''WIN News'' is a local television news service in parts of regional

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a sovereign country comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands. With an area of , Australia is the largest country by ...

, produced by

WIN Television WIN Television is an Australian television network owned by WIN Corporation that is based in Wollongong, New South Wales. WIN commenced transmissions on 18 March 1962 as a single television station covering the Wollongong region. The WIN Netw ...

. 12 regional bulletins and news update services are presented from WIN's headquarters in

Wollongong Wollongong ( ), colloquially referred to as The Gong, is a city located in the Illawarra region of New South Wales, Australia. The name is believed to originate from the Dharawal language, meaning either 'five islands/clouds', 'ground near w ...

, and until 2021 included production of a national compilation programme shared between the city and

Maroochydore Maroochydore ( ) is a coastal town in the Sunshine Coast Region, Queensland, Australia. The town was subdivided from the Cotton Tree reserve by Surveyor Thomas O'Connor in 1903. The land was acquired from William Pettigrew who had a timber de ...

History

As well as its flagship nightly bulletin, WIN Television has, in the past, produced a number of public affairs programmes at its original

station,

WIN-4 WIN is a television station serving southern New South Wales and the Australian Capital Territory. It is the flagship station of the WIN Television network. History Programming WIN Television broadcasts its programming from Nine Network, incl ...

, such as community affairs program ''Roving Eye'' and ''Sunday Review'', a weekly review of international, national and local stories. During the 1990s, WIN News was called WIN Nightly News, similar to that of Seven Nightly News. By the end of the decade, the networks combined covered most of

Queensland ) , nickname = Sunshine State , image_map = Queensland in Australia.svg , map_caption = Location of Queensland in Australia , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name = Australia , established_title = Before federation , establishe ...

, as well as

New South Wales ) , nickname = , image_map = New South Wales in Australia.svg , map_caption = Location of New South Wales in AustraliaCoordinates: , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name = Australia , established_title = Before federation , es ...

Victoria Victoria most commonly refers to: * Victoria (Australia), a state of the Commonwealth of Australia * Victoria, British Columbia, provincial capital of British Columbia, Canada * Victoria (mythology), Roman goddess of Victory * Victoria, Seychelle ...

, the

Australian Capital Territory The Australian Capital Territory (commonly abbreviated as ACT), known as the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) until 1938, is a landlocked federal territory of Australia containing the national capital Canberra and some surrounding township#Aust ...

South Australia South Australia (commonly abbreviated as SA) is a States and territories of Australia, state in the southern central part of Australia. It covers some of the most arid parts of the country. With a total land area of , it is the fourth-largest o ...

and

Tasmania ) , nickname = , image_map = Tasmania in Australia.svg , map_caption = Location of Tasmania in AustraliaCoordinates: , subdivision_type = Country , subdi ...

. Prior to aggregation in 1994, Victoria's WIN News was called VIC News, and the network itself was called VIC TV. Tasmania's WIN News was called TasTV Evening News, and the network was called TasTV. South Australia's WIN News was called SES-8 Regional News and RTS-5A Regional News, and the network was called Channel 8 and Channel 5A. All were rebranded as WIN after aggregation, renaming their respective bulletins as WIN News only, with the exception of Victoria, which branded itself as WIN Local News and adopted a similar format to that of GTV-9 in

Melbourne Melbourne ( ; Boonwurrung/ Woiwurrung: ''Narrm'' or ''Naarm'') is the capital and most populous city of the Australian state of Victoria, and the second-most populous city in both Australia and Oceania. Its name generally refers to a metro ...

. On 30 January 2006, WIN's Tasmanian news bulletins were moved from separate local and national bulletins to a single, half-hour bulletin featuring local, national and international news. This was reported by ''

The Hobart Mercury ''The'' ''Mercury'' is a daily newspaper, published in Hobart, Tasmania, Australia, by Davies Brothers Pty Ltd (DBL), a subsidiary of News Corp Australia, itself a subsidiary of News Corp. The weekend issues of the paper are called ''Mercury on ...

'' as being due to the previous arrangement's poor ratings. WIN's main competitor in the area, '' Southern Cross Nightly News'', had at the time a 64.9% share of the 6.00pm news audience during the 2005 survey period. In June 2011, WIN axed its Tasmanian weekend bulletins and replaced them with simulcasts of the Melbourne evening news, but were reintroduced a year later. On 18 August 2006, WIN Television announced that Griffith's locally produced news bulletin would be axed due to high costs and revenue and would be merged with

Wagga Wagga Wagga Wagga (; informally called Wagga) is a major regional city in the Riverina region of New South Wales, Australia. Straddling the Murrumbidgee River, with an urban population of more than 56,000 as of June 2018, Wagga Wagga is the state's ...

's half-hour bulletin, and the presenter, Jacalyn Cremasco's last bulletin was on the 18th. Before the network was branded as MTN, it was under the possession of Prime, the regional affiliate of Seven, but it was axed after a few years. It then became an affiliate of WIN, with its news adopting a similar format to that of WIN News. The decision was criticised by the local council and chamber of commerce, who, in a statement to the ABC's Media Watch, said that the isolation of the area increased the need for local content and information. The now-discontinued amalgamated Wagga Wagga bulletin is presented and produced from

. However there is still a WIN newsroom in the city to cover news in the region, and Jacalyn Cremasco is a reporter in the newsroom. In April 2009, two regional bulletins were introduced in Queensland serving Mackay and the

Whitsunday Islands The Whitsunday Islands are 74 continental islands of various sizes off the central coast of Queensland, Australia, north of Brisbane. The northernmost of the islands are off the coast by the town of Bowen, while the southernmost islands are ...

and the Wide Bay area. In March 2012, WIN announced it would axe its weeknight Western Australia bulletin with regional news coverage incorporated into a localised edition of ''

Nine Afternoon News ''Nine News'' (stylised ''9News'') is the national news service of the Nine Network in Australia. Its flagship program is the hour-long 6:00 pm state bulletin, produced by Nine's owned-and-operated stations in Sydney, Melbourne, Brisbane, ...

'' at 4:30pm, produced and presented from Perth. The last edition of ''WIN News Western Australia'' aired on 9 March 2012. On 18 February 2013, WIN axed its pan-regional bulletin for the

Mount Gambier Mount Gambier is the second most populated city in South Australia, with an estimated urban population of 33,233 . The city is located on the slopes of Mount Gambier, a volcano in the south east of the state, about south-east of the capital Ad ...

and

Riverland The Riverland is a region of South Australia. It covers an area of along the River Murray from where it flows into South Australia from New South Wales and Victoria downstream to Blanchetown. The major town centres are Renmark, Berri, Loxt ...

areas of South Australia. The program had been broadcast since the merger of separate bulletins for the two areas in October 2010. Ten staff at newsrooms in Mount Gambier and Loxton were made redundant. Both bulletins prior to a few years ago were produced separately from the two newsrooms, but they wereboth filmed at the Mount Gambier studios. In June 2013, WIN announced it would discontinue local production of its Canberra bulletin and move it to Wollongong, however the company's studios in Kingston continued to operate as a newsgathering base, until it was sold and closed down a few years later, thus resulting in all staff being moved to a new office in the city. In May 2015, in what was considered shocking closures, WIN axed its bulletins in

Mildura Mildura is a regional city in north-west Victoria, Australia. Located on the Victorian side of the Murray River, Mildura had a population of 34,565 in 2021. When nearby Wentworth, Irymple, Nichols Point and Merbein are included, the area h ...

, Victoria and

Mackay, Queensland } Mackay () is a city in the Mackay Region on the eastern or Coral Sea coast of Queensland, Australia. It is located about north of Brisbane, on the Pioneer River. Mackay is described as being in either Central Queensland or North Queensla ...

, with staff at both newsrooms being impacted. The decision was made in response to budget measures and a failure to catch up with Seven Local News in terms of ratings as well as poor advertising in the latter's case. Following the transfer of broadcasting control of NRN to WIN in September 2017, following its purchase in May that year, WIN assumed production of existing weekday local news updates to northern New South Wales and the Gold Coast.

Consolidation to Wollongong

From 2015, WIN News cut costs to its regional news resources by consolidating presentation to its Wollongong headquarters. Its former regional studios were reduced in size from full-out production studios to small office-style newsgathering facilities upon each state's studio closure. Following the closure of the broadcast centre in Griffith, Victorian bulletins were the next to centralise in October 2015, with the

Ballarat Ballarat ( ) is a city in the Central Highlands of Victoria, Australia. At the 2021 Census, Ballarat had a population of 116,201, making it the third largest city in Victoria. Estimated resident population, 30 June 2018. Within months of Vi ...

studios being sold and demolished, followed by Queensland bulletins. Before, however, Queensland's services had two production studios, one in Rockhampton for the Central and Far North Queensland, Mackay District, and Sunshine Coast bulletins, and one in

Toowoomba Toowoomba ( , nicknamed 'The Garden City' and 'T-Bar') is a city in the Toowoomba Region of the Darling Downs, Queensland, Australia. It is west of Queensland's capital city Brisbane by road. The urban population of Toowoomba as of the 2021 ...

for production of the North Queensland, Wide Bay, and Southern Queensland bulletins. Both were closed and new studios, located in

, were retained for production of All Australian News. Tasmania had experienced reduction of its local presence after WIN's new affiliation with Network Ten. While all other ''WIN News'' bulletins moved to 6pm on 1 July 2016, their nightly bulletin moved to 5:30pm (30 minutes earlier than its leading rival ''Southern Cross News''), making an attempt to replicate its composite newshour when they were a former Nine affiliate in the state. However, in September 2016, it scaled back to a half-hour local bulletin amid poor ratings; it moved back to its traditional 6pm timeslot on weeknights but retaining the weekend composite news at 5:30pm. In August 2018, it was announced that local studio production of the Tasmanian bulletin would be consolidated to Wollongong, and all weekend bulletins would be axed the following month. The consolidation was completed on 17 August 2018. On 20 June 2019, WIN announced in a letter to staff it would close four of its newsrooms in Orange,

Dubbo Dubbo () is a city in the Orana Region of New South Wales, Australia. It is the largest population centre in the Orana region, with a population of 43,516 at June 2021. The city is located at the intersection of the Newell, Mitchell, and Go ...

Albury Albury () is a major regional city in New South Wales, Australia. It is located on the Hume Highway and the northern side of the Murray River. Albury is the seat of local government for the council area which also bears the city's name – t ...

and

Bundaberg Bundaberg is a city in the Bundaberg Region, Queensland, Australia, and is the tenth largest city in the state. Bundaberg's regional area has a population of 70,921, and is a major centre of the Wide Bay–Burnett geographical region. The B ...

. The closures were made ''based on the commercial viability of funding news in these areas'' and are expected to affect approximately 30 jobs, in addition to losing the Griffith bulletin as well with the closure of the Wagga newsroom. Consequently, the final editions of the Central West (Orange), Riverina (Wagga Wagga), Border North East (Albury) and Wide Bay (Bundaberg) editions aired on Friday 28 June 2019.

Return to Nine affiliation

Following the announcement on 12 March 2021 that WIN would be returning to the

Nine Network The Nine Network (stylised 9Network, commonly known as Channel Nine or simply Nine) is an Australian commercial free-to-air television network. It is owned by parent company Nine Entertainment and is one of five main free-to-air television netw ...

affiliation from 1 July 2021, the network announced that ''WIN News'' would be moving to the earlier timeslot of 5:30pm in the remaining 12 markets before leading in to metropolitan ''Nine News'' bulletins at 6:00pm, effectively replacing ''Nine News Local'' (produced for SCA). It was also announced on 24 May 2021 that the local ''WIN News'' bulletins in Victoria and Queensland would be scrapped and replaced with a single statewide news bulletin. Many jobs were lost as a result, where the average number of staff per newsroom was cut from 8 to 2. The Western NSW market was also confirmed to be getting a statewide news bulletin, with the Illawarra, Canberra and Tasmania bulletins as the only remaining local news bulletins on the network. Along with the axing of the local news bulletins, the national '' All Australian News'' bulletin also ceased production at the end of June 2021.

Regional services

Local bulletins

Illawarra, Western NSW & the ACT

WIN Television Canberra studios in Kingston, ACT

In southern New South Wales and the ACT, ''WIN News'' produces half-hour bulletins for four markets, one serving the

and

Illawarra The Illawarra is a coastal region in the Australian state of New South Wales, nestled between the mountains and the sea. It is situated immediately south of Sydney and north of the South Coast region. It encompasses the two cities of Wollong ...

areas, one serving Riverina and the Central West areas and the other for

Canberra Canberra ( ) is the capital city of Australia. Founded following the federation of the colonies of Australia as the seat of government for the new nation, it is Australia's largest inland city and the eighth-largest city overall. The ci ...

and its surrounding areas. Both programs are produced and broadcast from WIN's Wollongong headquarters with news gathering teams and camera crews based in Canberra. The bulletins are presented by Bruce Roberts with sport presenter Melissa Russell and weather forecasts were presented by Adam Straney. The head of news for New South Wales and the ACT is Rob Beaumont.

Regional Victoria

WIN News truck in Stratford, Victoria - April 2021

''WIN News'' produces one separate bulletin for the five regional Victorian markets, serving

, western Victoria,

Bendigo Bendigo ( ) is a city in Victoria (Australia), Victoria, Australia, located in the Bendigo Valley near the geographical centre of the state and approximately north-west of Melbourne, the state capital. As of 2019, Bendigo had an urban populat ...

, central Victoria,

Shepparton Shepparton () ( Yortayorta: ''Kanny-goopna'') is a city located on the floodplain of the Goulburn River in northern Victoria, Australia, approximately north-northeast of Melbourne. As of the 2021 census, the estimated population of Shepparto ...

, Border North East

and the Goulburn-Murray area, and

Gippsland Gippsland is a rural region that makes up the southeastern part of Victoria, Australia, mostly comprising the coastal plains to the rainward (southern) side of the Victorian Alps (the southernmost section of the Great Dividing Range). It cove ...

. The bulletin is produced and broadcast from WIN's Wollongong headquarters with newsrooms also based in Ballarat, Bendigo, Shepparton and Traralgon. The bulletin is presented by Bruce Roberts with sport presenter Melissa Russell and weather forecasts are presented by Adam Straney. The news director for Victorian news services is Kelly Clappis.

Regional Queensland

''WIN News'' currently produces statewide-based bulletins for five of the seven regional Queensland markets:

Cairns Cairns (, ) is a city in Queensland, Australia, on the tropical north east coast of Far North Queensland. The population in June 2019 was 153,952, having grown on average 1.02% annually over the preceding five years. The city is the 5th-most-p ...

and

Far North Queensland Far North Queensland (FNQ) is the northernmost part of the Australian state of Queensland. Its largest city is Cairns and it is dominated geographically by Cape York Peninsula, which stretches north to the Torres Strait, and west to the Gulf Co ...

Townsville Townsville is a city on the north-eastern coast of Queensland, Australia. With a population of 180,820 as of June 2018, it is the largest settlement in North Queensland; it is unofficially considered its capital. Estimated resident population, 3 ...

and

North Queensland North Queensland or the Northern Region is the northern part of the Australian state of Queensland that lies just south of Far North Queensland. Queensland is a massive state, larger than many countries, and its tropical northern part has been ...

Rockhampton Rockhampton is a city in the Rockhampton Region of Central Queensland, Australia. The population of Rockhampton in June 2021 was 79,967, Estimated resident population, 30 June 2018. making it the fourth-largest city in the state outside of t ...

and

Central Queensland Central Queensland is an ambiguous geographical division of Queensland ( a state in Australia) that centres on the eastern coast, around the Tropic of Capricorn. Its major regional centre is Rockhampton. The region extends from the Capricorn Coas ...

and

Darling Downs The Darling Downs is a farming region on the western slopes of the Great Dividing Range in southern Queensland, Australia. The Downs are to the west of South East Queensland and are one of the major regions of Queensland. The name was general ...

, the

Sunshine Coast Sunshine Coast may refer to: * Sunshine Coast, Queensland, Australia **Sunshine Coast Region, a local government area of Queensland named after the region **Sunshine Coast Stadium * Sunshine Coast (British Columbia), geographic subregion of the Br ...

and

Wide Bay-Burnett WIDE or Wide may refer to: * Wide (cricket) * Wide and narrow data, terms used to describe two different presentations for tabular data * WIDE Project, Widely Integrated Distributed Environment * Wide-angle Infinity Display Equipment * WIDE-LP, a ...

. The bulletins are broadcast from WIN's Wollongong headquarters. The bulletins are presented by Lincoln Humphries with sport presenter Melissa Russell and weather forecasts for all regions are presented by Adam Straney. The news director for all Queensland bulletins is Christian Jantzen.

Tasmania

''WIN News Tasmania'' is presented by Bruce Roberts from Wollongong with sport presenter Melissa Russell and weather forecasts are presented by Adam Straney.

Local updates

Northern New South Wales & Gold Coast

90-second news updates are broadcast throughout the day on weekdays for four of the five northern New South Wales and Gold Coast markets: Newcastle and the

Hunter Hunting is the human activity, human practice of seeking, pursuing, capturing, or killing wildlife or feral animals. The most common reasons for humans to hunt are to harvest food (i.e. meat) and useful animal products (fur/hide (skin), hide, ...

, the

Northern Rivers Northern Rivers is the most north-easterly region of the Australian state of New South Wales, located between north of the state capital, Sydney, and encompasses the catchments and fertile valleys of the Clarence, Richmond, and Tweed rivers. ...

and the Gold Coast,

Coffs Harbour Coffs Harbour is a city on the Mid North Coast of New South Wales, Australia, north of Sydney, and south of Brisbane. It is one of the largest urban centres on the North Coast, with a population of 78,759 as per 2021 census. The Gumbaynggirr ...

and the

Mid North Coast The Mid North Coast is a country region in the north-east of the state of New South Wales, Australia. The region covers the mid northern coast of the state, beginning from Port Stephens north of Sydney, and extending as far north as Woolgool ...

, and Tamworth and

New England New England is a region comprising six states in the Northeastern United States: Connecticut, Maine, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, Rhode Island, and Vermont. It is bordered by the state of New York to the west and by the Canadian provinces ...

. The updates are presented from WIN's Wollongong studios primarily by Kristina Prentoska and Ariana Gatti in conjunction with the other presenters filling-in.

Limestone Coast & Riverland

90-second news updates are broadcast on weekday evenings in the

Limestone Coast The Limestone Coast is a name used since the early twenty-first century for a South Australian government region located in the south east of South Australia which immediately adjoins the continental coastline and the Victorian border. The ...

and

markets. The updates, presented by Melissa Russell, are produced in co-operation with The Border Watch (for the Limestone Coast updates) and the

Murray Pioneer The ''Murray Pioneer'' is a weekly newspaper published since 1892 in Renmark, South Australia. It is now owned by the Taylor Group of Newspapers. History The forerunner of the newspaper was the ''Renmark Pioneer'' (9 April 1892 – 4 July 191 ...

(for the Riverland updates). They air on all three WIN-owned network affiliated stations during the 6pm timeslot.

Former bulletins

''WIN News: Late Edition''

WIN formerly produced statewide late bulletins, known as ''WIN News: Late Edition'', for each east coast market. The bulletins featured stories from the various sub-regions in each market.

Southern NSW & ACT

The Southern NSW/ACT edition was broadcast at 12am from WIN's Wollongong headquarters. The bulletins were presented by

Geoff Phillips Geoffrey Phillips is an Australian television news presenter. He is best known for presenting the New South Wales and Australian Capital Territory editions of '' WIN News'' on WIN Television, from the network's headquarters in Wollongong. In 2 ...

with Kerryn Johnston co-anchoring the Wollongong edition with sport presenter

Amy Duggan Amy Elizabeth Duggan (; born 11 June 1979) is an Australian retired association football player and media personality. Football career Amy Taylor was born in Canberra, Australia and grew up in Tuggeranong. She started playing soccer at Tuggera ...

and Senior Wollongong reporter Michaela Gray.

Regional Victoria

The regional Victorian edition was broadcast at 12am from WIN's Ballarat Studios by alternating team of reporters/presenters. The bulletins were presented by Bruce Roberts with sport presenter Wes Cusworth and weather forecasts were presented by

Jane Bunn Jane Bunn (born 2 August 1979) is an Australian meteorologist and weather presenter. Bunn is the weather presenter on '' Seven News Melbourne''. Career Bunn completed a Bachelor of Science at Monash University in 2005, where she had majors in ...

Regional Queensland

The regional Queensland edition was broadcast at 12am from WIN's Maroochydore studios. The bulletins were presented by Paul Taylor or Sophie Hull with sport presented by David McLenaghan or Paul Murphy and weather forecasts were presented by Hannah McEwan.

''All Australian News''

WIN also produced the ''All Australian News'', an hour-long national program which aired on WIN Television at 11.30pm and again at 7am the following morning. The program also aired on WIN Peach, WIN Bold and Sky News on WIN at 11am, 12pm and 1pm respectively, pre-empting the networks usual programming. The ''All Australian News'' was a compilation of human interest and feature news stories that have aired on WIN's various regional news bulletins in Queensland, New South Wales, the ACT, Victoria and Tasmania. The ''All Australian News'' commenced airing in February 2014.WIN adds midday news bulletin
David Knox, TV Tonight, 4 February 2014 The program was presented from both WIN Television's headquarters in Wollongong and WIN's Maroochydore studios on the Sunshine Coast. The final program aired on 30 June 2021, coinciding with WIN's new program supply agreement with the Nine Network beginning the following day.

Southern New South Wales & Border North East

90-second news updates were broadcast throughout the day on weekdays for two of the four markets in southern New South Wales and Border North East - Orange and the Central West,

and the Riverina region and

and the Border North East. The updates were presented from WIN's Wollongong studios by Chris Polzot in conjunction with other presenters filling in. Following the announcement that the Riverina, Central West and the Border North East areas would be folded into the Western NSW and Regional Victorian editions of ''WIN News'', the news updates ceased production on 30 June 2021.

Wide Bay

90-second news updates were broadcast throughout the day on weekdays for the Wide Bay QLD area.

References

{{Television news in Australia WIN Television