Nine News Queensland

Nine News Queensland
Opening titles of Nine News Queensland
Genre	News
Presented by	News: Andrew Lofthouse (weeknights) Melissa Downes (weeknights) Darren Curtis (weekends) Alison Ariotti (weekends) Sport: Wally Lewis (weeknights) Dominique Loudon (weekends) Weather: Garry Youngberry (weeknights) Luke Bradnam (weekends)
Country of origin	Australia
Original language(s)	English
No. of seasons	54
No. of episodes	Every day since 1957
Production
Location(s)	Brisbane, Queensland
Running time	One hour (including commercials)
Release
Original network	Nine Network
Picture format	576i (SDTV) 1080i (HDTV)
Original release	1957 (as Channel 9 News) 1970 (as National Nine News) 1976 (as 9 Eyewitness News) 1980 (as National Nine News) 2008 (as Nine News) – present

Nine News Queensland is the weeknight, flagship news bulletin of the Nine Network. It is screened in Brisbane, and across south-east Queensland, on weeknights, while on weekends it is screened state-wide as well as in the Northern Territory. Like all Nine News bulletins, the Queensland bulletin runs for one hour, from 6PM every day. It comprises local, national and international news, as well as sport, weather and finance.

Unlike the other four metropolitan bulletins, this local edition of Nine News is addressed on-air by its state rather than its city.

The 6pm bulletin is simulcast in Brisbane on commercial radio station River 94.9, across regional Queensland on Southern Cross Nine as well as through Nine Darwin (on weekends only) and throughout remote eastern and central Australia on Imparja Television.

Bruce Paige and Heather Foord co-anchored the 6pm bulletin from 1995 until 2001, when Foord joined Mike London as a weekend anchor and Jillian Whiting replaced her on weeknights. London resigned in June 2003 after allegations emerged that he had organised a female friend to complain about the presentation of weeknight anchor Bruce Paige. Foord and Whiting swapped positions in 2004 with Melissa Downes taking over as weekend anchor in 2006.

Foord resigned as weeknight anchor on 5 December 2008 and was replaced by Melissa Downes on weeknights with Eva Milic and former ABC newsreader Andrew Lofthouse fronting weekend bulletins. A year later, Bruce Paige retired from the weeknight chair (he was replaced by Lofthouse) and Heather Foord returned to present weekend bulletins solo for two years. Paige returned to full-time newsreading in January 2012, fronting Nine Gold Coast News solo until he was paired with Wendy Kingston in July 2016.

Throughout the 1990s, and right up until the mid-2000s, Nine News Queensland was the clear-cut ratings leader in Brisbane. However, when weatherman John Schluter resigned just short of what would have been his 25th anniversary with the Nine Network towards the end of 2006 (subsequently joining the rival Seven News Brisbane), sports presenter Wally Lewis took sick leave after collapsing on-air during a nightly bulletin in November of the same year, and rival Seven Brisbane poached former Today newsreader Sharyn Ghidella from Nine shortly after to read its weekend news (and later weeknights), the ratings declined, and by the end of 2009, Nine News Queensland would lose its long-standing ratings dominance in the local market to the rival Seven News Brisbane. However, in 2011, by which point Andrew Lofthouse and Melissa Downes had taken over as the chief co-presenters, Nine News Queensland would start to chip away at Seven's lead, and by 2013 they would reclaim its mantle as the top-rating news bulletin in Brisbane.