Weekend Sunrise

Weekend Sunrise
Genre Breakfast News Program
Presented by Andrew O'Keefe
Monique Wright
Samantha Armytage
Chris Reason
Lisa Wilkinson
Opening theme (Reach Up for the) Sunrise, Duran Duran
Country of origin Australia
Original language(s) English
No. of seasons 10
No. of episodes 600+
Production
Producer(s) Michael Pell
Location(s) Martin Place, Sydney, New South Wales
Running time 180 minutes
Release
Original network Seven Network
Picture format 576i (SDTV)
1080i (HDTV)
Audio format Stereo
Original release 10 April 2005 – present
Chronology
Preceded by Sunday Sunrise
Related shows Sunrise
External links
Website

Weekend Sunrise is an Australian breakfast television program, broadcast on the Seven Network and currently hosted by Andrew O'Keefe and Monique Wright.

History

In 2005 the Seven Network replaced its struggling Sunday morning program Sunday Sunrise with a program called Weekend Sunrise which originally was an hour-long (8 am – 9 am) program with an identical format to Sunrise. Hosted by Chris Reason and Lisa Wilkinson, the program was successful and various critiques at the time called for the program to be lengthened to two hours (7:00 am – 9:00 am) and be extended to Saturday mornings as well as Sunday.

Presenter Monique Wright

In 2006, Weekend Sunrise was extended from an hour to a two-hour show, running every Sunday from 8 am till 10 am. When Sportsworld returned for the football season Weekend Sunrise settled into a 90-minute format, 8:00 am – 9:30 am. After Sportsworld's series concluded, the show returned to a two-hour format.

Andrew O'Keefe initially temporarily replaced host Chris Reason in 2006, but after improved ratings he was given the hosting position permanently. In 2007, Wilkinson moved to the Nine Network to host Today, and was replaced by Samantha Armytage. In 2008, Weekend Sunrise moved their start time 30 minutes earlier to 7:30 am, to match the new start time of Nine's Sunday program. The program continued to run through to 10:00 am, meaning the program had a two-and-a-half-hour running time.

In 2009, the program's start time was moved even earlier. Originally, it was announced that Today on Sunday (now Weekend Today), the replacement the long-running Nine's Sunday, would run from 7:30 to 9:00 am. But this was changed on 28 January 2009 to 7:00 am to 9:00 am. As result, Seven announced that Weekend Sunrise would also commence at 7:00 am and run through to 10:00 am, meaning the program would go for three hours, the same as the weekday version of Sunrise.[1]

On 13 February 2010, Seven announced that Weekend Sunrise would extend to Saturdays to compete against Weekend Today. The Saturday edition airs in the same time slot as Weekend Today, i.e. 7:00 am – 9:00 am. Saturday Disney, which previously occupied the timeslot, immediately followed Weekend Sunrise, until in 2012 it was permanently moved to 7Two, airing in the same time as Weekend Sunrise. The original Saturday team consisted of Samantha Armytage co-hosting with Larry Emdur with Sarah Cumming presenting the news, Simon Reeve presenting sport and James Tobin presenting the weather.

In November 2011, Adam Boland was appointed executive producer of the program. Boland overhauled the program introducing a new format, a number of new segments and new regulars.

In September 2012, executive producer Adam Boland announced that the show would extend to three hours on Saturday from October. Boland finished with the Seven Network in February 2013 to later join Network Ten. Sunrise executive producer Michael Pell replaced Boland.

In June 2013, Melissa Doyle announced that she would be leaving Sunrise for a national network role, with Samantha Armytage replacing her. Monique Wright initially replaced Armytage on Weekend Sunrise, but it was not until February 2014 in which Wright was made a permanent co-host on the show.[2]

In February 2016, Angela Cox joined and filled-in for Monique Wright as co-host of the show whilst she was on maternity leave. Cox hosted the show until Wright's return in June. Sally Bowrey was also appointed Entertainment & Social Media presenter.

Format

Similar to Sunrise, Weekend Sunrise blends a mixture of news every thirty minutes, interviews and light-hearted feature pieces into three hours each morning. Occasionally, Weekend Sunrise may present the show from other locations, however, unlike Sunrise, this is less common.

News

As with Sunrise, national news updates are provided at the half hour mark, followed by a summary of overnight sport and weather.

Hosts

Presenter Role Tenure
Andrew O'Keefe Co-Host 2006–present
Monique Wright Co-Host 2013–present
Talitha Cummins News 2007–2008, 2014–present
Simon Reeve Sport 2007–2014, 2015–present
Sally Bowery Entertainment & Social Media 2016–present
James Tobin Weather 2009–present

Previous hosts

Presenter Role Tenure
Chris Reason Co-Host 2005 – 2006
Lisa Wilkinson Co-Host 2005 – 2007
Samantha Armytage Co-Host 2007 – 2013
Kylie Gillies Sport 2005 – 2007
Ryan Phelan Sport 2014 – 2015
Simon Reeve News 2005 – 2007
Talitha Cummins News 2007
Sharyn Ghidella News 2008 – 2011
Jessica Rowe News 2011 – 2013

Previous hosts of Weekend Sunrise include Chris Reason, Lisa Wilkinson and Samantha Armytage. Kylie Gillies was the original sports presenter until she moved to The Morning Show and Talitha Cummins presented the news from June 2007 until July 2008. Sharyn Ghidella presented the news from 2008 until 2010. Larry Emdur hosted Weekend Sunrise on Saturdays in 2010. Sarah Cumming previously presented the news on Saturday and is now Seven News Sydney weather presenter. Samantha Armytage hosted the program from June 2007 until August 2013 and is now host of Sunrise. Jessica Rowe presented the news from 2010 until 2013. Ryan Phelan presented sport throughout the first half of 2015 before Simon Reeve returned to his post following the axing of Million Dollar Minute.

Current fill-in presenters that have recently hosted or co-hosted Weekend Sunrise include Kylie Gillies, Natalie Barr, Mark Beretta, Larry Emdur, Ryan Phelan, Angela Cox, Edwina Bartholomew and Andrew Rochford.

Other Seven presenters who have either filled in or presented Weekend Sunrise in the past include Matt White, Jessica Rowe, Kellie Sloane, Rebecca Maddern, Rahni Sadler, Ben Davis, Mike Amor, Jillian Whiting and Ben Damon, amongst others.

Regulars

Presenter Role Tenure
Steve Hargrave UK/Entertainment Correspondent 2013–present
Blair Late Showbiz Reporter 2010–14
Richard Arnold UK Entertainment 2009–present
Nuala Hafner Melbourne Correspondent 2010–11 (various reports before)
Mark Riley Chief Political Correspondent 2005–present
Mike Amor US Bureau Correspondent 2005–present
Maude Garrett G-Gap 2012–present
Jabba Movie Reviews 2013–present
James Mathison Movie Reviews 2012–13
Jonathan Coleman Movie Reviews 2011–12
Jane Caro Masters Of Spin 2011–present
Nick Cater Masters Of Spin 2014–present
Paul Murray All Stars 2006–10
Tim Ross All Stars 2011–present
Keith Suter Foreign Affairs 2005–present
Andrew Rochford Health Editor 2014–present

Broadcasting

Because Australia has more than one time zone, Weekend Sunrise is not broadcast live to all of Australia, it is instead broadcast delayed. New South Wales (including ACT), Victoria, Tasmania have Weekend Sunrise broadcast live all year round, Queensland has Sunrise broadcast live in wintertime, but during Daylight Saving Time in Sydney has the program delayed by one hour. The Northern Territory has Weekend Sunrise delayed 30 minutes during winter and 1 hour and 30 minutes during Daylight Savings in Sydney. South Australia has it delayed by 30 minutes all year around, and Western Australia has it delayed by 2 hours in wintertime and by 3 hours during Daylight Savings in Sydney.

Occasionally, broadcasts of Weekend Sunrise are altered during special circumstances. On the morning of 17 July 2010, Weekend Sunrise was extended well past 9am continuing into 1pm in the afternoon when Julia Gillard announced that Australia would be heading to the polls on 21 August. When Weekend Sunrise was covering the Victorian bushfires in February 2009, the show extended its coverage until 11am, with the extra hour dedicated to the events occurring in Victoria.

Neither Sunrise nor Weekend Sunrise air on Christmas Day

Logos

Theme song

Weekend Sunrise used Duran Duran's "(Reach Up for the) Sunrise" as its theme song until 2010 when MGMT's "Electric Feel" replaced it. In November 2011, "(Reach Up for the) Sunrise" was reinstated as the theme song.

See also

References

  1. ↑ Knox, David (28 January 2009). "Weekend Sunrise wakes up to Today's alarm". tvtonight.com.au. Retrieved 28 January 2009.
  2. ↑ Monique Wright names as permanent co-host of Weekend Sunrise, TV Tonight, 25 February 2014

External links

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