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Steve Quartermain staying with TEN News

Updated: Steve Quartermain to present sports alongside Jennifer Keyte, who has the chair he most-recently held.

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TEN News presenter Steve Quartermain will remain with the network, returning as sports presenter alongside Jennifer Keyte in Melbourne.

It’s a gallant move by “Quarters” who was replaced by TEN’s Director of News Content Ross Dagan, when the network poached Jennifer Keyte from Seven.

Quarters took leave to make up his mind, but yesterday Peter Ford & 3AW leaked an email from Dagan in which he confirmed he would return from next Monday.

“Many of you will know sport is in Stephen’s blood. Given the importance of Sport to Melbourne, I can think of no better person to lead our sports coverage in Melbourne,” he wrote to staff.

Caty Price, who has been presenting Sport will also remain with the network.

Updated:

Stephen Quartermain said: “I’m happy to be continuing as part of the TEN Eyewitness News First At Five team. It will also be great working again with Jennifer who I shared the news desk with in the 1980s.”

Jennifer Keyte said: “I am very excited about working with Stephen Quartermain again. We started at Channel Ten together many years ago, and had a great time as young enthusiastic reporters. Stephen has always been passionate about sport and I am thrilled to be working with him again along with the always colourful, entertaining and informative Mike Larkan.”

Network Ten’s Network Director of News Content, Ross Dagan, said: “Stephen Quartermain’s experience in covering sport in Melbourne is unmatched. It’s in his DNA and we are delighted that he will present such an important part of our Melbourne bulletin.

“His return to the sports desk gives TEN Eyewitness News First At Five the most experienced presenting line-up in Melbourne. Along with Jennifer Keyte and Mike Larkan, we have extraordinary depth and ability to deliver on the news, sport and weather coverage that matter to the city and the state.

“We are looking forward to working with Quarters to leverage his sporting expertise not just in Melbourne, but across the network,” he said.

20 Responses

  1. It’s interesting how the narrative around this – what is basically a slight reshuffle on a minor channel in a distant local market, at least for most Australians – has been presented & discussed here (a little) & elsewhere ( a lot). He was stabbed in the back, she was handed the cushy job she was after, he’s loyal and gracious in defeat, etc…

    You get the feeling that if the situation was reversed it would’ve been a complete nothingburger, with maybe a few of the usual suspects trying to beat up some gleefully smug story about how the ‘feminists’ are acting all ‘triggered’…

      1. I keep forgetting how touchy Melburnians are about that subject 😉

        But it’s fair to say that, north of the Murray, Jennifer hasn’t really been a regular on TV for 15~20 years. Unless people remember that terrible 9 game/’reality’ show she was on, or her occasional appearances/fill-ins on morning TV (& the few weekends when ‘technical issues’ prevented the local/Sydney-sourced news from being broadcast), you’ve pretty much got to go back to the days of Vizard. And please, let’s not… 😉

        1. Over the years I’ve filed on similar changes such as Mark Ferguson ousted from Nine in Sydney, Bill McDonald out of Seven News Brissy and unless I’m mistaken even others in other states. None of those were minor channels in distant local markets either. Frankly even Quarters has gathered a national name over the years. This is a dedicated TV site, not the Daily Tele (which I believe also filed on it), no apologies for covering it.

          1. Not to mention Emmy and Tim being ousted from 9 Perth. Most people will know of both Jennifer Keyte and Steve Quartermain so not sure why the OP has such a bee in his bonnet about this particular story.

          2. Oh David, I’m not having a go at you about this story in particular, or even your general coverage of this sort of thing wherever the subject is located. I’m not even saying you shouldn’t give these stories the coverage you do – it is your personal TV blog, after all.

            It’s more that I’m wryly amused by how the narratives written around these happenings – a specific I made clear in my original comment – are barely local fodder for the “who said what about who?” media when it happens anywhere else, but are suddenly Big Stories to be reported nationally by TV, print, & online media when they happen in Melbourne (or, much less frequently, Sydney).

            And I stand by that – though I do apologise for making my point here on a national TV blog, rather than the other places where the story was given more prominence but had less relevance…

        2. Remember the Victorian TV feed does go “north of the Murray” as far as Deniliquin and up till Mildura Apart from the Albury/Wondonga Market, Victora does not have a Prime News like people “North of the murray”. Jennifer Keyte is like Kay McGrath of Brisbane or Anne Sanders in Sydney. Well respected female Newsreader and Jennifer Keyte is on the best best. Jennifer Keyte brought back Credit ability of the Channel 7 news when Fairfax in that Late 80’s ripped out the heart of HSV7. I respect the 3 Commerical TV newreaders with some being since the 70’s.

  2. Ten Eyewitness News (Melbourne) should promote the news with Jen and Steve……even in the opener and have Steve on set in the opener and headlines…even though he is only featured in the sports section. Ten need to do the right thing by Quarters while at the same time it is a point of difference to the other channels. For the first time in a long time there is some impressive joint experience at the Melbourne desk Ten need to promote.

  3. Good on you Quarters…Amazing that you have been with the one network since the mid 80’s Not many others on Aussie TV have done that! It’s a credit to you! Ten news now have a great studio team in Melbourne. Now to invest in a few more high profile reporters and and move to 6pm nationally…and then some patience….and Ten will return to being a major competitor to 7 and 9.

      1. i dont watch sport (apart from some Olympics & occasional Tennis) so i wouldn’t have noticed him much but according to Wikipedia, he went back to 7 in 2014 so your comment doesn’t make alot of sense, unless their entry is incorrect.

  5. Have numbers improved under Jen? Seems like 10s hand maybe been forced, the punted Steve for her, and numbers seemed to drop a little, perhaps this was a way to try to bring viewers back as much as solve the obvious internal issue by moving him initially

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