Jennifer Keyte opens up on almost 45-year career at three different TV networks
For decades her warm smile has beamed into our living rooms with the nightly news. Keyte has seen great change in the industry, but has no plans to hang up the mic yet.
VWeekend
Don't miss out on the headlines from VWeekend. Followed categories will be added to My News.
For one of the most recognisable faces in Australian media, Jennifer Keyte admits she had serious doubts about reading the news early in her career.
In her early 20s, Keyte was at Australia’s first commercial FM radio, Melbourne’s EON FM, but her heart lay with investigative journalism.
As a cadet and early morning copy writer, she was told one morning that due to a staff shortage she’d need to read the morning bulletin.
“I made horrible mistakes, stumbles, I was rough as guts,’’ Keyte laughs.
“I was terrified because it was not what I wanted to do. I just wanted to write. I was just thrilled to be in the industry and writing. I had actually wanted to do newspapers.
“I wanted to be an investigative journalist and do great stories and break stories. And that was my dream but when I applied to The Herald, The Sun and The Age I got the standard response and that was they’ll put my application on file and they’d let me know if a position came up for a cadetship and nothing happened, of course. I managed to get work experience in radio and it all started from there.”
Keyte was wide-eyed and eager, and she accepted any challenge thrown her way at EON FM and then 3XY.
She soon found herself on television, landing at Network 10 aged 27. Still racked with nerves, Keyte knew she had to be flexible to make an impression.
“It was daunting, it really was,’’ she says. “I found my way and I just realised if you’re going to work in media you have to do quite a few things. Especially electronic media, you’re writing, you’re reporting, you’re doing live crosses from locations, that meant radio as well. We had to file from wherever we were.
“Once I got into TV part of the interview process was the news director saying, ‘go in there and read the copy’. I went in and did a piece to camera and it’s not pretty. All the hairstyles over the years, the early days of looking like 99 from Get Smart. Some of the hairdos and the perms … it’s like a time machine of looking back at how we’ve evolved over the years.”
Keyte, now 64, reported on courts, crime and state politics, worked briefly on Good Morning Australia and presented weekend bulletins.
“Charles Slade, I read weekend news with him on Channel 10 and he was one of the funniest people I’ve ever worked with,’’ she says.
“It made my job very difficult. That was back in the day in the ’80s where Charles would always be having a cigarette during the ad breaks. Every newsdesk had an ashtray and even the cameras in the studio, they had ashtrays attached to the hydraulic leads. It was just a different time.”
Keyte was asked to move into production and she rolled with the punches, but along came an opportunity to cross to Channel 7 in 1987 to co-anchor Seven’s nightly news alongside Glenn Taylor.
“I had no plans to leave radio but if someone taps you on the shoulder and says would you like to come and work in TV … you realise back in the ’80s what a powerful force (television networks) were and what resources they had, so as a young journalist you don’t say no,’’ she says.
“I can remember when I first got the job at Channel 7 to go solo presenter. I was reading with Glenn Taylor at the time and they said ‘we’re going with one reader’ and I assumed it would be Glenn because that was the time. They didn’t put a woman into the main chair of a commercial network Monday to Friday prime time.
“So when they said ‘we’re going with you’ I was blown away and absolutely thrilled but I also felt for Glenn, because when you’re a duo you’re a team. It was a big challenge but it was such an honour to have that role.”
After her appointment, Keyte remembers every interview became laced with questions about “what’s your use-by date” as a solo female presenter on a commercial network.
At the end of 1995, when Seven proposed to pair her with former Ten colleague David Johnston, she resigned.
The following year she moved to Nine, hosting Good Medicine and Moment of Truth.
“They were bringing David Johnston across from Channel 10 to do a duo and I said, well I’ve been doing it solo for a while, do I want to go back to a duo, and as much as I respect and would loved to have worked with David, I thought it was time for a change,’’ Keyte says.
“So I stepped off the cliff and was unemployed for a little while and then Nine came knocking and said why don’t you come over here and do something with us. And I said anything but news for a while. I said I’ll have a break, I’m not going to go up against Seven and I said, what about hosting a medical show. That’s been one of my passions, one of the favourite things I ever did was being part of Good Medicine.”
Keyte resisted offers to return to a struggling Seven, but relented in 2003 and went back to present the weekend news.
It worked out well for her as she’d just given birth to her sons, James, now 24, and Alexander, now 21. James has completed a business/arts degree at Monash University, models, works in the music industry as a DJ, also works in hospitality at Keyte’s brother’s restaurant Blondie and is described by Keyte as very entrepreneurial. Alexander is currently in Rotterdam on a study exchange and is doing a double degree in politics, philosophy and commerce.
Keyte divorced in 2009 and is single, but friends still encourage her to tackle the vagaries of online dating.
“I think that’s a tough time in your life,’’ she says of her divorce. “It’s always difficult when you’ve been very, very happy and it comes to that.
“I am single and I have been encouraged to (go online). I have friends who say I will hold your hand and navigate. A time may come but I’m a reluctant debutant.”
She reflects: “People say women can have it all. No, they can’t have it all, they make choices. You are grateful for all the pieces of your life, you’d love more of every piece but it’s not possible. You have to just put the pieces where you can and juggle as best you can and don’t beat yourself up over not having more time at home, or more time at work or more time with friends or more time doing stuff for yourself.
“They’re different periods in your life. I loved being a mum and I still love being a mum. It’s just been a joy. It was very easy for me to go part time, to take mat leave. I did miss it, I’d been a worker for 20 years and then had kids. I didn’t know who I was without work, so it’s important to keep that going as well if you can.”
In 2018 Channel 10 came knocking again with an offer Keyte couldn’t refuse.
“I’d been doing weekends at Seven for 15 years,’’ she says.
“I was very happy doing part-time work because of my children. For the family dynamic the weekend worked perfect. But (the kids) were kind of up and about so when Ten approached and said would I be interested in full-time work again I thought this could be great.
“I explored it and thought, yes this could be a wonderful opportunity to be back with the Ten team and in South Yarra this time so I didn’t have to drive to Nunawading. That was kind of a selling point and I liked the idea of being in a smaller news team. Ten does their own thing. Seven and Nine have always been fierce competitors and Ten runs their own race and I like that.”
She is pleased to report now that no one has asked her that cringe-worthy question about her use-by date for 20 years.
Keyte had one of her most special nights in March when awarded the Lifetime Achievement Award at the Quill Awards, Victoria’s premier media awards.
It allowed her to acknowledge all the networks she’d worked for, and many at the night said they couldn’t recall seeing a more popular recipient.
She has rarely, if ever, genuinely contemplated retirement.
“Oh I don’t know, some days I think (I can go on) forever and some days I think I’m ready to wrap it up now,’’ she says.
“There will come a time, absolutely, I’m convinced of that, but when it’s in your blood …
“For the first decade or so when I was solo presenting I was always asked is the clock ticking. It changed, there was a real shift in people focusing on that.
“Barbara Walters, how long was she there? And no one questioned Oprah, and you look at some of our role models, our trailblazers who were allowed to mature in their profession and not only were they allowed to, they were celebrated for their experience and it was an asset.
“I look at it and I say I was part of that journey and I’m really proud of that. I’m part of the mentor program at Channel 10, so I’m mentoring people from different departments.
“That’s the part of it now I’m really enjoying, too. Making sure I’m giving them feedback and contributing. Just making sure I’m doing something to put back into the business.
“I see these incredible young reporters, I remember being where they are, and they work so hard and I see them multiskilling now which we didn’t do in our day. They’re filing for 10 different platforms in an hour, they’re doing this for socials and this for our 3.30 news and they don’t stop. It’s really quite remarkable what the digital age has done to journalism and you have to be so quick and multi-talented and you have to be able to multiskill.”
Not many can claim almost 45 years in one industry with complete respect and admiration.
Keyte has seen extensive changes across three commercial networks and has a reputation that’s unmatched. She’s warm, friendly and still loves beaming into homes each night on Ten News First.
“It’s interesting now, since social media started it’s just enabled everyone to have their 15 minutes of fame,’’ Keyte says.
“Andy Warhol said that, was he ahead of his time? It’s just blown up, hasn’t it?
“People say how does it all compare to the good old days? The good old days were the good old days because it was a crazy time in media, they were so powerful and the money was ridiculous. A show launches and we’d fly around the country with our own publicists and make-up artists. It was so extravagant.
“What I love is young reporters today have to be entrepreneurs and multi-tasking all the time, so it’s more stimulating than ever. The opportunities are endless and I love seeing what all the reporters are doing on platforms and I think, wow. I just think they’re extraordinary.”
Why Martin Pakula loves life after politics
Former state attorney-general and sports minister Martin Pakula has opened up on the challenges of his role during the Covid pandemic, why he doesn’t miss politics and how he’s revved up about steering next year’s Australian F1 Grand Prix.
Whatever you do, don’t buy one of these
Because I learn nothing from my mistakes, I recently did something which not only repeated a past one, but it has also been the cause for deep regret, writes Fran Whiting.