Career
After joining radio station 3DB, he moved to television to sister station HSV-7 in early 1970 as a reporter. One of his first assignments at HSV-7 was to go to Darwin to report on the devastation of Cyclone Tracy that ripped through the tropical city on Christmas Day 1974.
In 1979, he took over the role of Chief News Presenter at HSV-7, replacing Brian Naylor who had moved to rival GTV-9.
On 27 March 1987, Walden was sacked by new management after HSV-7 was taken over by the Fairfax group, and was told of his dismissal just minutes before going on air to present what became his final news bulletin.
Exactly a month later, Walden joined the Eyewitness News team at ATV-10 as a reporter and presenter of the segment Mal's Melbourne, presenting human interest stories. Walden continued as relieving news presenter, reporter and weekend news presenter at ATV-10, as well as presenting special programming such as Young Australian of the Year and ATV-10's 30th Anniversary.
In 1996, he took on the role of chief news presenter after David Johnston announced his return to HSV-7. He was appointed news presenter of the station's Ten News at Five alongside Jennifer Hansen. He celebrated 30 years in television news on 8 June 2000. In 2004, he published a detailed history of ATV-10 to commemorate the stations upcoming 40th anniversary.
In September 2010, Walden was announced as presenter of Melbourne's 6:30pm Ten Evening News bulletin which commenced in January 2011 but was axed four months later.
Mal and his wife (the former Pauline Durham, who originally worked in the Programming Department at HSV 7) have two adult children, twins Sarah and James. Mal is a keen gardener and fisherman and loves golf.
Read more about this topic: Mal Walden
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