Perth News Anchors Break World Record After 40 Years

After four decades of sitting side by side at the news desk, Rick Ardon and Susannah Carr have earned a world record that might never be broken.

The Perth, Australia news anchors have been presenting together on 7News since 1985, making them the longest-serving news anchor team in the world. They've now delivered more than 10,000 broadcasts together.

Their partnership started when Perth was a fast-growing mining city of just over one million people, isolated on Australia's western coast. Ms. Carr, now 73, had already made history as Perth's first female radio newsreader in the 1970s.

Mr. Ardon, now 66, was just 19 when he started reading news on camera. "There I was at 19 years old, looking about 15," he recalled.

Back then, getting international news on air took more than a day. Film had to be shot on location, edited, and physically flown into Perth before it could broadcast.

The pair describe their working relationship like a marriage between two very different people. Mr. Ardon loves surfing and spends most mornings at the beach before heading to the studio, while Ms. Carr prefers reading and the arts.

"You're a couple of jigsaw pieces," Ms. Carr said. "It sort of works because we appeal to different sections of the community, I think."

Their easy camaraderie shows even in small moments. On a recent afternoon, Mr. Ardon tried on three different ties before Ms. Carr approved his choice with a laugh.

Why This Inspires

In an era when local news anchors have largely disappeared and people get their updates from social media feeds, Ardon and Carr represent something increasingly rare: consistency and trust built over decades.

They've witnessed television's transformation from film to videotape to digital, and adapted to every change. When Ms. Carr covered Princess Diana's death in 1997, satellite trucks lined up outside Buckingham Palace. By Prince Harry's wedding in 2018, she was broadcasting from her mobile phone in a field.

Their 7News Perth program has topped ratings in Western Australia for decades. Guinness officially certified their record in January 2022 after 36 years and 361 days together, surpassing the previous record held by New York anchors who worked together for 32 years.

This January, the pair scaled back to three weeknights to make room for younger anchors. But they're still adding to their record with every broadcast.

In a world where everything feels temporary, their four-decade partnership proves some things really can last.