0/5

Bruce Paige to finish on Friday

Friday now marks the last day for Nine's Brissy newsreader as well as the end of Extra.

bp1Channel Nine’s Brisbane newsreader Bruce Paige who announced he would be retiring on July 10th will now make his exit tomorrow.

Friday’s 6pm bulletin will be his last, which follows the final edition of Extra.

“Having made the decision (to go) I’ve had a chance to say cheerio to all the friends up here and I think I want to get on with it,” he told The Courier-Mail.

Paige insists it was his decision to finish early and he is “looking at a few (future job) options with a friend” but would only confirm they were not to do with television. He ruled out a return to the ABC.

With newsreader Andrew Lofthouse joining Melissa Downes from Monday, the new look coincides with the launch of THIS afternoon.

Source / photo: Courier Mail

5 Responses

  1. Stan: You are right. There has to be more to Paige’s departure.

    Nick: Lets just say, the comments page on the axing at OurBrisbane has been moving like, 10+ comments per day. The majority are very parochial, with very few negative (i.e “I’ll move to 7”) comments. But Seven has to get a product out there, as there will be a untapped market.

    I expect the biggest losers will be both 9 and 7. Remember, Ten News in Brissie, has had it’s last half hour against Extra since day 1 of 5pm news in 1992.
    Ten will simply pick up the Extra and dissatisfied 7/9 viewers in the audience.

  2. In the case of Extra; it’s clear that if a state-based show can’t work in Sydney, it won’t work anywhere else (even if it does). The only hope for Queensland getting Extra again in the future is if every state gets their own Extra again.

    As for bringing forward Bruce’s departure date; me thinks that it’s all too much of a coincidence for it to be solely his decision… Poke, poke. 😉

  3. I don’t understand why the Brisbane line up could look like this:
    4:00 The Shak
    4:30 THIS afternoon
    5:30 Extra
    6:00 Nine News
    6:30 A Current Affair
    7:00 Hot Seat / 2.5 Men

    Obviously, remove 2.5 Men from the schedule, or just no show Hot Seat (this doesn’t rate very well anyway in Brisbane).

  4. Has there been much of an Uproar in Brisbane and the rest of QLD for the cancellation of Extra? Surely can’t be helping Nine’s viewer loyalty there.

Leave a Reply