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Overton’s big year

At this rate, Peter Overton could go from quiet achiever to saturation in 2009.

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It’s going to be a busy year for Peter Overton.

Not only does he start his new permanent desk job at Channel Nine from tonight, but his wife Jessica Rowe is due to give birth to their second child.

At least the news presenter job keeps him in Sydney and not covering war zones and criss-crossing the globe.

And according to promotions airing on Nine, he is also the host of Missing Pieces, Nine’s new feelgood show about “people who have become separated from someone they care about, or someone who had a major impact on your life no matter how long ago.”

That’s been scheduled to air on Nine after the first quarter, but with the new 6pm gig, there is the possibility Nine will bring it forward in a bid to lift Overton’s appeal.

But Overton will also still file stories for 60 Minutes too. Suddenly for Sydney viewers, he could go from being a quiet achiever to saturation.

Nine news boss John Westacott said, “[Overton] is the undeniable choice for us.

Overton has snared the news role over Mark Ferguson, who shifts to weekend bulletins.

“As commercial television always is, we’re locked in a very demanding fight for ratings,” he said.

“The combination of Peter Overton and Mark Ferguson gives us the best crack at rebuilding our 6 o’clock news.”

Source: smh.com.au

25 Responses

  4. Newsreader can help but content is key.
    Fluff pieces and cross promotion is annoying.
    Lucky Overton is in Sydney, saw him today um and arrrh whilst waiting for cross to Hayden retirement announcement. Ad libbing not a strong point, neither are the facts.

  6. Gerrard – I quite like Nine’s graphics, and the Sydney set is quite elegant in my opion (I don’t know what the Melbourne one looks like). The biggest graphics criminals are Seven News, with their blocky overlarge astons featuring ugly transparent gradients. They’ve had them for several years, surely it’s time for an update. Nine and Ten News have pretty good graphics packages now so Seven has no excuse.

    Another point from Gerrard’s comment – when did the ‘National’ get dropped from National Nine News? It was iconic, but it seems to have vanished with very little fanfare. I don’t remember seeing any articles about it.

  7. could it be that after losing ray martin and mike munro and making a mess of jana they feel they have to create a new face of 9’s journalism?

    of course munro, wendt and martin had a few logies and lots of experience under their belt to support them and i don’t think missing pieces is the right way to go about starting an honorable career.

  8. Wow! He’s married to Jessica Rowe. I wonder what channel they watch the news on in their house! He’s a pretty good host, but i prefer Liz Hayes and the other female host from 60 Minutes. Why don’t channel Nine try a female host instead of always going for a male? Or even better yet, why don’t they copy channel TEN and have two anchors instead of just one.

    Channel Nine also need new sets for their news. The 6pm set in Melbourne is repulsive, and the AM and PM editions are also disgusting. What is with the news and the colour blue? TEN News, Nine News, Afternoon Nine News, Morning NIne News, Sunrise, and Today Tonight all have blue backgrounds. The Suntise set is the worst, with these blue glass backgrounds.

    Has anyone seen the new background used in The Today Show? It looks pretty good, with a giant plasma screen behind Lisa and Karl.

    Channel Nine need a serious overhaul when it comes to their news. If their changing the anchor, they might as well change the set, the graphics and the logo. And while they’re at it, they should bring back “National” in their name. Nine News is just a copy name of Seven and Ten. The word National made them sound more sophisticated and unique.

  13. Agree totally, Terry. Was there any actual news before the first ad break? Maybe the shark attacks, but the rest was very soft “news”.

    If this is going to be the standard, going to have to try 7…or is that who they’re emulating?

  17. Peter Overton’s opening line “Imagine if the house you have lived in all your life…”. What kind of opening is that? Did he think he was doing 60 minutes or ACA? Secondly, why lead with such a story. That should have been in the second half of the news. And to make matters worse, they had a reporter live from the old blokes home.

    I’m sorry Mr Gyngell but you are getting further and further away from what people want. It’s amazing you can’t see how bad things are getting – footy show, 60 mins, ACA and the news are drowning in the gutter. Brian Henderson must wonder what the hell has happened to Ch9 news.

    Don’t worry about changing the newsreader, it’s the content that is the problem. Are you deliberately trying to aim at the brainless yobbo? Even yobbos turn off eventually.

  18. I thought Overton was just as boring as his wife! Did anyone else just feel the need to change channels?

    And then when he went to go to a story the footage was on delay and he was stuck staring at the ground! haha

    Is Andrew Voss the regular sports guy now?

  19. I thought Overton did quite well tonight, though I also thought Ferguson did just as well, if not better.

    I’m not too sure what the problem with 9 news is, but it’s not the presenter.

  20. Ive been thinking for the last few years, that Nine News needed a new host. I somewhat believe it’s the anchor who is reading the news, thats partly to blame for low ratings,

    If it isnt the anchor, then all of a sudden as soon as Brian Henderson left Nine, the ratings dropped?
    Surely as soon as Henderson walked out the door, the quality and effort put into reporting and news coverage itself didnt follow. I just dont see how the quality and coverage drops so much if people dont think the anchor is to blame.
    when you look at it that way, it kind of comes down to the anchor!

    Not that im not a fan of Ferguson’s style, maybe it was a change behind the desk that was needed

  21. Are viewers that gullible – why would thousands of viewers switch across to Nine simply to see a different newsreader – isn’t news meant to be about news, and not the person reading the autocue. Nine are so sports mad they will probably lead tonight with a story about Australia’s 20/20 win over South Africa – if you want decent news without all this ho-hah switch to ABC or SBS – I couldn’t tell you who their newsreaders but does it really matter? – what I can tell you is that I like their news!

  23. Stop aiming the news at the ‘aussie yobbo’ and your ratings may start rising. And we don’t need an ‘aussie connection’ every time an international story comes on.

  24. It has nothing to do with the newsreader but the news content. The rubbish stories led by Sonny bill on Sydney Ch9 news was painful to watch. No wonder people have switched off in droves.

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