Barbara Gloudon, host of Hotline Thursdays & Fridays, is one of Jamaica’s most respected senior journalists. Her career began at the Gleaner where she was Features Editor, then Editor of the STAR. After a stint as Deputy Director of Tourism, she joined the RJR team to host Hotline and has done so for two decades now. She continues to contribute to print as a weekly columnist for the Jamaica Observer. As a playwright, she has scripted several National Pantomimes and other plays for the stage as well as radio dramas, the best known being the long-running serial “Wrong Move” on RJR 94-FM.

For her contribution to journalism and the arts, Mrs. Gloudon is the holder of the Order of Jamaica (O.J.), the Order of Distinction Officer Class (O.D) and the honorary degree of Doctor of Letters (D.Litt), from the University of the West Indies. She is a trustee and life member of the Press Association of Jamaica, a Fellow of the University of Iowa Writing programme and the author of the book “Stella Seh”, a satirical look at Jamaican life in the Seventies. She gives voluntary service to cultural institutions, including the Institute of Jamaica of which she is a Deputy Chairman.

You wouldn’t know at first or second encounter that she has achieved so much as she engages you. Her sprightly wit continues to engage her colleagues and audience. Dr. Barbara Gloudon or ‘Mrs. G’ as she’s is affectionately known, is definitely more substance than talk.