'At what age did you decide you wanted to be a presenter and why?'

 

'I never really wanted to be a presenter funnily enough. I was a journalist and I decided that I wanted to be a journalist when I was at school. I think it was around about the 5th form. So I knew that I wanted to write particularly and I hadn’t really thought about broadcasting terribly much. I just particularly wanted to write for a woman’s magazine called Thursday, which was a kind of thinking woman’s magazine back in the day a bit of a current affairs magazine for woman.'

 

 

 

'Was being a presenter your first choice of career?'

 

'It was journalism, so journalism was really my first choice of career other than wanting to be an astronaut when I was very little!'

 

 

 

'Who has been your greatest influence professionally on your presenting career and why?'

 

'On my presenting career, there are three people that I would probably mention the first is: Dougal Stevenson who was a news reader back in the 70s and I admired him tremendously because he was such a great communicator, he was very articulate but also extraordinarily warm in his delivery and really was able to connect with the audience. Also both my co-hosts, I worked for a long time with John Hawkesby who is a terrific presenter very skilled and very quick on his feet and he gave me an enormous amount of confidence I think because I am not naturally an out there sort of person, and Richard Long also for a number of years I completely lost count of the number of years but he is an extraordinarily fine journalist very rigorous in his approach to stories and a great writer. So I learnt a lot from both of them.'

 

 

 

'How important have your friends and family been in terms of realising your dreams?'

 

'My friends and family have been extraordinarily supportive of me over the years I think it’s really difficult for people who are close to you when somebody is in the spotlight. Because inevitably they end up in the spotlight as well so they’ve been incredibly patient and forgiving of that lack of privacy that you get. I often say to people who are bright-eyed, bushy tailed, young, want to be presenters that you should really consider that loss of anonymity because it’s a very precious thing and you don’t realise how precious it is until you’ve lost it. So yeah my family has been enormously supportive, as have my friends.'

 

Judy went on to explain how important friends and family are and how they have helped her in her career.

 

 

 

'What three attributes do you think you require in order to succeed in today’s competitive world of presenting?'

 

'First of all you have to be able to communicate through a camera and not every one can do that, because it’s a really artificial environment. The next thing is you have to always have the story at the  top of your mind, so you have to forget about yourself and immerse yourself in the story that you are trying to communicate. The third thing is just preparation, don’t think that you can wing it because it’s a team thing and there’s an awful lot of people out there, so you are the last domino to fall, so you need to be on top of every aspect of the programme and have done your preparation.'

 

 

 

'What one piece of advice would you give to a young person who is embarking upon a new career path?'

 

'You really have to want to be doing what you are heading for, if you are going to succeed you have to really have a real emotional investment in that job it has to be something that rings your bells.'     

 

Judy went onto say that you must follow your dream and be passionate for what you want to do and not be deterred by anyone else.

 

 

 

'Can you describe the most defining moment of your presenting career?'

 

'One of the defining moments would be doing telethon funnily enough, which is absolutely not connected to the news in any way. It was a time that allowed me to really be myself on the telly because it was 24 hours and it was live and it was seat of the pants broadcasting! I gained an enormous amount of confidence from that; I think confidence is something you need to survive in the world of Television particularly these days. So that was probably the first telethon that I founded with Peter Sinclair.

Then there were always the big stories that happened that you didn’t see coming like Aramoana, the shooting there that obviously came out of the blue it was the first time that we had live coverage from the scene and we had live pictures during the afternoon coming in from Aramoana. I remember voicing of those pictures live as they were coming in and the feeling of complete horror and seeing the bodies on the road and all those ghastly conditions.'

 

Some of the footage was lost but Judy went onto say that Live coverage of the big story was very interesting and meaningful and was a defining moment of her career.      

 

 

 

'What did an average week of work consist of and how many hours a week did you put in?'

 

'When I was reading the news we were part time pretty much. That’s how come I came to be a news reader because I wanted some part time work because I had children at home. So I would go in at about mid-day and I’d be home at half past seven.'

 

 

 

'What did you have to sacrifice in order for your presenting career to survive?'

 

'The biggest sacrifice for me was not being here after school here with the kids because that’s so often the time they really want to tell you stuff so we we’d have lots of long phone conversations. That’s one of my big regrets not having that time and dinnertime with them. I was generally here to read the stories to them and what not and work on the science projects! I think that’s definitely the biggest sacrifice.'   

 

 

 

'How important was your team in ensuring the success of your presenting career?'

 

'Vital, absolutely vital, the team is everything in television, you don’t see the number of people who are slaveing away at the back making the programme happen, so there is a big team of people: graphic artists, reporters to editors, programme editors and so on. It’s definitely a team thing and no one person is any more important or less important than anyone else.'

 

 

 

'What is the greatest challenge you have faced and how did you overcome this?'

 

'There was a time when my salary became public and there was an awful lot of debate, vitriolic debate about whether or not I was worth it. It was incredibly hurtful, incredibly embarrassing and humiliating and to have to turn up on the news night after night and to actually read about yourself on the news was a test of my metal. I came through it, I think you just have to be brave and carry on, suck it up!'

 

 

 

'In your own words, what is the key to success?'  

 

'Maybe it’s just not thinking about it! The key to success is doing something that you really believe in and enjoy and put your heart and soul into. I really regard my family as my greatest success, I’m never happier than when I am with my family. I take enormous joy from watching them grow and develop. I loved my job, but it was always secondary to family for me. So I think the key is to have a balance in your life.'