WIN News

WIN News is a local television news service in parts of regional Australia, produced by WIN Television. 12 regional bulletins and news update services are presented from WIN's headquarters in Wollongong, with production of a national compilation programme shared between the city and Maroochydore.

WIN News
Slogan:Your Local News
Division of:WIN Television
Opening Theme:National Nine News 2006–2008 theme
Closing Theme:"Steel" by Paul Foss
Founded:1960s
Headquarters:Head Office: Wollongong, New South Wales, Australia
Area served:Regional Australia
Broadcast programs:WIN News
All Australian News
Parent:WIN Corporation

History

As well as its flagship nightly bulletin, WIN Television has, in the past, produced a number of public affairs programmes at its original Wollongong station, WIN-4, such as community affairs program Roving Eye and Sunday Review, a weekly review of international, national and local stories.[1]

On 30 January 2006, WIN's Tasmanian news bulletins were moved from separate local and national bulletins to a single, half-hour bulletin featuring local, national and international news. This was reported by The Hobart Mercury as being due to the previous arrangement's poor ratings. WIN's main competitor in the area, Southern Cross Nightly News, had at the time a 64.9% share of the 6.00pm news audience during the 2005 survey period.[2] In June 2011, WIN axed its Tasmanian weekend bulletins and replaced them with simulcasts of the Melbourne evening news,[3] but were reintroduced a year later.[4]

On 18 August 2006, WIN Television announced that Griffith's locally produced news bulletin would be axed and merged with Wagga Wagga's half-hour bulletin.[5][6] The decision was criticised by the local council and chamber of commerce, who stated that the isolation of the area increased the need for local content and information.[7] The amalgamated Wagga Wagga bulletin is presented and produced from Wollongong. However there is still a WIN newsroom in the city to cover news in the region.

In April 2009, two regional bulletins were introduced in Queensland serving Mackay & the Whitsundays and the Wide Bay area.

In March 2012, WIN announced it would axe its weeknight Western Australia bulletin with regional news coverage incorporated into a localised edition of Nine Afternoon News at 4:30pm, produced and presented from Perth.[8] The last edition of WIN News Western Australia aired on 9 March 2012.

On 18 February 2013, WIN axed its pan-regional bulletin for the Mount Gambier and Riverland areas of South Australia.[9] The program had been broadcast since the merger of separate bulletins for the two areas in October 2010.[10] Ten staff at newsrooms in Mount Gambier and Loxton were made redundant.

In June 2013, WIN announced it would move studio presentation of its Canberra bulletins to Wollongong - the company's studios in Kingston continue to operate as a newsgathering base.[11]

In May 2015, WIN axed its bulletins in Mackay, Queensland and Mildura, Victoria.[12]

Following the transfer of broadcasting control of NRN to WIN in September 2017, following its purchase in May that year, WIN assumed production of existing weekday local news updates to northern New South Wales and the Gold Coast.

Consolidation to Wollongong

From 2015, WIN News cut costs to its regional news resources by consolidating presentation to its Wollongong headquarters. Its former regional studio were reduced to newsgathering facilities upon each state's studio closure.

Victorian bulletins were the first to centralise in October 2015,[13][14] followed by its Queensland editions in 2017. The Ballarat and Rockhampton studios were subsequently sold and demolished, respectively, but the Maroochydore studios were retained for production of All Australian News.

Tasmania had experienced reduction of its local presence after WIN's new affiliation with Network Ten. While all other WIN News bulletins moved to 6pm on 1 July 2016, their nightly bulletin moved to 5:30pm (30 minutes earlier than its leading rival Southern Cross News), making an attempt to replicate its composite newshour when they were a former Nine affiliate in the state.

However, in September 2016, it scaled back to a half-hour local bulletin amid poor ratings; it moved back to its traditional 6pm timeslot on weeknights but retaining the weekend composite news at 5:30pm. In August 2018, it was announced that studio production of the Tasmanian bulletin will be consolidated to Wollongong, and all weekend bulletins would be axed the following month.[15][16] The consolidation was completed on 17 August 2018.

2019 newsroom closures

On 20 June 2019, WIN announced in a letter to staff it would close four of its newsrooms in Orange, Wagga Wagga, Albury and Bundaberg. The closures were made based on the commercial viability of funding news in these areas and are expected to affect approximately 30 jobs.

Consequently, the final editions of the Central West (Orange), Riverina (Wagga Wagga), Border North East (Albury) and Wide Bay (Bundaberg) editions aired on Friday 28 June 2019.[17][18]

Regional services

Illawarra & the ACT
WIN TV studios in Kingston photographed in 2010

In southern New South Wales and the ACT, WIN News produces half-hour bulletins for two markets, one serving the Wollongong and Illawarra areas and the other for Canberra and its surrounding areas. Both programs are produced and broadcast from WIN's Wollongong headquarters with news gathering teams and camera crews based in Canberra.

The bulletins are presented by Bruce Roberts with sport presenter Amy Duggan and weather forecasts are presented by Chris Polzot.

The head of news for New South Wales and the ACT is Rob Beaumont.

Regional Victoria

WIN News currently produces four separate bulletins for the regional Victorian markets, serving Ballarat and western Victoria, Bendigo and central Victoria, Shepparton and the Goulburn-Murray area, and Gippsland. The bulletins are produced and broadcast from WIN's Wollongong headquarters with newsrooms also based in Ballarat, Bendigo, Shepparton and Traralgon.

The bulletins are presented by Bruce Roberts with sport presenter Amy Duggan and weather forecasts are presented by Chris Polzot.

The news director for Victorian news services is Kelly Clappis.

Regional Queensland

WIN News currently produces bulletins for five of the seven regional Queensland markets: a Cairns and Far North Queensland bulletin; a Townsville and North Queensland bulletin; a Rockhampton and Central Queensland bulletin; a Toowoomba and Darling Downs bulletin; and a Sunshine Coast bulletin. All bulletins are broadcast from WIN's Wollongong headquarters.

The bulletins are presented by Lincoln Humphries with sport presenter Melissa Russell and weather forecasts for all regions are presented by Chris Polzot.

The state news manager is Chris Wordsworth and the state news sub-editor is Corinne May. The production manager is Carl Bulwinkel.

Tasmania

WIN News Tasmania is presented by Bruce Roberts from Wollongong with sport presenter Amy Duggan and weather forecasts are presented by Chris Polzot.

Northern New South Wales & Gold Coast

90-second news updates are broadcast throughout the day on weekdays for four of the five northern New South Wales and Gold Coast markets: Newcastle and the Hunter, the Northern Rivers and the Gold Coast, Coffs Harbour and the Mid North Coast, and Tamworth and New England. The updates are presented from WIN's Wollongong studios primarily by Kristina Prentoska and Stephanie Atkins in conjunction with the other presenters filling-in.

Limestone Coast & Riverland

90-second news updates are broadcast on weekday evenings in the Limestone Coast and Riverland markets. The updates, presented by Melissa Russell, are produced in co-operation with The Border Watch (for the Limestone Coast updates) and the Murray Pioneer (for the Riverland updates). They air on all three WIN-owned network affiliated stations during the 6pm timeslot.

Southern New South Wales & Border North East

90-second news updates are broadcast throughout the day on weekdays for two of the four markets in southern New South Wales and Border North East - Orange and the Central West, Wagga Wagga and the Riverina region and Albury and the Border North East. The updates are presented from WIN's Wollongong studios by Chris Polzot in conjunction with other presenters filling in.

Wide Bay

90-second news updates are broadcast throughout the day on weekdays for the Wide Bay QLD area.

All Australian News

WIN also produces the All Australian News, an hour-long national program which airs on WIN Television at 11.30am and again at 7am the following morning. The program also airs on WIN Peach and WIN Bold at 12pm and 1pm respectively, pre-empting both networks' programming.

The All Australian News is a compilation of human interest and feature news stories that have aired on WIN's various regional news bulletins in Queensland, New South Wales, the ACT, Victoria and Tasmania. The All Australian News commenced airing in February 2014.[19]

The program has been presented from both WIN Television's headquarters in Wollongong and WIN's Maroochydore studios on the Sunshine Coast.

Former bulletins

WIN News: Late Edition

WIN formerly produced statewide late bulletins, known as WIN News: Late Edition, for each east coast market. The bulletins featured stories from the various sub-regions in each market.

The Southern NSW/ACT edition was broadcast at 11:30pm from WIN's Wollongong headquarters and presented by Geoff Phillips with Kerryn Johnston co-anchoring the Wollongong edition and sports presenter Amy Duggan. Senior Wollongong reporter Michaela Gray.

The regional Victorian edition was broadcast at midnight from WIN's Ballarat Studios by alternating team of reporters/presenters and presented by Bruce Roberts with sports presenter Wes Cusworth and weather presenter Jane Bunn.

The regional Queensland edition was broadcast at midnight from WIN's Maroochydore studios and presented by Paul Taylor or Sophie Hull with David McLenaghan or Paul Murphy on sport and weather presenter Hannah McEwan.

References
  1. "WIN4 Company Records and News Film". University of Wollongong. 10 July 2007. Retrieved 18 August 2007.
  2. Lower, Gavin (5 January 2006). "Jobs on the line as WIN axes local news". The Mercury.
  3. WIN's Tassie turn off, The Mercury, 25 June 2011
  4. Local bulletins return, The Mercury, 12 July 2012
  5. "Griffith disappointed at loss of local WIN service". Australian Broadcasting Corporation. 18 August 2006.
  6. Rowe, Tim (19 August 2006). "Local news hit hard in merger". The Daily Advertiser.
  7. "Griffith - No WIN News". Australian Broadcasting Corporation. 25 September 2006.
  8. WIN cancels WA news bulletin, WAtoday.com.au, 12 March 2012
  9. WIN cuts regional news and staff, ABC News, 19 February 2013
  10. Riverland and South East share TV news Archived 3 March 2011 at the Wayback Machine, The Murray Pioneer, 29 October 2010
  11. WIN TV to move Canberra news bulletin to Wollongong, Canberra Times, 26 June 2013
  12. Knox, David (22 May 2015). "WIN TV Mackay, Mildura in shock closures". TV Tonight. Retrieved 11 May 2016.
  13. Dixon, Matthew; McIlwain, Kate (28 October 2015). "WIN TV moves Victorian news bulletins to Wollongong". Illawarra Mercury. Wollongong. Retrieved 25 January 2018.
  14. Hurst, Brian (28 October 2015). "WIN television network announces plans to close its studios in Victoria". ABC News. Australian Broadcasting Corporation. Retrieved 25 January 2018.
  15. "WIN axes Tasmanian bulletin, with local news to be presented from NSW". ABC News. Australian Broadcasting Corporation. 7 August 2018. Retrieved 7 August 2018.
  16. Kinniburgh, Chanel (7 August 2018). "Tasmania's WIN news bulletin to be presented from Wollongong". The Mercury. Hobart. Retrieved 7 August 2018.
  17. King, Rosie (20 June 2019). "WIN News to cut four commercial TV newsrooms in Orange, Wagga Wagga, Albury and Bundaberg". ABC News. Australian Broadcasting Corporation. Retrieved 24 June 2019.
  18. Duke, Jennifer (19 June 2019). "WIN shuts down five newsrooms as regional broadcasters struggle". The Sydney Morning Herald. Sydney. Retrieved 24 June 2019.
  19. WIN adds midday news bulletin David Knox, TV Tonight, 4 February 2014
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