Melissa Doyle

Melissa Jane "Mel" Doyle AM (born 10 February 1970) is an Australian television presenter, author and personality. Doyle currently presents Seven News Sydney on Friday and Saturdays and Sunday Night. She was previously co-host of the Seven Network's breakfast television program Sunrise from 2002 to 2013 alongside David Koch.^[1]

Career

Doyle attended the Pymble Ladies' College. She studied communications at Charles Sturt University and during her studies she was a broadcaster with on-campus community radio station 2MCE-FM. She gained a cadetship at WIN Television's Canberra bureau in 1990, then moved to Prime Television to become news anchor and general reporter. After her stint at Prime ended in 1995, Doyle joined the Seven Network as a Canberra-based political reporter before moving to Sydney where she read the news on 11AM, reported the news and read the afternoon updates. Doyle was one of Sunrise's original hosts before it was axed in 1999, before being resurrected in 2000, and which she rejoined in 2002. She also had a stint reading the Seven Late News.

In 2000, she took over as host of Sydney's Today Tonight following the departure of Stan Grant. She stayed until March 2001 when she left for maternity leave.

Doyle supports the Greater Western Sydney Giants AFL team;^[2] in 2012, she was named as the Greater Western Sydney Giants' inaugural No. 1 Ticket Holder.

Sunrise

Doyle returned to Seven from maternity leave in a variety of news and presenting roles before being asked to front a revamped Sunrise program with Chris Reason. After about eight months, Reason left the program after a recurrence of cancer, and David Koch joined the program as a replacement. Together, Doyle and Koch, under the guidance of Executive Producer Adam Boland, eventually surpassed their incumbent opposition and market leaders, Today on the Nine Network. They built the program from a virtually zero viewer base to be the leading breakfast television program in Australia and there it remained throughout Doyle's tenure on the program.

In 2003, Doyle enjoyed a very public pregnancy with her second child, who was born in December of that year and named Talia.

Doyle was nominated for the Silver Logie as Most Popular Television Presenter in 2006, 2007, 2008, 2009 and 2010. She was the only female nominated in that category.

Doyle was embroiled in legal proceedings in which it was alleged she identified a minor who was divorcing his parents. The divorce case was being heard in the Victorian Children's Court and because the boy was only 14 years old he couldn't be named. But Sunrise, as well as a number of other news outlets, including the Sunday Herald Sun and Today Tonight, allegedly identified him and the journalists/presenters were charged with contempt of court. The journalists and presenters/hosts were all acquitted but the Seven Network, its news director, Today Tonight's executive producer and the Sunday Herald Sun and its editor-in-chief were convicted.

On 20 June 2013, Doyle announced that she will be stepping down as Sunrise co-host in order to take on a national role within the Seven Network. She presented her final show on 9 August of the same year. Her farewell program was the highest rating edition of the show that year.

After Sunrise

It was revealed in August 2013 that Doyle would present a new national bulletin of Seven Afternoon News at 4pm on weekdays with former Today Tonight host Matt White, as well as a new national bulletin Seven News at 7 on Seven's digital channel 7Two. This bulletin was discontinued in May 2014.

Doyle began presenting Seven News at 7 on 12 August and Seven Afternoon News on 19 August. Doyle also hosted the first debate of the 2013 federal election between Labor leader and then Prime Minister Kevin Rudd and Liberal leader Tony Abbott, on 7Two on 11 August.^[3] She was also a part of the 2013 federal election broadcast with Chris Bath, Mark Riley and Matt White.

In October 2013, Doyle joined smoothfm to host a weekend breakfast show from 6am to 10am. The program has continued to grow in popularity with her show recording the highest ever market share percentage in the June 2014 Rating Survey and making the program the #2 FM weekend breakfast program for All People 10+. In the coveted Females 40–54 ratings segment, Doyle's program was the #1 FM Weekend Breakfast program, recording its highest ever share result in the June ratings survey and the only FM station with over 20% share.

In December 2013, Doyle co-hosted Carols in the Domain with Matt White.

In October 2014, Doyle won Best Newcomer On-Air (Metro) at the Australian Commercial Radio Awards.^[4]

In June 2015, it was announced that Doyle would replace Chris Bath on Sunday Night and Seven News Sydney due to her resignation from the Seven Network.^[1] Doyle signed off from Seven Afternoon News for the last time in late July.

Other work

In October 2007, Doyle's first book, The Working Mothers Survival Guide (co-written with Jo Scard), was published by Allen & Unwin. It sold over 10,000 copies in its first print run. In 2014, she released her second book, Alphabet Soup. The memoir was the biggest selling Australian memoir in the market during its first few months on bookshelves. Doyle and Koch also co-hosted another Seven Network production Where Are They Now.

In 2008, Doyle was selected to front a new documentary program on the Seven Network called The Zoo. The show had a six-week run during the first half of 2008. A second series of The Zoo commenced on air in October 2008. It generated an audience of over 1.7 million people in each of its first three weeks making it one of the Top Five Programs on Australian television for that week, and one of the highest ranking programs of the year.

Doyle previously wrote a weekly column in Australia's highest selling newspaper, the Sunday Herald Sun in Melbourne called "Balancing Act". The column talked about her experiences as a working mother.

Charity and Honours

Doyle is the National Patron for Make A Wish and an ambassador for The Alannah & Madeline Foundation, Westmead Children's Hospital, World Vision, Children's Cancer Institute and the National Breast Cancer Foundation. Melissa is also an ambassador for the Federal Government's National Road Safety Council and is the Number One Ticket Holder for the GWS Giants (AFL) and Whittlesea Eagles (Vic AFL). She is also the Chairperson for the GIANTS Foundation Charity, established in 2013.

Doyle was appointed a Member of the Order of Australia in 2016 for significant service to the community through representational roles with a range of charitable groups, and to the broadcast media.^[5]

References

1. 1 2 "Newsreader Chris Bath to leave Channel Seven, Melissa Doyle announced as replacement". 17 June 2015. 
2. ↑ Beveridge, Riley. "Your AFL club’s most famous supporters, from Barack Obama to Cam Newton". Fox Sports. Retrieved 29 January 2016. 
3. ↑ Melissa Doyle's last day on Sunrise. tv.yahoo.com
4. ↑ Jonesy and Amanda the big winners at radio awards. Mumbrella (19 October 2014). Retrieved on 2015-12-06.
5. ↑ "Member (AM) in the General Division of the Order of Australia (A-L)" (PDF). Australia Day 2016 Honours Lists. Office of the Governor-General of Australia. 25 January 2016. Retrieved 8 February 2016. 

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Melissa Doyle.

• Melissa Doyle's official site
• Melissa Doyle Sunrise presenter, Seven Network
• http://www.workingmotherssurvivalguide.com, Website for Melissa Doyle's book
• Melissa Doyle, Ninemsn Health, June 2004 issue of GoodMedicine magazine
• Interview on WHO.com with Mel and Kochie about their Cool the Globe campaign
• Melissa Doyle at the Internet Movie Database