The special background of Katopan’s departure from “It”…and her graduation from all regular programs.
Katopan graduates from “Face of the Evening.
Ayako Kato (37), a freelance announcer, will be leaving the evening information program “Live! News It! (“It”, Fuji TV), who left Fuji in April 2004 to become a freelance announcer, and has served as the program’s main anchor since April 2007. We followed up on the background.
It has been more than three years since the program started, and while I was nervous about the news that came in one after another, I was comforted every day by the care with which she kept smiling at the staff.
The program’s chief producer, Yoshihiro Uedahei, commented in an interview with Sankei Sports (June 3): “I wish I could have worked with him more. I would have liked to spend more time with him, but I respect his wishes,” he said, stressing “amicable graduation.
I want to spend more time with my family.”
The main reason is that in June 2009, I entered into a celebrity marriage with the second president of a supermarket chain with annual sales of approximately 200 billion yen. They are now in their second year of marriage, but Katopan is too busy to fully enjoy her newlywed life with her husband, and she requested to ‘spend more time with her family.
In April, Katopan left “Honma Dekka! TV” (Fuji Television Network), where she had been a facilitator for 13 years, in April. By leaving “It,” Katopan will no longer have a regular program, and she intends not to take on any one-off work for a while after October. However, it is not a leave of absence. She plans to take a break and return to announcing after her family settles down,” said an employee at a commercial key station.
However, it seems that family circumstances are not the only reason for her graduation. One employee of a key station commented, “This may sound like a guess, but I hear voices saying that the program’s difficulties may also be having an impact.
The ratings for ‘It’ are around 3%. The same evening broadcast information program, the top-ranked “news (NTV), the top evening broadcast information program, at about 6%, and “NSTA Part 2” (TBS) at 4%, and “Super J Channel” (TV Asahi) at over 3%.
An analysis of the viewership ratings reveals that viewers in the M2 and 3 demographic (35-49 year olds and men over 50), who are considered to be Katopan’s fans, do not watch much. With these numbers, the annual ratings could be at the bottom of the list. Katopan has strong feelings about her work. Moreover, Fuji is a TV station to which he owes a debt of gratitude, having served as the station’s announcer for eight years. I think her sense of responsibility may have been a factor in her decision to voluntarily step down from the board.
It will be sad …… not to see Katopan’s fresh smile anymore. We hope she will recharge her batteries for a while and bring us her beautiful smile again.