At Home with Newsreader Kay McGrath

For a woman who has appeared in living rooms across Queensland almost nightly for 30 years, Channel Seven newsreader New Zealand-born Kay McGrath is a little uncomfortable in her own.

“I wish I hadn’t put that big monitor up on the wall,” McGrath says about the large television screen in her airy, light-filled, inner-Brisbane home.

“I’d like to rip it off.”

Not that she has any misgivings about the television career she’s enjoyed for the past 39 years, including almost 30 as a presenter.

The journalist fondly remembers the days when there was “only free-to-air television” and money was not so tight.

“I’m grateful that I am still in the industry,” says McGrath, who now presents the ratings-winning weekend news for Seven. “I’m not as deeply immersed as I was because I’m not there five days a week, but at my age and stage, it’s still interesting to be inside the tent and observe from the inside this [digital] revolution, which is quite extraordinary and moving at breakneck speed.”

At home, McGrath is less likely to be found anywhere near the television – nominating the deck as her favourite space, with its sturdy 10-seater dining table and magnificent city views.

“I love the air flow here and this table is probably the engine room,” she says.

Original article by Robyn Ironside, The Australian, February 17, 2018.

Photo by Lyndon Mechielsen.