THE WRAP UP
Alma Johnson, Prince William and Serena Williams
AN EARLY TRAILBLAZER FOR WOMEN IN THE MEDIA DIES
She was a television trailblazer, known for her perfect diction, immaculate grooming and blonde bouffants.
Alma Johnson, who was the first woman on TV in New Zealand, died last week aged 85.
Alma had a background in theatre and was working as a radio announcer when she auditioned for a job as a television continuity announcer in 1960.
“Continuity announcer was simply to act as a hostess, and it was to say ‘Good evening everyone and welcome to tonight’s programmes,’” she later recalled in an interview.
“I sat behind a desk with my nameplate in front of it; nothing but that. I had no idea – I don’t think any of us had any idea – of the impact of television.”
By the mid 1960s, once more people got TV sets and the reception improved so that the announcers
didn’t look like they were sitting in a snow storm, Alma had become a household name. “People would stop you in the street and say, ‘No, you mustn’t wear floral, it doesn’t look right.’”
She didn’t let the public recognition go to her head. “Television announcing to me was never more than just a job. We were public servants and it never occurred to any of us to think of ourselves as stars or personalities.”
Alma, who married fellow presenter Tim Evans Freke, later went on to appear on children’s TV shows with entertainer Chic Littlewood and a host of puppets. As well as her TV work, she was a highly respected speech and drama teacher and examiner.
She once said she was glad TV was live in those early days and there were no recordings kept. “We would have sounded rather too precious. We were told to speak rather nicely.
I think probably we were a bit stiff.”