Masu Taichi Stopped by the Station and Akiko Kuji’s “Announcer Retirement Situation” without Consolation

The departure of two popular announcers is attracting attention.

One is announcer Taichi Masu, who was said to be NTV’s “absolute ace. During the January 23 broadcast of “Shinso Hodo Bankisha,” in which he is the MC, he announced that he would be leaving the company at the end of March to become a researcher at a university.

During her 16 years as an announcer, Masu said

She confessed, “One of the issues I’ve always felt was whether or not I could convey scientific information more clearly and accurately on TV.

In April, I became an assistant professor at Harris Institute of Physical and Chemical Research, Doshisha University.

From April, I will be an assistant professor at Harris Institute of Physical and Chemical Research, Doshisha University, where I will be working in the academic field called science communication.

He explained.

Masu is a graduate of the University of Tokyo’s Faculty of Agriculture and the University of Tokyo’s Graduate School of Agriculture, and has a background in clam research. Since joining the station in 2006, she has worked on a number of information programs. His popularity is outstanding, and for five consecutive years since 2011, he has been voted the number one favorite male announcer and inducted into the “Hall of Fame.

It was surprising to learn that Masu had been thinking about scientific matters without being noticed. A source at Nippon Television Network Corporation tells us what happened behind the scenes.

Masu’s decision was probably due in large part to the emergence of the new coronavirus, which has changed people’s lives. Station announcers are not experts, they just read out the data that comes in.

The corona is now understood, but at the time of its emergence, there was no information, and TV reporting played a major role. Masu Anna was asking herself the meaning of her existence as a news announcer.

On the other hand, Masu will continue to be the main MC of “Bankisha” after leaving Nippon TV. According to a TV station insider

The Nippon TV side didn’t want her to quit. That’s why the station asked her to join. There is no reason for Masu to refuse.

He said.

The average viewer rating for the program broadcast on the 23rd, when Masu announced her departure, was 16.4% (Video Research, Kanto region). This popularity is the reason why NTV wants to keep in touch with Masu even after she leaves.

Eleven years ago, Nippon TV had the bitter experience of losing its flagship announcer, Shinichi Hatori, to TV Asahi. Hatori was appointed as the main MC of the “Shinichi Hatori Morning Show,” an information program on TV Asahi, and now has more of a “TV Asahi” flavor.

There is no guarantee that the departed Masu will be approached in the same way by other stations. By continuing to work on “Bankisha,” he probably wants to show the world that he is the “Taichi Masu of Nippon TV.

Another announcer who will be leaving Fuji TV at the end of April is Akiko Kuji. She was selected as the “Asahi Kasei Group Campaign Girl” in March of 2002 when she was a student at Aoyama Gakuin University, and in August of the same year she was selected as the “45th non -In August of the same year, she won the Grand Prix at the 45th non model audition. She joined Fuji in April 2005 with much fanfare.

Fuji also taught her the “imperial way”, reviving the women’s TV program “Kujipan” after three years, and selecting her to be a sub-anchor of the morning information program “Mezamashi TV” from October of the year she joined the company.

In April 2007, she also became the main anchor of Mezamashi Saturday. However, in March last year, it was Inoue Seika, one year Kuji’s junior, who won the position.

However, in March last year, she was replaced by Seika Inoue, one year her junior, which means that the lineage of the main anchor has been transferred from Kuji to Inoue. It must have been a big shock for Kuji. Many people at Fuji TV believe that this was one of the reasons why she left the station.

After leaving, Kuji is said to have a desire to enter the acting or modeling business instead of announcing. There are reports that she has already been approached by a major production company that employs many female announcers.

The bottleneck is that she has only five years of experience as a TV announcer. The problem is that she has only five years of experience as a station announcer, which makes her quick to give up on the job, but also makes her look inexperienced in every aspect. Well, I heard that Fuji did not give her any consolation as they have young people growing up. It is believed that she will start her career as a model, which she has been doing since her school days,” said a reporter from a sports newspaper.

A long time ago, being a TV station announcer was a profession that everyone wanted to be a part of. However, with the passage of time, the environment surrounding television has changed drastically. Station announcers are no longer the “last stop”, but rather a “way station” to challenge a new world. Each announcer has his or her own life story. ……