Tag: TelevisionAU

Classic TV Guides: Eyewitness News

Since its inception in 1964, Melbourne’s ATV0 had struggled to get a significant hold of audiences when it came to news. Different formats, timeslots, newsreaders and titles were all tried and often without much success. A revamp to a one-hour bulletin in 1978 was another in its string of casualties. But there were high hopes …

Continue reading

Permanent link to this article: https://televisionau.com/2019/02/classic-tv-guides-eyewitness-news.html

Classic TV Guides: The winner is… Sydney!

It is 25 years since the Monte Carlo announcement of Sydney as the host city of the 2000 Olympic Games. Sydney won the vote of International Olympic Committee (IOC) members against competing bids by Beijing, Berlin, Istanbul and Manchester. Speeches by the Prime Minister Paul Keating and his wife Annita, New South Wales Premier John …

Continue reading

Permanent link to this article: https://televisionau.com/2018/09/classic-tv-guides-the-winner-is-sydney.html

Classic TV Guides: Hinch chases Skase

Christopher Skase was the Melbourne journalist turned corporate high flyer in the 1980s. His billion dollar corporation was built around lavish hotel resorts and a growing media empire. His purchase of the east coast Seven Network stations in 1987 suddenly elevated him to one of the most powerful media men in the country and he …

Continue reading

Permanent link to this article: https://televisionau.com/2018/04/classic-tv-guides-hinch-chases-skase.html

Classic TV Guides: Neighbours’ new neighbourhood

It was a big deal when Neighbours made the switch from the Seven Network to Network Ten in 1986. Never before had a drama series switched networks and it was a bold move by Ten, particularly as the show’s main weakness at Seven was its ratings performance in Sydney. Ten’s persistence in promoting the series …

Continue reading

Permanent link to this article: https://televisionau.com/2018/01/classic-tv-guides-neighbours-new-neighbourhood.html

The year that was… 2017

Another year is now behind us! No doubt the biggest TV stories of the year surround the Ten Network — going into voluntary administration and then receivership before being taken over by US network CBS. The CBS takeover was a cunning move that caught most by surprise, not least being former Ten shareholders Bruce Gordon …

Continue reading

Permanent link to this article: https://televisionau.com/2017/12/the-year-that-was-2017.html

Classic TV Guides: Burst Of Summer

“How does a beautiful aboriginal girl pick up the dreary threads of her normal life after a brief but heady taste of glory as a film star?” Such was the premise of Oriel Gray‘s play Burst Of Summer, as described in TV Times magazine in 1961. Burst Of Summer told the story of singer Peggy …

Continue reading

Permanent link to this article: https://televisionau.com/2017/09/classic-tv-guides-burst-of-summer.html

Classic TV Guides: ABC’s Murder Story

In the early days of Australian television, locally-made drama was largely limited to one-off plays — mostly by ABC. One such production was Murder Story, a Sydney-based production that was an adaptation of an English story, based on a real-life murder case. Murder Story starred John Ewart as Jim Tanner, a 19-year-old intellectually-disabled man who …

Continue reading

Permanent link to this article: https://televisionau.com/2017/07/classic-tv-guides-abcs-murder-story.html

Classic TV Guides: Not Seven’s finest hour

On Monday 13 April 1987, Melbourne’s HSV7 — under new management from Sydney-based media group Fairfax — launched its revamped Seven National News and started airing the Sydney-based Terry Willesee Tonight. Seven’s new newsreader was Greg Pearce, formerly from Perth but coming to Melbourne seemingly oblivious to the storm of resentment from Melbourne viewers who weeks …

Continue reading

Permanent link to this article: https://televisionau.com/2017/04/classic-tv-guides-not-sevens-finest-hour.html

New Year, New Classic TV Guides

TCN9, Australia’s first TV station, was launched on Sunday, 16 September 1956. The station’s first week of programs feature in the latest additions to Classic TV Guides. TCN9’s first week of programming was a limited affair. The period from the station’s opening night in September through to the end of October was seen largely as …

Continue reading

Permanent link to this article: https://televisionau.com/2017/01/new-year-new-classic-tv-guides.html

Classic TV Guides: Bert Newton around the dial!

If people in more recent times wanted to dub Eddie McGuire as “Eddie Everywhere”, then they would find McGuire to be an amateur compared to Bert Newton in July 1973. Newton had less than a year earlier lamented in a newspaper interview that he’d not had a lot of TV work during 1972, with his presenting commitments …

Continue reading

Permanent link to this article: https://televisionau.com/2016/07/classic-tv-guides-bert-newton-around-the-dial.html