From this Herald Sun article:
I used to work in TV(incl BTQ7) as a tech and had to walk away years ago - my skills were no longer of any value and they just didn’t need people like me anymore due to changes in technology and work practices.
Unfortunately this has moved through to the people in front of the camera: nobody is going to willingly pay you north of $500k to front a TV camera anymore. Some good people have moved on but there are younger staffers who really can do the same job for not much more than ordinary wages.
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Wouldn’t be surprised if Seven tries to make a play for Jonathan Uptin’s services. Either that, or they promote Ben Davis to read weeknight sport (more likely scenario, with Alissa Smith reading on weekends).
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I doubt BTQ7 is going to be offering packages that will poach staff from other broadcasters.
Most young TV journo’s would struggle to crack $100k on an EBA and on the award they would not even get to that. Stations just have to pay younger presenters and hosts enough to stop them being poached by pollies as AO7 or EL1 media advisors - those jobs are about $120k - $140k.
It is still quite common for older TV presenters to live in luxury homes in Sydney and Melbourne but this just is not going to be the case into the future for the younger presenters.
Some high paid TV people from yesteryear now live on an Aged Pension too - probably easy come easy go in some instances
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I know this is going back nearly two decades and over, but if they didn’t poach Sharyn Ghidella and John Schluter from Nine in late-2006, they would’ve never become number one under Kay and Rod (who did take a while to build an audience before overtaking Bruce and Heather at Nine in 2007).
Similarly, if ATN-7 didn’t poach Ian Ross in late-2003, the deficit between them and Channel Nine would’ve remained at around 100K. In his case, Roscoe took a while to build an audience, but after Nine sacked Jim Waley in favour of Mark Ferguson in early 2005, Seven went on a dominant run, losing just one week for the ratings season that year.
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Commercial TV back then was a 100% markup business - they sold their inventory for double what it cost them to broadcast - these days they are probably barely covering costs due to the advertising $$$ going to online. In that environment ratings are not such a big deal.
There are businesses like WIN TV and SRN radio that run off amazingly low cost bases who are like the cockroaches in the nuclear winter - even COVID didn’t hurt them.
7 and 9 TV are heading to that model - no name presenters, hardly any staff and stuffed equipment but they still manage to sell some spots.
Could Seven transfer Sally Pearson to 7News Brisbane sports reader and make the Gold Coast sports position redundant (let’s be honest, the GC bulletin probably doesn’t need a dedicated sports reader).
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Gold Coast is actually best practice for both 7 and 9 believe it or not - no control room, just talking heads in a studio all managed remotely from Mt Coot-tha. I doubt BTQ or QTQ will be paying enough to really cover the fuel and car mileage to justify any Gold Coasters doing battle with the traffic on the M1 every day. If any do its probably younger people who want to further their careers
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They could get Amanda Abate to read both 4pm and 5.30pm from the Gold Coast. Cut Steve Titmus, Sally Pearson and Liz Cantor and Amanda reads it all from the desk. If they wanted to drastically cut costs.
Long term Gold Coasters remember the disaster of 2006 when Nine slashed costs at Gold Coast News which lead to Rob Readings being made redundant and Jillian Whiting hosting both the bulletin and Extra from Brisbane. The decision was reversed in 2008.
Whiting would return to Seven by the end of the noughties, though IIRC would mostly act as a relief presenter, Sunrise reporter and later host of Queensland Weekender (does anyone know if she’s still in that role, because I think she may have left Seven a while ago. Happy to be corrected).
Courtesy: CQTVNetwork | News
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I’m reasonably sure Jillian is still on Weekender.
On another note though - what a presenting line up in that clip.
Shane, Pat, Sharyn, Rod, Kay, John, Talitha. You’d be proud to be part of that team.
Really in stark contrast to today.
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Add to that the tagline “Queensland’s No.1 News”.
Seven News in Brisbane was in the midst of dominant ratings that hadn’t been seen for two decades.
All was going well until they made the sudden decision to pair Sharyn with new recruit Bill McDonald on weeknights, and shift Kay and Rod (who were frequently beating Andrew and Melissa on Nine between 2009-12) to weekends, and then Nine started playing catch-up. Of the four, only Kay McGrath remains at the network, but only on a part-time basis (I think).
I agree - it will take years for Seven News in Brisbane to recover from the mess it’s been put into. But on last count, they have won eight weeks in the current ratings season, but wouldn’t be surprised if they don’t win another for the rest of it.
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Despite everything going on at the moment, it still actually is Queensland’s Number 1 thanks to Rob Brough and Joanne Desmond in Regional Queensland.
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Yes, Kay is still doing some stories on weekender too. Im not sure if she occasionally does news reports anymore.
Agreed though it was a crazy decision to move Kay and Rod off weekdays. And Sharyn also hosted the local edition of Today Tonight from the same news desk.
It was all one big mess.
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Quick question about Sharyn and Today Tonight - IIRC Sharyn and Bill did Sunday-Thursday, so did someone else present Friday’s TT?
though not as dominant as Rick and Sue are in Perth I would think.
Excuse my ignorance or lack of knowledge, but in those regional areas of Queensland, doesn’t Nine/WIN air their full hour-long metro bulletin at 6:00pm? I know that after the regional bulletin you mentioned airs on Seven, a cut-down version of the metro bulletin airs at 6:30pm.
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No - Sharyn also did Friday nights, meaning a six-night working week for her.
IIRC, once TT copped the axe, Bill and Sharyn reverted to weeknights, with Kay and Rod doing weekends.
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This was around 2020/21, but apparently most of the bulletins got shares of 80% and above at 6pm.
And yes, WIN airs the full Nine News bulletin at 6pm following the statewide WIN News at 5:30pm.
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Which brings about another obvious issue Seven has in Qld - 3 news studio’s in SEQLD: Mt Coot-tha, Surfers and Maroochydore. Since BTQ is in an old stuffed building at Mt Coot-tha and the Sunny Coast and Surfers are probably putting out a better news product, a bureau in Brisbane somewhere for covering parliament and Brisbane local with bulletin presented from Maroochydore or Surfers would have to also be a possibility.
Apart from the archive, I doubt Seven would shed a tear if BTQ Mt Coot-tha got a visit from a bulldozer.
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Only issue would be is that they can’t sell the land for any money - the land is leased from the council, and cannot be used for anything other than a TV studio and transmission facilities - and they would have to return it in it’s original state - bushland.