Discuss Seven News presenters and reporters in this thread.
Continuing the discussion from here.
After five years, the time has come to retire some of the old ‘super’ threads across the forum and start some new ones.
Sad day, new beginnings. Continuing on, it was originally though (at sometime) Jessica Adamson was going to take over from Jane and John when they retired (not happening for obvious reasons.
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Mark Stevens today reported from Queensland.
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With the fresh start of a new thread, I suppose it’s a good time to again ask what the future of Seven News Sydney is going to look like after the mass exodus of talent the service has seen over the past 6-7 years. Most of their best presenters/reporters have left (Jim & Mel this year, others some time before that), while the current mix of on-air presenters/reporters generally ranges from average to dodgy - with a few notable exceptions of course.
Perhaps things could change in the future but for now, I really don’t think the quality of Seven News Sydney’s presenting/reporting team is strong enough to make the bulletin a serious ratings challenger to Nine for any extended period of time.
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If you want to make changes to Sydney’s 6pm team, it really depends if you want to replace Fergo or Mel.
If you wanted to get rid of Fergo:
Michael Usher would most likely be appointed Sunday-Thursday presenter, and I’d assume Angela Cox would be next in line for Friday-Saturday presenter. Sport and weather presenters continue in their respective roles.
If you wanted to get rid of Mel McLaughlin
Considering that the most likely candidate would be Matt Shirvington, this would mean that one of Fergo or Brownie would need to be replaced by a female in that position, as I highly doubt Seven would ever have an all-men line up. Since there’s no woman who would take over from Fergo, that would mean Brownie would have to be replaced, most likely by Angie Asimus. So then your Sunday to Thursday team would consist of Fergo, Shirvo and Angie.
Personally I think Seven News Sydney needs a refresh, content and presenting team wise. My ideal line up would be:
Sunday-Thursday
Mark Ferguson (news)
Mark Beretta (sport)
Angie Asimus (weather)
Friday-Saturday
Michael Usher (news)
Matt Shirvington (sport)
David Brown (weather)
I had to remove David Brown from Sunday-Thursday weather so that there aren’t three men on the team, so his working days would be Tuesday-Saturday. Mel McLaughlin would move to Sunrise sport.
But after saying all this, as long as Seven continue to win the news ratings nationally, I don’t think they’ll pay much attention to individual ratings in each city as a factor to changing presenting line-ups.
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Angela Cox is presenting The Latest at 10:25PM tonight.
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Angela Cox could replace Fergo.
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She could, but I doubt they’d go for her over Michael Usher, since he’s the current Friday-Saturday presenter and probably would deserve the job.
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Agree.
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If you don’t mind me asking, who do you think are Seven News Sydney’s strongest presenters and reporters?
And News Director wise! 
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Presenting/reporting talent at Seven News Sydney which can be described as good or at the very least, above average:
*Michael Usher
*David Brown
*Angie Asimus
*Sally Bowrey
*Chris Maher
*Chris Reason (reporting only - as far as his presenting goes, he’s basically the Mark Burrows of Seven)
*Alex Hart
*Matt Carmichael (if still at the network, haven’t seen much of him since Shirvo joined Seven)
*Jessica Ridley
*Leonie Ryan
*Amber Laidler
*Sarina Andaloro
*Paul Kadak when he returns home
…and that’s about it really.
Don’t think I’ve listed more than half the team, compared with Nine News Sydney where I’d say just everyone is watchable except for Danny Weidler, Mark Burrows (when presenting bulletins), Amber Sherlock & Belinda Russell.
Yes, I agree. Craig McPherson & Jason Morrison haven’t been terribly great in their positions at Seven News during recent years.
Mind you Darren Wick & Simon Hobbs have been in their current positions at Nine (as national & Sydney news director respectively) since about 2012, so they’d probably benefit from a change in that department as well.
Matt Carmichael still is at the network. It appears he now presents sport on the Tuesday morning news. From when I’ve seen his sports reports, I think his roster is Friday to Tuesday.
You’ve got to be joking. He presided over one of the most disastrous, low rating periods in the history of ATN7 when he was director of news and current affairs from 1991-1996. Every few months there were dramas with the department lurching from one crisis to another- sacking EPs or changing the host of Today Tonight, a show he created because he failed to fix Real Life. Everyone else was made a scapegoat for his failings. He thought it was a good idea to have Helen Wellings front a nightly current affairs show. The only people who would be happy to have him back running news and current affairs at Seven work at Nine.
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If I’m not mistaken, the only notable ratings success Seven had in Sydney during the era of Terry Plane leadership outside of Olympic periods was back in 1993 - particularly during the 2nd half. But that was probably more to do with the fact Nine’s lead-in/out programs weren’t at their best during 1993 with Paradise Beach, A Current Affair with Mike Willesee, Sale of the Century and their co-presenter instability during the later part of '93.
From 1994-99 with The Price Is Right and later Burgo’s Catch Phrase, ACA with Ray Martin (Mike Munro in 99) plus a Sale of the Century which was relatively stable aside from when Nicky Buckley went on maternity leave, I’d imagine that Nine dominated the early evening ratings on the East Coast.
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Angela Cox would become The Latest main presenter.
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True, if Michael Usher assumed Sunday-Thursday 6pm duties in Sydney and if Fergo left the network, I could see Angela Cox assuming Michael Usher’s current role - presenting The Latest from Tuesdays to Thursdays, and presenting Sydney’s 6pm news on a Friday and Saturday. Matt Doran could do The Latest on Mondays.
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Thursday 03rd September:
Angela Cox is presenting the Morning News and Sydney Afternoon News once again today.
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With Jacqui Felgate presenting sport on Morning News today.
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Rick presenting solo in Perth tonight
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