Sir Eric Pearce
Encyclopedia
Order of the British Empire
The Most Excellent Order of the British Empire is an order of chivalry established on 4 June 1917 by George V of the United Kingdom. The Order comprises five classes in civil and military divisions...
Kt
Knight Bachelor
The rank of Knight Bachelor is a part of the British honours system. It is the most basic rank of a man who has been knighted by the monarch but not as a member of one of the organised Orders of Chivalry...
(5 March 1905 in England
England
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...
– 12 April 1997 in Melbourne
Melbourne
Melbourne is the capital and most populous city in the state of Victoria, and the second most populous city in Australia. The Melbourne City Centre is the hub of the greater metropolitan area and the Census statistical division—of which "Melbourne" is the common name. As of June 2009, the greater...
) was a broadcaster and television pioneer in Australia.
Pearce started his career in England and worked for the BBC
BBC
The British Broadcasting Corporation is a British public service broadcaster. Its headquarters is at Broadcasting House in the City of Westminster, London. It is the largest broadcaster in the world, with about 23,000 staff...
before moving to Australia
Australia
Australia , officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country in the Southern Hemisphere comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands in the Indian and Pacific Oceans. It is the world's sixth-largest country by total area...
. This led to him working at numerous radio stations in the pre-television era, in particular 3DB
3DB
Mix 101.1 is a radio station broadcasting in Melbourne, Australia. Its target demographic is the under 25-54 yr old age group. Mix 101.1 is part of the Australian Radio Mix Network and broadcasts on the 101.1 MHz frequency...
and 3XY in Melbourne. He was also Manager of 5KA
5MMM
5MMM is a radio station broadcasting in Adelaide, Australia. Its target demographic is the 30 - 54 age group...
Adelaide
Adelaide
Adelaide is the capital city of South Australia and the fifth-largest city in Australia. Adelaide has an estimated population of more than 1.2 million...
.
When television came to Australia in 1956, many radio figures sought and achieved employment in the new medium. Pearce was no exception, moving to HSV Channel 7
HSV-7
HSV is a television station in Melbourne. It is part of the Seven Network, one of the three main commercial television networks in Australia, and its first and oldest station, having been launched in time for the 1956 Summer Olympic Games in Melbourne....
in Melbourne working as newsreader and quiz show host. He believed that news readers required credibility and that doing anything other than news for a job was ill-advised. When GTV Channel 9
GTV-9
GTV is a commercial television station in Melbourne, Australia owned by the Nine Network. The station is currently based at a new high-tech, purpose-built studios at 717 Bourke Street, Docklands.-History:...
offered him employment as chief news reader without him having to do any other shows, he took it.
For years Pearce read the news to Melbournians with the catchphrase sign-off of "God bless you, and you,", the second "you" being directed at his wife. He is best regarded for his coverage of the Moon landing
Moon landing
A moon landing is the arrival of a spacecraft on the surface of the Moon. This includes both manned and unmanned missions. The first human-made object to reach the surface of the Moon was the Soviet Union's Luna 2 mission on 13 September 1959. The United States's Apollo 11 was the first manned...
in 1969.
Pearce was a patron for the Deaf Blind Association and an elderly person's home was named after his support.
Made a knight bachelor in 1979 for his services to television in the Commonwealth of Australia, he died on 12 April 1997, aged 92, still working for GTV Channel 9 as a news adviser and head of correspondence, albeit his official title was Director of Community Affairs. As a tribute to Pearce, Roy Slaven reads out an excerpt from Pearce's book at the start of each episode of "The Life" on MMM
MMM
MMM may have one of the following meanings: * The number 3000, in Roman numerals* Marketing mix modeling, a method of statistical analysis* The Master of Management and Manufacturing program, a 2 year graduate-level dual degree MBA + MEM program offered by Northwestern University's Kellogg School...
.
Successor news presenters on Channel Nine
- Brian NaylorBrian Naylor (broadcaster)Brian Naylor was an Australian television presenter, best known for his longstanding stint as chief news presenter at National Nine News Melbourne from 1978 to 1998 and his sign-off line, "May your news be good news, and good-night."His son Matthew was killed in a plane crash at Kinglake, Victoria...
: 1978-1998 - Peter HitchenerPeter HitchenerPeter Donald Beauchamp Hitchener is an Australian television presenter. He has been chief news presenter for Melbourne's edition of Nine News since 1998, and prior to that was weekend news presenter.-Career:...
: 1998-present
See also
- GTV-9GTV-9GTV is a commercial television station in Melbourne, Australia owned by the Nine Network. The station is currently based at a new high-tech, purpose-built studios at 717 Bourke Street, Docklands.-History:...
- Nine Network Australia
- National Nine NewsNational Nine NewsNine News is the news service of the Australian Nine Network.Nine News's flagship bulletin is the nightly 6:00pm localised bulletin, produced by networked owned-and-operated stations in Sydney , Melbourne , Brisbane and Darwin alongside localised bulletins produced by the WIN-owned Nine Network...
- MelbourneMelbourneMelbourne is the capital and most populous city in the state of Victoria, and the second most populous city in Australia. The Melbourne City Centre is the hub of the greater metropolitan area and the Census statistical division—of which "Melbourne" is the common name. As of June 2009, the greater...