Catherine Garrett was indeed the presenter in the late 90s. But I don’t recall if she was the presenter at the time it was axed. She may have left prior to the axing.
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Yes I understand the final team was Catherine Garrett, Phil Lynch (Sport) and Daniel Gibson (Weather).
Everyone in the entire Canberra News team (as well as Newcastle and Wollongong) was retrenched except Daniel because it was thought the Network would require Weather updates.
20 years on, Daniel is still there and Prime hasn’t tried a third attempt at a full local Canberra News.
And a side note, when Prime Gold Coast News was axed at least the Reporters and Cammos were redeployed to other Network stations (if they wanted to stay). No luck for the team in Newcastle, Wollongong and Canberra.
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…and most likely never will?
The only way I can see a Seven-affiliated station in Canberra ever having a local news bulletin again is if Seven themselves were to buy the station. Even if Canberra were to get a Seven O&O station, it’s by no means a guarantee the network would establish a local news service there since the ratings of Seven News Sydney via Prime7 Canberra have been satisfactory in recent years…at least from what I’ve heard anyway.
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Maybe there would be opportunities with WIN moving their news to 5.30 from July, but Prime and WIN are refusing to compete in the same markets now so very unlikely a local news will eventuate in at least Canberra and Wollongong.
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… level heads are admitting that it was a mistake, born of ego and hubris, to have done a lot of what happened in the early years of aggregation …
One good thing is it at least gave employment opportunities for a few years.
Syan from 7Perth complimenting GWN7. Nice tweet to see.
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I saw that report last night. He super-imposed text on the wheat fields too. Pretty neat.
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If prime is not going to make an effort to start local news bulletins in regional Victoria I cannot see them making any effort to restart local news bulletins in Canberra or even Newcastle or Wollongong
Even if they did it’s very likely that Seven News will be edited down to half an hour on weeknights in those markets. Speaking of Seven News being edited down to half an hour, what’s the format for it in Albury/Wodonga today?
Its not really that bad they basically cut away after a news story and have sports live as well as weather
Well I don’t know how Regional Victoria would like Seven News been cut down to half an hour.
It’s that preceded by 30 mins of local news.
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Newcastle updates
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Clear #1 in the Albury/Wodonga market, so I’d say they wouldn’t mind a bit - provided, of course, there’s a local news lead-in at 6pm.
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If they were to produce Prime7 news bulletins into the rest of Regional Victoria, I’d like it if they were at 5:30.
Why? Those hypothetical bulletins would be competing with WIN’s (statewide) offering at 5:30pm. Viewers would be better off if said hypothetical bulletins stood alone at 6pm.
Prime7’s Albury bulletin was previously at 5:30 prior to Seven News moving to a 60 minute bulletin, though I believe this is also a legacy of the AMV days. No doubt I’ll be corrected if that’s not the case!
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There’s a new woman presenting the What’s On segments for Prime7 - not sure of her name, but I think she’s a journo based in Canberra.
has Karl Lijnders left/been let go from Prime? He’s removed references from his instagram, and the anchor intros are gone from the opener.
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This is from his Facebook page:
BREAKING NEWS - ABOUT ME!
It is the end of one season, and the beginning of another! My time bringing you your local news, sport and weather on PRIME7 has come to an end!
It has been my honour to be welcomed into your lounge rooms every night for these past 4 years. Bringing you the endless tough news and weather updates surrounding the drought, fires and recently the pandemic. It has been tough, and I’m so grateful you stuck with me.
I have had such an incredible experience bringing you the news and weather for over 4 years.
I’ve been truly humbled by your support and kindness.
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