Managed to find one of the rarer times Melissa Downes (then at Seven) presented Seven Nightly News Brisbane in 1997, filling in for Tracey Challenor.
Wally Lewis was also a sports presenter on the bulletin (not the same one as the video below, though) around this time before joining Nine in 1998.
Courtesy: Dan Martin
I mentioned a week or so ago that she replaced Tracey Challenor on 7 News.
She did it a few times:
Apparently Downes’ duties at Seven were limited to presenting news updates and filing reports (as well as presenting the first incarnation of Seven Gold Coast News if I remember correctly) but as you alluded to she did fill in for Challenor a few times.
She eventually moved down the road to Nine in 2001 and the rest is history. Chances are, if she had remained at Seven she wouldn’t have progressed her career further to where it is today.
Or maybe she could have progressed further.
I would like to think at the time she was third in line behind Kay McGrath (who presented on weeknights between 1989-2012, and then on weekends betweeen 2013-20) and Challenor (who presented on weekends between 1991-2007).
Eventually, Challenor resigned in 2007 and was replaced by Sharyn Ghidella; that, and Seven’s poaching of Nine weatherman John Schluter saw them overtake their rivals at QTQ for the first time in two decades.
Presumedly Anna McMahon who was TVQ Co-Newsreader in 1989?
Yes she did host the first Seven Gold Coast News. Used to drive down from Brisbane each day.
Nine offered her a permanent co-weekend reading shift with Mike London from memory and she’s remained ever since.
Seven News Brisbane - 11/8/2001
That was a popular newsreader hairstyle back in 2001. Every second female had it.
What a bizarre 7News intro, I’ve never seen that before!
Each state had a different intro during that era
every city used the red lower-case intro with various adaptations, Brisbane was the only one that went rogue with this thing we see above, though they’d used the standard intro earlier and subsequently.
Perth had the roll call from the 90s from the previous package
Seven’s Regional QLD bulletins used Sydney’s version IIRC
And Southern Cross did a similar thing although they replaced the 7 with their logo from the time.
Now that I think of it, didn’t they retain the set from that era for like a decade before switching to the blue version?
yes, but still used the elements from the basic red design of the time. Unlike that one from Brisbane.
Brisbane also had that weird blend of 1998 and 1999 branding when the rest of the network adopted the red look. I’m not sure if it lasted right up until the ribbon logo launched or not.
Adelaide held out on the red look until 2000, used the Blue Bevel/Gold Lettering up to the end of 1999
It was in May 1999 when Seven switched from blue to red until 29 August 2004
That broad statement is clearly inaccurate, Big Vic, as the last couple of posts indicate. Seven Sydney, Melbourne and Perth switched, but Brisbane and Adelaide did not.
To quote the post literally above yours:
I know Brisbane also went to the red ribbon on Jan 1 2000, as seen:
