George Jack Donikian (born 15 December 1951) is an Australian former radio and television news presenter/personality. He has worked at the SBS as well as the

Nine Network The Nine Network (stylised 9Network, commonly known as Channel Nine or simply Nine) is an Australian commercial free-to-air television network. It is owned by parent company Nine Entertainment and is one of five main free-to-air television netw ...

and

Ten Network Network 10 (commonly known as Ten Network, Channel 10 or simply 10) is an Australian commercial television network owned by Ten Network Holdings, a division of the Paramount Networks UK & Australia subsidiary of Paramount Global. One of five ...

Early life

Donikian was born and raised in Kingsford, Sydney. His father was a Greek Armenian who had emigrated to Australia from Athens in 1949, with his fiancée following a year later. He grew up speaking Greek, Armenian and Turkish, and did not speak English until the age of 7. Despite his father's wish for him to become a doctor or barrister, Donikian found his calling in sports, in particular

soccer Association football, more commonly known as football or soccer, is a team sport played between two teams of 11 players who primarily use their feet to propel the ball around a rectangular field called a pitch. The objective of the game is ...

. At the age of 16, his soccer skills brought him to the notice of

Jozef Vengloš Jozef Vengloš (18 February 1936 – 26 January 2021) was a Slovak professional football player and manager. He held a doctorate in Physical Education and also specialised in Psychology. He was selected by FIFA on various occasions to lecture ...

, the manager of the

national team A national sports team (commonly known as a national team or a national side) is a team that represents a nation, rather than a particular club or region, in an international sport. The term is most commonly associated with team sports, for exa ...

, however his sporting hopes ended when he dislocated his shoulder whilst lifting weights in training.

Radio career

Donikian commenced his media career as an announcer with radio station 4AM in far North

Queensland ) , nickname = Sunshine State , image_map = Queensland in Australia.svg , map_caption = Location of Queensland in Australia , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name = Australia , established_title = Before federation , established_ ...

in the mid-1970s, then went to 2WL in

Wollongong Wollongong ( ), colloquially referred to as The Gong, is a city located in the Illawarra region of New South Wales, Australia. The name is believed to originate from the Dharawal language, meaning either 'five islands/clouds', 'ground near wate ...

. According to Donikian, he was asked to go by the surname "Donekan" during his radio career—his bosses claiming that his real name was too difficult to pronounce and remember, and that the pseudonym sounded like the more "acceptable" Irish surname "

Donegan Donegan ( ga, Ó Donnagáin), most commonly refers to a Gaelic Irish clan from Munster. The name is diminutive of ''Donn'' which means, "the Dark One", or in modern Irish, "brown", referring to hair colour. The most prominent dynasty were an � ...

". Then he went to 2WS in 1979. Then he did talk back on Radio

FIVEaa FIVEaa (pronounced ''Five Double A'') is Adelaide's only commercial talkback radio station. The station has a range of programs including news, sports, current affairs, social issues, football calls, gardening, lifestyle, cars, travel and heal ...

Adelaide Adelaide ( ) is the capital city of South Australia, the state's largest city and the fifth-most populous city in Australia. "Adelaide" may refer to either Greater Adelaide (including the Adelaide Hills) or the Adelaide city centre. The dem ...

. Then he covered the Athens Olympics for Melbourne commercial radio in 2004.

Television career

George's

television Television, sometimes shortened to TV, is a telecommunication medium for transmitting moving images and sound. The term can refer to a television set, or the medium of television transmission. Television is a mass medium for advertisin ...

career began in 1980, when during a chance meeting he impressed

Bruce Gyngell Bruce Gyngell AO (8 July 1929 – 7 September 2000) was an Australian television executive, active for more than 40 years in both Australian and UK television. Although Gyngell began his career in radio, in the 1950s he stepped into the arena o ...

, who saw him as the ideal presenter for his multi cultural I.M.B.C television Network which launched in

Melbourne Melbourne ( ; Boonwurrung/Woiwurrung: ''Narrm'' or ''Naarm'') is the capital and most populous city of the Australian state of Victoria, and the second-most populous city in both Australia and Oceania. Its name generally refers to a met ...

and Sydney in 1980. Then he was a presenter for ''

SBS World News ''SBS World News'' is the news service of the Special Broadcasting Service in Australia. Its flagship nightly bulletin is broadcast at on SBS with additional weeknight 'late' bulletins from on SBS. ''SBS News'' is the name of the news app ...

'', then as a newsreader for the Nine Network, and later Ten News In 1988, Donikian hosted the first

Ethnic Business Awards Ethnic Business Awards (EBA) are Australian business awards. The awards recognise the significant achievements of migrant and Indigenous business owners. The EBA’s recognise the contributions made by migrants and the First Australians to busin ...

, which is a national business award highlighting migrant and Indigenous excellence in business. When George first presented ''Ten News'' in 1991, he presented the weeknight bulletin solo before being joined by Nikki Dwyer the following year. He left Network Ten in September 2011, and became a "free agent" after a restructuring of Ten's newsroom saw him shifted to the weekend national evening bulletin. Due to his popularity, he was parodied by comedian

Steve Vizard Stephen William Vizard AM (born 6 March 1956) is an Australian television and radio presenter, producer, writer, lawyer and businessman. He is an adjunct professor at Monash University and University of Adelaide. Vizard has written for and ...

in various skits on the comedy sketch program ''

Fast Forward To fast-forward is to move forwards through a recording at a speed faster than that at which it would usually be played, for example two times or two point five times. The recordings are usually audio, video or computer data. It is colloquially ...

''.

References

External links

Profile at Network Ten
* {{DEFAULTSORT:Donikian, George 10 News First presenters Australian sports broadcasters Australian people of Armenian descent Australian people of Greek descent Australian soccer chairmen and investors Living people 1951 births