I mean, they could get Jonathan Uptin to do Mon-Wed and Michael Atkinson on Thurs-Sun, with Uptin remaining on weekend news.
Another option could be Pete Psaltis and they get someone else for WWOS on 4BC.
If they go for Jonathan on sports fulltime then it would be nice if they could persuade Wendy Kingston to come back to do weekends.
I wonder if QTQ is starting to realise the pickle they have had themselves in for sometime now. Itâs been quite clear to me for about two years that they could not afford to lose a single one of their long-standing presenters because they had no one that was capable of stepping-up into the vacancies. In the last year, theyâve lost Bruce Paige and Dominque Loudon on the GC, Paul Taylor on 4pm and now Wally Lewis at 6pm and struggled to find replacements. Quite the contrast to BTQ actually, who has very competent reporters and quite a few of them could easily be bumped up to read at any time.
I always thought that, when the time came, Nine would get a notable name like Johnathan Thurston or Darren Lockyer to replace Wally. But, given the circumstances and the fact that he is staying on contract, I now doubt it. Note that over summer, with Michael Atkinson on leave, there was no separate sport presenter for six weeks on weekends. The Gold Coast went months without a sport presenter. They donât have the team on hand here for any of these line-up changes.
9 could always poach from 7 if they so wish.
I guess the issue with nurturing your presenting talent, as seven has done so in recent years, is that they are then ripe for the picking.
Thatâs what they did when they lured Melissa Downes across from Seven at the end of 2001, with the view of grooming her to become either Jillian Whiting or Heather Foordâs successor. She eventually became weekend presenter in 2006 (replacing Whiting) before being promoted to weeknights in 2009 (replacing Foord).
Seven did the opposite when they lured Joel Dry down the road in mid-2018; can anyone though remember if he ever did present any bulletins while at QTQ?
There have been only a handful of high profile poachings over the time in Queensland.
John Schlueter from 9 weather to 7 weather.
Max Futcher from 10 to 7 (although at the time only as a reporter)
Bill McDonald from 10 to 7.
Andrew Lofthouse from ABC to 9.
Rod Young from ABC to 7
Frank Warrick from 7 to part time at 9.
Melissa from 7 to 9.
Sharyn Ghidella from 9 to 7, although Sharyn moved from Today, not down the road.
Lexy Hamilton-Smith has spent time at just about every network.
I think theyâre best moving Jonathan Uptin to Sport, having either Wendy Kingston, Mia Glover or Aislin Kruikelis take over weekends. Iâm guessing they also need someone to the Afternoon News a few days a week now Paul Taylor has moved to the Gold Coast?
Rod Young actually went from ABC to 7.
And Frank Warrick also presented National Nine News in Brisbane in the early 1980s before moving to Seven
Bill McDonald also worked as a sports reporter and presenter for Seven in the late 1980s early 1990s before switching to Ten and then back to Seven in January of 2013.
Typo
I imagine Paul could present the Gold Coast News and the Afternoon News a couple of days a week from the GC studios.
The Gold Coast set might be a bit small for a state wide 4pm afternoon news?
It doesnât look to be much bigger than a broom closet.
If 7 can do it with their GC set and the Queensland Afternoon News, it may be possible.
I got the impression from TV Blackboxâs article that it was some sort of medical emergency. Reading the press release, it seems like Wally just wanted to step away from the nightly commitment.
I hope they make use of Bruce for 4pm or weekends.
Seven now has a better group of reporters to begin with in Brisbane, which helps enormously.
When Seven do the 4pm afternoon news from the Gold coast studio, they concentrate on a head and shoulders without the need to see which set. With crosses to Brisbane for weather/sport etc. We did see part of the set once or twice but otherwise not.
Its probably not as easy for talent to move around now as it was previously: nowadays most TV common law contracts have restraints in them, usually something like 6 months and you not being able to work in that market for someone else or even statewide or national. Where some broadcasters cross the line is all their contracts, even for staff such as camera, tech and clerical, have the same restraints in them.
I often wonder about some of the presenters who have hired gun websites so they are probably working off an ABN, and if they have a contract with restraints despite working off an ABN?
The award has no restraints in it but the payrates are low and even then there are long notice periods.
Legally, apparently its hard to enforce restraints if they fire you.
Melbourne reporter Maggie Raworth filed a report from Wahroonga on the Sydney bulletin tonight. Could she be filling in, or has she permanently moved to Sydney?
Sheâs moved to Sydney.
Another big loss to the Melbourne newsroom.
Yes multiple, here is a montage:
And presenting sport:
They should get Jess Milward to present some bulletins. I recall she used to present afternoon updates in 2013/2014.
Airlie Walsh (TCN9) has announced she and her partner are expecting.
