Email of the week from Nine’s new Westie, Darren (Wickie) Wick:

From: Wick, Darren
To: TCN News Department
Sent: Fri Jun 26 20:48:28 2009
Subject: GOLD STAR EFFORT !!

Hey Team….

Two words to sum up today — GREAT JOB !!

We may not land an immediate blow on SEVEN in the ratings, but that’s not the point — we’re pushing while the opposition is taking a nap. We won’t turn our fortunes around in a day — but they will turn.

I was massively proud of today’s Michael Jackson coverage. To have a packed newsroom watching the 50-minute bulletin was fantastic. But that was the final set in a match that began with rolling coverage from early morning.

You all nailed it. We were a NINE NEWS machine.

Look at how the past 24 hours unfolded. From the middle of the night when Margaret scrambled crews/reporters on the Truck Driver shooting story. Denham Hitchcock and Simon Bouda owned that story … and both were running hard to get the best angles. They blitzed the Opposition. SEVEN began its borefest with still pictures.

When the Jackson story broke, EVERYONE kicked into action — and Sydney saw it FIRST ON NINE. It was just like the promo!!

Special accolades to our editing department — how much pressure have we put you guys under !! Loading you up with new technology wasn’t enough — we even threw in a beefy, sweaty worker smashing his hammer against the wall while you worked. Sorry — that was Slam !! (Just joking Big Guy — you know I love ya !)

Let me praise the LA BUREAU….they were brilliant. As they always are. Noel & Carla made everything so easy for the rest of us. They are simply the best. Aussie Bob Penfold was born for big stories. Rob is a legend to watch and work with, and it’s a joy to have him anchoring our US coverage. Pete Stefanovic and Tom Steinfort excelled in the field.

Back home….huge accolades for everyone, from Kellie Connolly, Fergo & Pete Overton who hosted our programming to all the producers, editors, autocue, studio crew, cameraman and reporters.

How good were the packages from Mark Burrows and Peter Harvey? F-cking GOLD would be the correct answer !!

We did it right — hold your heads high and be proud of NINE NEWS — WE’RE BACK !!

Cheers
Wickie

(For the record, Seven news won on Friday night with 1.56 million viewers tio Nine’s 1.295 million.)