<h3>Unfortunately, there will never be another &#8220;Katopan.&#8221;</h3>
<figure id="attachment_233947" class="wp-caption alignnone" style="width: 1000px;" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-233947"><a href="#" data-ident_hash="89e9b7bf"><img src="https://res.cloudinary.com/fridaydigital/image/private/t_article_image/wpmedia/2022/03/696bf3149093f10c172020cf80023d5b.jpg" alt=""></a><figcaption id="caption-attachment-233947" class="wp-caption-text">Akiko Kuji is leaving Fuji Television at the end of April. Former announcer Moemi Kushiro, also of Fuji Television, is also leaving at the end of March.</figcaption></figure>
<p>We often wonder, &#8220;Who will be the next Katopan?&#8221; I tend to think, &#8220;What is this? Recently, there has been a string of female announcer departures, and whenever I hear such news, I wonder, &#8220;Who will be the next generation of star female announcers?&#8221; I am not sure what to expect.</p>
<p>However, I believe that the era of the star female TV announcer is over. Unfortunately, I don&#8217;t think the &#8220;next Katopan&#8221; will ever appear again.</p>
<p>I predict that the era of the star female announcer is over, and what has begun is the &#8220;era of the humble announcer. Let me explain what I mean.</p>
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<p>Who are the current female announcers you think of when you hear the words &#8220;star female announcer&#8221;?　The only &#8220;announcers&#8221; who would be mentioned as belonging to a station would be, at most, Mami Mizuto of NTV, Ayaka Hironaka of TV Asahi, and Yurika Mita of Fuji Television.</p>
<p>The rest are probably names of &#8220;TV personalities&#8221; who are not affiliated with a station, in other words, in the strict sense of the word. Take Erina Arai, for example. She is a talent belonging to St. Force.</p>
<p>From now on, it would be more convenient for everyone if such &#8220;talents belonging to an office&#8221; are sought for star status. Both for the station and for the talent herself.</p>
<div data-friday-nextpage-lead="The station doesn't develop &quot;star female announcers&quot; because..."></div>
<h3>Why the stations do not nurture &#8220;star female TV announcers</h3>
<p>First, why is it more convenient for a station to have a talent than a star female announcer? It is easier to understand if we look at it from the perspective of the key concept of &#8220;work style reform.</p>
<p>In the past, broadcasters were very grateful for star female announcers. They appeared exclusively on their own stations, and their fees were lower than those of celebrities. In addition, they worked hard from morning till night, making them a &#8220;valuable subscriber talent with good viewership ratings.</p>
<p>However, the situation has changed drastically due to &#8220;reforms in the way of working.</p>
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<p>They must be given sufficient time off and cannot be forced to work long hours as they have in the past. When they are given regular appearances in morning and late-night programs, some of them may suffer physical or mental breakdowns due to the hard work, and if this happens, they are likely to be accused of being a &#8220;black company. There is also the risk of causing a scandal.</p>
<p>Even if the station goes to the trouble of training a female announcer to be a star, it is not only difficult to make her work hard, but from the standpoint of corporate risk management, star female announcers have become a risky existence, as they are &#8220;difficult cases with factors that may be viewed as problematic in various ways.</p>
<p>Moreover, even if a number of female announcers are hired every year, only a handful of them will grow up to become star female announcers. In some cases, the announcers are hired, but their aptitude as announcers is not so good, and in other cases, even if they seem to have talent, they quit before they have a chance to develop it. It is not cost-effective, and it is a gamble that is hit or miss.</p>
<p>On the other hand, what about outside talent such as Erina Arai?</p>
<p>Even if the appearance fee is a little high, the management of their physical and mental condition is the responsibility of the agency, and in principle, the broadcaster does not need to worry about it. Even if problems arise from having them work hard, it would be &#8220;their intention and problem,&#8221; and considering the cost of risk management and hiring new graduates, it could be said that it is rather cost-effective, even if the fee is a little higher.</p>
<div data-friday-nextpage-lead="Announcers no longer have a taste for it."></div>
<h3>The female announcer herself has no flavor of being a &#8220;star&#8221; either.</h3>
<p>And there is little merit in becoming a &#8220;star female announcer&#8221; for the female announcers themselves.</p>
<p>The reason for this, too, is simple. Think about it. Female TV announcers are salarymen who work for a well-known company called a TV station. As long as they are salaried workers, their salary is almost the same whether they work from morning till night as a star female TV announcer or work as an ordinary female TV announcer.</p>
<p>Once you become popular, the production side will make crazy offers to you. If you work hard to meet the demands, you will have no private time at all, and the fun times with your friends from your school days will be a dream come true.</p>
<p>The risk of physical and mental breakdown is high as fatigue builds up. Moreover, since they attract the same level of media attention as celebrities, they are not allowed to let their guard down on a regular basis. Why go to the trouble of going down a rocky road for almost the same salary? It is not surprising that many female announcers think, &#8220;I&#8217;m not sure I can do this.</p>
<p>The &#8220;sober announcer&#8221; is not so popular, but has a very good work-life balance.</p>
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<p>If you do your job well, you can earn an unbelievably good salary compared to a regular company. You also have free time and free love. And you steadily improve your announcing skills, which is very satisfying as a professional. There is no need to become famous and carry the heavy &#8220;star&#8221; sign.</p>
<p>Those who still want to be popular and active in the industry can make more money by joining an agency like St. Force instead of a station, and they can be active in a wide range of stations.</p>
<p>Moreover, you will have a manager who will take care of you and manage your risks. Why bother with the bureau? The question is, &#8220;What is the point of having a job if you can&#8217;t get a job?</p>
<div data-friday-nextpage-lead="Steady as a &quot;craftsman of announcements.&quot;"></div>
<h3>The Era of the &#8220;Unobtrusive Announcer&#8221; Has Arrived</h3>
<p>It is no longer &#8220;worth it&#8221; for broadcasters or female announcers to demand &#8220;star power&#8221; from them.</p>
<p>Announcers should be low-key. Now that TV stations are also increasingly broadcasting video on the Internet, they only need announcers who are &#8220;craftsmen of announcing&#8221; and can do their jobs well, such as reading the regular news and narration, and it does not matter whether they are male or female. It can also be said that they no longer fit.</p>
<p>It may be that among the &#8220;humble announcers&#8221; hired in this way, the occasional announcer who happens to become popular is considered profitable enough.</p>
<p>Thus, the &#8220;era of the humble announcer&#8221; has arrived. In other words, we can say that we have returned to the natural and proper way of thinking: &#8220;Talent is sought in the talent, and announcers, who are company employees, work steadily as company employees.</p>
<p>The &#8220;star female announcer,&#8221; a relic of the Showa period that was born with the advent of the bubble era, has now returned to a &#8220;sustainable&#8221; and solid way of life in 2025. If you look at it that way, it is not something to be lamented at all.</p>


 Joined TV Asahi in 1992. After covering the Great Hanshin Earthquake and Aum Shinrikyo-related events as a reporter in the Social Affairs Department, he worked as a director for Super J Channel, Super Morning, and News Station before becoming a producer. He has covered many foreign events, including coverage of China and the Korean Peninsula and the terrorist attacks in the U.S. He has also worked as a producer. He also participated in the launch of ABEMA's service, planning and producing programs such as "AbemaPrime" and "Tragic Comedy of W." In August 2019, he became independent and is active in multiple media as well as broadcasting programs. He is an adjunct lecturer at Sophia University, Faculty of Letters, Newspaper Department. As a member of the Society for Public Communication, he has studied local media and has researched and written articles on face-framing panels as his life's work. His recent books include "Dramatically Increase Access and Registrations! Video Production" Professional Tricks 52" (Nippon Jitsugyo Publishing Co., Ltd.)

 Hiromichi Chinmoku / TV Producer and Writer

 Sota Shima

 There has been a wave of reports of female announcers leaving the industry. The question is, who will be the next generation of star female announcers? Unfortunately, it seems that there will be no more "star female announcers" in the future. What is the background to the arrival of the era of "low-key announcers"?

No more star female announcers? The Background of the “Era of the Sober Announcer

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