The Making of ATV Channel 0

It is not often that we can witness the construction of a television station.

However, thanks to rare footage that has come to light, we now get a close-up glimpse at the formation, construction and early days of Melbourne’s third commercial station ATV Channel 0 (now the Melbourne branch of Network Ten).

The licence to operate ATV0 was awarded to transport tycoon Reg Ansett in April 1963. By the end of the year, construction of a modern studio complex had commenced amid the paddocks and fields of what was then the fringe of Melbourne suburbia.

The Australian Television Archive has recently published to YouTube some of the behind the scenes moments in the construction of a studio building, including some examples of the technology of the day. There are also some on-air segments — such as snippets from This Is It! and Seven Wonderful Nights (both broadcast on opening night, 1 August 1964) and The Children’s Show, and a promo for the channel’s news service, ATV News Report.

Some of this footage has likely never been broadcast or not seen since originally going to air at the time.

These and many other clips of ATV0 and Australian television in general can be found at the Australian Television Archive.

 

 

 

Permanent link to this article: https://televisionau.com/2017/12/the-making-of-atv-channel-0.html

Nine axes Perth newsreaders

The Nine Network has handed its Perth newsreaders a sobering Christmas present by giving them both the flick.

It was revealed in an internal email, leaked to the media late last week, that Tim McMillan and Emmy Kubainski had not been re-signed for 2018.

“This is difficult news to pass on, but I want to let you know that Nine Perth is making changes to the News team as part of a broader change of direction for our bulletin in 2018,” the leaked email read.

“I’d like to thank both Tim and Emmy on behalf of the Newsroom for the contribution to Nine and wish them well for the future.”

It is unclear what the stated “change of direction” for the Perth news entailed, with Nine still to announce its local news line-up for 2018.

Perth-born McMillan had been with Nine News in Perth since 2013, having previously worked at Nine and at ABC in Melbourne.

As well as reading the 6.00pm news, he also had a stint as presenter of Nine’s early morning Perth Today News.

Kubainski had joined Nine in 2015 after working at ABC and at Seven in Perth, including reading Seven’s weekend news bulletin for five years.

While Nine News dominates the 6.00pm ratings on the east coast, over in the west it has long struggled to come anywhere near beating rival Seven News, which has been anchored for over 30 years by popular pair Rick Ardon and Susannah Carr.

Nine has tried various newsreading teams in Perth over the years in the hope of gaining an edge over Seven, with past presenters including Peter Barlow, Russell Goodrick, Peter Waltham, Greg Pearce, Anne Conti, Liam Bartlett, Tina Altieri, Peter Holland, Terry Willesee, Dixie Marshall and Sonia Vinci.

Source: PerthNow

 

 

Permanent link to this article: https://televisionau.com/2017/12/nine-axes-perth-newsreaders.html

Obituary: Rory O’Donoghue

Rory O’Donoghue, actor, musician, composer and performer best known from sketch comedy series The Aunty Jack Show, has died at the age of 68.

Born in London, he came with his family to Australia at the age of seven. Before coming to Australia, his parents were both performers with the D’Oyly Carte Opera Company.

O’Donoghue made his performing debut at the age of 13 in the stage musical Oliver!, followed by The Sound Of Music.

He formed an early partnership with Grahame Bond, working together in comedy revues and later making television commercials — with clients including banks, publishers and oil companies.  They then created the pilot for Aunty Jack as part of ABC‘s The Comedy Game, with Bond as Aunty Jack and O’Donoghue as Thin Arthur.

The Aunty Jack Show debuted as a series in November 1972 and only went for two seasons but its legacy lasted far longer, with the show creating the character Norman Gunston (Garry McDonald) and its cast appearing in a one-off skit to signal the launch of colour television for ABC in 1975.


YouTube: National Archives of Australia

O’Donoghue continued to work as a musician and composer and later television credits included Wollongong The Brave, The Of Show and children’s game show Razzle Dazzle.

Source: Jessica O’DonoghueWikipedia, IMDB, TV Tonight. TV Times, 2 December 1972, 3 November 1973.

 

 

Permanent link to this article: https://televisionau.com/2017/12/obituary-rory-odonoghue.html

Lateline bids farewell after 28 years

ABC‘s late night current affairs program Lateline signed off on Friday night, ending a 28-year run.

The final edition had host Emma Alberici joined by former Lateline hosts Kerry O’Brien, Maxine McKew and Leigh Sales (and with apologies from an absent Tony Jones, who is overseas) to talk about their favourite  moments from the show.

Lateline began on ABC on Tuesday 13 February 1990, competing against Seven‘s new high-profile Tonight Live With Steve Vizard and the revamped news program Coast On Coast on Nine. There was no pay TV, no internet and no smartphones.

It initially ran Tuesday to Thursday nights with O’Brien and promised a new angle on current affairs television with a focus on serious commentary, international affairs and satellite interviews with some very significant political players and world leaders.

In more recent years Lateline was bumped to an earlier timeslot, 9.30pm (Eastern), over on the ABC News channel while maintaining its  traditional 10.30pm timeslot as a replay on ABC.

The axe to Lateline comes as ABC has also made cuts to radio current affairs programs The World Today and PM.

The final episode of Lateline is currently available on ABC iView until 7 January 2018.

 

Permanent link to this article: https://televisionau.com/2017/12/lateline-bids-farewell-after-28-years.html

The 7th AACTA Awards

ABC‘s Seven Types Of Ambiguity and Foxtel drama Top Of The Lake: China Girl were the biggest winners in the television categories at the 7th AACTA Awards.

The awards presentation was held on Wednesday night at Sydney’s Star Event Centre, following a smaller luncheon event held the previous week.

Seven Types Of Ambiguity (starring Alex Dimitriades and Leeanna Wallsman, pictured)  won five awards, including Hugo Weaving for Best Lead Actor In A Television Drama, plus awards for Best Direction In A Television Drama Or Comedy, Best Screenplay In Television, Best Cinematography In Television and Best Editing In Television.

Top Of The Lake: China Girl collected four awards including Best Television Drama Series and Elizabeth Moss for Best Lead Actress In A Television Drama. Ewen Leslie won Best Guest Or Supporting Actor In A Television Drama, and Nicole Kidman won Best Guest Or Supporting Actress In A Television Drama.

Other television productions to collect awards included Sunshine (SBS), Wake In Fright (Network Ten), Utopia (ABC), Rosehaven (ABC), A Place To Call Home (Foxtel), Wentworth (Foxtel), Australian Survivor (Network Ten), Australian Ninja Warrior (Nine Network), Little Lunch: The Specials (ABC) and Masterchef Australia (Network Ten).

The Seven Network, which televised the awards, collected one AACTA — for Best Costume Design In Television for the mini-series Blue Murder.

David Speers (Sky News Australia) and Margaret Pomeranz (Stage And Screen) won best male and female presenter awards for subscription television.

Actor Simon Baker won the 2017 AACTA Trailblazer Award. From early television roles in E Street, GP, Home And Away and Heartbreak High, Baker has become a success overseas with leading roles in US dramas The Guardian and The Mentalist and film credits including LA Confidential, The Devil Wears Prada, Margin Call and The Killer Inside.

AACTA LONGFORD LYELL AWARD
Phillip Noyce

AACTA TRAILBLAZER AWARD
Simon Baker

BYRON KENNEDY AWARD
Martin Butler, Bentley Dean

AACTA AWARD FOR BEST TELEVISION DRAMA SERIES
TOP OF THE LAKE: CHINA GIRL Emile Sherman, Iain Canning, Jane Campion, Philippa Campbell, Libby Sharpe – Foxtel/BBC First

AACTA AWARD FOR BEST TELEFEATURE OR MINI SERIES
SUNSHINE Ian Collie, Anna McLeish, Sarah Shaw – SBS

AACTA AWARD FOR BEST TELEVISION COMEDY SERIES
UTOPIA Santo Cilauro, Tom Gleisner, Rob Sitch, Michael Hirsh – ABC

AACTA AWARD FOR BEST LIGHT ENTERTAINMENT TELEVISION SERIES
AUSTRALIAN NINJA WARRIOR Julie Ward, Mark Barlin, Sophia Mogford – Nine Network

AACTA AWARD FOR BEST LIFESTYLE TELEVISION PROGRAM
SELLING HOUSES AUSTRALIA Geoff Fitzpatrick, Duane Hatherly – Foxtel/Lifestyle

AACTA AWARD FOR BEST REALITY TELEVISION SERIES
MASTERCHEF AUSTRALIA Marty Benson, Adam Fergusson, Tim Toni – Network Ten

AACTA AWARD FOR BEST CHILDREN’S TELEVISION SERIES
LITTLE LUNCH – THE SPECIALS Robyn Butler, Wayne Hope – ABC

AACTA AWARD FOR BEST LEAD ACTOR IN A TELEVISION DRAMA
Hugo Weaving SEVEN TYPES OF AMBIGUITY – ABC

AACTA AWARD FOR BEST LEAD ACTRESS IN A TELEVISION DRAMA
Elisabeth Moss TOP OF THE LAKE: CHINA GIRL – Foxtel/BBC First

AACTA AWARD FOR BEST PERFORMANCE IN A TELEVISION COMEDY
Celia Pacquola ROSEHAVEN – ABC

AACTA AWARD FOR BEST GUEST OR SUPPORTING ACTOR IN A TELEVISION DRAMA
Ewen Leslie TOP OF THE LAKE: CHINA GIRL – Foxtel/BBC First

AACTA AWARD FOR BEST GUEST OR SUPPORTING ACTRESS IN A TELEVISION DRAMA
Nicole Kidman TOP OF THE LAKE: CHINA GIRL – Foxtel/BBC First

AACTA AWARD FOR BEST DIRECTION IN A TELEVISION DRAMA OR COMEDY
SEVEN TYPES OF AMBIGUITY Episode 2 – Alex Glendyn Ivin – ABC

AACTA AWARD FOR BEST DIRECTION IN A TELEVISION LIGHT ENTERTAINMENT, LIFESTYLE OR REALITY SERIES
AUSTRALIAN SURVIVOR Episode 1 Richard Franc – Network Ten

AACTA AWARD FOR BEST SCREENPLAY IN TELEVISION
SEVEN TYPES OF AMBIGUITY Episode 2 – Alex Jacquelin Perske – ABC

AACTA AWARD FOR BEST CINEMATOGRAPHY IN TELEVISION
SEVEN TYPES OF AMBIGUITY Episode 1 – Joe Bonnie Elliott – ABC

AACTA AWARD FOR BEST EDITING IN TELEVISION
SEVEN TYPES OF AMBIGUITY Episode 1 – Joe Rodrigo Balart – ABC

AACTA AWARD FOR BEST SOUND IN TELEVISION
WAKE IN FRIGHT Episode 1 – Part 1 Stephen Smith, Liam Price, Paul Brincat, Shanti Burn, Tony Murtagh – Network Ten

AACTA AWARD FOR BEST ORIGINAL MUSIC SCORE IN TELEVISION
WAKE IN FRIGHT Episode 1 – Part 1 Antony Partos, Matteo Zingales – Network Ten

AACTA AWARD FOR BEST PRODUCTION DESIGN IN TELEVISION
A PLACE TO CALL HOME Episode 2 – Fallout Fiona Donovan – Foxtel/Showcase

AACTA AWARD FOR BEST COSTUME DESIGN IN TELEVISION
BLUE MURDER: KILLER COP Episode 1 – Part One Damir Peranovic – Seven Network

AACTA SUBSCRIPTION TELEVISION AWARD FOR BEST FEMALE PRESENTER
Margaret Pomeranz STAGE & SCREEN – Foxtel/Arts

AACTA SUBSCRIPTION TELEVISION AWARD FOR BEST MALE PRESENTER
David Speers PM AGENDA/SPEERS TONIGHT – Foxtel/Sky News

AACTA SUBSCRIPTION TELEVISION AWARD FOR BEST LIVE EVENT PRODUCTION
JEFF HORN V MANNY PACQUIAO Steve Crawley, Matt Weiss, Joe Bromham – Foxtel/Fox Sports

AACTA SUBSCRIPTION TELEVISION AWARD FOR BEST NEW TALENT
Zahra Newman WENTWORTH – Foxtel/Showcase

Source: AACTA

 

Permanent link to this article: https://televisionau.com/2017/12/the-7th-aacta-awards.html

Obituary: Rosemary Margan

Rosemary Margan, former television and radio presenter in Melbourne, has died at the age of 80.

Margan was a water skiing champion, winner of six national titles, when she started her media career as a weather presenter at Melbourne’s GTV9 in the mid-1960s.

She presented the weather at Nine for almost a decade — mostly by ‘drawing’ the weather and temperatures from standing behind a clear perspex screen. But despite the general impression that she was drawing the temperatures backwards so that they would appear in the correct order to viewers, it was later revealed that she was drawing the numerals as normal but the picture was flipped.

Margan was also a regular hostess at the TV Week Logie Awards in the 1970s, handing out the coveted statuettes to recipients as they came on stage. She also won two Logies herself for Most Popular Female Personality In Victoria — in 1969 and 1970.

Rosemary Margan and Bert Newton at the TV Week Logie Awards, 1969.

She left Nine in 1974 to have daughter Cathy but would later continue to appear on television presenting commercials on The Graham Kennedy Show. She was inadvertently caught up in controversy when Kennedy decided to interrupt one of her commercial presentations with his imitation crow call — emulating a certain swear word and which later saw Kennedy banned from appearing on live television. Margan was not phased by Kennedy’s play on words, largely because — as she admitted many years later — she was an innocent “country girl” and not familiar with the obscenity that Kennedy had snuck into TV folklore.

During the 1980s Margan continued to present television commercials and appear on shows like Beauty And The Beast, before moving on to radio. She presented live read commercials on 3AW‘s morning show hosted by her brother-in-law Neil Mitchell. It was a role that she conducted for nearly 20 years before retiring in 2007 and moving to the Gold Coast.

Rosemary Margan is survived by husband Ross Mitchell, and daughter Cathy Godbold from a previous marriage.


YouTube: dontv3192


YouTube: panalouis

Source: Nine News, Herald Sun. TV Week, 5 April 1969, 30 December 1972.

 

Permanent link to this article: https://televisionau.com/2017/12/obituary-rosemary-margan.html

The Dream Factory pays tribute to Ripponlea

ABC this week pays tribute to its legendary Ripponlea studios in the documentary The Dream Factory.

The studios, based in the Melbourne suburb of Elsternwick and named after the historic homestead which is adjacent to it, were officially opened in May 1958, eighteen months after ABC’s Melbourne channel ABV2 began broadcasting. The studios continued to produce programming until this year — not just for ABC but on occasions the facilities were contracted out to commercial television and SBS productions.

Programs of all genres came from Ripponlea: news and current affairs, documentaries, drama, live and scripted comedy, variety, music of all types, sports, schools programs and children’s programs — even opera and Shakespeare in the earlier days of television.

Shows like Bellbird, Adventure Island, Power Without Glory, Rush, Countdown, The Saturday Show (pictured), Twenty Good Years, Australia You’re Standing In it, The Big Gig, Mercury, The D Generation, The Gillies Report, The 7.30 Report, Seachange, Spicks And Specks, The Factory, Countdown Revolution, The Late Show, Correlli, Recovery, The Micallef Program, Something In The Air, Frontline, Phoenix, Dirty Laundry Live, The Einstein Factor, The Marngrook Footy Show, The Weekly With Charlie Pickering, Hard Quiz and Shaun Micallef’s Mad As Hell.

There is a lot to cover — over 60 years of television — in only 30 minutes, but The Dream Factory takes an affectionate and almost emotional look at how Ripponlea helped shaped Australia’s television industry from its very beginning.  Presenter Ben Knight is joined by Charlie Pickering, Sigrid Thornton, John Waters, Shaun Micallef, Ian Henderson, Heather Ewart, Deborra-lee Furness, Red Symons, Simon Westaway, David Parer, Elizabeth Parer-Cook and Myf Warhurst plus ABC production crew as they recall their highlights of working at the Ripponlea studios.

ABC’s Melbourne production facilities for both radio and television are now based in the inner suburb of Southbank, on a redevelopment and expansion of the site that ABC has occupied since the 1990s.

The Dream Factory. Thursday 30 November, 8.55pm (Repeated Saturday 2 December, 2.30pm), ABC

 

Permanent link to this article: https://televisionau.com/2017/11/the-dream-factory-pays-tribute-to-ripponlea.html

TV Week turns 60

It doesn’t seem that long since it was its 50th anniversary, but this week TV Week celebrates its 60th with the first of three commemorative issues.

It had humble beginnings as TV-Radio Week (with GTV9 personalities Geoff Corke and Val Ruff on the cover, pictured above) from editor Bruce Skeggs, and for the first ten years of its life the magazine was a pocket A5-sized magazine which sold for the grand sum each week of one shilling (ten cents).

After its first year of publication, TV Week (the “Radio” had been dropped from the title early in 1958) invited Melbourne readers to vote for their favourite stars and programs in the first TV Week Awards. After In Melbourne Tonight‘s Graham Kennedy and Panda Lisner (pictured) won the top awards for “Stars of the Year”, Kennedy named the awards the Logies — after Scottish TV inventor John Logie Baird.

TV Week continued to expand across the country as television itself expanded into new territories. The first Queensland and South Australian editions were published in 1959. Tasmania followed in 1960, and Western Australia in 1961.

The magazine has kept us informed on local and overseas TV news, people and programs and dutifully provided TV listings across the country. It has followed various developments, such as the changing design of TV sets in the 1960s, the advent of colour TV in the 1970s, the home video market in the 1980s and more recently the growth in streaming media.

Columnists such as Tony Johnston, John Michael Howson , Frank Thring, Bill Collins, Lawrie Masterson, John Laws, Andrew Mercado and Judy Nunn have given personal insights into what’s happening on and off the screen.

Movies were covered comprehensively by Ivan Hutchinson and for the last 20 years by David Stratton.

Ian ‘Molly’ Meldrum covered the pop music scene for many years — and TV Week also hosted music industry events such as The TV Week King Of Pop and The TV Week Rock Awards (pictured).

TV Week has taken on competitors at both national and state levels over its 60 years of publication. TV Times was its most enduring rival — in publication in various forms from 1958 until being taken over by TV Week in 1980 — but there have been others including Listener In-TV (Victoria), TV-Radio Guide (South Australia), TV Guide, TV News, TV World, TV Day, TV Star, TV Radio Extra (South Australia), What’s On Weekly, plus newspaper guides such as The Green Guide in Melbourne and magazine inserts in various Sunday newspapers. Even celebrity magazine Who Weekly tried to enter into TV Week’s turf when it started to publish a TV guide — but TV Week remains in 2017 as the sole national TV magazine on the market.

Congratulations to TV Week on its 60th anniversary!

Permanent link to this article: https://televisionau.com/2017/11/tv-week-turns-60.html

CBS completes Ten acquisition

US broadcaster CBS Corporation has completed its takeover of Ten Network Holdings.

The deal gives the company Network Ten’s broadcast channels Ten, One and Eleven and online platform TenPlay.

In a media statement issued earlier today, Network Ten CEO Paul Anderson said:  “We are delighted that the purchase of Ten by CBS Corporation, one of the largest and most successful media organisations in the world, has been finalised.

“CBS and Ten have had a strong relationship for many years. We look forward to expanding and  strengthening that relationship, and working closely with CBS to build Ten’s presence in the Australian media industry.”

Leslie Moonves, Chairman and CEO of CBS Corporation, said: “The closing of this acquisition marks the beginning of an exciting opportunity to build and expand on our close working relationship and the great legacy of Network Ten in Australia, and to paving the way for further multiplatform distribution opportunities for CBS content. I believe our ownership helps ensure that Network Ten’s business will grow long-term, while also benefiting the Australian Media sector as a whole. We look forward to welcoming Ten and its employees to the CBS family.”

The takeover ends months (if not years) of instability surrounding the network’s ownership — with Ten going into receivership earlier this year — and finances, with the struggling network now essentially debt-free under its new owner.

CBS, which operates the #1 broadcast network in the US, has already signalled that it intends to launch its streaming service CBS All Access in Australia.

So far it remains to be see what other plans CBS has for the network, although it was reported to have been in support of Ten’s big-budget signing last month of former Today co-host Lisa Wilkinson. Wilkinson is so far known to be joining the hosting panel on The Project and The Sunday Project next year, but any other network ventures have yet to be announced.

Ahead of the CBS takeover being confirmed, Ten has already gone to market with its planned offerings for 2018. This includes the return of existing titles including MasterChef Australia, I’m A Celebrity Get Me Out Of Here, The Living Room, The Project, Neighbours, The Bachelor, The Bachelorette, Australian Survivor, Big Bash League, Gogglebox Australia, Have You Been Paying Attention?, Shark Tank, CRAM and Studio 10.

New local productions announced include Blind Date (with Julia Morris), Hughesy We Have A Problem, Bachelor In Paradise, Street Smart,  Russell Coight’s All Aussie Adventures, How To Stay Married and the new local drama series Playing For Keeps.

Source: Ten Corporate, Ten Corporate

 

Permanent link to this article: https://televisionau.com/2017/11/cbs-completes-ten-acquisition.html

Obituary: Rob Astbury

Former journalist and TV presenter Rob Astbury has died at the age of 69.

For over 20 years, Astbury was a multi-award winning investigative sports journalist and at one point was the highest-paid sports journalist in Australia.

He worked across all three commercial channels in Melbourne — initially at ATV0 (Ten), then Nine and later at Seven.

He also worked in radio, including a stint at 3AK in Melbourne.

Astbury broke many exclusive sports stories and was a recipient of two Penguin Awards and ten VFL/AFL media awards.

After leaving the media, he moved into a successful career in real estate, in Thailand for more than a decade and then later back in Australia on the Gold Coast.

In 2005, Astbury was “outed” as the secret former lover of Graham Kennedy, amid allegations made by Derryn Hinch after Kennedy’s death that the TV legend died of AIDS. This was later refuted by medical records, though Astbury would later reveal that he had contracted HIV in the early 2000s.

Astbury later wrote of his relationship with Kennedy in a book, King and I: My Life With Graham Kennedy.

Source: The Age, Peter Ford, Wikipedia


YouTube: Rob Astbury

Permanent link to this article: https://televisionau.com/2017/11/obituary-rob-astbury.html