THEY came from an era when local television news was built with tape, paper and people rather than computers, and every night's bulletin felt like a small technological miracle.
To former NBN News staff, WIN Television's recently announced cuts did not come as a surprise, but as a sad reminder of the pressures facing regional media since the station's glory days at Mosbri Crescent.
The changes, announced this week following WIN's takeover, include the end of weekend bulletins and the replacement of the traditional 6pm news with a pre-recorded 30-minute local bulletin at 5.30pm.
Newsreader Paul Lobb, who was axed from NBN in 2021 after 24 years with the outlet, started out working part-time as a news librarian and chyron graphics operator.
"The local media really is a window to how people see themselves, and if that window is shrinking, it's almost like part of our identity isn't being recognised and acknowledged anymore," he said.
"Sadly, I just felt like this was the next progression in a death by a thousand cuts.
"If there's fewer resources, harder decisions have to be made on which issues and events are covered."
Channel 3, or NBN, began broadcasting in 1962. Back then, ownership of the TV station wasn't just figurative, locals actually bought shares.
Mr Lobb said NBN was one of the first regional news stations in Australia.
"It was very much a family affair back then, it was independently-owned," Mr Lobb said.
"Newcastle has been represented on screen and by journalists for more than 60 years, so to have that slowly being whittled away, it feels like the end of an era, but it also feels like we're not being represented how we used to be."
WIN Television maintains NBN News will continue to be produced and presented from its studio in Newcastle.
A WIN spokeswoman said the new 30-minute bulletin would focus exclusively on local news, unlike the current one-hour program, which also includes national and international stories.
Over the decades, NBN produced local programs including Teen Beat, Saturday Date, Star Search, Beating Around the Bush and Romper Room, while also covering everything from rugby league grand finals to major concerts.
When sports presenter Mike Rabbitt joined NBN in 1981, there were 220 employees in the Newcastle office.
"NBN and Newcastle, they were one and the same, we were very much connected to the community, as is the Newcastle Herald," he said.
Mr Rabbitt said politicians should be doing more to protect regional journalism.
"It's ironic that all the politicians have come out at the moment decrying the demise of NBN, maybe they should have tried a little bit harder when the cross-media ownership laws were introduced," he said.
A silver lining he sees in WIN's changes is the commitment to building a control room in Newcastle.
But NBN's legacy extends well beyond its newsroom.
Kim Player, known on telly as 'Kelli Austin' to avoid confusion with Kim Hornby (Miss Kim), started out in the admin office in 1980 before scoring a role on Saturday Fun Day and later Big Dog and Friends.
"A girl like me would never have ended up on television if it weren't for NBN," Ms Player said.
"It was such a community-based station. They had dedicated community noticeboards on air. TV stations just don't do that now. It's all about revenue."
A memory that stood out to Ms Player was the NBN Telethons, which raised close to $20 million for local charities.
"NBN was just such a big powerhouse and such a big voice, they really did have the community at heart," she said.
"I was sad when I heard. The thing I thought straight away was, 'That's it, Newcastle is not going to have a local voice anymore'."
Back in those days they'd fire up the helicopter to drop her and Big Dog off at the Muswellbrook primary school fete. Not for broadcast, just for the kids.
Murray Finlay read NBN's first bulletin on opening night. In the years that followed, many talented newsreaders and journalists have sat behind the famous desk.
Veteran news anchor Ray Dinneen was one of them, signing off in 2010 after almost 37 years.
"It was a big family, it was a great place to work," he said.
Mr Dinneen said WIN's changes were expected, but it still came as a blow.
"You think of our Taj Mahal up there in Mosbri Crescent being torn down to build apartments, and then lo and behold the whole lot gets downgraded, it's the end of an era, it's the end of the golden age of television really," he said.
The nightly 6pm bulletin has been a staple in Novocastrian homes for decades. The newsroom has been a revered training ground for journalists for just as long.
Mr Dinneen said his concern is for the next generation of journalists, who may not get the opportunity to experience the rush of a live cross.
"That can't happen if they're not doing those live crosses, if they're not doing journalism on the seat of your pants," he said.
"It's sad, and I think a lot of people will be affected by it, particularly the viewers. It just can't be the same."
A more recent loss to the newsroom was that of Gavin Morris, who swapped the news desk for the council chamber as Newcastle's lord mayor after being made redundant from NBN in 2025 after 16 years.
He said since Nine took over in 2014, there has been a "consistent and constant cull".
"Every single department in that Mosbri studio just slowly disappeared," he said.
"The last room that was still busy was the newsroom, and not much had changed because the ratings were incredible, and the quality of the product was there. It was the last unchanged element of NBN up until this point."
Mr Morris said the community needed to engage and support its local media.
"Not having that ability to access your local news is a real loss, and we can't let that happen. We do need to fight for this in every sense," he said.
"I hope WIN get that message, and by the sounds I think they do, so hopefully they will step up and give us the news service that we deserve."
