Jacki MacDonald (born Jenine MacDonald; 26 November 1953) in

Blackall, Queensland Blackall is a rural town and locality in the Blackall-Tambo Region, Queensland, Australia. In the the locality of Blackall had a population of 1,416 people. The town is the service centre for the Blackall-Tambo Region. The dominant industry ...

is a former

Australian television Television in Australia began experimentally as early as 1929 in Melbourne with radio stations 3DB and 3UZ, and 2UE in Sydney, using the ''Radiovision'' system by Gilbert Miles and Donald McDonald, and later from other locations, such as Bris ...

personality, who now works in radio broadcasting.

Career

Popular in her home state of

Queensland ) , nickname = Sunshine State , image_map = Queensland in Australia.svg , map_caption = Location of Queensland in Australia , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name = Australia , established_title = Before federation , established_ ...

, MacDonald appeared on a number of local programs in the 1970s including her own show, ''Jacki and all that Jazz'', on

QTQ-9 QTQ is an Australian television station, licensed to, and serving Brisbane, Queensland. It is owned by the Nine Entertainment Co., and is part of the Nine Network. It broadcasts on VHF Channel 8 ( digital). QTQ began broadcasting on 16 August ...

and a daily breakfast program, ''The Jacki Mac Show'', on TVQ-0. In 1978 she was

GTV-9 GTV is a commercial television station in Melbourne, Australia, owned by the Nine Network. The station is currently based at studios at 717 Bourke Street, Docklands. History GTV-9 was amongst the first television stations to begin regular ...

's replacement for

Daryl Somers Daryl Paul Somers (né Schulz; 6 August 1951) is an Australian television personality and musician, and a triple Gold Logie award-winner. He rose to national fame as the host and executive producer of the long-running comedy-variety program '' ...

and puppet sidekick

Ossie Ostrich Oswald Q. Ostrich, better known simply as Ossie Ostrich, is an Australian television puppet character in the form of a pink ostrich, created, performed and voiced by Ernie Carroll who appeared firstly on the ''Tarax Show'', and then opposite Daryl ...

when the pair moved to 0-10. After she presented ''The Super Saturday Show'' for several months, Somers returned to Nine and she was asked to join them as co-presenter of a revival of ''

Hey Hey It's Saturday ''Hey Hey It's Saturday'' was a long-running variety television program on Australian television. It initially ran for 28 years on the Nine Network from 9 October 1971 to 20 November 1999, with a recess in 1978. Its host throughout its entire ...

'', a role which she would continue for nine years. MacDonald was frequently made the butt of jokes in the show and when she came on the tune "Folks Are Dumb Where I Come From" would often be played (a reference to MacDonald coming from

). In 1984, the same year as ''HHISs move from a local morning timeslot to a national primetime slot, MacDonald also hosted ''The Ossie Ostrich Video Show'', a national weekday children's program on Nine. For a short time MacDonald was also an anchor of TVQ-0's ''Eyewitness News'' bulletins in 1983, which made her one of the few presenters to appear for two different networks at the same time (in her case, the

Nine 9 is a number, numeral, and glyph. 9 or nine may also refer to: Dates * AD 9, the ninth year of the AD era * 9 BC, the ninth year before the AD era * 9, numerical symbol for the month of September Places * Nine, Portugal, a parish in the ...

and Ten networks). During the 1970s and 1980s she won several

TV Week ''TV Week'' is a weekly Australian magazine that provides television program listings information and highlights, as well as television-related news. Content ranges from previews for upcoming storylines of popular television programs, particu ...

Logie Awards The Logie Awards (officially the TV Week Logie Awards; colloquially known as The Logies) is an annual gathering to celebrate Australian television, sponsored and organised by the magazine ''TV Week''. The first ceremony was held in 1959 as the ...

for Most Popular Female Personality in Queensland. MacDonald kept out of the spotlight following her departure from ''Hey Hey'' in 1988 (returning for two episodes in

Brisbane Brisbane ( ) is the capital and most populous city of the states and territories of Australia, Australian state of Queensland, and the list of cities in Australia by population, third-most populous city in Australia and Oceania, with a populati ...

in 1990). She returned to television in 1991 to host a season of Australia's Funniest Home Video Show after

Graham Kennedy Graham Cyril Kennedy AO (15 February 1934 – 25 May 2005) was an Australian entertainer, comedian and variety performer, as well as a personality and star of radio, theatre, television and film. He often performed in the style of vaudevilli ...

left. In 1992, former ''Hey Hey It's Saturday'' producer

Gavan Disney Gavan Francis Disney (27 May 1949 – 6 November 2018) was an Australian television producer.Knox, David (10 November 2018Vale: Gavan Disney ''TV Tonight''. Retrieved 10 November 2018. Career Disney was best known for being an executive produce ...

approached her to co-host his new TV program ''

Healthy Wealthy And Wise ''Healthy, Wealthy and Wise'' was a lifestyle television program shown in Australia. It was shown on Network Ten and was aired from 1992 until 1998.

'' which was being produced for

Network Ten Network 10 (commonly known as Ten Network, Channel 10 or simply 10) is an Australian commercial television network owned by Ten Network Holdings, a division of the Paramount Networks UK & Australia subsidiary of Paramount Global. One of five ...

. She continued with the new program for a couple of years before leaving television altogether. MacDonald appeared on the 2005 Network Ten special ''Seriously 40'' which commemorated 40 years of Network Ten. On 7 October 2009 she made a guest appearance on the second Hey Hey reunion special. When Hey Hey returned as a series in 2010 she did two appearances. The first one was at a museum but the second she was very ill with the

flu Influenza, commonly known as "the flu", is an infectious disease caused by influenza viruses. Symptoms range from mild to severe and often include fever, runny nose, sore throat, muscle pain, headache, coughing, and fatigue. These symptom ...

and used

Skype Skype () is a proprietary telecommunications application operated by Skype Technologies, a division of Microsoft, best known for VoIP-based videotelephony, videoconferencing and voice calls. It also has instant messaging, file transfer, deb ...

to communicate. This was her last appearance. MacDonald is now a regular show business commentator on ''Drive with Michael Smith'' for the Brisbane commercial talk radio station 4BC.

Awards and honours

*1983 - Advance Australia Ambassador

Personal life

MacDonald's sister, Fiona MacDonald, is also a former television presenter who was on local television in

before going on national programs such as ''

Wombat Wombats are short-legged, muscular quadrupedal marsupials that are native to Australia. They are about in length with small, stubby tails and weigh between . All three of the extant species are members of the family Vombatidae. They are adap ...

'' and the Australian version of ''

It's a Knockout ''It's a Knockout!'' is a British game show first broadcast in 1966. It was adapted from the French show '' Intervilles'', and was part of the international '' Jeux sans frontières'' franchise. History The series was broadcast on BBC1 from 7 ...

''. She is married to Dr Michael Pitney, and they have three children.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Macdonald, Jacki 1953 births Australian game show hosts Living people People from Brisbane