Ronald Wilson (born 25 October 1954
) is a Northern Irish-born Australian television and radio news presenter and voice-over with a lengthy career in journalism and hosting, especially with
Network Ten.
[Ten News Presenters](_blank)
– Network Ten, retrieved on 10 July 2008.
Wilson is currently a news presenter on FM radio network
smoothfm, a division of
NOVA Entertainment and previously worked at Network Ten in
Sydney
Sydney is the capital city of the States and territories of Australia, state of New South Wales and the List of cities in Australia by population, most populous city in Australia. Located on Australia's east coast, the metropolis surrounds Syd ...
for over 33 years.
Personal life
Wilson was born in
Enniskillen
Enniskillen ( , from , ' Ceithlenn's island') is the largest town in County Fermanagh, Northern Ireland. It is in the middle of the county, between the Upper and Lower sections of Lough Erne. It had a population of 14,086 at the 2011 censu ...
,
County Fermanagh,
Northern Ireland
Northern Ireland ( ; ) is a Countries of the United Kingdom, part of the United Kingdom in the north-east of the island of Ireland. It has been #Descriptions, variously described as a country, province or region. Northern Ireland shares Repub ...
and emigrated to
Australia
Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country comprising mainland Australia, the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania and list of islands of Australia, numerous smaller isl ...
with his family when he was a young child. He spent much of his childhood in Victoria and completed a law degree in
Darwin,
Northern Territory
The Northern Territory (abbreviated as NT; known formally as the Northern Territory of Australia and informally as the Territory) is an states and territories of Australia, Australian internal territory in the central and central-northern regi ...
. When
Cyclone Tracy
Severe Tropical Cyclone Tracy was a small but destructive tropical cyclone that devastated the city of Darwin, Northern Territory, Darwin, in the Northern Territory of Australia, in December 1974. The small but developing easterly storm was or ...
destroyed Darwin in 1974, Wilson was on scene as host of a local radio program. Wilson admitted on the "Newsreaders Vs TV Hosts" episode of ''
All Star Family Feud'' on 21 November 2016 that he still suffers from
posttraumatic stress disorder from surviving Cyclone Tracy. He received Australian citizenship on 31 March 2008.
Wilson is married with three children. He supports the
Sydney Swans AFL club.
Career
Television
Network 10
Wilson worked as a newsreader on ''
Good Morning Australia'' from 1982 to 1991 alongside
Kerri-Anne Kennerley and
Gordon Elliott among others. During that time, he also presented for Ten on Sydney's weekend newscasts (variously called ''Ten Eyewitness News'', ''
Ten News'', ''
Eyewitness News'' and ''
Ten Evening News''). Wilson took the helm of ''Good Morning Australia'' alongside
Sandra Sully in 1992. The pair moved from dawn to dusk a year later, presenting Ten's 5.00 pm newscast. From 1981 to 1982, Wilson had presented the evening 6.00 pm news with
Katrina Lee. In 1994, Wilson was joined at the Sydney newsdesk by
Juanita Phillips and, two years later, by
Jessica Rowe in a partnership lasting 10 years. He also presented
NEW-10 Perth's 5.00 pm news (broadcast from TEN-10's studios) from 2003 to 2005.
Wilson has reported and presented from the scene of some of Sydney's biggest news events. He covered the
Ansett Australia 747 crash at
Sydney Airport in 1994 – the only Sydney news presenter to broadcast from the airport that night – and broadcast from several of Sydney's major
bushfires of the 1990s and early 2000s.
Wilson presented non-stop coverage of the start of
Gulf War 1 on 17 January 1991 (AEDT) on Ten from mid-morning until 6.00 pm. He also presented live coverage of the first US strikes against
Baghdad
Baghdad ( or ; , ) is the capital and List of largest cities of Iraq, largest city of Iraq, located along the Tigris in the central part of the country. With a population exceeding 7 million, it ranks among the List of largest cities in the A ...
marking the commencement of the
War in Iraq in 2003.
Wilson has joked that "everyone has had a read with Ron". His co-presenters have included
Anne Fulwood,
Sandra Sully,
Katrina Lee,
Juanita Phillips,
Deborah Knight,
Jessica Rowe,
Natarsha Belling,
Tracey Spicer,
Charmaine Dragun, Celina Edmonds, Claudia Emery, Margaret Bates,
Geraldine Doogue and
Ann Sanders.
Wilson was replaced on Sydney's ''
Ten News at Five'' bulletin by
Bill Woods in January 2009.
Wilson was previously the presenter of ''
Ten Early News'' and also ''
Ten Morning News'' on Mondays and Tuesdays. He also previously presented ''
Ten News at Five'' in Sydney alongside Deborah Knight until 16 January 2009.
In May 2012, Wilson was appointed news presenter on ''
Breakfast'', a role he retained until August 2012. He also presented ''
Ten News'' updates on ''
The Circle'' until the program was cancelled in August 2012. In August 2012 it was announced Wilson would return as presenter of ''Ten Morning News''.
Despite reportedly being sacked by Network Ten in November 2012, Wilson continued with the station as a fill-in presenter for its national weekend news bulletins. He filled in for Sandra Sully and Natarsha Belling until 28 December that year, which was his final time presenting for Ten News.
Seven Network
In October 2013, Wilson began making regular appearances on the
Seven Network
Seven Network (stylised 7Network, and commonly known as Channel Seven or simply Seven) is an Australian commercial free-to-air Television broadcasting in Australia, television network. It is owned by Seven West Media, Seven West Media Limited, ...
's breakfast show ''
Sunrise''.
Radio
In the period between 1975 and 1979, Wilson worked for a number of radio stations, including 2WL Wollongong,
2SM and
2UE
2UE is an all-music radio station in Sydney owned by Nine Entertainment and run under a lease agreement by Ace Radio. It currently broadcasts from its studios in Pyrmont, New South Wales.
History 1920s 2EU
Electrical Utilities applied to the P ...
. He also worked at Sydney radio station
Mix 106.5 for several years in the early 2000s as newsreader on the breakfast show. He resigned from Mix 106.5 in 2006.
[Sweet sound of success](_blank)
– The Sydney Morning Herald
''The Sydney Morning Herald'' (''SMH'') is a daily Tabloid (newspaper format), tabloid newspaper published in Sydney, Australia, and owned by Nine Entertainment. Founded in 1831 as the ''Sydney Herald'', the ''Herald'' is the oldest continuous ...
23 June 2008, retrieved on 10 July 2008.
Wilson replaced the outgoing Rowan Barker as
Macquarie National News newsreader on 30 June 2008.
Wilson was subsequently heard on 7 July 2008 as he did the
Macquarie National News bulletins for
2GB during the
Alan Jones Breakfast Show as well as
Bob Rogers' show at sister station
2CH on 9 July 2008.
In April 2013, Wilson joined
smoothfm as a newsreader and currently hosts the music breakfast show every weekday as an announcer with his radio presenting colleague Bogart Torelli.
He took over full time in the breakfast presenting role succeeding the late Glenn Daniel who passed away in December 2021.
Movie
He had a small part as an extra in the first scene of the movie ''
The Odd Angry Shot''.
References
External links
Ron Wilson bio on Network Ten's website
{{DEFAULTSORT:Wilson, Ron
Television in Sydney
Australian television newsreaders and news presenters
Living people
1955 births
Irish emigrants to Australia