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Today Tonight -600 weeks at #1 in Adelaide

Seven Adelaide celebrates a remarkable 15 year winning streak by Today Tonight.

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By any measure, a TV show winning 600 weeks at #1 is an impressive feat.

Seven Adelaide’s Today Tonight has claimed a record 600th consecutive winning week, making it the most successful program ever produced in South Australia. It has won the 6.30pm to 7pm weeknight slot every week since March 2001, defeating everything that has gone up against it, including Nine News, A Current Affair and The Project. It also saw off two Adelaide produced versions of ACA in 2002 and 2009.

Hosted by Rosanna Mangiarelli, it is the longest winning streak since the introduction of the people meters in South Australia.

Producer Graham Archer said: “Winning every week for 15 years, three quarters of our existence, demonstrates how much South Australians value this local program.

“If we gathered together all the causes we’ve championed, all the organisations and the people we’ve helped, both directly and indirectly, we’d fill the Adelaide Oval.”

Today Tonight premiered on January 30 1995 with Leigh McClusky as host. Executive Producer Graham Archer and Reporter / Supervising Producer Frank Pangallo have been with the program since the first night on air. Over the years Today Tonight’s hosts have also included Paul Makin, Rodney Lohse, John Riddell and Mike Smithson. Rosanna Mangiarelli began her role as host in August 2007.

Today Tonight’s success is even more remarkable considering it took 258 programs before it won its first night of ratings (May 15, 1996) and 100 weeks exactly before it won its first week of ratings (July 1997) against the then dominant A Current Affair.

6 Responses

      1. You’re quite right Sunny, I was referring to the commercial channels.
        Where I live ACA clashes with the ABCs 7.30 Report anyway, as WIN shows it on their GEM channel at that time to accommodate their Sunshine Coast News at 7.00pm.
        But ABCs 7.30 Report is a quality program as opposed to ACAs gutter press style of journalism.

    1. Both ABC and SBS have current affairs programs which are vastly superior to what passes for that on 7 and 9 in name only. I would argue that Queensland viewers are fortunate to only have one ratbag program at 6:30pm spreading misinformation, confected outrage, and promos dressed up as “news”. Mind you, a large part of 7 and 9’s hour-long news does a pretty good job of impersonating TT/ACA anyway.

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