TonyCiprian
- Producer
- Presenter
Tony Ciprian, who passed away on 13 January 2015, spent at least 25 years shepherding sport onto local TV screens. The onetime policeman began as a reporter at Gisborne's Radio 2ZG, then moved to television fulltime; by the 80s he was producing and presenting sports for TVNZ's primetime news. In at the launch of TV3 in 1989, Ciprian mentored many young journalists, before making the first of many attempts to retire.
Screenography
Biography
In some ways Tony Ciprian was the journalistic cliché, familiar from dozens of movies: gruff and grey-haired, he was a man who cared deeply about words but often didn't need to call on too many of them, when cutting an upstart novice down to size. Ciprian was a stickler for detail: a newsman who seemed to know everyone and cared about getting it right. Al Jazeera news anchor Kamahl Santamaria, one of many who learnt valuable lessons from him when starting off in Kiwi television, wrote that he “moulded and guided and shaped us — sometimes without us even realising — and turned us into half-decent reporters”.
“His gravelly voice was known countrywide. He arrived at TV3 when it first started, and stayed for nearly 20 years. He attempted to retire a couple of times, even moved to Australia, but writing and reporting was in his blood, he never stayed away long. He was always welcomed back.”