Kim Hill left RNZ and her Saturday Morning show in November. Photo / NZME
Kim Hill left RNZ and her Saturday Morning show in November. Photo / NZME
A former Morning Report host will replace Kim Hill on RNZ’s Saturday Morning show - and RNZ may also appoint a co-host.
Susie Ferguson - who hosted Saturday Morning last weekend - has been revealed as the new fulltime host, following Hill’s departure last year.
RNZ confirmed the move followingMedia Insider inquiries this afternoon.
In an email to staff, RNZ head of content Megan Whelan said: “Best-laid comms plans being scooped by the Herald aside, I’m thrilled to share that Susie Ferguson will be the host of Saturday Morning. As well as being an excellent human, Susie is a talented broadcaster who will bring a wealth of experience to the show.”
Whelan reiterated that in a statement to the Herald.
“Susie is a familiar voice to RNZ listeners having presented flagship news programme Morning Report for eight years. More recently she has been working as a senior journalist and presenter, working on special projects and presenting programmes across RNZ, including filling in on Saturday Morning.”
Former Morning Report host Susie Ferguson.
As well as Ferguson, a raft of names have been considered over the past several months, including Flava radio breakfast host Stacey Morrison; award-winning author and broadcaster Noelle McCarthy; another former Morning Report host Guyon Espiner; and Nine to Noon host Kathryn Ryan.
RNZ has been considering the option of a co-host, the broadcaster confirmed today.
“As part of the review of Saturday Morning, following the departure of Kim Hill in November, RNZ is considering whether the show could benefit from a co-presenter being introduced,” said Whelan.
“We know the loyal audience of Saturday Morning returns for the range of in-depth feature interviews the show delivers week after week and we are currently exploring the best way to do this in 2024.”
According to her biography on the RNZ website, Scotland-born Ferguson has previously worked for ITN and BBC in the UK. She is an experienced international correspondent, having reported on the Iraq War and other conflicts.
She started at RNZ in 2010.
“I got here and started listening to the radio and tried to figure out what I liked and what I didn’t like,” she told The Spinoff’s Toby Manhire in 2017.
“The thing that actually made me like RNZ is I listened to Kim Hill one morning and she was interviewing Jarvis Cocker from Pulp. And I kinda thought, ‘huh, that’s kind of interesting’. A long-form interview. He’s kind of an interesting guy and I just thought that seems like an interesting station if they do stuff like that.
“Maybe I’ll try to work for them. A big part of their operation is in Wellington so that’s helpful, seeing as I was in Wellington. It kind of went from there. I did some freelance, casual reporting and producing and ended up on Checkpoint doing producing and it sort of grew from there, really.”
According to her RNZ biography, she also presented Summer Report and filled in on Checkpoint, before presenting Morning Report for eight years until 2022.
“She stepped down in 2022 to pursue a new role within RNZ as Senior Journalist and Presenter, which sees her working on special projects and present programmes across RNZ National,” says her biography.
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