| Here’s
the news again
August 14, 2001
Veteran newscasters return to TV
By Jenny
Kong
Story and pictures by TODAY
(Click on pictures for larger image)
 TC
Koh, Dorothy Tan, Norman Lim and Duncan Watt.
Do these names ring a bell?
They are familiar faces that we used to watch
reading the news segments on television.
Some of them were seen as far back as in the
1960s, while some of them, only a few years ago.
And if you miss their faces, don’t fret.
Because Channel NewsAsia will inject some nostalgia into its television
news programmes.
On the news hour each week night, old hands
like T C Koh, Norman Lim, Duncan Watt and Kenneth Liang will once
again read the news in the Singapore Tonight segment. The first
of this special news bulletin started yesterday night.
The presence of past and present faces on the
news programme is part of Channel NewsAsia’s post-National
day celebration - to bring back newscasters who presented news that
shook, shocked and shaped Singapore and the world.
We will see two familiar faces each night sitting
alongside Channel NewsAsia anchor Sharon Tong to give you the latest
updates on Singapore news.
The person responsible for bringing back some
of television’s most familiar faces is Mr Chay Ting Nee, assistant
vice-president of news and current affairs at MediaCorp News.
When we asked him what sparked the idea, he
said: “When I was working in the US, a television station did
a special series where they invited the old newscasters back to
do a programme - and the audience loved it. I thought this might
be a good idea for local audiences too.”
The idea hit a chord with veterans too. Wee
Soon Hui, who read the news in the 80s and perhaps better remembered
as the ill-fated mother in Channel 5’s Growing Up, was excited
about moving back into the news studio.
She said: “This is so nostalgic, it’s
like going down memory lane for me.”
T C Koh, who was a newscaster in the 60s, is taking the whole thing
in his stride despite his old age. “To me, I can do it and
I don’t mind. It is like a normal job and I just do it.”
There were some who were a little nervous about
the tasks ahead. Norman Lim, who read the news from 1974 to 1991,
said: “Actually I am a little apprehensive. I don’t know
what the news will be like but it could be fun.”
Mr Lim’s worries are unfounded. Channel
NewsAsia has made preparations to help them fit into the job.
The veterans were taken to the studio for a
glimpse of how the programmes are produced these days.
Hands-on practice sessions were scheduled to
bring them up to speed with the current recording formats.
Well, just sit back and enjoy the news
on Singapore Tonight on Channel NewsAsia at 10pm every week night.
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