TonyTrotter
- Producer
Reporter turned producer Tony Trotter was a key figure in the long history of rural show Country Calendar, pulling the programme out of the studio and towards a wider audience. Spotting the talent of Country Calendar reporter John Gordon, Trotter got him to front the quirky A Dog's Show. Later Trotter won two Feltex awards producing for TVNZ’s fledgling Natural History Unit. He passed away on 9 March 2016.
Screenography
Biography
Tony Trotter was arguably the key person in the evolution of Country Calendar from the show it was when it first began. Producer Frank Torley, who spent decades working on the rural show, credited Trotter as being the person who shaped it into the form it has kept for more than 40 years. Trotter steered the programme out of the studios, and aimed it more towards general audiences; he also instigated Country Calendar's beloved spoof episodes, and chose the theme music that has opened the show for decades.
Awards
1983 Feltex Awards
Best Documentary Programme: Wild South
1982 Feltex Awards
Best Children's Programme: Wildtrack
“If I had any skill at all, it was in standing still and thinking ‘what is the real story, what exactly is this programme saying?’.”