After taking on the role of executive producer earlier this year, Sean Power’s years of experience in news and current affairs puts him in fine form to tackle brekky central.
Sean Power, the recently appointed executive producer of Seven’s breakfast program, Sunrise, has described taking on the mantle as a “real hoot”.
In an exclusive interview with Rob McKnight, Power said the reason why he was excited to join the program was because of the “stellar” team behind the scenes, who have propelled Sunrise to become the top breakfast show on Australian TV.
Led on-screen by hosts Natalie Barr and David Koch, along with presenters Edwina Bartholomew, Mark Beretta and Sam Mac, Sunrise has a large team of crew members off-screen that Power attributes in great detail to the show’s success.
He said:
“Proudly this year, we are number one again, for the 19th year.
“And I couldn’t be more thrilled, and that is a credit again, to the entire team that is at Sunrise.
“There are people who have been at Sunrise for their entire careers, for 15, 20 years, that have worked tirelessly around the clock and have got that breakfast TV formula in Australia that they pioneered.”
Power also acknowledged the viewers at home for their continued viewership within the last two decades.
“The beauty of Sunrise is our audience are incredibly loyal.
“Nat and Kochie and Eddie and Berettz and Sam… they have a really core audience who love tuning in every morning and knowing what they’re gonna get from them.
“That’s why they are the number one team.”
Since the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic, factual and hard-hitting news was paramount to Sunrise, which Power described as a “different TV viewing culture”.
But as Australia emerges out of the unusual circumstances of the pandemic, Power said the show is now re-introducing the fun back into breakfast television.
“We can now have that full variety of content in a show… we can go into the fun of, you know, dancing dogs on National Dogs Day, which you can do!
“You can have all of that balance with your news and being there to also provide that laugh for people as they head out the door and go to work.”
While Power took on the role of executive producer for Sunrise back in March, replacing long-time EP Michael Pell, Seven at the same time also appointed Sarah Stinson in the new role of Director of Morning Television.
Working alongside her at Martin Place (although soon to be relocated to Eveleigh) Power said:
“I have a huge amount of trust for Sarah, and respect, because she has just done so well for such a long time.
“We have, I reckon, 20 conversations a day, all about content.
“But also culture is so incredibly important to Sarah… I’m learning so much from her from a leadership perspective.”
In this interview with TV Blackbox, Power goes onto to discuss the relocation of Sunrise from Martin Place to a new studio in Eveleigh, the potential return of the Cash Cow, conducting competitions amidst new SMS rules, why Power thinks he was ultimately chosen to lead the team at Sunrise, and what he hopes to achieve during his tenure at the program.
Sunrise officially recorded its 19th year as the top breakfast program on Australian TV in August, having won every week in the capital cities and every week nationally to-date, including 25 weeks of the 40-week official ratings calendar.
Listen to the full podcast with Sean Power below.
Seriously who watches these morning shows – nursing home audience!
Hi Daisy – actually, heaps of people watch the Brekky shows on Seven, Nine, and the ABC.