TVNZ veteran signs off
He’s graced our screens for nearly 40 years but Peter Williams said farewell last night. The veteran newsreader presented for the last time yesterday. Colleagues Wendy Petrie and Jenny-May Clarkson both became teary as they said their farewells.
Petrie introduced a highlights reel from his 39 years and eight months with the network saying, “He was smooth and he still is smooth”.
“All the best to you Pete. We all adore you. We’ll miss you,” she finished by saying.
Williams himself also choked up slightly as he thanked his colleagues.
“Maybe we’ll meet again,” he finished by saying before walking out to hugs and high-fives from all the staff at the station.
He said he had enjoyed almost all of it but “everything must come to an end”.
Last year, the 65-year-old confirmed he would be leaving TVNZ at the end of this year.
He began working at TVNZ in 1979 as a league commentator after starting out at Radio Otago in 1972.
Most recently he had been weekend newsreader and fill-in for anchor Simon Dallow on the weekday 6pm news broadcasts.
Originally a sports journalist, Williams has fronted some of New Zealand’s biggest news events, including seven Olympic Games and the Pike River mine disaster in 2010.
He has also hosted Mastermind and presented Breakfast during his time at TVNZ.
He remains a columnist for the Bay
of Plenty Times.