WA journalist and radio host Gareth Parker is set to take on the role of news director in the Channel 9 Perth newsroom.
Parker announced the news on his morning breakfast radio show on Monday.
“I’ll be leaving 6PR breakfast … I am incredibly excited and proud to say that I’ve accepted a new job as the director of news for Channel 9 Perth, which is a huge opportunity for me personally,” Parker told listeners .
“I am looking forward to getting up the hill to the top of the Terrace and getting stuck into the newsroom.”
A date for when Parker will start in the new role has not yet been announced.
“I am not going to disappear immediately, there is still a bit to sort out with a move like this,” he said.
6PR has taken a massive hit in some of this year’s radio ratings surveys.
Parker’s 6PR breakfast show was the biggest loser of the survey in May this year, down a whopping 1.5 points to hold just 8.5 per cent of the audience pie — well behind its AM rival ABC Perth.
Last month’s survey showed Parker’s show managed just an 8.6 per cent share, still over two points behind the ABC.
Parker is a previous winner of the WA Journalist of the Year award.
He worked for The West Australian for over a decade, including almost four years as the paper’s State political editor.
Parker also served as the paper’s Melbourne bureau chief and as online deputy editor.
I have joined 6PR, which is owned by Channel Nine, in 2017.
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