From our other sites
The story
Rio Kitagawa, a TV Tokyo announcer and former member of Morning Musume, will become the anchor of the network’s economics program “Morning Saturday” starting in October, the station announced on the 17th at its fall programming briefing. Kitagawa, who only joined the company this past April, shares the “double promotion” with fellow new hire Serino Suzuki, who joined at the same time. On 5ch’s Hello! Project board, comments praising her ability piled up — “She’s got both talent and work ethic,” “Kitagawa really is sharp” — while others sparked debate by suggesting the appointment had more to do with her talent agency’s ties to the network.
Former Morning Musume Member Rio Kitagawa Named “Morning Saturday” Anchor — TV Tokyo’s Long-Sought Economics Show Gets a Surprisingly Speedy Double Rookie Promotion
TV Tokyo announcers Serino Suzuki and Rio Kitagawa have been confirmed as anchors of “Morning Saturday” (Saturdays at 10 a.m.) starting in October, the network announced on the 17th at its October programming briefing.
Both Kitagawa and Suzuki are rookie announcers who joined the company just this past April. Kitagawa is also known for having previously been a member of Morning Musume. Alongside current anchors Momoka Mine and Haru Saito, the two will bring a fresh new appeal to the show.
Source: news.yahoo.co.jp / Original article here
What people said
What fools, letting a gem like this slip away.
Can't be helped, it overlapped with rehearsal.
But Fukumura and Takahashi did rush over.
Time to update the Hello! Project members' workload ranking lol
she's got both talent and work ethic.
See, told you so, right?
My instincts are amazing.
If Kitagawa did variety shows, there'd be no range to it, so it wouldn't be interesting.
Kitagawa should do economics, and the other cute one should do variety.
That's the setup with the widest range.
Suzuki's going to be on this show too.
Total winner.
Even if she's on it, it'll be fine as long as things go the way I said.
Re: #1
See, told you so, right?
My instincts are amazing.
If Kitagawa did variety shows, there'd be no range to it, so it wouldn't be interesting.
Kitagawa should do economics, and the other cute one should do variety.
That's the setup with the widest range.
Her voice is clear, so she's easy to listen to.
Can't stop laughing lol
She is using her name value, though.
It's just the relationship between TV Tokyo and Up-Front (her talent agency).
Then just let TV Tokyo make every Hello! Project member happy, why don't you.
Chapter 2: "Rio is a news anchor"
Not that I'd know.
Since Kasumi Mori flopped going the "dumb announcer" route, Kitagawa's properly playing it smart and steady instead.
After that, Governor of Tokyo.
And ultimately, Japan's first female Prime Minister.
It's purely down to her ability, isn't it?
Makino's fans were all out there desperately trying to tarnish her name so she'd fail.
With news or economics reporting, even if her school days come up, she can dodge it the same way as before, just saying she did entertainment work as a student.
Things are going exactly the way Kitagawa wanted, so she's probably relieved.
She's handled it fine before too — like when Yoshimoto comedians teased her about Morning Musume at a TV Tokyo event, she responded well, as usual.
Meanwhile, it seems Makino's fans were busy leaving anti comments on Kitagawa's videos on TV Tokyo's official account.
That's beyond lame, it's just pathetic — especially the part where they went out of their way to watch the video.
Background and Points of Debate
It’s not unusual for former idols to become announcers, but landing an anchor spot on an economics news program is a notable career move. On the thread, opinions were split: some praised Kitagawa’s appointment as a matter of “ability” and “a smart decision,” while others suggested it was “just the relationship between TV Tokyo and Up-Front (her talent agency)” playing out, pointing to the agency’s backing. The fact that fellow new hire Suzuki was appointed to the same slot added to the buzz, since it amounts to a double promotion for two rookies. Some posts also resurfaced past controversies involving Kitagawa, but since these claims couldn’t be verified, they are not covered in this article.
*This article is compiled and summarized from the 5ch (Hello! Project) thread “Rio Kitagawa Named Anchor of Economics Show “Mo-Sata”.”
Leave a Reply