Jackie Bird - 25 years Reporting Scotland for the BBC
Graham Stewart
Broadcaster and Journalist, BBC Scotland
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Jackie Bird presenting one of her first programmes in 1989 and as she is 25 years later.
She’s the longest-serving presenter on the longest-running programme in Scottish television history. Jackie Bird, who this week celebrates 25 years as anchor of the BBC’s Reporting Scotland, has achieved that rarest of feats in the media: on-air longevity.
As a result, she’s perhaps the most famous face in Scotland. If you think that’s an exaggeration, consider that Reporting Scotland is one of the most-watched TV programmes north of the border with an average audience of half a million viewers on any given night. Taken across a whole week, the various editions and bulletins combined reach more than half the adult population of Scotland. Multiply that over 25 years and it’s little wonder that Jackie Bird is a household name.
An interview with Jackie Bird who celebrates 25 years as BBC’s Reporting Scotland anchor
As someone who’s grown-up watching Jackie I thought it would be fascinating to see her in the guest seat for once. So this week I recorded an in-depth interview in the Reporting Scotland studio at Glasgow’s Pacific Quay. Among other things, she tells about the changes she’s seen in TV news over 25 years, how women in journalism have combatted male chauvinism and what the secret behind her success is.
One of my favourite quotes from the archive is an interview she did for the Radio Times just ahead of her Reporting Scotland debut in October 1989:
“I have paid my dues by chasing fire engines and knocking on thousands of doors, but there has just been a very fortunate progression from radio to newspapers and then television. I’m still quite young though, and television is a big world, so goodness knows where I’ll end up.”
I doubt if even Jackie Bird could’ve predicted she’d be in the same job 25 years on — and still at the top of her game.
Graham Stewart is a Broadcaster and Journalist, BBC Scotland
- Read about Jackie’s story on the BBC website.
- Join Jackie Bird for her 25th anniversary edition of Reporting Scotland on Wednesday night at 6.30 on BBC One Scotland.
- Later that same night she takes over the reigns of Scotland 2014 to look back on 25 years of news.
