Hiroko Ogura, Former TBS Announcer, Reveals the “True Reason” for Leaving TBS for the First Time

Special Interview
Active in “Rank Kingdom,” “Tetsuya Chikushi NEWS23,” “Good Morning Whale,” etc.
Became a manager in his mid-40s and lost himself in a job unfamiliar to the COVID-19 crisis. ……

Became the first “Sermon Room” on “Love in the Park.

I’m used to being photographed in motion, but it’s embarrassing to be photographed in a certain pose. It makes me nervous.

Hiroko Ogura, 50, a freelance announcer, smiles wryly. Ogura left TBS at the end of last year. When asked to write her goals for the future on a piece of colored paper, she wrote in vigorous characters, “I want to speak for the rest of my life.

“To be a speaker for the rest of my life.

Ogura was active in a wide range of programs, including “Rank Kingdom,” “Tetsuya Chikushi NEWS23,” and “Ohayo Whale. She spoke for two hours about her life as a female TV announcer at TBS, where she spent 27 years since joining the company in April 1997, and the real reason why she left the company.

Ogura first became interested in the female announcing profession when she was in the early grades of elementary school.

The first time I became interested in the female announcing profession was when I was in early elementary school,” she said. What caught my attention were the female announcers in their flowery outfits who were talking with the celebrities. In other programs, they read the news or presided over the event as hosts. I felt it was ‘unfair’ that they were happily doing various jobs. I felt.

From elementary school through high school, she was involved in volunteer activities and loved leading the members of Christmas parties and other events. She also enjoyed public speaking, and her interest in female TV announcers grew.

When I was a student at Toyo Eiwa Jogakuin University, I was a part-timer in the then-new program “Koi no Karafutsu” (Love Commotion) on Nippon Television Network Corporation. I was working part-time at an advertising agency, and an employee invited me, saying, ‘They are looking for college girls for the program, so you should go. I was in a meek mood to meet Akashiya Sanma, so I appeared on the first episode of “From Love.

When I said that confessions from men were “bogus,” Sanma said, “Don’t you feel sorry for men! and he tsked at ……. It was the first memorable “Sermon Room,” and it made me realize how much fun television can be.

Are you serious?”

With job hunting looming, Ogura begins attending announcer school. However–.

The course cost about 30,000 yen for three months, but the instructor was very strict with me. He would say, ‘The tuition is out of your own pocket, so it’s OK.’ I would show up late and bring my ski boards to the school because I was going on a trip the next day. He scolded me, “Are you really going to do this? I was scolded. That’s when I took a leap of faith.

I checked the TV news programs every day and read all the national newspapers. Thanks to that, even though I had never read a newspaper before, I was able to grasp the world from multiple perspectives.

After hard work, she was accepted at TBS. As a rookie, she was in charge of morning information programs such as “Ohayo Whale” and “Hanamaru Market.

It was tough! Every day I would arrive at the office at 2 a.m. before daybreak. I couldn’t get used to the fact that I had to be asleep by 9:00 p.m. rather than getting up.

He was often in charge of sports.

I was often in charge of sports! Sports Power,’ I would ride in the passenger seat of a professional baseball player’s car and listen to him until he got home from the ballpark. There was no script, and we just went out there and did it. When I saw a piece of bread placed randomly on the ground, I said something like, ‘Athletes eat sweet buns, too, don’t they? and was scolded. …… Looking back, it was a harrowing experience, but I think it was good training for me to be able to ask questions in any situation.

Meeting my husband and the first time I liked him

During the program, I had a fateful encounter.

There was a time when Shunichi Kawai, Kimiko Jinnai, and the other performers were having a good time in the waiting room, laughing and giggling. At the center of the scene was Takeru Mizuuchi, 52, a former soccer player who played for the Urawa Reds and other teams. He was later her husband. Since they were close in age, they became friends over dinner, but my impression of him was that he talked a lot.

Their friendship was brought closer by Hideki Matsui’s move to the major leagues.

When Matsui agreed to sign with the Yankees in December 2002, it was right after the 9/11 terrorist attacks, and there was no atmosphere for celebrities to go to the United States in droves. In the end, I was the only female announcer who covered the camp in detail. When I returned to Japan, Mizuuchi eagerly invited me to dinner.

Her questions were, “Is there a difference in training for fielders and pitchers? What is the training like? She was all about the majors. I am a former soccer player, but a big baseball fan who also played youth baseball. As a sportscaster, he must have been desperately trying to learn. For the first time, I liked him, thinking, ‘He’s surprisingly serious.

Looking at the October 24, 2003 issue of this magazine, which reported their relationship at the time, Ogura (in the second photo) is embarrassed, saying, ”Uuhuhu. They married in April 2005 and were blessed with three children.

The children’s reaction to the Great East Japan Earthquake in March ’11 made me think about how the press should be.

Because of my occupation, I turn on the TV as soon as I get home. But when I saw the images of the earthquake, my eldest daughter, who was attending preschool at the time, was shaking and trembling. She must have been terrified. Of course, we had the option of turning off the TV. However, as someone who works for a TV station, I felt it was necessary to air the footage in order to convey the horror of a natural disaster.

On the other hand, it is not enough to simply broadcast shocking images. It is also necessary to consider the viewers. For example, I think it is important to put a message in advance that says, ‘Images of the tsunami will now be shown.

When he became a manager in his mid-40s, his state of mind changed.

‘The announcer work I wanted to do gradually diminished,’ he said. I was agonizing over whether I could continue to do so, when the new Corona became the decisive factor.

As a manager, I had to adjust the schedules of nearly 20 announcers, and even when I was resting at home, I was told, ‘Announcer 00 has a fever. Even when I was resting at home, I received frequent phone calls even in the middle of the night, such as, “Anna 00 has a fever, and we need you to make arrangements for a substitute MC for the program that starts at 2:00 in the morning. The children were also complaining, “Mom, are you calling again? They are not happy with ……. I must have been losing sight of myself. My husband, who couldn’t bear to see me in such a state of blank amazement, called out to me.

Mizuuchi said, “You don’t have to be so hard anymore.

He said, “You don’t have to be so hard anymore. You want to work as an announcer, don’t you?

Ogura was encouraged by her husband’s words.

I am truly grateful to TBS for bringing me up,” she said. But I want to continue my work as a talker. So I decided to leave the company at the age of 50. My dream for the time being is to once again host a TBS program as a freelancer. Preferably on the radio. Perhaps it is because I am now 50 years old, but I am comfortable with the human touch.

A female announcer who has decided that she will be a talker for the rest of her life has taken the first step toward a fresh start.

From the March 14-21, 2025 issue of FRIDAY