronica Kelly, Bronwen Levy,
Margaret Marshment, Michele Pierson, Barbara Sullivan and Joanne Tompkins,
not to mention many of those thanked earlier.
Errors and idiosyncratic judgements are all my own.
Frances Bonner
Part I
the People Who Lead Programmes
