It must be remembered that up until then, Seven was enduring a horror period having lost the AFL rights, leaving them without any regular domestic sport to broadcast in that time period (apart from Wallabies internationals, the 2002 Winter Olympics, the 2002 Commonwealth Games and the 2003 Rugby World Cup).
This impact was felt worst in Melbourne where it regularly languished in third place behind Nine and Ten (both of whom shared the AFL FTA rights).
Another major turning point was Lleyton Hewitt reaching the Australian Open final in 2005, which remains one of the most watched sporting events outside of the Olympics and Commonwealth Games this century.
I remember it well. Nine flew a helicopter around Sydney on the morning of the relaunch towing a huge flag with the logo on it. There had been speculation for months that Nine were going to have a new logo. I was expecting to see a whole new logo and not a half baked one, which is what it was.
I did read somewhere that HSV were considering replacing Peter Mitchell with Sandy Roberts at the end of 2004 (he instead replaced Beverly O’Connor in presenting sport) but they persisted with him and by 2007 he would just lead them to a narrow ratings win against the powerhouse Nine News.
But then by 2012 it started falling apart again and after 2011 Seven News would not win another ratings week until 2016. Melbourne was always going to be a tough market for Seven given their loyalty to Nine and Hitch.
Yes, there was talk of this…. Sandy was currently filling in for David Johnson on the national 4.30 news when these rumours took place.
Seven (Peter Meakin) focused on fixing the Sydney market first in 2003 before then focusing his attention on Melbourne in 2004/5.
Meakin opted to keep Mitchell in the chair but reinstated the well known Sandy Robert’s back to sport and poaching Jennifer Keyte back to Seven to read weekends.
A replica set from Sydney was built in 2005 and the new “make the switch” promo was launched everywhere. Including shopping centres.
Sydney was always going to be the toughest market for Seven to crack given Hendo had helmed Nine News in that market for nearly four decades.
By the time he retired, Ian Ross was semi-retired and was only doing some on-and-off work for Nine when Seven identified him as the man to turn around their fortunes.
And so he did - by 2005, Seven News became a distant number one in Sydney, losing just one week against Nine News, which was now being helmed by Mark Ferguson (who was just short of turning 40 when he was appointed) after Jim Waley held the reins for two years.
Actually, he was semi-retired, only being called up to present Seven News bulletins from time-to-time when presenters were unavailable between 2000-03. Such as on the day of the 2002 Grand Final:
From memory Seven went on the attack in the early part of 2005 with new blockbuster shows such as Desperate Housewives and Lost among other franchises, though Blue Heelers continued to decline in viewership leading to its cancellation the following year.
As I alluded to earlier, the presence of Lleyton Hewitt in the AO final at the start of that year obviously helped with their fortunes.
But then (I might be wrong here) Seven eventually ran out of steam allowing Nine to again take out the year.
Always remember (the start of 2005) Sam Newman on the AFL footy show stating to Eddie “are any of our shows working at the moment?”. I believe they were scheduled just after LOST on Thursday’s and for the very first time we’re now coming second in their time slot.
I remember 2006 being the last year they did a ‘Still the One’ promo.
YouTube: TheSifon
3 April: With Eddie becoming Nine’s new CEO, Who Wants to be a Millionaire? airs for the final time after attempts to find a new host are unsuccessful.
11 February 1974: Crawford Productions’ new adults-only soap, The Box, makes its debut on ATV0, Melbourne. The series debuts in Sydney the following night, getting a household rating there of 46.
Producer Hector Crawford took the unusual step of putting out newspaper ads to defend his new show against the critics.
11 February 1979: The Nine Network launches its new current affairs show, 60 Minutes, adapted from the US program of the same name. The show attracts only low ratings at first but soon builds to become one of Nine’s highest rating brands. It is still going 44 years later.
11 February 1985: The Midday Show with Ray Martin launches as the replacement for The Mike Walsh Show, which has moved to prime time. Martin continues as the show’s host until 1993, replaced by Derryn Hinch for one year, then replaced by Tracy Grimshaw and David Reyne, then replaced by Kerri-Anne Kennerley for its last 3 years before being axed in 1998.
On the same day, Ten relaunches its new show Good Afternoon Australia as After Noon, with Katrina Lee and Tony Murphy.
And later in the afternoon, Nine launches a revival of Blankety Blanks, hosted by Daryl Somers.
18 February 1972: Bert Newton hosts the TV Week Logie Awards from the Southern Cross Hotel, with the show televised live to Sydney and Melbourne and for the first time to Brisbane and Adelaide. Gerard Kennedy from Division 4 won his second Gold Logie for Most Popular TV Personality. Overseas guests at the awards included Juliet Mills (Nanny And The Professor), Robert Reed (The Brady Bunch), Roger Moore (The Saint) and Rock Hudson (McMillan And Wife)
18 February 1980: ATV10 in Melbourne airs re-packaged scenes and storylines from the early episodes of Prisoner centred around character Franky Doyle (Carol Burns) as telemovie The Franky Doyle Story. The repackaging of the content into a stand-alone product saw producer Reg Grundy Organisation taken to court by the cast who were not paid for their efforts being re-packaged for commercial gain. Apparently the actors won the case. The telemovie eventually aired in Sydney but not for another year or so.
18/2/2007 Tracey Challenor presents her final 7NEWS Brisbane bulletin after sixteen years presenting the weekend news. She is replaced by Sharyn Ghidella who went on maternity leave not long after starting out at BTQ-7.
