| Wake Up! WA | |
|---|---|
| Format | Breakfast program |
| Created by | Carol Wallbank |
| Presented by | Jason Weeks Edwina Nattrass Anita Tassone Matt Hern |
| Country of origin | Australia |
| No. of episodes | 500 + |
| Production | |
| Running time | 60 minutes including commercials |
| Broadcast | |
| Original channel | Access 31 |
| Picture format | 4x3 |
Wake Up! WA was a breakfast television show broadcast in Western Australia. It aired on Access 31 until the station's demise in 2008.
Contents |
Wake Up! WA served as a forum for members of the Western Australian community to discuss the latest matters affecting West Australian life. Guests are often representing local charities, community, or sporting organisations. In addition, the show updates viewers on the local news, sport, weather, fuel prices, and current affairs. With the success of Wake Up! WA, many opportunities became available for new talent to get real world experience in live television production that otherwise would be impossible.
Jason Weeks, host of the show since its inception, interviewed more than 2000 prominent politicians, business people, charitable bodies, sporting groups and community organisations. Demelza Goudie, a Western Australian music buff and community radio announcer joined Jason to co host the show for two seasons upon original co-host Lisa Cooney's departure, while the news and weather positions became available on a rotational basis for those brave enough to face the early morning starts for no pay. To split the workload, in 2007 the show was hosted on Mondays and Tuesdays by Edwina Nattrass and Matt Hern, a former regular guest presenter who provided viewers with financial advice. For the rest of the week, journalist and presenter Anita Tassone hosted alongside Jason, the only on-air team member to have been with the show since its inception. The final season, in 2008, saw Anita Tassone and Jason Weeks hosting the show full time, providing a minimum of four interviews per day, on a variety of socially-relevant topics. Because of continued growth, the last seasons of Wake Up! WA were also uploaded to ISP iinet's server for their subscribers to watch in their media lounge.
Previously known as Wake Up Perth!, the show began broadcasting in September 2005. The show's presenters were chosen through the process of a reality TV show, called Your Big Break. This process involved auditioning over 300 people for the available roles, through a weekend workshop to test contestants ability to think fast, react to a changing environment, and not take themselves seriously. The original cast members were Jason Weeks and Lisa Cooney as hosts, Jo Newman on weather and Alisa presenting sport.
Originally intended as a 12 week program, the popularity of the show ensured the show's future. With its growing popularity in 2006, Wake Up WA began rebroadcasting the live show each day (7-8AM) in a later timeslot (10.30-11.30 AM) to allow more viewers to watch the program. By mid 2006, in less than a year the show surpassed over 300 original episodes, joining only a few locally produced shows that have ever reached this mark this quickly.
In early 2006, Wake Up Perth! was nominated for four Antenna Awards, winning the award for Best New Producer. Wake up! WA also picked up the Antenna Award for Best News and Current Affairs Program at the 2008 awards.
On August 6, 2008 Access 31 ceased transmission, leaving the fate of the programme up in the air. At the time Wake Up! WA had an estimated audience of 45,000 viewers for the live show, with another 25-30,000 tuning in for the daily rebroadcast, and over 500 episodes of the show had been produced. The producers of the show had weighed up alternative broadcast options at the time, but nothing has yet to come out of it.[1]
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