The TV survivor who just "loves a chat"

She is a household name, a television survivor, a seasoned and polished host who isn’t afraid to put the ‘show’ in ‘showbiz.’ A woman who can coax politicians to the dance floor.

She is Kerri-Anne: KAK.

TV Tonight went behind the scenes of Mornings with Kerri-Anne today to see what makes the show, and the lady herself, tick.

Broadcasting live from Melbourne for the rest of this week, Mornings today had the usual mix of entertainment, news, comment, lifestyle and advertorials. It is a dependable recipe, and one which Kennerley steers with ease. In her own words she is a woman who “loves a chat.”

Today’s show featured cast members from Wicked, entertainment reporter (and birthday boy) Andrew Mercado, radio host John Burns, Michael Usher outside the funeral of Jane McGrath, illusionist ‘Cosentino’ and commentators Brett McLeod, Caroline Wilson and Lawrence Money. Running live to air is no challenge to Kennerley, in fact it’s her preference.

After all this is a woman with 11 years on Good Morning Australia, 3 years of Midday and more under her belt. It was when she was presenting the afternoon programme Monday to Friday on TEN that she got a call from David Leckie, then at Nine, to host Midday. It nearly didn’t happen.

“I got the call saying David Leckie would like to see you,” she said. “So off I went. If I’d been 4 hours out of whack I would actually signed the Channel TEN contract.”

Since starting in kids TV at QTQ9 at the age of 13, Kennerley has reinvented her act to ensure she keeps a place in this most fickle of businesses.

“When I was working Channel TEN there used to be a gag when it was going through a lot of hurdles: ‘I’m going for lunch if the boss calls make sure you get his name.’

“Wicked saying but it was true.

“At Channel TEN when I was there, there was five owners. Rupert Murdoch, Frank Lowy, a couple of sets of receivers, Steve Cosser, there were about nine managing directors and about 11 executive producers.”

KAK, as she is affectionately known, admits to loving her job and the opportunity to “explore people and what they do.” As a woman who revels in touches of glamour she has even become something of a “camp icon,” a phrase she accepts with grace. “I think it originated from my love of sequins, lip gloss and feathers.”

Yet with so many players in a competitive morning field, she also takes pride in knowing Mornings can swing from entertainment to current affairs without shying away from tough stories.

“One of the wonderful things about my job, whether its Good Morning Australia or Midday or this gig, is that News changes. Even though most people would define us as a lifestyle show, we’re very much a News show.”

Tomorrow the show has an interview with Professor Lachlan de Crespigny, one of five surgeons who controversially assisted in an abortion for a woman who found out her foetus suffered from dwarfism. Confidential medical files were handed over to an anti-abortion campaigner and Nationals-turned-Liberal Senator McGaurin.

“Five and a half years of court cases, they were all suspended, some of them fired,” she said. “They were sold down the river basically. Now whether you agree with abortion or not is irrelevant. A case like that with people’s lives and professions to hang in the balance for five and a half years over something that was completely legal and sanctioned by the board of that hospital.”

Kennerley read the story in The Bulletin and sought the Professor for his first television interview.

“I was so compelled by the case and the fact that he may be able to speak out now, and tracked him down. But that’s just homework. If you spend a 6 or 8 minute interview it means that you would have had to have spent at least 40 minutes minimum looking at the facts.”

Similarly, today’s show touched upon the headlines about child neglect in a South Australian home.

“There’s not a person in any state who cannot be compelled by that story. How can you let your children starve to death? How can that happen in this country? Most people are actually really interested in what’s going on in the world.

“Obviously we all have varied interests and we’ve got to cover as much as we can and we are unashamedly commercial.”

Kennerley is pragmatic about rival shows, even admitting she “adores” Larry Emdur.

“I don’t look over my shoulder at what everybody else is doing. I know what our strengths are and I think faced with competition you tweak and you focus a little bit more on what you do best.”

“But I don’t shy away from fun and entertainment either.”

Nor would we want her to.

Mornings with Kerri-Anne airs 9am weekdays on Nine.