Bill Ralston Biography
Bill Ralston is a journalist, broadcaster, and media personality from New Zealand who works in television, radio, and print. He has worked as a political correspondent, hosted the arts show Backch@t on television, and served as the head of news and current affairs at TVNZ from 2003 to 2007.
How old is Bill Ralston? – Age
He is 70 years old as of 2023. He was born in 1953 in Auckland, New Zealand.
Bill Ralston Family – Education
He went to Northcote Primary School and then Northcote College, where he was the Head Prefect. He studied politics and history at the University of Auckland and wrote for the student publication Craccum.
Bill Ralston Wife
In 1997, he married Janet Wilson, who also works in the media, and had two children from a previous marriage.
Bill Ralston Net Worth
He has an estimated net worth of $1.6 Million.
Bill Ralston TVNZ
In 1980, he worked for Television New Zealand (TVNZ) in Wellington and Christchurch as a general news correspondent. In 1981, TVNZ sent him to the BBC for six months to work as a correspondent for Wales Today in Cardiff. When he returned in 1982, he worked as a political correspondent for TV ONE in the New Zealand Parliament Press Gallery, where he chronicled the fall of the Muldoon government.
He worked as a foreign correspondent for TVNZ in the mid-1980s, reporting from Indonesia, South Africa, China, the Philippines, and Europe. During the 1986 rebel Cavaliers tour of South Africa, he was shot at a Soweto school and told by the Ministry of Information that he was not allowed back.
He worked as a reporter for TVNZ’s Frontline beginning in 1987 before going to competitor TV3 as Political Editor in 1989. He was banished from Fiji in 1990 for his reporting. Later, he hosted TV3’s Nightline, a current affairs show.
Bill Ralston Backch@t
Backch@t was a three-year-long arts and media show that he hosted from 1998 to 2000. Backch@t won Best Lifestyle Programme at the New Zealand Film and Television Awards for all three years, as well as Best Television Media Programme at the 1999 Qantas Media Awards.
Bill Ralstn Metro Lifestyle
He was the editor of Metro Lifestyle magazine from April 1997 to October 2000. In 1999, a Ministry of Health official visited Ralston and threatened to prosecute the magazine under the Smoke-free Environments Act 1990 because of a cigar review piece. Ralston complained that the piece brought in no money for the magazine. Several top Auckland eateries blacklisted him when he was editor owing to magazine reviews.