Rob Brough

Robert Edward Brough (born 1955) is an Australian journalist, television presenter and rugby league coach.

Media Career

Radio

Brough began his media career in radio in the 1970's as an announcer at radio station 4VL in Charleville, Queensland. He then moved onto 4WK in Warwick, 4BC in Brisbane and then 4GG on the Gold Coast, Queensland.^[1]

Sports Journalism

Following on from his radio work, Brough moved into television in the mid 1980's, covering sport for ABC Television in Brisbane before moving over to Channel 9 to present the sports news on National Nine News in Brisbane until 1989.^[1]

Family Feud

In 1990, Brough moved away from news reporting when he joined the Channel 7 in Brisbane to host the Australian version of Family Feud, which was seen nationally. Brough hosted the program until it was axed in 1995. Bert Newton and Grant Denyer have both hosted revived versions of the program for the Nine Network and Network Ten respectively.

In an opinion piece written for the Sydney Morning Herald, Dominic Knight claimed Bert's Family Feud, the 2006 version of the program, was an awful show but not just because it brought back "unpleasant memories of Rob Brough".^[2]

Brough was often parodied by Steve Vizard on Seven's sketch comedy show Fast Forward.

Seven Local News

Following his job as the host of Family Feud, Brough moved back into news. He began presenting Sunshine Local News for Seven's regional Queensland affiliate Sunshine Television on the Sunshine Coast. Shortly after Brough joined, Sunshine Local News became Seven Local News following the purchase of Sunshine Television by Seven and as such, the network's name and look changed to reflect the metropolitan Channel 7 stations.

Initially, Brough presented the local Sunshine Coast edition of Seven Local News and pre-recorded two additonal bulletins for the Wide Bay-Burnett region and the Mackay region. However, Seven's regional news output in Queensand has since increased and Brough now presents seven separate local editions of Seven News each weeknight from the network's Sunshine Coast studio, which all air simultaneously across the individual regions at 6pm each weeknight on Channel 7, and then at 6:30pm each weeknight on 7TWO.

Brough is joined by Joanne Desmond as a co-presenter on the Cairns, Townsville, Central Queensland and Darling Downs editions of Seven News, while Brough continues to present the Mackay, Wide Bay and Sunshine Coast editions by himself. When Brough is away, Steve Titmus joins Joanne Desmond on the editions that she usually co-presents with Brough, while Desmond fills in for Brough by herself on the bulletins he usually presents solo.

With the studio producing seven 30-minute news bulletins each weeknight, along with additional afternoon and evening updates, it's one of the busiest news studios in Australia, making Brough one of the country's busiest news presenters.^[3] Brough can now be seen reading regional editions of Seven News as far south as Stanthorpe, as far north as Port Douglas and as far west as the Central Highlands in Central Queensland.

As presenter of Seven Local News, Brough has made two appearances on the ABC's Media Watch program, although he himself has never been accused of any wrongdoing.

In 2007, Media Watch questioned the credibility of the Townsville edition of WIN News after they convinced local political candidates standing in the 2007 Federal Election to endorse WIN News in on air promos. Media Watch claimed the dubious actions of WIN News outraged Seven Local News but only because they didn't think of the idea first. Media Watch then played a clip of the Townsville edition of Seven Local News with Brough introducing a story about the WIN News controversy.^[4]

In 2008, Rob Brough again appeared on Media Watch after a graphics designer mistakenly inserted pictures of dairy cows in an "over-the-shoulder" graphic beside Brough while he was introducing a story on the Townsville edition of Seven Local News. The story was actually about local sports venue Dairy Farmers Stadium preparing for an upcoming NRL match.^[5]

In 2015, Brough fronted a campaign launched by Seven Queensland in response to the "Save Our Voices" campaign, which was a joint promotion between WIN Television, Southern Cross Austereo and Prime7 aimed at encouraging viewers to lobby the Federal Government to relax media ownership laws. The "Leave TV Laws Alone" spot that Seven Queensland ran in commercial breaks featured Brough in the Seven Local News studio claiming Seven Queensland spends more on local news than their competitors. A voice-over that follows states that Seven Queensland doesn't support the bullying by the other networks and said that viewers shouldn't be used as pawns.^[6]

In July 2016, Brough met with Georgia Knoll, a girl from Mackay with Down syndrome that "video-bombed" Scott van der Linden while attempting to film a "Street Talk" segment for the Mackay edition of Seven Local News. The invitation to tour Seven's Sunshine Coast facilities was extended to Knoll after the video of her "video bomb" which was uploaded to the 7 News Mackay Facebook page went viral and was subsequently picked up by several international media organisations. The tour included a 'meet and greet' with on air personalities including Brough who invited Knoll to spend some time with him at the news desk.^[7][8]

Brough has said that his work in the media has been influenced by television presenters Mike Walsh and Mike Willessee.^[3]

The Coolangatta Gold

While working at Gold Coast radio station 4GG, Brough made an appearance in the 1984 Australian film, The Coolangatta Gold starring Joss McWilliam and Colin Friels. The movie is about the annual Gold Coast sports event with the same name. A close-up of Brough standing on the beach is seen in the movie as he plays the role of a roving sports reporter, previewing the event while holding a 4GG microphone.^[9]

Brough has said it was Michael Edgley, whose production company Hoyts Edgley produced The Coolangatta Gold, who suggested and encouraged a move from radio to television.^[3]

Rugby League

Brough is also a rugby league coach and is currently the head coach of the Kawana Dolphins, a team that plays in the Sunshine Coast-Gympie rugby league competition, as part of the larger Central Division of Queensland Rugby League.^[3]

Brough began coaching on the Sunshine Coast after earning a reputation as a skilled coach after establishing Mountain Creek State High School's "Rugby League School of Excellence" and coaching junior sides. In 2005, after Brough ran a one-off pre-season session with the Kawana Dolphins' senior team, the club asked him to consider coaching the team permanently. Brough accepted the job and began coaching the Dolphins A-grade side.^[10]

In 2013, he faced some criticism for not seeming to have a positive attitude towards his team despite the team's above-average performance during the season.^[11]

In 2016, Brough's Kawana Dolphins narrowly missed out on claiming victory over the Maroochydore Swans in the grand final, losing the game 18-14. Brough said Maroochydore played some fast footy which put Kawana on the back foot, and unable to catch up.

Brough has always had an interest in rugby league. In a 1994 interview, Brough said he had always wanted to go to Sydney to play rugby league as he had always wanted to play for the St. George Dragons. However, Brough did play some grade football in Brisbane, with Easts. Brough claims he got his love of rugby league from his grandfather who took him to the Brisbane grand final between Redcliffe (captained by Arthur Beetson) and Norths in 1965.^[3]

Personal Life

Brough and his brother Mal grew up at Slacks Creek in a little fibro house. Their father grew vegetables which he sold to support the family, but due to being crippled by poliomyelitis, he had to slide around his vegetable garden on his backside while tending to it.^[3]

Rob Brough's son Sam died on his third birthday in 1989, after suffering from health issues. Brough has two other children Jess and Tyson.^[3]

In 2014, Brough attempted a 1,200 kilometre charity bike ride from Sydney to Brisbane. "Rob's Ride for Kids" was an attempt to raise money for the Children's Hospital Foundation in memory of his son Sam, who passed away 25 years prior. Due to illness, Brough pulled out of the ride without completing it but still managed to raise $16,000 for the charity.^[12][13]

Brough's brother Mal Brough was a Federal Member of Parliament from 1996 until 2016. Due to his brother's involvement in politics, Brough has had to introduce numerous local news stories about his brother, including those that have detailed controversies such as Mal Brough's involvement in the James Ashby affair.^[14]

References