End of an era: Peter Hitchener steps down as Nine’s chief newsreader
Peter Hitchener is stepping down from his role as chief Melbourne newsreader at Channel 9 after 25 years, triggering a seismic shake up on the weekday newsdesk.
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Peter Hitchener’s reign as the king of Melbourne news will end next month as Channel 9’s news undergoes a seismic shake up that will see Alicia Loxely and Tom Steinfort anchor the all important weeknight bulletin as of next year.
Hitchener, 77, has been Nine Melbourne’s chief news presenter for 25 years and in 2016 the Melbourne newsroom was named in his honour. Stepping aside is a move he has not made easily, as first reported by the Sunday Herald Sun.
He has been part of Nine news for 50 years, joining from the ABC in late 1973.
His half century milestone was celebrated at a private surprise party in Ringwood on October 28 attended by Tony Jones, Mal Walden, Allan Raskall, George Donikian, Pete Smith, Sam Newman, Ann Peacock, Brian and Tania Taylor, Livinia Nixon, Jo Hall, Tottie Goldsmith, Alyce Platt, Rhonda Burchmore, John Foreman, Megan Castran, Lester Ellis, Brian Mannix and Neil Miller.
The event was organised without Hitchener’s knowledge by close friends and was not associated with Nine. No Nine executives or news bosses were among the invited.
Hitchener will remain an important part of the Nine Melbourne team as weekend news presenter, a role that will keep him very much in the sights of loyal viewers who have taken him to their heart over the past quarter of a century.
Hitchener said he was “thrilled to be able to continue reading the news for Nine”.
“I love this job, which has always been a privilege,” Hitchener said.
“I fully support the new lineup and look forward to working alongside Alicia and Tom, both of whom I have enormous respect for.”
Nine’s Melbourne news director Hugh Nailon said Nine was “delighted that Hitch will continue to be a valuable and much loved part of the 9News Melbourne family”.
“He has an unwavering passion for delivering news to Melbourne and we look forward to the wealth of experience he will continue to bring to our weekend broadcasts.”
It is a back to the future moment for Hitchener; he was Nine’s chief weekend newsreader from 1979 to 1998, a run of 19 years.
Loxley, 42, who returned to Melbourne last week after taking part in the New York Marathon, was confirmed as Hitchener’s heir apparent in late 2021, a move that saw her add Friday night to her weekend news reading schedule.
She said it was “a huge honour and privilege to be appointed to this role and to do it alongside Tom, who I started with at Bendigo Street, makes it extra special”.
“Our newsroom is filled with exceptional people and we’re looking forward to bringing you the news in 2024 and beyond.”
Steinfort also said it was “a privilege”.
“It’s also such a privilege to follow in the footsteps of an icon like Hitch, and I’m so glad he’ll continue to be part of the team.
“After so many years living out of a suitcase chasing the biggest stories around the world, I’m beyond excited to return home to Melbourne and partner with my old friend Alicia,” Steinfort said.
Hitchener scaled back to presenting the news four nights a week: Monday – Thursday.
Steinfort, 39, has had an extensive career in news and current affairs.
Steinfort grew up in Melbourne, studied at RMIT and worked for WIN News in Ballarat before joining Nine in 2006.
He has worked on A Current Affair, been Nine’s European Correspondent, co-hosted Today and is currently based in Sydney as part of the 60 Minutes team.
He will move back to Melbourne with his family to take on the news co-anchor role.
Said news boss Nailon: “We are thrilled to welcome Alicia and Tom to the forefront
of our news team.
“In what will be just the fourth hosting line-up for the bulletin, this really does signify the
onset of a new age. Alicia and Tom will bring a fresh dynamism to Melbourne viewers as they follow in the footsteps of Sir Eric Pearce, Brian Naylor and Peter Hitchener.”
Hitchener has had a remarkable tenure at Nine.
He joined the network from the ABC, where he had been for six years, in 1973.
“I was doing the Saturday night news on the ABC (TV) and Lynton Taylor, who was the Channel 9 program manager (in Sydney), rang me at the studio and said ‘we have a show for you, why don’t you come in and do an audition’,” Hitchener said recently.
“And I joined Channel 9 about two weeks later.”
In 1979, he became Nine Melbourne’s chief weekend news presenter and was elevated to chief newsreader in December 1998 when Brian Naylor retired.
One of Hitchener’s hardest bulletins to read came on Black Saturday 2009 when he had to report that Naylor was among those who had lost their lives in the bushfire tragedy.
Hitchener has often found himself making the news, rather than reading it, most memorably when a seagull walked across a real-time projection of the Melbourne skyline behind his head during a bulletin.
The bird took on a gigantic form in front of the camera and appeared to be planning to peck Hitchener in the head. The footage went around the world.
In March 2021 viewers gasped as he suffered a migraine on-air and sports presenter Clint Stanaway had to step in to finish the bulletin.
He was awarded the Medal of the Order of Australia (OAM) in 2017 and was the King of Moomba in 2022.
News was not in Hitchener’s original career plan.
Born in 1946 in the Queensland town of Texas, he wanted to be in show business rather than follow his father and work on the land.
“I was going to be an actor at first and then one of the ABC producers I had been doing voice overs for said ‘look, I don’t know how to say this, you are not going to be an actor, you haven’t got it, I think you should be a broadcaster’,” he said.
“So I got a job in news; 4BH monitor news was my first job, news on the half-hour, and when I was not doing the news and writing the news I was Captain Johnny Jet going around delivering Jet Fly Spray to happy households in the uniform of an American airline pilot.”
Hitchener said it was a privilege to present the evening news.
“Television news, I think, is at its best when we are concentrating on something that really affects the community,” he said.
“News is about service to the audience, not to service to ourselves. What we think of something does not matter, it is what is there for the audience so I just try to get out of the road and let the story tell itself.”
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