Peter Allan Williams is a New Zealand television presenter and sports writer who currently hosts the morning talkback programme on Magic Talk, a MediaWorks radio network. He was the host of the 1 News 6pm weekend bulletin, and the usual substitute for 1 Newss weekday 6pm bulletin.
Early life and family
Williams was born in Geraldine in 1954, the son of Elizabeth Ann and Allan Huia Williams. He was educated at Waitaki Boys' High School from 1967 to 1971, and then West High School in Corning, New York as an AFS scholar from 1971 to 1972. Williams played in the Otago schoolboys golf team in 1970 and was a North Otago cricket representative in 1971. Williams married Cecile van Dyk in 1976 and the couple had three children.
Television broadcasting
Williams has worked at TVNZ, previously TV One, since 1979 after starting his broadcasting career in radio as a teenager at Radio Otago, now More FM, in Dunedin in 1972. At TVNZ Williams has been a sports anchorman, commentator and reporter before joining the 1 News team full-time in his main role as Breakfast newsreader. He has covered seven Olympic Games, including the 2008 Beijing Olympics, from which he garnered the TP McLean Award for Sports Television. He has also covered five Commonwealth Games, three Rugby World Cups, two Cricket World Cups and two Masters golf tournaments. In 1999 he was awarded the New Zealand Rugby Union's Supreme Media Award for his work at the 1999 Rugby World Cup. He has twice been New Zealand Golf Broadcaster of the Year. In 2010 and 2011, readers of TV Guide voted him New Zealand's best news presenter. In 2011 he received 28% of the vote in the field of seven finalists. The next best was TV3's Hilary Barry, on 18%. From 2003 to 2016, Williams presented the news bulletins on Television New Zealand's Breakfast and Good Morning shows, followed by the half-hour 1 News at Midday; from 2008 he combined this duty with that of presenting weekend editions of 1 News at Six. Williams retired from TVNZ with his last broadcast on the Sunday evening news on 16 December 2018. He is now a talkback radio host on Magic Talk.
Other pursuits
Williams was a sports writer and columnist from the beginning of the Herald on Sunday in 2004 until the end of 2009. He wrote predominantly about golf, a sport with which he had a close involvement during the first decade of the new century. That included a period as a selector of Auckland representative teams in 2008 and as a director of New Zealand Golf Inc during 2008 and 2009. In 2010 he concentrated his sporting activity on triathlon and completed the Port of Tauranga Half on 8 January 2011. His time was 6 hours and 37 minutes. The effort raised over $8000 for Look Good Feel Better, an organisation which helps women suffering from cancer with make-up and hair assistance. Williams' first wife Cecile died of ovarian cancer in November 1996. During the time of her illness she received assistance from Look Good Feel Better.
