JOSEPH GALLANT, who hosted "NOT QUITE LIVE", and currently hosts "LOUNGE TV", was born in Norwood, Massachusetts, and, except for the first three-and-a-half years of his life (when he lived with his parents in neighboring Canton, Massachusetts) has lived there ever since. He attended the Norwood school system and graduated from Norwood High School. While there, he got the first bite from the broadcasting bug when he was part of a group of students who hoped to establish a radio station broadcasting from Norwood High School. This effort ended when it was discovered that there were no available frequencies for such a station to broadcast on. He also was an alternate represenative to the school's Student Council.

BEGINNINGS OF AN ON-AIR EXISTANCE

A couple of years after graduating from Norwood High School, Joseph managed to become a news stringer for WSRB-FM radio in Walpole. He would occassionally call the station with reports of news events, mainly in Norwood. This satisfied his desire to be "on the air"----but only for a brief time. When Norwood decided to begin the process to grant a cable TV franchise in the early 1980's, he saw this as a chance to get involved in the field on a regular basis---because he didn't like working in other jobs!

FACE AND VOICE

Among the first to take a basic video production course offered by what was then Adams-Russell (since bought-out by Cablevision Systems Corporation, who still owns the system), he quickly began working (behind-the-scenes) on various productions. In the Fall of 1983, he got his first chance to be in front of the camera through a weekly five-minute program titled "InfoVideo", which was a rundown of upcoming community events. "InfoVideo" lasted only 26 weeks, but, according to Joseph, "It taught me most of what I know about on-camera hosting of a television program. What 'InfoVideo' didn't teach me, I would soon learn".

HE SHOOTS, HE SCORES!

Prior to launching "NOT QUITE LIVE", Joseph Gallant was best known in the Norwood area for twelve years of play-by-play coverage of local high-school hockey on cable channels 14 and 32 in those two communities. He'll never forget how he got the job: "I was expecting to work behind-the-scenes for hockey during the 1984-85 season. But ten minutes before the faceoff of the very first game, the producer (Bob Goodale, who is now a sports videographer for WFXT-TV Boston) came up to me, and knowing I did 'InfoVideo', asked me to do play-by-play. I did know enough about hockey so I wouldn't make a fool out of myself from lack of knowledge of the game, but could I articulate that knowledge and call the game?" After doing an audition on a game that was actually broadcast in December, 1984, he was told afterwards that, if he wanted it, the job would be his for the rest of the season. "Of course I accepted. I did it for twelve years, and some of the best times I've had in the business came doing hockey". Joseph Gallant, during that time, got to cover three Westwood High teams that won state championships, eleven Westwood teams that won league championships, and two teams of his alma mater, Norwood High, that won league titles. Because working on his shows has taken up more and more of his time, he was forced to abandon hockey prior to the 1996/97 season. "I wish there were a way I could still have done the hockey AND the show", he reports, "Because I really miss doing the games. Maybe someday, I can find some way to also do hockey again."

IF IT'S NOT LIVE, IT'S "NOT QUITE LIVE"

But high-school hockey only covers three months (mid-December to mid-March, including playoffs) each year. For years, Joseph was wondering if he could do something on-air on a year-round basis. Besides hockey, he had hosted a number of special programs, and hosted or co-hosted coverage of Norwood's July 4th parade in 1990 and 1991, but the desire to do a regular series still beckoned. He got a break when he became a regular on "Your Mother's On The Roof!", a talk/variety show hosted by Cha-Chi LoPrete of WBCN radio. "Bob Curran and Rob DeRosa (the producers of that show) gave me a regular spot, and lots of advice on being more "loose" on-the-air. This was helpful because most of my on-air work was either scripted material or ad-lib stuff that had a rather rigid format (e.g. hockey). Were it not for that experience, I doubt I could have done "Not Quite Live"--or at least the way it ended up". By the spring of 1991, an idea had popped into his head--one for an hour-long talk/variety show with a wide range of guests that would both inform and entertain, and unlike an increasing number of TV talk-show, not be sleazy. "At first, I called my idea 'A Desk and a Sofa'. Later, we changed the title to the one we wound up using: 'Not Quite Live'. We called it that because while the show was taped, it was done as if it were a live program. We did a whole hour show in the span of a single hour." "Not Quite Live" was given a green-light in July, 1991 and began the very next month. The rest is history.

FAVORITE GUESTS?

"Oh, there's so many of them, I don't know where to begin!" says Joseph Gallant, But pressed, he says "Ron Della Chiesa [host of "Music America"] and his wife Joyce were always a delight to have on the show, as were Norwood Selectman Tom Riolo, and a singer who was on our show a few times over the years and who is now a regular on "LOUNGE TV", Joan Goodman, who's got such a fantastic singing voice. But there are some other guests, too numerous to name here, who have also been highlights."

IMPACT

Joseph reports that lots of people recognize him and tell him how much they like the show "If it weren't for them, "Not Quite Live" might never have made it past 1991---never mind running seven years!"

A BIG CHANGE

After seven successful years, it was time for a change. "We had gone as far as we could on a local cable channel. Ideally, the next step would have been doing the show for a major Boston television station. But that option wasn't available to us. So, with some sadness, we decided to end "Not Quite Live" in June of 1998 and start-up a new show called "LOUNGE TV". The major differences are that "LOUNGE TV" is a half-hour (as opposed to "NOT QUITE LIVE", which was an hour-long show) and the fact that we have regulars who appear on each show, as opposed to the guests who visited us on the old show". The other major difference is that "LOUNGE TV" is a variety program with musical and comedy performances, with very little talk, whereas "NOT QUITE LIVE" was primarilly a talk show with some musical and comedy performers appearing as guests from time-to-time.

IN ADDITION

Joseph Gallant, (let's face it, he looks a few years younger than he really is) is single (but he admits to going steady with a "wonderful girl" as he puts it) and lives in Norwood, Massachusetts.

Joseph Gallant is also available for hire to do narrations and voice-overs of commercials and industrial videos. Click HERE for further information.