Sep 14 2019

Obituary: Paul Cronin

  • 14 September 2019

Actor Paul Cronin, best known as family patriarch Dave Sullivan in The Sullivans, has died at the age of 81.

Born in South Australia, Cronin’s early career was in engineering and was far removed from showbusiness. He eventually enrolled at a drama school in Adelaide and performed in the local amateur theatre company. It was only when his engineering career took him to Melbourne that he was encouraged by his wife to audition for Crawford Productions.

At Crawfords, he gained guest roles in Homicide and Division 4 before being cast as motorcycle cop Gary Hogan in the rural crime drama Matlock Police. He starred alongside Michael Pate, Grigor Taylor, Vic Gordon and later Tom Richards.

The series continued for five years, with Cronin’s character then taking on the lead in a spin-off series, Solo One, for the Seven Network. Solo One only lasted 13 episodes and Cronin was anticipating another career change into real estate, until Crawfords cast him as Dave Sullivan in its upcoming series The Sullivans for the Nine Network.

The Sullivans debuted in November 1976 and became a huge success for Nine in Australia, and sold well overseas. Cronin went on to win a string of Logie Awards, including the Silver Logie Most Popular Actor five times. While other cast members (including Lorraine Bayly, pictured) moved on from The Sullivans over its six year run, Cronin stayed as a constant figure. So it was big news when he announced early in 1982 that he was leaving the series after a falling out with the Nine Network. Although Nine had plans to continue the series without him, it ended up using Cronin’s exit as a means to wrap up The Sullivans after 1114 episodes.

After leaving Nine, he immediately signed up with Network Ten, returning to the studios where he had made Matlock Police, but not for a drama series. He was intending to host a variety show, Paul Cronin’s Australian Amateur Hour, a TV adaptation of the long-running radio program that was successful back in the 1950s.

Paul Cronin’s Australian Amateur Hour did not go beyond the pilot stage, and Cronin’s next venture for Ten was telemovie Matthew And Son, co-starring with Darius Perkins and Paula Duncan. Produced by Johnny Young, the telemovie was hoped to extend into a series, but was not picked up and Cronin was soon to leave Ten.

Later acting credits included The Flying Doctors, State Coroner, Frontline and the mini-series A Place To Call Home.

Cronin also had other business interests, including the partnership to launch the Brisbane Bears football club, as part of the then VFL’s extension into Queensland. He served as president of the club (now the Brisbane Lions) for two years.

He continued to appear on television in commercials and maintained regular ties with radio, in particular at radio 3AW in Melbourne, as a presenter of Remember When and Nightline, usually when one of its regular hosts, Bruce Mansfield or Philip Brady, were away.

Source: ABC, IMDB. TV Week, 9 December 1978, 27 January 1979, 9 February 1980, 15 May 1982, 13 November 1982. TV Times, 2 August 1980.

Permanent link to this article: https://televisionau.com/2019/09/obituary-paul-cronin.html

Sep 05 2019

TV At 60: TV comes to Adelaide

  • 5 September 2019

After Brisbane‘s official launch of its first television stations, Adelaide became the fourth city in Australia to receive television.

Like with other cities, Adelaide was to be served by national broadcaster ABC and two commercial channels.

The two successful applicants for commercial licences in October 1958 were Southern Television Corporation Ltd and Television Broadcasters Ltd.

Southern Television Corporation’s major shareholders were News Limited and Hume Broadcasters. News Limited, headed by 27-year-old Rupert Murdoch, published Adelaide’s daily afternoon newspaper The News. Hume Broadcasters controlled Adelaide radio station 5DN. The new television station was to adopt the call-sign NWS9 — deriving its name from News Limited — and marked Murdoch’s first move into television.

Television Broadcasters Ltd’s major shareholder was Advertiser Newspapers Ltd, a member of the Herald and Weekly Times group and whose media assets included The Advertiser, radio station 5AD in Adelaide and regional radio stations 5MU, 5PI and 5SE. Also investing in the new company was fellow Adelaide radio station 5KA and Associated Newspapers of London. The new television station was to become ADS7.

The race was then on to get to air — with NWS determined to be first of the three channels to commence official operation. NWS9 was building its new studio on Tynte Street, North Adelaide, across the road from 5DN. Meanwhile, ADS7 was setting up studios on Strangways Terrace, also in North Adelaide, adjacent to a historic two-storey mansion (pictured above), built in 1913, which became the station’s administration block. ABC was building its new studios for ABS2 in the suburb of Collinswood.

In choosing locations to build their stations, it was crucial that they had line-of-sight to the top of Mount Lofty to allow them to beam their signal via microwave to the TV transmitters being built on top of the mountain, to then be broadcast to Adelaide’s population of around 700,000 — representing about 77 per cent of South Australia’s population.

The local sale of TV sets commenced from Monday 4 May 1959, with ADS7 conducting test transmissions from two weeks prior, and NWS9 starting its testing on the day. The transmissions mostly consisted of test patterns and short films, not necessarily intended for mass audiences but there were crowds all around TV retailers in the city and suburbs in order to get their first glimpse at television. Retailers like Myer, Sven Kallin, Rundle’s, Ernsmiths and John Martin’s were well stocked for the rush in people buying TV sets. More than 15,000 sets were reported to ready for eager buyers across Adelaide and nearer country areas.

One retailer attracted crowds by having a TV camera onsite to capture people’s reactions and have the pictures displayed on a closed-circuit television, allowing budding viewers to see themselves on TV. It was a feature popular with children, especially those pulling faces on camera!

Another store had a mini-studio set up on its second floor so that interviews could be conducted with people selected from the crowd outside and the interviews displayed for those watching TVs through store windows on the ground floor.

Some store windows with TVs on display still attracted crowds of keen viewers even when there was no TV pictures being transmitted and the screens were just flickering or showing static.

NWS9’s ambitions of being the first station to open were almost dashed when a fire tore through part of its newly-constructed studio complex one night in June. The fire destroyed a small presentation studio, props area and carpenter’s store and part of the building’s roof structure was warped from the heat. The fire was estimated to have caused £10,000 in damage. No electrical equipment was reported damaged, but a significant amount of cabling was damaged and had to be re-installed as the affected areas were re-built.

The small studio was intended to host NWS9’s first live production to be conducted during its test transmission phase. Nine’s search for a TV hostess was to culminate in the finalists being announced in a special program, Clarkson’s TV Hostess Quest. With the intended studio out of action, Nine had to find another means to present the program. It was eventually found that the only room fit to broadcast the show was the women’s dressing room. The small room had to accommodate host Kevin Crease, the four finalists, a cameraman and a bulky studio camera, with a set backdrop hurriedly built at the last minute. The winner of the quest was housewife Joan Peake.

NWS9 made its official debut on Saturday 5 September 1959. Programming started at 2.30pm with cartoons, short films and a Western starring Roy Rogers. There was no gala opening ceremony or large scale special to welcome the channel, apart from a half-hour documentary tracing the building of the new station and a short speech to viewers by South Australian Premier Sir Thomas Playford.

The rest of the night’s line-up consisted of overseas programs — The Lilli Palmer Show, State Trooper, This Is Fred Astaire, The Webb and the film Wild Blue Yonder — before a news update and the epilogue closed the night’s transmission at 11.00pm.

Nine did have a more lavish affair when it launched its new variety show Adelaide Tonight, with a proud Murdoch in the studio audience along with invited government dignitaries and station sponsors. The show made its debut at 9.30pm on Saturday 17 October with host Lionel Williams and fellow NWS personalities Kevin Crease and Leona Gay. Performers in the first show included American comedian Oscar Cartier, local singer Paula Kitson, comedian Hal Turner and a 24-year-old Malaysian student by the name of Kamahl making his television debut. Music was provided by Nine’s own orchestra, directed by Walter Lund.

A week after Adelaide Tonight‘s debut, on 24 October the city’s second channel, ADS7, was officially opened. Seven’s opening night commenced with an official opening ceremony by South Australian Governor Sir Robert George at 7.30pm, followed by a short film, This Is TV, and preview scenes of upcoming ADS7 programs.

At 8.15pm, Sydney performer and TV host Michael Cole comperes the one-hour Variety Spectacular, featuring interstate guest artists Buster Fiddess, Bobby Limb, Heather Horwood and local performers Eric Smart and Murray McKechnie, with the Channel 7 Ballet and Channel 7 Orchestra. After the one-hour special were imported programs Deadline For Action and Bachelor Father, followed by news headlines and then Reverend Erwin Vogt introduced ADS7’s religious programs before the channel shut down for the night.

The following night’s lineup included the launch of new locally-produced programs Stairway To The Stars, Meet The Press, quiz show Noughts And Crosses and religious discussion I Challenge The Minister. Filmed programs on the second night included the debut of Disneyland and the Fred Astaire movie Top Hat.

It was March 1960 before ABC launched its Adelaide TV station ABS2 from its Collinswood studios, although it was presenting test programs from mid-February. Opening night on Friday 11 March started at 7.00pm with a 20-minute introduction featuring speeches from Postmaster-General Charles Davidson, South Australian Premier Sir Thomas Playford and Opposition Leader Michael O’Halloran. This was followed by the first ABC news bulletin then US sitcom The Phil Silvers Show, a documentary on Soviet leader Nikita Khrushchev, Western series Tales Of Wells Fargo, British drama Boyd QC, a local documentary on Adelaide and a live music program before the documentary Growing Up With Guba. It was a program line-up that had much in common with Brisbane’s ABC station ABQ2 when it debuted four months earlier.

Source: The 11th Annual Report Of The Australian Broadcasting Control Board, 1958-59. Miracle On Tynte Street — The Channel Nine Story, Rex Heading & Trevor Jones, 1996. The Advertiser, 4 May 1959, 5 May 1959, 5 September 1959, 7 September 1959, 17 October 1959, 23 October 1959, 24 October 1959, 26 October 1959, 11 March 1960.

Permanent link to this article: https://televisionau.com/2019/09/tv-at-60-tv-comes-to-adelaide.html

Aug 20 2019

Obituary: Ben Unwin

  • 20 August 2019

Former Home And Away star Ben Unwin has died, a day before his 42nd birthday.

NSW Police has said in a statement: “Police attended Minyon Falls, Whian Whian, responding to a concern for welfare. The body of a 41-year-old man was located. The death has not been treated as suspicious.”

Unwin went into Home And Away straight out of high school. He had auditioned for another role but producers ended up creating a new role of Jesse McGregor specially for him.

He starred in Home And Away from 1996 to 2000, being nominated for Most Popular New Male Talent at the TV Week Logie Awards in 1997.

He took a break from the series to travel overseas and completed computer studies, before producers offered him his old job back. He stayed in the series again for another three years.

He also appeared in ABC series GP and Eggshells.

He later quit showbusiness and completed a law degree and worked as a solicitor.

Source: news.com.au, Who Weekly, IMDB. What’s On Weekly, 17 August 2002.

Lifeline 131114 https://www.lifeline.org.au/ 

Beyond Blue 1300 224636 https://www.beyondblue.org.au/ 

 

Permanent link to this article: https://televisionau.com/2019/08/obituary-ben-unwin.html

Aug 16 2019

TV At 60: TV comes to Brisbane

  • 16 August 2019

Although Brisbane was the site of some of Australia’s earliest experimental television transmissions in the 1930s, television in Australia was officially launched in 1956 in the two largest cities, Sydney and Melbourne.

In September 1957, the Postmaster-General announced plans for the second stage in the introduction of television in Australia — covering Brisbane, Adelaide, Perth and Hobart.

ABC would provide the national television service, and applications were invited for an unspecified number of commercial television licences for Brisbane. Three applications were received: Queensland Television Ltd, Brisbane TV Ltd and Australian Consolidated Press.

In October 1958, the Government had announced Queensland Television Ltd and Brisbane TV Ltd as the successful applicants for what would become QTQ9 and BTQ7.

Although a majority of the investment in Queensland Television Ltd was through local shareholders, investors also included Amalgamated Television Services (ATN7, Sydney), General Television Corporation (GTV9, Melbourne), NBC International in the United States and Associated Television from the United Kingdom.

Brisbane TV’s largest shareholder was Queensland Newspapers Pty Ltd, with other investors including regional newspaper publishers from Queensland and northern New South Wales, AWA, Commonwealth Broadcasting Corporation (radio station 4BC, Brisbane), the Herald and Weekly Times (HSV7, Melbourne)  and Associated Newspapers (London).

Australian Consolidated Press’ application was rejected as although it was deemed to have capacity to operate a commercial television service, as it was already doing in Sydney, most of its share register was based in Sydney, with very little representation from Queensland — while the other two applicants both had a majority of investment from within Queensland.

Both QTQ9 and BTQ7 set up studios and transmission towers on Mt Coot-tha, west of the Brisbane CBD, while ABC’s ABQ2 was also to broadcast from a tower on Mt Coot-tha, but with its studios based in the suburb of Toowong.

BTQ7’s studios were billed as the largest of the three new channels, with the complete station construction reported to have cost £600,000.

QTQ9 commenced test pattern broadcasts from 1 July 1959 — the same day that the moratorium on the local retail of TV sets was lifted. The station was officially launched on Sunday 16 August 1959 with a four-hour schedule. The first face seen from the channel was Hugh Cornish, who would go on to become QTQ9’s chief on-air personality and general manager.  He also presented QTQ9’s first news service, a 15-minute bulletin later that night.

The Postmaster-General, Charles Davidson, officially opened the channel and there were also speeches from Queensland Premier Frank Nicklin, Lord Mayor Reg Groom and QTQ chairman Douglas Wadley, and a message of congratulations from Prime Minister Robert Menzies.

The speeches followed a 15-minute film documenting the construction of QTQ9’s studios and featuring various aerial shots of Brisbane.

But with Brisbane’s major newspaper The Courier-Mail being owned in common with upcoming rival channel BTQ7, its coverage of QTQ9’s official opening was decidedly brief — with a single article of a few paragraphs and no pictures, buried deep in the next day’s newspaper.

BTQ7 was to open on Sunday 1 November 1959. At 6.00pm, the chimes from Brisbane’s City Hall were broadcast to thousands of south east Queensland viewers, leading into a station identification announcement by station presenter Brian Tait before handing over to program manager Wilson Irving. The station was soon officially opened by Deputy Governor and Chief Justice of Queensland, Sir Alan Mansfield.

There were more speeches to round out the 15-minute opening ceremony, before BTQ7 crossed to its first news bulletin, read by Brian Cahill and with weather presented by Nancy Knudsen.

After the 15-minute news bulletin was the Brisbane debut of Disneyland and Robin Hood, before the station’s first movie, Casablanca. This was followed by the first edition of interview program Meet The Press before PME Playhouse featured Malaya Incident, starring Richard Egan and Ann Sheridan.

Ending the night’s transmission was a news update from Brian Tait, a weather forecast with Sybil Francis and the epilogue from the Council of Churches.

The next night was ABC’s turn, with more than 300 people attending the official celebration of the opening of ABQ2 at Middenbury House, adjacent to the ABQ studios. ABC radio announcer Russ Tyson was the first face to be seen on the channel, introducing ABC chairman Sir Richard Boyer to welcome viewers to the new channel. ABQ2 was then declared open by Postmaster-General Charles Davidson before a welcome message from the BBC. Ron Brady presented ABQ2’s first news bulletin, which was followed by US sitcom The Phil Silvers Show, a documentary of Princess Alexandra’s Queensland visit, drama series Wells Fargo, documentary Growing Up With Guba, British drama Boyd QC, a live studio recital from Queensland musicians and vocalists, then a documentary on Soviet leader Nikita Khrushchev.

The transmission closed with a televised unveiling of a plaque installed at the entrance to the ABQ building.

With three channels now on the air, it then became a battle for the attention of viewers. With the advent of competition from two new channels, QTQ9 instantly expanded its schedule to commence at 5.00pm each weekday afternoon.

While most filmed programs such as dramas, serials and movies came from the United States or, in the case of ABC, the United Kingdom, the three channels fought it out with their own live shows — including children’s shows in the afternoons, the evening news and then local variety and quiz shows.

But keen viewers in Brisbane’s CBD may have also noticed a fourth TV “channel” on their TV set. The electrical trades section of Brisbane’s Technical College in George Street had been granted a special experimental licence to broadcast a low-power signal on Channel 10. The special channel was intended to aid the school in training new TV servicemen and any signal emanating from Channel 10 was likely to only be receivable from within the immediate area around the college.

The college had invested more than £75,000 in setting up its TV training facility.

Source: The Courier Mail, 1 July 1959, 17 August 1959, 2 November 1959, 3 November 1959. TV Week, 11 August 1984. The 11th Annual Report Of The Australian Broadcasting Control Board, 1958-59.

 

Permanent link to this article: https://televisionau.com/2019/08/tv-at-60-tv-comes-to-brisbane.html

Jul 28 2019

Obituary: Bruce Webster

  • 28 July 2019

Bruce Webster, veteran broadcaster and newsman for ABC and the Seven Network, has died at the age of 92.

Born in Melbourne and having had “average schooling”, Webster got his first job at ABC as a messenger boy in 1947. A year later he was invited to fill in for a radio announcer who had called in sick.

Webster went on to work across ABC radio and television for 17 years. His involvement at ABC television dates back to before its launch in 1956, presenting test shows like Beat The Clock that were made as a training exercise for the new medium.

Over his years at ABC, he covered various special and momentous events, including Royal and Papal tours and Olympic and Commonwealth Games. He also served as a trainer and mentor to other broadcasting staff.

After leaving ABC, Webster worked as a publicity officer for an Australian airline before joining ATN7, Sydney, as co-host of its new breakfast show, Sydney Today, launched in January 1969. Hosting with Pat Lovell,  Geoff Stone and Alan Wilkie, Sydney Today later expanded to Melbourne to become Today, Seven’s first “network” breakfast news program.

Webster also covered the Apollo 11 moon landing at Cape Canaveral for Seven.

Today wound up in 1974. Webster then moved into NSW state politics, serving as member for Pittwater for three years.

He later returned to ABC, working on radio in Canberra and hosting a weekly Parliamentary review, The House, for ABC television. He went on to host ABC’s radio coverage of federal parliament for the network that is now ABC News radio.

He retired in 1992.

Just days before his passing, Website spoke to ABC Central Coast radio for the 50th anniversary of his coverage of the Apollo 11 moon landing.

The funeral for Bruce Webster will be held on the NSW central coast on 5 August.

Source: TV Tonight, Radio Info, ABC . TV Week, 11 March 1972. Forty Years Of Television: The Story Of ATN7, 1996.

 

 

Permanent link to this article: https://televisionau.com/2019/07/obituary-bruce-webster.html

Jul 23 2019

30 years since 10 TV Australia

  • 23 July 2019

The year 1988 was one of the best for the Ten Network. Ratings were high on the back of the Olympic Games, Ten News, hit shows Neighbours and The Comedy Company, Sydney rugby league and a strong line-up of movies. It also marked the network’s expansion into Perth, and in Brisbane the conversion from the somewhat troubling Channel 0 frequency to Ten.

When the year ticked over into 1989, although the network had some crisp looking graphics and a glossy station identification, the shine was starting to fade. New shows such as Roseanne, Thirtysomething and new local soap E Street were not grabbing much attention. Its overall popularity was fading in favour of a resurgent Seven Network. Ten was back firmly in third place in the ratings, after spending much of the previous year at first or second place.

Ten’s reaction, by as early in the year as April, was to bring in American television executive Bob Shanks to try and boost its fortunes. Shanks came well recommended — having been executive vice president of America’s ABC for six years and created successes like Good Morning America and 20/20 for the network.

Shanks apparently liked Neighbours and The Comedy Company but thought the rest needed an overhaul. Fledgling soap E Street was taken back to the drawing board for a drastic revamp. Likewise, a similar rework was put in place for the current affairs show Page One, which had been Ten’s pale attempt to take on 60 Minutes. It was to be re-named Public Eye.

There were some new US titles on the way, including The Wonder Years, Quantum Leap, The Bronx Zoo and a sketch comedy series called Bizarre that dated back to 1982.

But most significant was a swag of game shows: revivals of The Price Is Right, Superquiz (the old Pick A Box format) and Candid Camera, plus a new pop culture quiz, The Great TV Game Show. Hosting them were TV legends like Mike Walsh (making a return to Ten after 12 years) and Ian Turpie.

But the pinnacle was to be Family Double Dare — a prime-time version of the afternoon kids game show, hosted by Larry Emdur.

Shanks reportedly wasn’t too enamoured with Ten’s logo — a stylised “X” for the roman numeral 10 — so that was on the way out, too.

Then the teaser promos started, giving little away with mysterious shots of manila folders with bold headings like “drama” and “comedy”, and Ten personalities being over-excited about what’s to come, but not saying anything in particular. There were glimpses of the old “X” logo being painted over.

Shanks and Ten unveiled their new-look network at a flash presentation in early July. Gone would be “X” and in its place a gold-plated “10 TV Australia”. The promos stepped up ahead of the launch date, 23 July 1989.

The new-look Ten was launched at 7.30pm with a four-minute presentation leading into The Comedy Company. It was a promo that probably looked more at home in a boardroom rather than on our living room TVs. It didn’t exactly shout excitement.


YouTube: TelevisionAU

Most of what launched under 10 TV Australia was to be short lived. Family Double Dare lasted three weeks. Superquiz, The Price Is Right, Public Eye and The Great TV Game Show barely saw out the year. Candid Camera was the only one of the new commissions to see the next year.

Neighbours and E Street survived despite the falling shows around them. Of the new US shows, The Wonder Years developed a decent following.

Shanks was soon sent back to the US, well short of the three years that he had been contracted for.

In hindsight, while Ten was in third place at the start of the year, its position was not terminal. By the year’s end, it was on the way to receivership, which was to come later in 1990.

Permanent link to this article: https://televisionau.com/2019/07/30-years-since-10-tv-australia.html

Jul 22 2019

Openshop coming to Channel 75

  • 22 July 2019

Openshop, the latest shopping channel to come to free-to-air television, is ready to open on 1 August.

The new channel will broadcast on the Seven Network‘s broadcast signal on Channel 75, covering Sydney, Melbourne, Brisbane, Adelaide, Perth and Regional Queensland.

Openshop’s parent company is Hyundai Home Shopping Network Corporation, which operates Korea’s largest shopping channel.

Australia is the fourth extension of Hyundai’s global reach.

Openshop is entering what is already a crowded home shopping market, competing with Network Ten channels TVSN and Spree. The Nine Network‘s Extra and Seven’s own former 4ME have both come and gone already.

Permanent link to this article: https://televisionau.com/2019/07/openshop-coming-to-channel-75.html

Jul 21 2019

Bringing Apollo 11 to television

  • 21 July 2019

It is no surprise that the Apollo 11 mission dominated Australian television. After all, for a lot of the time, the pictures that the whole world were seeing were received on Earth by the Honeysuckle Creek tracking station and Parkes observatory in New South Wales, before being relayed to the world. All four networks mounted various levels of coverage, including a mix of direct feeds and pre-recorded documentaries and specials.

In Melbourne, GTV9 stayed on the air continuously 24 hours a day while Apollo 11 was in progress — a rare feat, if not a first for Australia at a time when all TV stations traditionally closed down overnight. Both the Nine and Seven networks had reporters based in the US to file special reports, while ATV0 set up an “Apollo News Centre” in its main studio. The channel had also made a model of the Saturn rocket and the lunar module which could be broken into sections to show viewers where the astronauts will work from.

The coverage began at 7.30am on Tuesday 15 July with live coverage of the press conference with the Apollo 11 astronauts, broadcast on GTV9, HSV7 and ATV0. National broadcaster ABC (ABV2) presented a delayed coverage later in the day, while HSV7 replayed it at 8.00am and 8.20am.

Highlights for the following days’ coverage — as listed in TV Times and The Age Green Guides for Melbourne, though similar schedules may have applied in other cities. All times were subject to last-minute changes in the Apollo 11 progress:

Wednesday 16 July

  • 7.30pm Prelude To Apollo (GTV9). CBS special received via satellite
  • 9.30pm In Melbourne Tonight (GTV9) included local guest artists performing Up Up And Away, Fly Me To The Moon and Show Me The Way To Get Out Of This World.
  • 10.26pm Man On The Moon (HSV7). Presented by Sydney newsreader Roger Climpson, tracing man’s attempts to get to the moon, from Sputnik to Apollo 11.
  • 11.15pm Apollo 11 Launching (ABV2, HSV7, GTV9, ATV0). Approximately 30-40 minutes.

Thursday 17 July

  • 7.30pm Today The Moon (GTV9). Documentary hosted by Kevin Sanders, featuring Nine Network news reporters on location at the NASA training centre in Houston, Texas. Includes recorded interviews with the astronauts and covering their final pre-launch training.

Friday 18 July 

  • 9.32am Apollo 11 (ABV2, HSV7, GTV9, ATV0), direct coverage of trans lunar coast. 15 minutes.

Saturday 19 July

  • 9.32am Apollo 11 (ABV2, HSV7, GTV9, ATV0), direct coverage of trans lunar coast. 15 minutes.
  • From midnight, GTV9 stays on-air overnight with movies, while on stand-by for updates from Apollo 11.

Sunday 20 July

  • 6.02am Apollo 11 lunar orbit (ABV2, HSV7, GTV9). Approximately 15 minutes. (ATV0 delayed at 10.45am) Replays throughout the day across ABV2, HSV7, GTV9 and ATV0.
  • Morning replays of Man On the Moon (HSV7), Prelude To Apollo (GTV9) and Today The Moon (GTV9)
  • 10.15pm Footsteps On The Moon (ATV0). Locally-produced documentary covering the background of space and lunar exploration, compiled from news film sources from around the world. One hour.
  • GTV9 and HSV7 stay on-air overnight.


YouTube: Australian Television Archive

Monday 21 July

  • 3.52am Apollo 11 (GTV9, HSV7). Direct telecast of formation flying of lunar and command modules. 30 minutes. (ABV2, ATV0 delayed at 5.40am)
  • 4.25am Apollo 9 Documentary (HSV7). One hour
  • 6.10am Apollo 11 lunar touchdown (ABV2, HSV7, GTV9, ATV0). Approximately 30-45 minutes. Replayed throughout the morning.
  • 3.57pm Apollo 11 tracking lunar surface from command module (ABV2, HSV7, GTV9, ATV0).
  • 4.12pm Apollo 11 lunar surface walk (ABV2, HSV7, GTV9, ATV0). To approximately 6.52pm.
  • 9.02pm Man On The Moon special (ABV2). Includes highlights of satellite coverage starting with the astronauts’ press conference. One hour.
  • 11.30pm Apollo 11 replay lunar touch down and surface walk (HSV7). Approximately 130 minutes.
  • GTV9 and HSV7 stay on-air overnight with movies, on stand-by for updates.

Tuesday 22 July 

  • 3.30am Apollo 11 direct telecast of lunar lift-off (ABV2, HSV7, GTV9). Approximately 40 minutes.
  • Repeats of lunar lift-off at various times between 6.00am and 9.00am (ABV2, HSV7, GTV9, ATV0) and 12.30pm (HSV7).
  • GTV9 on-air overnight with movies, on stand-by for updates.

Wednesday 23 July

  • 11.02am Apollo 11 first trans-Earth coast (ABV2, HSV7, GTV9, ATV0). Approximately 15 minutes.
  • GTV9 on-air overnight with movies, on stand-by for updates.

Thursday 24 July

  • 9.02am Apollo 11 second trans-Earth coast (ABV2, HSV7, GTV9, ATV0). Approximately 15 minutes.
  • GTV9 on-air overnight with movies, on stand-by for updates.

Friday 25 July

  • 2.30am Apollo 11 direct coverage of splashdown (audio only — no live TV coverage available) (GTV9)
  • 4.00pm Apollo 11 delayed telecast of splashdown and recovery (ABV2, HSV7, GTV9, ATV0) received from the US via satellite. 30 minutes.
  • GTV9 resumes overnight close down.

In 1970, the Apollo 11 crew receive a special edition TV Week Gold Logie for “Providing TV’s Greatest Moment In Their Moon Telecast”.

Source: The Age, 10 July 1969, 17 July 1969, 24 July 1969. TV Times, 16 July 1969. TV Week, 26 July 1969.

 

 

Permanent link to this article: https://televisionau.com/2019/07/bringing-apollo-11-to-television.html

Jul 15 2019

Obituary: Richard Carter

  • 15 July 2019

Actor Richard Carter, star of many television dramas and comedies, has died after a brief illness. He was 65.

Although he had a background in comedy, he was often cast in law enforcement roles. His many TV credits included Vietnam, Bodyline, Rafferty’s Rules, The Flying Doctors, GP, A Country Practice, Wildside, East West 101, Blue Murder, Blue Heelers,  Joanne Lees: Murder in the Outback and comedies Pizza, Stupid Stupid Man, Housos and Rake.

He also did television commercial and voice over work.

Richard Carter is survived by wife Lindsey and daughter Amy.


YouTube: Armidale Region

Source: Lisa Mann Creative Management, IMDB

Permanent link to this article: https://televisionau.com/2019/07/obituary-richard-carter.html

Jul 01 2019

The 61st TV Week Logie Awards

  • 1 July 2019

Tom Gleeson‘s campaign for the Gold Logie has paid off!

The comedian, who hosts Hard Quiz and appears as a regular on The Weekly With Charlie Pickering, collected the Gold Logie at the 61st annual TV Week Logie Awards, held on Sunday night at The Star Gold Coast.

It was Gleeson’s first time nominated for the Gold and he fought off opposition from some other first-time nominees: Eve Morey from Neighbours, Sam Mac from Sunrise and Costa Georgiadis from Gardening Australia. Also competing for the Gold this year were Rodger Corser (Doctor Doctor), Amanda Keller (The Living Room and Dancing With The Stars) and Waleed Aly (The Project).

As his game show namesake, Gleeson went ‘hard’ in campaigning for the Gold, in much the same way he campaigned for Grant Denyer to win Gold last year. It was a campaign that is reported to have put the other nominees off side. In his defence, Gleeson said that of the shows represented in the Gold Logie nominees list, Hard Quiz rates the highest, which, essentially justified his award for what is Most Popular Personality On Australian Television.

His acceptance speech alternated between sincere and savage. He acknowledged the support of Hard Quiz production crew, viewers and contestants and accepted the award as a win for comedy and for ABC — neither of which have scored a Gold Logie win since Norman Gunston (Garry McDonald) did it in 1976, a win which was also the culmination of a comic campaign and that inspired Gleeson’s efforts.

He also also cynical towards the industry and reflected that it is “dying” in the face of increased competition from other media such as streaming platforms. He also threw a few barbs at some of his fellow nominees and at Denyer, who was recently critical of Gleeson’s campaigning for him last year. It is a fine line between humour and smug, and perhaps his speech crossed that line towards the latter in part.

He summed up his speech by imploring everyone to “lighten the f*** up!”, and perhaps not to take the whole thing quite so seriously.


YouTube: Channel 9

The other Gold Logie of the night, the TV Week Logie Awards Hall of Fame, went to journalist Kerry O’Brien, whose career has spanned four networks and five decades. ABC was where he spent most of his career, including hosting The 7.30 Report, Lateline, Four Corners and many election nights. His acceptance speech was an emotional one and encouraged protection, not decimation, of the ABC. His speech took on the national challenges of reconciliation and climate change.

Perhaps more significant this year was that Australia’s two highest rated networks, Seven and Nine, did not fare well in the awards. Seven did not score a single win, while Nine shared the award of Most Popular Actress for Deborah Mailman with ABC. Streaming platform Stan, owned by Nine, also won two awards.

This shift possibly a reflection on programming trends, where the emphasis on commercial network prime time rests on reality shows and anything else is just a lower rung. Awards for news and current affairs, drama, comedy, children’s, lifestyle and light entertainment went to ABC, to SBS, to Ten and to Foxtel because Seven and Nine, despite their high ratings led by reality shows, are giving these other genres a lower ranking.

There were music performances by Jessica Mauboy, Guy Sebastian, Delta Goodrem and boy band Why Don’t We.

International guests were the cast of sitcom Young Sheldon. Their brief appearance, to introduce a single award, would hardly have justified their airfares.

Tracy Grimshaw introduced the In Memoriam segment with a tribute to Mike Willesee, and which saw the passing parade of those that we have lost in the last year accompanied by classic footage of a piano performance by Geoff Harvey, who died earlier this year.

In ratings terms, the four-hour TV Week Logie Awards telecast was watched by an average of 866,000 (5 cities, OzTAM) in overnight preliminary numbers. It was a slight increase from last year’s 852,000. The Red Carpet Arrivals as the awards prelude was watched by 799,000.

The Nine Network won the night with a share of 38.9%, followed by Seven (27.2%), Ten (14.8%), ABC (14.0%) and SBS (5.1%). Nine’s primary channel was the highest rated individual channel on 28.4%, almost ten points clear of runner up Seven (18.7%)


YouTube: Channel 9

Publicly-voted Categories:

TV WEEK GOLD LOGIE – MOST POPULAR PERSONALITY ON AUSTRALIAN TV
Tom Gleeson (Hard Quiz, ABC)

SILVER LOGIE — MOST POPULAR ACTOR
Luke McGregor (Rosehaven, ABC)

SILVER LOGIE — MOST POPULAR ACTRESS
Deborah Mailman (Bite Club/Mystery Road, Nine Network/ABC)

SILVER LOGIE — MOST POPULAR PRESENTER
Costa Georgiadis (Gardening Australia, ABC)

GRAHAM KENNEDY AWARD FOR MOST POPULAR NEW TALENT
Dylan Alcott (Invictus Games Tonight and The Set, ABC)

MOST POPULAR DRAMA PROGRAM
Mystery Road (ABC)

MOST POPULAR ENTERTAINMENT PROGRAM
Gogglebox Australia (Foxtel/10)

MOST POPULAR COMEDY PROGRAM
Have You Been Paying Attention? (10)

MOST POPULAR REALITY PROGRAM
MasterChef Australia (10)

MOST POPULAR LIFESTYLE PROGRAM
Gardening Australia (ABC)

MOST POPULAR PANEL OR CURRENT AFFAIRS PROGRAM
The Project (10)

MOST POPULAR TELEVISION COMMERCIAL
Dundee: Australia’s Tourism Ad In Disguise – Tourism Australia

Industry-voted Categories:

TV WEEK GOLD LOGIE — HALL OF FAME
Kerry O’Brien

MOST OUTSTANDING DRAMA SERIES
Wentworth (Foxtel)

MOST OUTSTANDING MINISERIES OR TELEMOVIE
Bloom (Stan)

MOST OUTSTANDING ACTOR
Scott Ryan (Mr Inbetween, Foxtel)

MOST OUTSTANDING ACTRESS
Jenna Coleman (The Cry, ABC)

MOST OUTSTANDING SUPPORTING ACTOR
Frankie J Holden (A Place To Call Home, Foxtel)

MOST OUTSTANDING SUPPORTING ACTRESS
Jacki Weaver (Bloom, Stan)

MOST OUTSTANDING ENTERTAINMENT PROGRAM
Have You Been Paying Attention? (10)

MOST OUTSTANDING CHILDREN’S PROGRAM
Bluey (ABC)

MOST OUTSTANDING SPORTS COVERAGE
The 2018 FIFA World Cup (SBS)

MOST OUTSTANDING NEWS COVERAGE OR PUBLIC AFFAIRS REPORT
“Out Of The Dark” (Four Corners, ABC)

MOST OUTSTANDING FACTUAL OR DOCUMENTARY PROGRAM
Ron Iddles: The Good Cop (Foxtel)

MOST OUTSTANDING REALITY PROGRAM
Australian Survivor: Champions Vs Contenders (10)

Source: TV Week

Data © OzTAM Pty Limited 2019. The Data may not be reproduced, published or communicated (electronically or in hard copy) in whole or in part, without the prior written consent of OzTAM.

Program performance and ranking information subject to change when not based on final program logs.

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