Seven News Presenters and Reporters (2015-Sept 2020)

Does anyone remember when Roger Climpson (who was undoubtedly Seven’s best anchor in Sydney before Ian Ross) was shafted from the nightly bulletin and why he was shafted?

He wasn’t shafted, he got cancer. It was the mid-90s, he was already in his 60s and wasn’t doing much ratings-wise so it’s clear why he didn’t return after his recovery.

1 Like

Yes that was when Ann Sanders replaced him. But what about the time when Ross Symonds replaced him?

No idea, sorry.

All good mate. Just had a look on the web and it appears that Climpson retired from TV in the 80s, but was brought back to front the bulletin, which was consistently rating 2nd place against National Nine News and Hendo.

1 Like

I’m pretty sure that Roger Climpson had at least two retirements from Seven, the first one being in October 1981 when Ross Symonds took over. Sydney’s edition of Seven National News also had a relaunch of sorts around the same time, judging by the info I can gather from elsewhere online.

Of course, Roger returned to Seven in January 1989 to present Sydney’s main evening news bulletin again - first in a duo with Ann Sanders but later on his own.

As it’s already been documented, the 2nd (and final retirement from the newsdesk, although Roger came back a couple of years later to present Australia’s Most Wanted for a short time) retirement for Roger Climpson was in Early 1995 when he got cancer.

I thought the Roger Climpson-lead Seven Nightly News was moderately successful back in the Early 1990s.

But with Roger’s departure and the axing of Real Life in favour of Today Tonight (which I’d imagine was in response to A Current Affair with Ray Martin being popular) at/around the same time, I’m pretty sure that Nine would’ve been leading the ratings during the 6pm-7pm hour in Sydney by a rather healthy margin during the mid-90s.

1 Like

I remember reading many years ago that Roger Climpson wanted to leave Seven the first time around so he could continue acting on the stage. His desire to accept stage roles clashed with his news reading duties. Ross Symonds was phased into the chief news reading role. He shared the desk with Climpson throughout 1981. Climpson was very popular, particularly during the years he hosted This is Your Life, and his bulletin usually outrated Nine’s news during the 1970s and early '80s. It was also seen on regional stations throughout N.S.W.

1 Like

After the 1995 retirement of Roger Climpson, how long did Ann read solo before Ross took over?

Ann read solo from 1995 and was joined by Symonds in 1998.

4 Likes

I’ve often wondered if Steve Liebmann left Seven to join Nine in 1981 because Seven had hired Symonds with a view to him taking over Seven National News.

Steve had a high profile on Seven having hosted 11AM, filled in regularly on Willesee at Seven and presented Seven Sydney News at 6pm. I’m guessing Liebmann was passed over in favour of Symonds because of the failure of the 6pm local news experiment.

2 Likes

Here’s one that slipped under the radar!

Seven News Sydney has a new Crime Reporter: Evan Batten who I believe has been in the position since February although he’s been at the network since the start of last year as a producer of Murder Uncovered and “Seven News Investigates” specials:

In less interesting news, Mel McLaughlin presented Sydney sport outside “Shark Park” tonight.

3 Likes

Another talent Ten invested years in only to let go when budgets were cut.

3 Likes

Chris Reason is presenting Friday Morning News.

1 Like

Mark Ferguson raps with Nova 969’s Matt De Groot.

2 Likes

Look, I’m sure that if he displayed that much charisma on Seven News Sydney, we wouldn’t actually mind him as an anchor right?

How long now has Jane Bunn been presenting weather Sunday-Friday in Melbourne? More than a year?

Start of 2015 IIRC.

1 Like

Fancy some ‘Ice Pellets?’

Angela Cox is presenting Saturday 5pm News.

2 Likes

I know this may sound repetitive, but I found this article on TVTonight about the time when Roscoe retired and the reins were handed to Chris Bath in 2009. This was the same time Peter Overton was struggling against the powerhouse of Seven News. How has time changed…

EDIT - It’s quite funny how at the time people wanted Ann Sanders back on weeknights instead of Bath. But in the end, the most frustrating thing is that Seven actually allowed Chris Bath, who I’d rate as a much better reader compared to Ferguson, walk off the block. Insanity must have filled Martin Place at the time!

2 Likes