When older VJs face the music

MuchMusic insists ageism isn't behind Master T's departure

Article from TheStar.com - The Toronto Star Online - August 10th, 2001

Out goes 40-year-old Master T, in comes 19-year-old Amanda Walsh.

Coincidence?

This week's announcement that Master T, whose real name is Tony Young, is leaving MuchMusic after 11 years as a VJ comes on the heels of the music video station hiring the perky teen, whose age seems to even be on the minds of her crew.

Yesterday, while indulging in between-video banter, Walsh was playfully demonstrating how to make a fan out of construction paper and remarked it was something she learned when she was 4. Off camera, someone cracked that must have been in the early '90s. "I was 4 in 1985, thanks," she shot back, her snap response making it a safe bet this wasn't an isolated exchange.

Since MuchMusic went on the air in 1984, music and TV industry insiders have speculated that there's a past due date for VJs; that anyone over a certain age was too old for the job of introducing videos and interviewing whichever rock/pop star was in town. It was suspected when MuchMusic alumni Erica Ehm left at 32, the late Dan Gallagher at 34 and Steve Anthony at 36, it was a case of over-30-means-you're-history, but one disputed by MuchMusic spokesperson Sarah Crawford.

"Ageism exists in the entertainment medium but I would like to think it doesn't exist at all here at CHUM television," she said yesterday. "It certainly wasn't a factor here either with the hiring of Amanda or T's departure."

But the pop parade ruling the music charts in recent years has given rise to the perception that the station has lowered the age of its target audience, especially since launching its adult contemporary counterpart, MuchMoreMusic, in 1998.

"My own personal opinion is they're skewing younger ... it seems to me that's the general consensus. I don't slight them for that," said Anthony, who left his position at MuchMusic in 1995 and is back on Toronto radio airwaves hosting the afternoon show at MIX 99.9 FM.

"When I was there, Much didn't know what it was, it was trying to find itself and that's all fine in any situation with a company that gets bigger and bigger then finds its feet and knows what it wants more. The group of us that were there in the beginning was a hodgepodge and now they have specific needs and wants and have an absolute idea of who their audience is, and they have to get viewership, so they do what they gotta do."

Crawford, however, maintains there has been no "seismic shift in our viewing."

"This is not some secret plot to suddenly skew the network to be more teen-oriented," she said. The primary target audience has always been 18-24, followed by viewers 12-17, she added.

Nor is today's roster of VJs any younger than in 1984, when the first round was hired, Crawford says. Current on-air VJs George Stroumboulopoulos, Bradford How, Namugenyi Kiwanuka are all in their 20s, the same age as Ehm, Anthony, who was 28, and Natahalie Richard when they were hired in the '80s.

"The question has been raised lately because we hired the youngest VJ we ever hired, but that's one person, so I don't think that indicates a trend," said Crawford. "The fact she was 19 was an interesting characteristic about her. We weren't looking for a 19-year-old. We weren't looking for anyone at any age. We were looking for the most talented person."

Young, who makes his last appearance Aug. 25, wasn't giving interviews yesterday. He's leaving, said Crawford, because, like other VJs before him, he was ready for new challenges. "I think in many cases a VJ naturally feels they want to translate their talent into some other areas," she said. "Some leave in their 20s, some leave in their 30s, some have left in their 40s. It's just a natural evolution."

Ehm, for example, went on to a successful career as a songwriter/broadcaster and public speaker who can command up to $5,000 for one engagement. Rebecca Rankin, a videographer-turned-VJ, joined U.S. adult music station VH-1 in New York as a globetrotting reporter. J.D. Roberts is Washington correspondent for CBS News.

"To do the job of a VJ you have to feel that you're really plugged in and relating to the music scene and to the audience to whom your speaking," said Crawford. "To be honest, we don't get a lot of interest in VJ positions from people on the older end of the spectrum. We're not getting a lot of applications to be a VJ from 50- and 60-year-olds."

Anthony agrees the job of a VJ must fall on the shoulders of someone relatively young. "There's an expiration date in being a VJ," he said. "There just is, no fault of anybody, but there's just no way that a young audience can relate to somebody who appears older. The fact that Terry David Mulligan (who is in his late 50s and was Much's west-coast correspondent until last year) made it as long as he did is based only on his incredible talent. When you've got somebody who looks like your dad, you have to overcome that and be much, much better and even then your skills can't overcome that."