History
In 2005 the Seven Network replaced its struggling Sunday morning program Sunday Sunrise with a program called Weekend Sunrise, as an extension of the weekday brand. It originally was an hour-long (8 am – 9 am). 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. Head of Morning TV’s Adam Boland’s intention was always to have the show across both days (hence the name), but news boss Peter Meakin talked him into just starting with Sunday given families usually were out doing sport on Saturday.
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. [2] 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. [3]
On 13 February 2010, Boland got his wish as 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 – 10:00 am. [4] Saturday Disney , which previously occupied the timeslot, immediately followed Weekend Sunrise, [5] 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. [6]
In November 2011, Adam Boland was appointed executive producer of the program. [7] Boland overhauled the program introducing a new format, a number of new segments and new regulars. These changes were scheduled to introduced on 5 November 2011, [8] however due an apparent server crash, the program was cancelled at the last minute. [9] The relaunch took place the following day as a result.
In September 2012, executive producer Adam Boland announced that the show would extend to three hours on Saturday from October. [10] 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. [11] 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. [12]
In February 2016, Angela Cox joined and filled-in for Monique Wright as co-host of the show whilst she was on maternity leave. At the same time, Sally Bowrey joined the show as entertainment and social media presenter. On 4 March 2016, Weekend Sunrise held a Parathon, to raise funds to send athletes to the 2016 Paralympic Games. The program included appearances from stars of Home and Away , My Kitchen Rules and Saturday Disney , as well as performances from Samantha Jade and Russell Morris and was extended to midday. [13] It raised over $1.6 million. [14] In December 2016, Angela Cox returned to Weekend Sunrise to cover news whilst Sally Bowrey was on maternity leave. In July 2017, Bowrey returned to the show as news presenter.
In December 2017, after twelve years in the role, O'Keefe resigned, citing his desire to spend more time with his family on weekends. [15] Basil Zempilas was announced as his replacement. [16] In September 2019, Zempilas stepped down as regular host of Weekend Sunrise, citing a desire to spend more time with his family in Perth. [17] Matt Doran was named as his replacement; he appeared as a regular co-presenter for the first time on 12 October. [18]
Simon Reeve made his last on air appearance on Weekend Sunrise in May 2020 before the Seven Network made him redundant in June 2020. [19] Reeve would later sue the network over his axing. [19] [20]
Weekend Sunrise moved to South Eveleigh on 29 July 2023, after the last broadcast in Martin Place on 23 July 2023. [21] With this change, the show received a new logo.
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 saving 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 saving 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 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. Between 2007 and 2014, when Seven had the telecasting rights to the V8 Supercars, Weekend Sunrise did not air on the day of the Bathurst 1000.
