Working
as Webmaster at www.hellhq.com is just one area of activity for Joe Gilfillan
and his commercial face: Cosmo Media Limited. His webwork is from a product
portfolio in which he is newsreader, writer, voice artist, compere, administrator
and backer.
On air in Auckland since 1980, Joe is heard across New Zealand at various times presenting TRN's flagship NewsTalkZB News and bulletins on the TRN Group's Affiliate stations. "The NewsTalkZB Newsroom is a large and buzzing place. Experts in their fields harvest information and write strong clear stories. In addition to NewsTalkZB, this material also appears on networks such as Hauraki, EasyMix, Coast, RadioSport and Rhema. Single market stations pick and mix an array of our feeds, and my shifts also involve giving all this News yet another life by filing it to the NewstTalkZB website and all the other clients who eventually help our stories reach an audience all around the world. It's very exciting to be one small link in that chain. Apparently our total audience exceeds the New Zealand population by several million!"
Weekdays, Joe turns his energies to television: he works in the Creative Services area of New Zealand's biggest networks: TVNZ's TV One, TV2, TVNZ6 and TVNZ7, organising production of on-screen promotions and continuity for all four channels.
During the five years to 2005 when Global News existed, Joe presented bulletins on Solid Gold, Radio Pacific and other networks and stations in the RadioWorks Group. These included The Rock, The Edge, Channel z, More FM and single-market stations in 26 towns and cities nationwide. Tenure there began in 1986, when what has become the current network was just Radio Pacific.
At the QANTAS Media Awards Friday 14 May 2004, the judges said of their pick for Best News Reader 2003: "There's just something about Joe Gilfillan's authoritative yet soothing delivery that stands out above the crowd." Joe was somewhat non-plussed: "It had been years since I was organised enough to enter, but a friend kept hassling me so I did. To make the finals was enough for me - I was so chuffed! I rarely do industry dos and the whole evening was just overwhelming. A great night." Joe's newsreading also appears in the New Zealand film "Out Of The Blue" - the true story of what has become known as The Aramoana Massacre.
In his CV covering every aspect of media, both print and electronic, Joe lists presenting News for both ONE and TV2 ("way back in the days when there were only two channels") and, during his OE, at The BBC in London. For several years he sailed the seven seas as a member of the P&O Entertainment Crew.
Pieces Joe has written about The Arts, Travel and Computing have appeared in magazines including DESTINATIONS and AUCKLAND; he has: filed a host of reports for radio stations in Australia, South Africa, Namibia, The USA, Canada and London; syndicated Top 40 countdowns of the New Zealand Music Charts; established yachting coverage for radio with Larry Keating tracking the late Sir Peter Blake's first Whitbread Round The World Race.
Friends of Opera New Zealand, The Auckland Philharmonia, The Mosaic of the Arts, The Media Design School, Goodman Fielder Watties, The Miss Auckland Pageant, Principles Academy, Hyatt Regency Auckland, GABA, Media Design School, AUT University, Ports Of Auckland, Air New Zealand - there is a long list of organisations for which Joe has presented events, provided voice material or been MC - ("not to mention weddings and 21sts - but no funerals yet.").
And you'll
hear Joe spreading the word as an advertising voice artist. Hard- or soft-sell,
documentary reads: have words can do. "We added up one year - 3 million words
(written, spoken, printed) went into the work we invoiced."
Click to hear a sample of Joe's work.
Mentors through his career have included Bob Leahy, Bob Irvine, Vincent Price, Philip Sherry, Trevor Jones, Beatrice Webster, Alma Evans Freke, Derek Lowe and Warren Thomas.
Away from work ("none of what I do is work! How can this much fun be work?") Joe has a rich and varied list of interests and hobbies. He enjoys - in no particular order - driving, cellaring New Zealand wine, cooking for friends, a surprisingly wide range of music, ("George FM, The Rock, The Edge, The B, The Auckland Phil - in fact most New Zealanders On Stage doing anything"), knowing what's happening all over the planet, a Sunday morning lie-in with the papers, stockcars and speedway, parachuting, b/w photography, romance, adventure, fine coffee, proper letters with stamps and real paper, watching people, walking, keeping friendships alive, lively conversation, other people's ideas...
His list of things loathesome much shorter it is: eejits, drunks, loud and agressive vexations to the spirit, intolerance, politics, arrogance, bad manners, dogma, housework...
And if all of this has a theme: yes, you're dealing with an Aquarian.
Cosmo Media Limited
P O Box 6474
Auckland, 1141, New Zealand.