Reclining behind his desk at the Jamaica Information Service, a natty Ian Boyne leans forward and initiates a discussion with pointed questions. It's a usual scenario. Asking the questions comes natural to the veteran journalist, after all, he has been at it for almost 30 years.

Ian Boyne

But this time the tables are turned, we are here to interview the man who has conducted over 900 such personality profiles on national television. His talk show, Profile, this year celebrates a continuous 18 years without a break and has become a Sunday afternoon fixture on Jamaican television. "I have never missed a Sunday," he says.

Actually, the show has been the longest running programme on television, apart from the Schools' Challenge Quiz. For perspective, an 18 year-old impressionable adolescent at the February 1987 inception of Profile is now a hardened 36 year-old adult.

Boyne's concept is definitely the only talk-based programme to survive in the treacherous media landscape. Many have come and gone- for varying reasons -Trails, the Diana Wright Show, Round Table Talk, Tuesday Forum.

Still the ratings show no decline in viewer-acceptance. According to the latest Don Anderson media survey, Profile has 253,000 viewers each Sunday while the competition on CVM has 112,000 at the same time (6:30pm). Cliff Hughes' Impact at 4:30 has a maximum of 124,000.

Ian Boyne (Photos: Bryan Cummings)

Now divorced but "very close to his ex-wife", Boyne sees family values as extremely important. His only child, a daughter, with an LLb degree, is a recent graduate of the Norman Manley Law School. A heavy work schedule can take a toll on personal life, however, Boyne's acumen for good time management is evident in the many projects he has successfully conducted.

The JIS executive started his career at the now defunct Daily News in the mid-70s, even winning a PAJ award at age 18, (incidentally, for personality profiles on Rex Nettleford, John Maxwell and Peter Abrahams.) "I have always been interested in people," he tells Sunday Lifestyle.

He has since written numerous newspaper columns and hosted other TV programmes, including the new Religious Hardtalk, but his vanguard production has undoubtedly been Profile. The talk show has offered a peek into the lives of personalities like Louis Farahkan, Beenie Man, Wesley Snipes, Mutabaruka, Robert Johnson (owner of BET) and Michael Lee Chin.

The latter two are the only 'blacks' to have made the acclaimed Forbes billionaires list. Cardinal Arinzi, a Nigerian Roman Catholic priest who is tipped to succeed the current Pope, has had his profile aired on the TVJ programme.

And through it all Boyne has been the consummate host. He explains: "It doesn't just start at the interview; what you see on air started probably an hour before."

"I try to get my guests calm by relaxed chatting," he adds.
Good interviewing skills, Boyne asserts, is a key in communicating and holding the viewers' interest, but this art is not commonplace. Cliff Hughes and Ronnie Thwaites are local media contemporaries, he says, that posses the important skill.

On the international scene Stone Phillips is one that has made an impact on Boyne. "I love the American style of interviewing, it has influenced me more than even the British," says Boyne who has honed his skill by avid reading and an "understanding of psychology".

"I wanted to be a clinical psychologist," he explains. "Journalism is actually my compromise."The television studio hence became Boyne's conduit to getting across his brand of "positive journalism", of which he says there is not enough.

Boyne feels that a part of journalism that is not well served, as it ought to be, is the empowering of people. "I started Profile because of that," he says.

"When I came into journalism I was reading with people like Dale Carnegie, Norman Peale, and Maxwell Maltz. These people were writing positive thinking books. How To Stop Worrying and Start Living by Carnegie made a huge impact on me."

Cosmopolitan and Vanity Fair are among the magazines where Boyne finds fodder. "These are magazines with good personality pieces," he says. The range of personalities that appear on Profile gives viewers a chance to connect with their success and get into the lives of others. The inquisitive side, some may say.

And Boyne's ability to interact with the diverse characters that grace the programme each week, coupled with his grasp of issues and communication skills, have spawned a relaxed Sunday afternoon chat that at one time or another, strikes a chord with the viewer. That combination may very well be the reason for the programme's longevity.

"There is always something there for each person," says Boyne.
"My grasp of psychology, I consider, is one of the major ingredients. Because I understand people so well, the very same things I think about asking are what people find interesting, " says Boyne with confidence born out of success.

Nowadays Boyne has his conversations within the controlled environment of a studio, but in the early years, shots on location were as much a part of the presentation.
Boyne relates how the programme got started.

"The concept was to develop a programme that would inspire people towards achievement," he says. It would be introduced with people who were well-known and successful.

But getting his concept on the air required the use of good old networking skills. He credits Olivia 'Babsy' Grange, then minister of information, for facilitating the break at the government-controlled JBC. An interview was set up with general manager Gloria Lannaman and Boyne's idea was accepted with some conditions.

Instead of a single host, said Don Bucknor, then director of programmes, the show would be split between hosts Boyne and Elaine Wint.

Wint, however, refused the figure offered and 18 years later
TVJ has never seen the need for a co-host.
Boyne however mentions director "for all these years" Louis Burke, along with Clevans Wilson, Zed Dawkins and Scott Wilson, "who have worked with me as directors", as persons who have contributed greatly to the success of Profile.

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