After 32 years, TVNZ newsreader Simon Dallow bowed out of the nation’s sitting rooms on November 28.
“I’ve always firmly believed newsreaders should never be the news, but now I’m no longer one and that means I can say it’s been a genuine privilege to be on your screens and in your living rooms,” the longtime news anchor, 61, told viewers at the end of his final bulletin. “It’s something we never take for granted and I’m sincerely grateful.”
From the moment Simon walked into TVNZ’s Auckland headquarters back in the early ’90s, he was noticed. As it happened, he wasn’t there asking for a job. His girlfriend and now ex-wife Alison Mau, 60, was a journalist and presenter at the national broadcaster. Simon had trained as a barrister, but his potential as an authoritative broadcaster was almost instantly recognised by news bosses.
In 1993, he joined TVNZ’s newsreading team, proving his chops on TV2’s Newsnight. Jobs on One Mid Evening News, One Tonight, Agenda and Q&A followed. Then, in 2006, he and Wendy Petrie became the weeknight co-presenters of 1 News at Six, a successful on-air partnership that lasted until 2020, when Simon became the sole 6pm news anchor.
Despite having stepped down five years ago, Wendy, 54, returned for Simon’s last bulletin and led the presenter from the studio into the newsroom, where his colleagues shared their well wishes.
Melissa Stokes, 47, is now at the helm of the network’s weekday 6pm bulletin, while Jack Tame, 38, has stepped into the weekend slot.
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