WHEN Noeleen Maholwana-Sangqu burst onto South African TV screens early this year, it may have been her screen debut but she brought a formidable CV as the queen of talk.

Well-cherished for her sharp, incisive questioning, sassy attitude and personal warmth, her new role as host on SABC 3 TALK was a challenge to bridge the digital divide from radio to television.

The first daily talk show for South African women, now in its second season, SABC 3 TALK has been a hit with its live-to-air, "talk TV" format and issue-driven approach. The show is broadcast live from Mondays-Fridays (5pm-6pm) and repeats weekday mornings (7am-8am).

Born and raised in Umtata, Noeleen's entrée to broadcast media was on Radio Transkei in 1986. When she moved to Johannesburg in 1994, she applied for a job on 702 and started out at the bottom again - as a junior reporter before landing a co-hosting job. Her career growth at the station was meteoric as listeners warmed to her generous, spirited style, first as a news reader and then as news editor. From 2001, she was on the Primedia Board and hosted her own daily show before leaving the company at the end of 2002.

In the process, she also won a Global Population Institute prize for Best Programme of the Year (which she received at an event in Cuba in 2002).