Juliet Newell to ANN7 Prime?

Juliet Newell on ANN7 Prime

For the past few weeks Juliet Newell has been anchoring ANN7's Prime on an on and off basis, alternating with the likes of Edwin Kgaswe and Gladys Sithole over the festive season.

But unlike Edwin Kgaswe and Gladys Sithole, Juliet has not been a member of ANN7 before she started appearing on the show.

If you are unfamiliar with Juliet Newell, her show reel includes anchoring eTV's then breakfast show, Morning Edition, from 2006, and also at Summit TV (today known as Business Day TV, DStv 412) before that. She also hosted various shows at the SABC throughout the 1990's including an educational show, an environmental show and also a sports show. She also has a rather impressive acting resumé, including a French series and Generations among others.

It is unkown whether she would become ANN7 Prime's permanent new anchor, or whether she is just freelancing at the channel, as no information has been made available (and she is not exactly on social media either).

ANN7 Prime at the moment does not have an announced permanent anchor after the departure of Chantal Rutter Dros at the start of the month.

But Juliet would be a nice addition to the ANN7 lineup if her resumé  is anything to go by, especially considering the recent drainage of experienced on-air talents from the channel.

And My Personal Choice For ANN7 Prime Anchor Anchors The Show

Gladys Sithole on ANN7 Prime

With ANN7 without a primetime since Chantal Rutter Dros left on the 3rd, I was wondering who would be the perfect replacement on a show that was slowly turning into my favourite news programme (because it is not the same news every 30 minutes and is different from the rest of day programming).

With the channel making the apparent financial cuts others have been reporting about, it is unlikely that they would bring someone in from outside the organisation. With all the rumors of what a bad workplace it is, it is unlikely a big name news personality would want to join.

So we therefore have to look within the ranks for the new anchor and tonight my personal pick for the position anchored the show: Gladys Sithole.

Out of all the "ANN7 Originals" (A term I personally use to refer to all the personalities that rose to prominence on the channel), she seems to be the one that has grown the most since the channel launched and she also does not have a dry personality either. SHe just has that "it" factor needed to anchor the primetime broadcast.

At the moment she is a news anchor on Gauteng's Hot FM (a position she took up a few months ago), anchors an afternoon block on ANN7 then comes back to work at 9pm for Africa Tonight, the show that immediately follows Prime.

Tirrin Cosway Leaves ANN7

 

The cards keep falling on this one.

ANN7 Prime's Business Anchor, Tyron "Tirrin" Cosway is leaving the station after 14 months. This follows the show's main anchor, Chantal Rutter Dros, who left the stationat the start of the month.

He initially joined the channel as a producer and quality controller, but was moved to be the channel's first, and only, business anchor, anchoring not only the business segments on Prime, but also the excellent social media segment (seen nowhere else).

His leaving the station is unrelated to Rutter Dros', as he will be immigrating to London.

This also means that Peter Stemmet, the show's sports anchor that has been sitting in the show's anchor seat on an interim basis, is the last person of what was an incredible cast on an incredible newscast that has now fallen apart.

Chantal Rutter Dros Resigns From ANN7

Chantal Rutter Dros, the anchor of ANN7’s Prime bulletin, and face of the channel, is leaving the channel after just more than a year.

She anchors her last bulletin for the channel tonight, December 3^rd.

She joined the channel at inception and, along with Gerry Rantseli-Eldson, were the ‘faces’ of the channel that features mainly young, inexperienced on air talent. Gerry left after just a few months, and now Chantal is headed for the door as well.

The channel has constantly been going through major changes, and even greater problems, but one thing that has been constant was that when you tune in to ANN7 between 7pm and 9pm, Chantal would always be there providing a very high quality news bulletin.

This comes as a major blow to the channel that was just starting to find its groove and settle on a decent presentation. Though its on ait talents have been improving lately, no one at the channel is exactly good enough to be put in prime time. 

 Chantal also co-hosted the channel’s South African of the Year Awards earlier this year with Bonang Matheba, which was greatly praised by viewers.

Her departure is yet another in what has been a slew of departures from the channel’s more senior off air staff, who include Clintin Magoor, that worked mainly as an assignments editor for the channel.

She cites ‘personal reasons’ for leaving the channel and plans to take December off. When asked what her future plans are beyond that, she says she has yet to decide. 

She tendered her resignation around November 24th, around the same time Asanda Magaqa left the channel.

It is expected that her main fill in anchor, sports anchor Peter Stemmet, will be at the helm of ANN7 Prime until a permanent replacement is named. 

Some tweets on the departure:

Well it's my last Prime bulletin on @ann7tv tonight. Feeling quite emotional. Thank you to everyone for sharing this journey with me.
— Chantal Rutter Dros (@ChantalRutter) December 3, 2014

Michael Appel, who she did a lot of field reporting with, most notably the Oscar trial:

Goodbye to a mentor&colleague @ChantalRutter. "Tell me&I forget, teach me&I may remember, involve me&I learn" @ANN7tv pic.twitter.com/7IpfV7MnGd
— Michael Appel (@TheMikeAppel) December 3, 2014

An ANN7 parody account:

@TheMikeAppel @ChantalRutter @ANN7tv thanks for all the pep talks in the canteen! You'll be missed.
— 24/7 & all day (@ann7news) December 3, 2014

ANN7 Prime' s business news anchor, Tirrin Cosway:

Our last #ANN7Prime diary meeting with @ChantalRutter - @varupand @ThisLifeJhb @LaytonBeard @SnazoC & Pumeza all here for old times' sake.
— Tirrin Cosway (@Tirrin) December 3, 2014

ANALYSIS: ANN7's South African of the Year Awards

ANN7's South African of the Year Awards 2014

Britsh singer Ella Henderson's voice welcomed viewers to ANN7's inaugural South African of the Year Awards. She, along with Nicole Sherizinger, joined a star studded South African lineup of performers for the event that was broadcast live on ANN7, DStv 405, www.ann7.com/livetv

The only major on air error at the Awards was when the presentation of blazers to all nominees, something not meant to be broadcast on television, ended up being broadcast 

The event went was overall a resounding success and it is now safe to say that these awards now set the benchmark in terms of quality when it comes to South African, and African awards shows. Many may argue that the MTV Africa Music Awards were much better produced, but then one has to remember that those awards were NOT even produced by people from Africa, rather the people that produce the MTV European Music Awards.

Hosts

Bonang Matheba and Chantal Rutter-Dros served as co hosts at the inaugural South African of the year Awards, that was broadcast live on ANN7

Bonang Matheba at #SATY2014

The hosts for the evening were ANN7's Chantal Rutter-Dros, and Bonang Matheba, who, after watching last nights awards, can do no wrong in my eyes. When it was announced Bonang would be hosting the awards, I thought the channel had made a mistake in choosing her for the event as Hulisani Ravele, who hosted the Awards' companion show, I Am South African, should have been chosen. After Bonang's  performance I knew why they opted to go with her: she is a safe bet. During the frequent technical errors, though nothing major and even when the usually perfect Chantal Rutter Dros made a mistake every now and then (the silliest was calling Men in Black 3 "Men in 3 Black," even though she was reading off a teleprompter), Bonang would be that consistent reassuring on screen presence that was basically the glue that kept everything together.

Cameras at the South African of the Year Awards occasionlly cut to crowd shots during on stage presentations. The above shot was shown several times throughout the broadcast and was one commented on by many Twitter users

Prizes
They announced the prizes for the various awards. The winner in each category would receive a Acer laptop, courtesy of Sahara Computers. Each of the five Lifetime Achievement Awards Recipients would receive R25 000, while the South African of the Year would receive R100 000. All the cash prizes were sponsored by ANN7. I think it was rather inappropriate to announce the prizes at the event.

Production Values

UK singer Ella Henderson opened the inaugural South African of the Year Awards on ANN7

The production values of the show blew everyone away. Yes there were moments when the sound experienced errors, but the overall broadcast went completely smooth when one considers the amount of errors usually seen on a live South African awards show. While watching the presenters seamlessly reading their script off the teleprompter, I struggled to believe that this was the same channel that just a year ago could barely operate a teleprompter.

Section of the stage at the SOuth African of the Year Awards during one of a few performances highlighting South African heritage.

The stage was perfect for the evening with its 4 presentation points. Nothing too extravagant like a music awards show, but not dull either. One could also see that attention was paid to detail when you consider the appropriateness of the background pictures on the major curved screen: an amazing picture of the National Stadium for the Sports Award, or the Johannesburg skyline during speeches.

Dance, Dance
One thing that stood out for me, and many tweeters as well, was the excessive dance items, which were just too long. The show could have done with less, and shorter dance items and should also have tried to have more South African and current songs.

When the first award of the evening, the Young Person of the Year Award finally took place, the channel made a very safe bet by having just Bonang and Chantal doing the introductions while the actual presenter of the awards just announced the winner. The wait until Dr Sandile Kubheka finally went up to receive the first award of the evening was just too long.

Zahara performing at the inaugural ANN7 South African of the Year Awards. She performed at the nominations announcement event as well

Fikile Mbalula, the entertainer
By far the best presenter of an award for thee evening was the presenter of the Sportsperson of the Year Award, Minister of Sports Fikile Mbalula who really worked the usually dead crowd as if he was a professional entertainer.

The wait between awards were just too long as it made the show less about the actual work of the nominees and seemingly more about the musical performances. Some performances were more appropriate than others, Lira's comes to mind as being perfect for the evening.

Host of ANN7's Between the Lines, Asanda Magaqa presented an award at #SATY2014

Top of the tweets
Though I may not have enjoyed the excessive musical performances, those performances fulfilled their role prefectly of attracting a young audience to the event. Throughout the event, #SATY2014 was the number one Twitter trend for South Africa, beating out X Factor SA that ws broadcast on
SABC1, a channel with viewership much higher than ANN7's.

When it comes to intergrating Twitter, the Awards must have done something right. There was really minimal mention of the social network, but the awards somehow managed to stay on top in the Twittersphere. How did they do it? They marketed the awards to the Twitter audience in the perfect way: on Twitter and not on television. If someone wants to Tweet about something, they would already be on Twitter, so in order to get people to tweet about the event, the channel's official handle, and many personalities, including nearly all celebrity nominees tweeted about the event.

International Superstar
Nicole Scherizinger's performances was somewhere in the middle of the show, which is the perfect place to put a hyped performance so as to keep the closing performace for someone that actually is South African. Her medley lasted over 15 minutes and included some of her hits, old and new, and some songs by other artists as well. Having singers sing more than just one song adds a certain dynamic to a television event not usually present when it is an overproduced single song. Her performance at the SATY's was by far the best one I had ever seen from her.

Nicole Scherizinger was the headline performer at the inaiugural South African of the Year Awards

South African of the Year
The main award of the evening (the one that was unnecessarily disclosed to be worth R100 000), the South African of the Year Award, went to the Public Prosecutor, Advocate Thuli Madonsela, who was loudly applauded at the announcement and subsequently made a wonderful speech on our country.

Public Protector Advocate Thuli Madonsela was awarded the South African of the Year Award at the #SATY2014 Awards hosted by ANN7

This was followed by a wonderful closing song by the South African artists and then a short goodbye from the hosts, Chantal and Bonang.

No adverts!!!!
The awards show did what so few South African awards shows, and even other live events rarely does: end on time. And it did this by doing what every awards show, and even a live event like the Idols finale, on DStv should do, and that is to completely drop adverts. It was only after watching the show for a full hour and then asking myself why I, a usual channel hopper had not checked what is on other channels yet, and then I realised that there were not any commercial breaks during the show.
However, not having commercial breaks does create a greater sense of risk because usually when a live production experiences a technical error, they get to correct these during a commercial break when viewers aren't watching. However, the total absence of commercials meant that the SATY Awards did not have that benefit, and it was a gamble that ultimately worked out well when it came to the flow of the program as commercials tend to interrupt the pace of an awards show.

Overall, it was a much better than expected awards show. Everything ran smoothly, it just felt special, the calibre of performers, who are A-Listers, and Presenters, who include current and former Members of Cabinet, gave a brand new awards show much needed credibility as it tries to establish itself as the premier national awards show.

One could really see that the channel spared no expense when it came to the awards show and that the awards gave the channel some much needed exposure. it is now up to ANN7 to properly capitlise upon that exposure.

ANN7's South African of the Year 2014 Red Carpet

Title card for ANN7's SOuth African of the Year Awards 2014 Red Carpet Special

It has been an event months in the making and last night, September 6th 2014, ANN7's inaugural South African of the Year Awards took place.

The first event in the buildup to the awards show was the highlights of the prior evening's nominee's dinner, which was also attended by president Jacob Zuma. Though the programme was originally slated for a 6pm start time (shown on the DStv programming guide as such and also by various ANN7 personalities on their respective Twitter accounts on the actual day), the special aired at 5pm, meaning many who expected it to air at pm would have missed out

Liezle Wilson, Clement Manyathela and Avumile Qongqa hosted ANN7's South African of the Year Awards' red carpet special that aired 30 minutes before the start of the actual #SATY2014 Awards

The red carpet show went on air at 7pm with Buzz ANN7 anchor Liezle Wilson, Clement Manyathela, and Avumile Qongqa welcomed viewers to the Sandton Convention Centre. It is evident from the beginning that the red carpet special is not live, instead comprising of smaller segments recorded throughout the early evening with various guests, which is not necessarily bad considering the amount of interviews included in the special.
 

Miss South Africa, Rolene Strauss, talks to Clement Manyathela on the Red Carpet at ANN7's SATY 2014

The first guest on the Red Carpet Special was none other than reigning Miss South Africa, Rolene Strauss, who also appeared on the main show

As interviews were being conducted on the red cart of ANN7's South African of the Year Awards, the camera would cut to pictures of guests arriving at the Sandton Convention Centre for the Awards.

The exterior of the Sandton Convention Centre was all decked out for ANN7's South African of the Year Awards

 

9 Year old Afeefah Patel and her family speaking on the red carpet of ANN7's Inaugural South African of the Year Awards. Her parents stated they were very proud of their daughter. Afeefa said it was amazing meeting President Zuma at the prior evening's nominees dinner, a prime example of how these awards not only recognises people for their contribution to society but also motivates them to work harder.

At this point the fact that the show was not live had become a problem: people that had spoken on the red carpet before entering the actual theatre were then shown getting out of their car on the outside of the venue before entering the red carpet section

ANN7 Prime anchor, and co host for the evening, Chantal Rutter-Dros (In a David Johan Dress) along with her husband speaking to Clement on the South African of the  Year Red Carpet. Says her on stage dresses are by Black Coffee and that she feels "beautiful" in those dresses

A view of the ANN7 South African of the Year Awards Red Carpet at the Sandton Convention Centre

One thing the special lacked and could do with was to have tags for the guests they are speaking to as viewers would be unfamiliar with many of the nominees if they wanted to, say, follow them on social media or so to find out more about their work.

ANN7 Sports Editor, formerly of eNews, Edwin Kgaswe played door man for the night

Another Young South African of the Year nominee,

Young South African of the Year nominee, and subsequent winner, Dr Sandile Kubheka, speaking on the red carpet.

The first, and only ad brak for the ENTIRE EVENING took place at 7:15pm. Up to this point all nominees echoed the same sentiment of being thankful for the recognition they have received.
When asked, most guests feel as if Bonang Matheba, co host for the evening, will win Trendsetting Celebrity of the Year.

Parents of yet another Young South African of the Year nominee, pianist Kyle Shepard, on the ANN7 South African of the Year Awards Red Carpet. Kyle was unable to attend the event due to being on tour outside of the country at the time of the awards. The mother mentioned that all nominees stayed at the same hotel where international superstar Nicole Scherizinger stayed.

ANN7's midmorning/early afternoon anchor, Abigail Visage, interviewing a guest. As seen in one of the first pictures, she was not meant to be a part of the red carpet coverage, though her contributions were quite well done (though her attire might not be, uhm, event appropriate)

One thing that I did not enjoy about the red carpet was that the presenters tried to make the whole event about the performances, which, though is nice, is not the primary focus of the evening. Every guest on the red carpet was asked who they were looking forward to seeing perform on the actual event and when someone mentioned names and one name was not Nicole Scherzinger, the presenters went and reminded them that she would be performing. If the awards take place again in the future, the presenters need to focus on the actual nominees and their work and not whatever celebrtiy will be performing. the celebrity will always get another platform to showcase their talents, but not all the nominees will have that same opportunities.

The representative of Dr Imtiaz Sooliman (Nominee in the Spirit of Humanity Award category at ANN7's South African of the Year Awards) was the first person to actually speak about the work the organisation does. He mentioned Dr Sooliman was currently working in Gaza.

Representative of Lucas Sithole, a wheelchair tennis personality, and nominated in the sports person of the year category at ANN7's South African of the Year Awards

Strictly Come Dancing SA host Katlego Moboe enjoying himself on the red carpet of ANN7's South African of the Year Awards AT THE SAME TIME that his show is being broadcast on SABC3

Mafikizolo, who was nominated, and subsequently won, Trendsetting Celebrity of the Year at ANN7's South African of the Year Awards. The duo also performed in a "battle" with Mi Casa

The host of I Am South African, the main show in the SATY 2014 campaign, Hulisani Ravele. She said the awards "represent all that is South African." She feels that as a host, your duty is to be in between, facilitate conversation, teach people and learn yourself and that the journey left her inspired. She also felt that the best is yet to come. [I personally feel it was a real shame that she was completely ;eft off the actual awards ceremony considering that she has basically been the face of the show]

The presenters of the red carpet signing off. From left to right, Liezle Wilson, Clement Manyanthela and entertainment editor Avashnee Vendiar. The oddest thing about this picture is that the three presenters that signed off from the red carpet special didn't all exactly sign on, see the pic above.

And like that, the red carpet special of ANN7's inaugural South African of the Year Awards has come to an end, the presenters have said goodbye and everything, and then... another guest...

And if that was not enough, the first few interviews re aired, leaving viewers confused as the main show had to start already. Added to this was when Clement mentioned that the show will be going "live" at 7pm, despite the fact that it was 7:36pm already. Thanks editing team...

Either way, it was not a bad red carpet special, though there is growth room for the future both in quality and duration as well.
The near total lack of mention of Social Media was a welcomed refresh from the usual builup shows awards have these days plugging twitter as if they are paid to.

Main show analysis here

ANN7 Announces Nominees of their inaugural "South African of the Year" Awards

ANN7, South Africa’s third news channel, announced the nominees of their inaugural “South African of the Year” Awards that will be taking place at the Sandton Convention Centre at a star studded event this past Thursday, July 31^st.

Building up to the nominees announcement, ANN7’s companion show to the awards, I Am South African, was broadcast from the same venue in Sadton at 6pm with Hulisani Ravele.

The buildup continued in a shortened 30 minute edition of Prime, when Prime anchor, Chantal Rutter-Dros, who was at the event in Sandton while Peter Stemmet sat in the anchoring chair, did live crossings which included interviews with Prime’s entertainment correspondent who gave a perspective of just how star-studded the event was.

At slightly past 7:30pm, Hulisani Ravelele kicked off the announcement of the nominees in front of a crowd that did not seem to be paying much attention to what was happening on stage, rather continuing their own conversations. 

Group Editor of ANN7 and The New Age, Moegsien Williams kicked things off with an introductory speech that would have seemed more suited for the actual awards show.  Moegsien, who appeared awfully  nervous, which is odd as he usually seemed quite comfortable on camera when he is in studio, proceeded to read his entire speech off from cue cards.

This was followed by the announcement of the first nominees, before a performance from Zahara. However, there were technical problems with Zahara, so they decided to instead have an interview with Mafikizolo, who was nominated in the first category earlier in the evening. Eventually when Zahara got on stage the music still was not ready so she just ad-libbed the words to her song, Loliwe, before the music finally started. 

This was followed by the announcement of the next batch of nominees.  During these announcements, Hulisani announced that they decided to no longer continue with the previously announced categories of Best Matriculant of the Year and Best Student of the Year due to the lack of quality in the prospective candidates’ nominations.

The show then closed with Cantal Rutter-Dros doing another interview before throwing back to Peter Stemmet who proceeded to anchor another half hour of Prime.

The event intermittently  suffered from technical issues, which I overlooked seeing that when nominees of awards are announced it is usually just a small press conference (with the exclusion of the big ones like the Grammys and the Oscars, of course). One thing I did not like about the presentation of the event was the over excited and cheap cuts to cameras in the crowd that would move around as if they showcasing a dance off when in fact it was guests that did not seem much interested in being there to start off with.

==========================================================================

The Nominees in the Inaugural South African of the Year Awards are: 

1. Trendsetting Celebrity of the Year

To vote for Trendsetting Celebrity SMS CELEB + [Nominee Number] to 43043 or Email CELEB + [Nominee Number] to satyvoting@ann7.com

1. Bonang Matheba
2. DJ Clock
3. J' Something
4. Kid X
5. KO from Teargas
6. Mafikizolo
7. Minenhle Dlamini

2. Campaign of the Year Nominations

To vote for Campaign of the Year SMS CAMP + [Nominee Number] to 43043 or Email CAMP + [Nominee Number] to satyvoting@ann7.com

1. 67 Blankets Nelson Mandela
2. KFC- Add Hope
3. Kelloggs #breakfastforbetterdays
4. Knorr- Masters of Time
5. Mxit Music
6. Share a Coke Campaign
7. Tiles 4 Change (Anti-Drug Campaign)

3. Sportsperson of the Year Nominations

To vote for Sportsperson of the Year SMS SPORTS + [Nominee Number] to 43043 or Email SPORTS + [Nominee Number] to satyvoting@ann7.com

1. Chad le Clos (Swimming)
2. Hashim Amla (Cricket)
3. Itumeleng Khune (Soccer)
4. Johan Cronje (Track and Field Athlete)
5. Lucas Sithole (Tennis)
6. Marsha Cox (Hockey)
7. Simon Magakwe (100m Sprinter)

4. Businessperson of the Year Nominations

To vote for Businessperson of the Year SMS BIZS + [Nominee Number] to 43043 or Email BIZS + [Nominee Number] to satyvoting@ann7.com

1. Basetsana Kumalo (Media Mogul)
2. Daphne Mashile Nkosi (Exec. Chairman of Kalagadi Resources)
3. Nicky Newton King (CEO of JSE)
4. Patrice Motsepe (Mining Magnate)
5. Reuel Khoza (Non-Executive Chairman of Nedbank)
6. Santie Botha (Independent Non Exec. Director of Tiger Brands)
7. Stephen Saad (Group CEO of Aspen Pharmacare)

5. Spirit of Humanity Nominations

To vote for Spirit of Humanity SMS HUMAN+ [Nominee Number] to 43043 or Email HUMAN + [Nominee Number] to satyvoting@ann7.com

1. Beka Ntsanwisi (Limpopo's "Mother Teresa")
2. Dr Imtiaz Sooliman (Gift of the Givers)
3. John Perlman (Dreamfields)
4. Justin Foxton (The Peace Agency)
5. Lesley Osler (Hantam Community Project)
6. Rev. Eunice Marubelela (Community Builder)
7. Sbu Buthelezi (Community Builder)

6. Young South African of the Year Nominations

To vote for Young South African of the Year SMS YOUNG + [Nominee Number] to 43043 or Email YOUNG + [Nominee Number] to satyvoting@ann7.com

1. Afeefah Patel (Rhino Conservation)
2. Ethel Phiri (Scientist and Researcher)
3. Kyle Shepherd (Jazz Musician)
4. Nkululeko Mboniswa (Film Producer)
5. Samantha Baynon (Social Activist)
6. Sandile Kubeka (Youngest Doctor)
7. Simphiwe Mashexa (Founder of BEAT Magazine SA)

7. South African of the Year

To vote for South African of the Year SMS SATY + [Nominee Number] to 43043 or Email SATY+ [Nominee Number] to satyvoting@ann7.com

1. Archbishop Desmond Tutu
2. DJ Sbu
3. Dr. Nkosazana Dlamini Zuma
4. Johnny Clegg
5. Jonathan Jansen
6. Leslie Sedibe
7. Thuli Madonsela

 

 

Hulisani Ravele getting ready to broadcast live from the Saxton Hotel where ANN7 announced the nominees of their inaugural "South African of the Year" Awards