Today (Australia)
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Today is an Australian morning television program broadcast weekdays from 6am on the Nine Network.
History
Today premiered on the Nine Network on 28 June 1982, and is Australia’s longest-running breakfast television program. Its format is based on the American version aired on NBC.
The original hosts of the program were Steve Liebmann and Sue Kellaway. They spent five years together before Liebmann left to read evening news for Network Ten in Sydney. Former 60 Minutes (Australian version) reporter George Negus took over the male anchoring role on Today.
After three years, Steve Liebmann returned to Nine, hosting Today with Liz Hayes, Patrice Newell and finally Tracy Grimshaw.
In December 2004, 60-year-old Liebmann suffered a mild heart attack, prompting him to retire from the stresses of breakfast television. During the closing minutes of his final show on 11 February 2005, Liebmann said "it has been an honour and a privilege and it has been a great journey".
Former WIN TV Rockhampton reporter, TVNZ New Zealand reporter/news presenter, Optus TV entertainment presenter, Ten Network Brisbane reporter/presenter, Nine Network Brisbane, Sydney and US-based reporter Karl Stefanovic took over from Liebmann as co-host. Tracy Grimshaw left Today at the end of 2005 to take over from Ray Martin as host of A Current Affair.
It had been widely speculated in the Australian press that Seven Network news presenter Chris Bath would co-host Today with Karl Stefanovic from January 2006. However, the position went to former Network Ten news presenter Jessica Rowe.
Competition with Sunrise
Since the 2002 revamp of the competing Sunrise on the Seven Network, Today suffered a slump in its ratings. In an effort to improve these ratings, the Nine Network has attempted radical changes to the program's format.
The first sign of the attempts to revitalise the program was the replacement of weather presenter Sami Lukas with Steve Jacobs, host of the hidden-camera program Just Kidding! in the mid-1990s.
In a move that drew heavy criticism and saw further reductions in ratings, newsreader Sharyn Ghidella was removed to an early news program, and replaced with Leila McKinnon, the wife of the network's Chief Executive Officer, David Gyngell. The early news started weekdays at 6am and Today commenced one hour later. This experiment ended on 15 July 2005 and Today returned to a three-hour format from 18 July 2005. Ghidella, who enjoyed significant popularity among the show's remaining viewers, was hurriedly shunted back into her former role.
The Nine Network has employed a large budget re-vamping and shifting the Today set several times, in an effort to find a formula that can compete with Sunrise's Sydney CBD street-side setting. Despite this large expenditure, Seven's Sunrise has achieved greater financial and viewing success.
For 20 years, Today consistently won the early morning ratings period, however Sunrise has won the ratings battle since 2003, often more than doubling the viewing figures of Today.
See also
External link
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