TV At 60: This Is It! ATV0 begins

The launch of Melbourne’s new commercial channel, ATV0 in 1964, was the first link in the establishment of a third commercial network in Australia.

Austarama Television, a subsidiary of Ansett Transport Industries, was awarded the licence to operate the new Melbourne channel in April 1963. Austarama was one of six applicants for the licence and planned to have ATV0 launch on 1 August 1964. The choice of date was not insignificant, as station owner Reg Ansett was a fan of horses and the date of 1 August is officially the horses’ birthday.

Construction of the station premises, amid the paddocks and fields of what was then the fringe of Melbourne suburbia, allowed for four separate studios — three to be operational by the time the channel was due to launch — and an isolated lobby area, including toilets and kiosk, for studio audience members to enter the premises without getting in the way of operational areas.

Technically speaking the station was set to be the most modern of its time, employing around £1 million of transistor-equipped technology plus installing 10 cameras and three videotape machines — each machine worth £40,000. “We are very fortunate in just getting a station going when there has been a large revolution in the TV equipment field, thanks to the introduction of the transistor,” chief engineer Graeme Davey told TV Week at the time. “Due to the reliability of transistors, the quality of the picture is more consistent.”

With launch day set for 1 August, ATV0 began test pattern transmissions in April, and from 4 May started daily 12-hour transmissions of music and short films, primarily for technical testing and to assist viewers and TV installers in tuning sets to the new channel. The test schedule included no commercials.

The channel came under fire from the Australian Broadcasting Control Board as details of the first week’s schedule had been “leaked” and published by print media outlets including The Age newspaper and TV Times. The board’s rules stated that specific details of such test programs were not to be advertised and not to consist of general entertainment programming. “Publicity should be limited to the times at which the test transmission will be made, and a general idea of the type of material to be transmitted,” a broadcasting control board spokesperson told TV Week. “Test transmissions are not intended to provide entertainment for viewers generally.”

A representative from ATV0 said the channel “did not issue program details” and that the board was right to approach the channel on the matter.

As preparations for the new channel continued, station General Manager Len Mauger gave TV Times an insight into some of the planning of the new station:

“There are quite a lot of independent film companies in this country. I have already spoken to these people and I have told them that our policy is to help the independent producer.”

“We have also said, and I would like to reiterate, that we want to show Australians Australia. As you know there are a lot of people living in this community as well as right throughout Australia who have not seen their own country.”

On the issue of news, Mauger said immediacy is the key — and having an owner with interests in the aviation industry would be of benefit, particularly with the station being based on the suburban fringe:

“When a news story breaks we hope people will automatically come to our channel. I know the other channels are doing this to a degree in Melbourne, but we are hoping that with our modern equipment, we will always be ready for the immediate news story… If the story is big enough we will interrupt our normal programs… Of course, we will have the facilities of the helicopters which will help us immensely.”

And on the issue of converting older TV sets (pre-1961) to receive Channel 0:

“We have embarked on an advertising campaign to draw the attention of the Melbourne viewers to the fact that their sets may not be able to take Channel 0, and if so, then we do suggest that they get in touch with their service repair organisation.”

As well as placing full-page magazine ads to raise awareness of the new channel, ATV0 was also successful in having announcements played on rival channel HSV7 with reminders to assist viewers in tuning in to the new channel.

The press was also ready to give speculation as to the celebrities that could be lining up for a job at the new channel. In February, six months before ATV0’s debut, TV Times columnist Marsha Prysuska reported:

“Ex-compere of GMV Juniors Miss Nancy Cato was in Melbourne this week, mysteriously hinting that she had a job all lined up in “six or seven months’ time”. Funny, but counting it up on my fingers, that would make it about August and, guess what? That’s when ATV0 opens for business.”

Ms Prysuska’s hunch turned out to be correct, as less than two months later Nancy Cato was announced as host of The Children’s Show (later The Magic Circle Club). Also to appear on The Children’s Show were Michael Boddy, 3XY announcer Colin McEwan and Scottish comedian Alec Finlay. The new show was to be produced by Godfrey Philipp, formerly of GTV9 and Newcastle station NBN3, and directed by Tony Hollins, of Gippsland station GLV10. (Finlay ended up leaving the show after four days over a contract dispute)

The booming teenage market was to be catered for by pop music show Go!!, initially hosted by Alan Field, the English comedian who had come to Australia to host The Beatles concerts. Also signed up for regular appearances on Go!! were performers Ian Turpie, April Byron and Colin Cook. The new show was a hit with teenagers before it had even begun — with studio audience tickets booked out for up to a year in advance, before a single episode had even been aired.

Brian Wright, ATV0’s news director formerly of Sydney station ATN7, had bold plans for the channel’s news coverage. “Our aim is simple and straightforward — with our tie-up with major Australian and overseas news organisations, we intend to make ATV0 the strongest news station in Australia,” he told TV Week. His team of news presenters included former BBC and GTV9 newsreader Barry McQueen and Canadian-born Neill Phillipson, recruited from Toowoomba station DDQ10.

YouTube: Australian Television Archive

Leading ATV0’s news coverage was a 45-minute news bulletin each weeknight at 6.15pm, fronted by McQueen, giving the channel a 15-minute head start on the half-hour bulletins of rivals HSV7 and GTV9. Weekend news bulletins were shorter — 15 minutes — but screened at 5.45pm, before the rival channel bulletins.

McQueen was also assigned the job of hosting interview series Pacemakers, set to appear in a weekly 7.30pm timeslot. Another interview and discussion program, In Close-Up, was scheduled for Tuesday nights, hosted by former advertising executive RR Walker, a newcomer to television at the age of 50. Walker was also appointed to host Focus, a late Sunday night current affairs program.

Also planned to launch in the station’s debut week were sports programs Philip Gibbs’ Sports Angle and Goal To Goal and variety/chat show The Ray Taylor Show.

Diana Trask, one of Melbourne’s most popular performers, was caught in a tussle between both ATV0 and GTV9. She had just returned from an American tour and both channels were more than keen to secure her services — despite her asking price of £150 per song which ranked her as one of the highest paid performers in the country. Eventually, Trask signed with GTV9 for fortnightly appearances on variety shows such as In Melbourne Tonight, but her contract allowed her to appear on ATV0 for its opening night.

Also signed up for the opening night special, This Is It!, were performer Vikki Hammond, previously of HSV7’s The Delo And Daly Show, Wynn Roberts, Brian James, Keith Michell, Kathy Gorham, Elsie Morrison, Lionel Long, Harold Blair and Lou Toppano’s 26-piece orchestra.

Opening night — 1 August 1964 — was a star-studded affair as various dignitaries and showbusiness identities descended towards the station’s new studio complex in the area to become known as Nunawading. Guests arriving at the special event were interviewed by Barry McQueen and Nancy Cato, before the channel made its official debut at 7.00pm. Station owner Reg Ansett and general manager Len Mauger made brief opening speeches before This Is It! — a one-hour special of music, variety and comedy based around Melbourne’s excitement for the new channel, hosted by Ray Taylor.

YouTube: Australian Television Archive

The Age later reviewed This Is It! as a bold start for the channel: “This Is It! was at best an exercise in presenting something different by taking Melbourne, and its history, on a gay jaunt. This it set out to do with varying degrees of success, diverting only in two instances to pay tribute to the war effort, and Dame Nellie Melba. The program showed more boldness than finesse in dealing with the “sacred cows”, notably the RSL (in the Mafia reference), and by sending up Melbourne’s love of sport with a film simulating the birth of Australian Rules football. We saw Ray Taylor, who is being “groomed” as the station’s star personality. He will please viewers who have been clamouring for more sophisticated, revue-type entertainment. This looks like his field.”

TV Times columnist Frank Doherty gave This Is It! a mixed review: “Among its good points I list the script-writing highest… It brought us a brand of slick humour and gentle satire that was the closest to the best quality English television scripting yet seen and heard here. The audience, for once, was treated as adult. At times, too, the camerawork was excellent. It did its part well in the opening segments to build up the feeling of suspense but, unaccountably, fell down badly in other segments. Some parts of This Is It! were slow, too drawn-out and tedious. Sharper editing and a more highly-developed sense of “snappiness” in the producer could have overcome that.”

TV Week took an alternative approach and surveyed 50 people. While around 80 per cent said they liked This Is It!, the comments were mixed:

“I thought This Is It! was terrific. I thought Vikki Hammond was colossal and Diana Trask very good.” (male, South Melbourne)
“I thought the opening show was alright. I got bored once or twice but I kept watching. I was a bit surprised to see the cameramen moving about. They don’t do that on other stations, do they?” (female, 18 years old, Braybrook)
“I liked the presentation of This Is It! I thought the whole show was very good. They way they got around Melbourne was first class.” (male, 18 years old, West Footscray)
“I was not really impressed. ATV0 reminded me of ABV2 (ABC). I switched it off.” (female, Burwood)
“It was just a show — nothing spectacular about it.” (female, South Melbourne)
“I was disappointed. Some parts were okay but in others they just rambled on. Before they went on, ATV0 said they would be better than other stations. They weren’t.” (male, Camberwell)
“For a first night, it was an excellent performance. You could expect teething problems but I didn’t see any.” (male, Elsternwick)

This Is It! was followed by Seven Wonderful Nights, a half-hour preview of the upcoming week of shows to come from the new channel, then The Dinah Shore Show (featuring a performance by Joan Sutherland) and Summer Of The Seventeenth Doll, the film adaptation of the play written by Australian Ray Lawler.

YouTube: Australian Television Archive

Rival channels weren’t about to give the new channel a free kick for its first night, either — in particular HSV7, which at the last minute strategically programmed a Beatles special followed by the TV premiere of the film Guys And Dolls.

The channel didn’t just hope to rely on its own production to gain viewers, it also had an impressive line-up of overseas programs, some of which were snapped away from rival channels. Programs like Sergeant Bilko, Maverick, Bonanza, The Patty Duke Show, The Greatest Show On Earth, The Fugitive, The Phil Silvers Show, Outer Limits, Ivanhoe, Burke’s Law, Grindl, The Steve Allen Show, Temple Houston, The Richard Boone Show, The Grey Ghost and The Bill Dana Show were among those launched in ATV0’s first week.

After ATV0’s launch in August 1964, it was to be another eight months before its Sydney counterpart, TEN10, was officially opened in April, 1965. This was followed by TVQ0, Brisbane, and SAS10, Adelaide in July 1965. The network of channels became known as the Independent Television System, later the 0-10 Network.

The network changed its name to Network Ten in 1980, when ATV0 changed its broadcast frequency to Channel 10. ATV10 eventually moved out of the Nunawading studio site in 1992. The studios continued to serve as an outsourced production facility and as at 2024 is the base for the long-running series Neighbours.