Nine News Sydney

Nine News Sydney is the weeknight, flagship news bulletin of the Nine Network. It is screened in Sydney, and across New South Wales.

Like all Nine News bulletins, the Sydney bulletin runs for one hour.^[1] from 6pm every day. It covers the days latest local, national and international news, as well as sport, weather and finance.

History

The Sydney bulletin was presented by Brian Henderson for 38 years – a record that still stands today. Henderson retired in November 2002, with then-Sunday presenter Jim Waley taking over as weeknight presenter. Waley was the main weekend presenter around the time of Henderson's retirement.

In 2005, Waley, who was one of the Nine Network's longest serving presenters, was dropped following a year of poor ratings (despite the fact that National Nine News Sydney was the leading 6pm news program throughout the 2003-4 ratings seasons) and replaced with then-weekend presenter Mark Ferguson. In 2004, National Nine News Sydney won only 27 out of a possible 40 ratings weeks. By this time, the 6pm bulletin had lost its long-time ratings lead to the rival Seven News Sydney.

Mike Munro was the previous weekend news presenter, until he resigned from the Nine Network in July 2008. He presented his last bulletin on Sunday 26 October 2008. He was replaced by Michael Usher.

In January 2009, Mark Ferguson was replaced as weeknight presenter by Peter Overton. Ferguson returned to his weekend news presenting position, which he previously held during Jim Waley's stint as weeknight presenter.

In July 2009, it was revealed that weekend news presenter Mark Ferguson would move to Seven News from October. Ferguson, who had been with Nine for 17 years, was removed immediately from the Sydney weekend bulletin and was replaced by Georgie Gardner. Ferguson continued to present Nine Afternoon News bulletin on until his contract expired in September 2009.

Mike Bailey presented weather forecasts on Fridays and Saturdays, until he was sacked in early 2009. Jaynie Seal, who had previously presented weather from Sunday to Thursday, returned to weekday weather presenting. In February 2010, Nine announced that Natalie Gruzlewski will be presenting the weather from Monday to Thursday and also filing lifestyle and entertainment reports for Nine News with Seal presenting weather on Friday to Sunday.

Nine News Sydney is also broadcast on WIN Television in regional southern and central New South Wales & the ACT. It is presented from the Nine Network's TCN-9 Studio 1.

On 6 January 2014, all Nine national channels permanently extended their 6pm news service to one hour pushing A Current Affair into the 7pm timeslot.^[1]

Notable presenters

Weeknights

• Chuck Faulkner (1956-1964)
• Brian Henderson (1964–2002)
• Jim Waley (2003–05)
• Mark Ferguson (2006–08)
• Peter Overton (January 2009–present)

Weekends

• Ian Ross through the 1970s, 1980s and 1990s.
• Mark Ferguson (2003–05)
• Mike Munro (2005–08)
• Michael Usher (2008–09)
• Mark Ferguson (2009)
• Georgie Gardner (July 2009–present)
• Fill-ins include Wendy Kingston, Cameron Williams, Deborah Knight, Amelia Adams, Michael Usher & occasionally Leila McKinnon

Sport

• Weeknights (Sun-Thurs) – Ken Sutcliffe (1982–present)
• Weekends (Fri-Sat) – Cameron Williams (2010–present)

Weather

• Alan Wilkie (1977-2001)
• Georgie Gardner (2002–04)
• Jaynie Seal (2004–2006)
• Majella Wiemers (2006–07)
• Jaynie Seal (2007–10)
• Natalie Gruzlewski (2010–2012)
• Amber Sherlock (2012–present)

Weekend Weather:

• Jaynie Seal (2002–04)
• Majella Wiemers (2006)
• Jaynie Seal (2006–07)
• Mike Bailey (2007–09)
• Jaynie Seal (2010–11)
• Amber Sherlock (2011–12)
• Sylvia Jeffreys (2012–14)
• Natalia Cooper(2014–present)

Ratings

The bulletin was traditionally by far the most popular service in NSW. However, when long-serving anchor, Brain Henderson retired, and Nine heavy-weight Ian Ross defected to Seven, ratings quickly declined; this is despite Nine outrating Seven during Jim Waley's tenure in 2003-04. This showed with Nine winning only 27 out of a possible 40 weeks in 2004. Nine replaced Jim Waley with a much younger, Mark Ferguson, then aged just 38. Whilst ratings were starting to slightly increase, the bulletin slip to third, behind both Seven News and ABC News. Following a dismal 2008, not winning a single week in Sydney (a far cry from five years ago when it won every single week), Ferguson was relegated back to the weekend position and replaced by Peter Overton. For his first month, ratings slipped to fourth, behind Ten News, before quickly catching up to trail ABC News and since November 2009 Nine News Sydney has started to regain its dominance in the Sydney market. Nine News Sydney came very close to victory in 2010 and has won the 2011 and 2012 ratings season. In the current 2013 ratings season, Nine News is currently leading.

References