Regional show ‘unashamedly parochial’

Press, 30 August 1988, Page 19

Regional show ‘unashamedly parochial’

A Cantabrian, Rodney Bryant, will launch Canterbury’s new regional television programme tonight — the first in 13 years. The rest of New Zealand, north of Kaikoura and south of Oamaru, will be forgotten for 30 minutes each Tuesday night at 10.30 on Two as Bryant focuses on the issues and people of Canterbury with “Faithfully Yours.”

A studio-based talk show, “Faithully Yours” will be contentious, provocative, entertaining and opinionated, according to the executive producer, Stephen McElrea. “But most importantly, the programme will be unashamedly parochial,” says Bryant.

“There are issues in the region which are not being addressed on a national basis or by other regional media. And ther are many people in Canterbury who hold strong opinions on a range of topics which we intend to air.”

The opinion of the “average” Cantabrian is integral to “Faithfully Yours” and the audience mix is expected to range from brickies to bikies and plumbers to pilots. Accessibility is one of the keys to the programme concept. Although some of the audi-

ence will be pre-selected, there will be a number of free tickets available each week, for anyone wanting to take part in the show. The Canterbury viewing region will be breaking out of the network for “Faithfully Yours,” which will be the first new regional programme to be launched since networking began in 1975. “I see the programme resulting from a demand for further access for the voice of Canterbury,” says Stephen McElrea. “It has been a major decision to allow a region to break out for such a programme. And I believe that the decision reflects the traditionally high level of support for regional programmes,” he says.

“Faithfully Yours” will be produced and directed by lan Cumming, who introduced Bryant to the Canterbury audience in 1971 when he was producing the regional programme “The South Tonight.” Since then they have worked together on Telethon, golf and racing outside broadcasts, elec-tion-night specials and, currently, on the children’s afternoon news programme “The Video Dispatch.” They are also in the final preparation stage for a new concept in educational television, “Ten Out of Ten,” which will be launched next year.

“Few television personalities are as openly parochial, few faces as familiar, as Rodney Bryant, and we intend capitalising on that mix on Faithfully Yours’.” says Cumming. “We will be using Rodney’s personality, his passion for Canterbury and his ability to provoke discussion on a range of issues. We intend to compel people to sit up and watch “Faithfully Yours” every week and to talk about the programme the following day. “It will be exciting, provocative television.”