Peter Stemmet has left ANN7

Peter Stemmet is the next high-profile departure from ANN7. He left the channel at the end of November (please excuse the late post).


He joined ANN7 at inception, as a presenter of GameOn! in its first form and also the sports anchor on ANN7 Prime. In addition, he occasionally served as fill in general news anchor and most recently presented ANN7's 'Race for the White House,' which was the channel's weekly news recap on the US Elections.

He is also a big time sports blogger.

Prior to joining ANN7, Stemmet was a sports anchor at eNCA and is also a former South African Sports Journalist of the Year. He was one of a few journos that made the jump from eNCA to help start up ANN7.

He leaves ANN7 to be a sports anchor for Al Jazeera English, based in Doha.

It's Official: Juliet Newell is the new ANN7 Prime Anchor

A few weeks ago I published an article asking whether Juliet Newell will be ANN7's permanent new anchor for ANN7 Prime after she started anchoring the show at the start of the festive season, though in rotation with other anchors.

Well, it seems as if the answer to that question is now yes.

Juliet Newell is now featured in promotional material for ANN7 Prime, appearing alongside Vuka Africa's Petet van Onselen and Express Lunch's Abigail Visage.

Juliet replaces Chantal Rutter Dros who anchored her final show on December 3rd 2014.

Juliet is a former anchor of etv's breakfast show and has also anchored on what is now know as BDTV.

In addition to that, she also has acting experience and is a former presenter at the Home Channel as well.

She now joins Peter Stemmet, who is ANN7 Prime's sports anchor (himself a former eNews guy). A business anchor is yet to be named after Tirrin Cosway departed from the channel last year (though my money is on former CNBC Africa anchor Natassia Arendse who herself has started anchoring on ANN7 in recent weeks).

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.

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

Ann7 Makes Adjustments to Primetime Shows, Expanding Prime to Two Hours, and dropping Headlines

The new ANN7 Prime title card. The show is hosted by Chantal Rutter Dros and now airs daily from 7pm-9pm

ANN7 recently made adjustments to the two hour block of prime time programming anchored by Chantal Rutter Dros.

These changes see ANN7 Prime, by far the best news bulletin in South African prime time, expanded to two hours now airing from 7pm-9pm Mondays to Fridays (prior to the adjustments there was a period during which Chantal didn't do Fridays) and dropping the earlier one hour show ANN7 Headlines.

Ann7 Headlines was a very generic one hour news bulletin hosted by Dros where she would just anchor inserts of the days happenings for the full hours before Prime started. Prime, in contrast to Headlines, was a one hour news program, which unlike the other channels' news programs, did not repeat the news for the second half hour. Instead it would go with the format of an in depth insert followed up by a live interview either by telephone, video feed or in studio with a newsmaker involved with the story, a specialist for more insight, or, if they can't find anyone, the journalist that filed the story. It gives viewers a greater depth to the story and the story behind the story in comparison to the news on the other channels.

The move was one that you could see coming as in the last few weeks on air talent often referred to the first hour as Prime, even though it was still Headlines and had the graphics that were used by Headlines.

The opening of ANN7 Prime now includes an introduction by all three anchors: news anchor Chantal Rutter Dros, Sports anchor Peter Stemmet and Entertainment news anchor Liezle Wilson

When the show expanded to its two hour format seen now, slight adjustments were made as well. At the start of the show once the headlines have been read (which i feel is too long as they try to highlight as much stories as possible in those first few minutes), Chantal then throws to Peter Stemmet, who does the sport headlines, followed by Liezle Wilson, who does the entertainment news headlines, both of whom now have their own segments throughout the show.

Liezle Wilson, also the host of ANN7's daily entertainment show, Buzz ANN7, is the first entertainment anchor as part of a prime time news bulletin since eTV's eArts inserts which were part of the then one hour eNews Prime Time bulletins in the very early 2000's.

The end of the new promo for ANN7's premier show, ANN7 Prime, which is hosted by Chantal Rutter Dros

ANN7 also shot an excellent on air promo for the show starring Chantal. The three on air talents of the show, Rutter Dros, Stemmet and Wilson also heavily promote the show on their respective Twitter accounts as well.

One thing the show, and the channel overall could do with, is a weather personality. The channel silently dropped the on air weather girls soon after launch, now just playing the weather with no commentary at all.

Overall, expanding the better of the two shows is a step in the right direction for the least watched of South Africa's three news channels, removing any confusion for both viewers and on air talent.

If you haven't seen ANN7 Prime, I suggest you give it a try.

ANN7 Adds Daily World Cup Chat Show

Ann7, DStv 405, available online, has added a new one hour daily Soccer World Cup Review/Preview chat show to its schedule. It is hosted by prime time sports anchor, Peter Stemmet, and airs daily in the 4pm time slot, seemingly seven days a week (with another airing in the 10am slot ffollowing Vuka Africa).

As has become the norm of this channel as well, not one word about the show was sent out ahead of time, so viewers will not know it exists. Not even its host has mentioned anything about the show on his Twitter, though he remains active on the social network. The edition on 16 June was also the first also the first to actually be featured on the channels iPlate, DStv's on screen Electronic Programming Guide, the only problem is the iPlate lists Ayesha Durgahee as its host, someone that not only does not host the show, BUT DOES NOT EVEN WORK AT THE CHANNEL!!!

[Ayesha Durgahee is a Bloomberg, DStv 411, Starsat ###, correspondent that hosts a 30 min weekly World Cup show on Tuesdays at 8pm]

One has to question the channels reasoning behind adding the show in the first place, nevermind the lack of promotion, as it faces very stiff competition from Supersport, who has the daily World Cup preview and the first thirty minutes of World Cup Soccer chat in that hour. Afterall, who will watch a second rate, dull world cup show with one host and one often irrelevant panelist when they can get visibly better coverage from the official broadcaster at the same time?

Chantal Rutter Dros No Longer Working Fridays?

It seems as if every weekend has become a long weekend for ANN7's Prime Tim anchor Chantal Rutter Dros.

I have noticed that it has literally been months since the former Carte Blanche reporter, who joined the channel to be their weekday prime time anchor, has actually been on air on the fifth day of the week.

Instead, weekend anchor Gladys Sithole or sports reporter Peter Stemmet usually sits in on the Friday editions of ANN7 Prime and ANN7 Headlines (the person in the picture is neither one of the two, by the way, but someone that has nonetheless been a substitute for a Friday when Chantal is supposed to be on air).

Whether Chantal Rutter Dros eventually returns to air on a Friday, or why she no longer anchors on a Friday is unknown at this time.

Oscar Pistorius: Media Review, Week 1: ANN7

I  must say, I have been rather underwhelmed by the coverage provided by this channel. Up until now this channel has seemed like the go-to channel if you want in depth reportage and quality on location reports. But not this time. What do we get: Prime Time anchor Chantal Rutter Dros and one analyst on location. (Interestingly, Chantal is being billed as a 'reporter' and not a senior or chief anchor as she is).

I recognise the fact that Chantal is the best person on their team, but a prime time anchor belomgs somewhere else, in prime time, where they belong. With her providing coverage in the daytime when most people either do not have access to television or are watching one of the other channels, she is wasting away in the day time and not presenting her prime time show that is likely to receive a higher viewership and attract more channel surfers who are bored and are looking for something to watch.
I have nothing against the super talented fill-in anchor, Peter Stemmet (who I respect for being on tv from 7pm, sometimes earlier, to well after ten broadcasting the sports show he belongs on) but if the sports anchor is doing the news, it just seems like amateur hour to me

I have slowly started falling in love with the informativeness of their graphics, however.