A History of Regional Commercial Television in Australia

511 Pages·2023·14.863 MB·English

by  Michael Thurlow

A History of Regional
Commercial Television
in Australia
Michael Thurlow
A History of Regional Commercial Television
in Australia
Fig. i BTV Ballarat, main studio, 1962. Copyright Wolfgang Sievers. Image
courtesy of National Library of Australia (3309233)
Michael Thurlow
A History of Regional
Commercial Television
in Australia
Michael Thurlow
Sydney, NSW, Australia
ISBN 978-3-031-10943-0 ISBN 978-3-031-10944-7 (eBook)
https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-10944-7
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P
reface

Fig. ii Television development in Australia, Stages 1–6. Copyright Michael
Thurlow
v
vi PREFACE
Key
No. Station (by callsign and locality in commencement order)
Stage 1 commercial television stations (metropolitan)
1 TCN Sydney (NSW)
2 HSV Melbourne (Vic)
3 ATN Sydney (NSW)
4 GTV Melbourne (Vic)
Stage 2 commercial television stations (metropolitan)
5 QTQ Brisbane (Qld)
6 NWS Adelaide (SA)
7 TVW Perth (WA)
8 ADS Adelaide (SA)
9 BTQ Brisbane (Qld)
10 TVT Hobart (Tas)
Stage 3 commercial television stations (regional)
11 GLV Latrobe Valley (Traralgon, Vic)
12 GMV Goulburn Valley (Shepparton, Vic)
13 BCV Bendigo (Vic)
14 NBN Newcastle (NSW)
15 CBN Central Tablelands (Orange, NSW)
16 WIN Illawarra (Wollongong, NSW)
17 BTV Ballarat (Vic)
18 RTN Richmond-Tweed (Lismore, NSW)
19 TNT North-Eastern Tasmania (Launceston, Tas)
20 CTC Canberra (ACT)
21 DDQ Darling Downs (Toowoomba, Qld)
22 TNQ Townsville (Qld)
23 RTQ Rockhampton (Qld)
Stage 4 commercial television stations (regional)
24 RVN South Western Slopes and Eastern Riverina (Wagga, Wagga, NSW)
25 AMV Upper Murray (Albury, NSW)a
26 NRN Grafton-Kempsey (Coffs Harbour, NSW)
27 NEN Upper Namoi (Tamworth, NSW)
28 WBQ Wide Bay (Maryborough, Qld)
29 STV Mildura (Vic)
30 CWN Central Western Slopes (Dubbo, NSW)
31 MTN Murrumbidgee Irrigation Areas (Griffith, NSW)
32 SDQ Southern Downs (Warwick, Qld)
33 SES South East South Australia (Mount Gambier, SA)
34 ECN Manning River (Taree, NSW)
35 FNQ Cairns (Qld)
36 BTW Bunbury (WA)
37 MVQ Mackay (Qld)
38 BKN Broken Hill (NSW)
39 GTS Spencer Gulf North (Port Pirie, SA)
PREFACE vii
40 GSW Southern Agricultural (Albany, WA)
Stage 5 commercial television stations (metropolitan)
41 ATV Melbourne (Vic)
42 TEN Sydney (NSW)
43 TVQ Brisbane (Qld)
44 SAS Adelaide (SA)
45 STW Perth (WA)
Stage 6 commercial television stations (regional)
46 VEW Kalgoorlie (WA)
47 ITQ Mount Isa (Qld)
48 NTD Darwin (NT)
49 RTS Loxton/Renmark (SA)
50 GTW Geraldton (WA)
a AMV was assigned a Victoria callsign, as its station (i.e. transmitter) was located in that state. The studio
was located across the border, in Albury, NSW. This was, at that time, unique in Australian television.
AMV was, in early marketing, referred to as the “two-state station”
Note oN australiaN callsigNs
Television callsigns are comprised of three letters. The first two letters
were chosen by the original licensee and were usually derived from the
name of that company or the station’s geographical location. The third
letter indicates the state or territory in which the station’s transmitter is
located: N (New South Wales), V (Victoria), Q (Queensland), T
(Tasmania), S (South Australia, W (Western Australia), C (Australian
Capital Territory) and D (Northern Territory). For example, in the call-
sign FNQ, “FN” denotes “Far Northern” Television (the founding
licensee), while “Q” denotes Queensland. Similarly, in the callsign CWN,
“CW” denotes the “Central Western” Slopes and Plains region, while “N”
denotes New South Wales.
Radio callsigns feature a numerical prefix indicating the state or terri-
tory in which the station is located: 2 (New South Wales), 3 (Victoria), 4
(Queensland), 5 (South Australia), 6 (Western Australia), 7 (Tasmania)
and 8 (Northern Territory).
Callsigns should not be confused with the abbreviations used in this
book to denote related entities such as licensee companies.
viii PREFACE
Note oN Program sources
“Imported” programs refer to those obtained from overseas sources, usu-
ally located in the United States or Great Britain.
“Australian” programs denote those produced within Australia by
“metropolitan/network” stations, “regional” stations, and “indepen-
dent” producers.
“Metropolitan” or “network” programs refer to those which are pro-
duced by the metropolitan commercial television stations.
“Regional” programs denote those which are originated by regional
commercial television stations in their own studios.
“Independent” programs are those which are produced by indepen-
dent (i.e. third-party) production companies.
Note oN NatioNal film aNd souNd archive
(Nfsa) liNKs
A unique feature of this work is the inclusion of cross-references to items
held in the NFSA catalogue. These items comprise audio-visual recording
(such as programs, historical and archival footage), oral history interviews,
photographs, documents, and other artefacts and have been included as an
aid to researchers, historians and others who are interested in exploring
the NFSA’s collection.
These items are presented in call-out boxes throughout the chapters. If
using the digital version of this work, click the NFSA reference number
hyperlink provided in the call-out box to access and view the relevant cata-
logue record. If a hyperlink is no longer active, or you are using the print
version of this work, go to nfsa.gov.au and perform a manual search of the
catalogue using the same NFSA reference number.
Sydney, NSW, Australia Michael Thurlow
a
cKNowledgmeNts
I am grateful to Palgrave Macmillan and Springer Nature for publishing
this work. I am especially thankful to my commissioning editor, Emily
Russell, who recognised the value of my research and green-lit this project
in mid-2021, and assistant editor Joseph Johnson, both in the United
Kingdom, production coordinators Doerthe Mennecke-Buehler and Birke
Dalia in Germany, and production editor Kishor Kannan Ramesh in India.
I am grateful to Macquarie University for providing the scholarship and
facilities to pursue my academic goals, and am deeply grateful to Professor
Bridget Griffen-Foley and Dr Jeannine Baker for supervising my Masters
and PhD theses on which this work is based. I also wish to thank the State
Libraries of New South Wales, Victoria, South Australia and Western
Australia, the National Library of Australia, the National Archives of
Australia (Pamela Barnetta in Sydney) and the National Film and Sound
Archive (Simon Drake in Sydney) for their assistance. I am extremely
grateful to the Prime, WIN, Southern Cross and Seven television net-
works for providing information and access to archival material, and the
following individuals: John Allott, David Astley, Amber Austin-Wright,
Natalie Barr, Dick and Ursula Barton, Sylvia Bauers, Rhonda Bowen,
Barry Brady, Remi Broadway, Steven Byers, Matt Cable, Shirley Cahill,
Ian Cameron, Brian Carle, Sharon Carleton, Janelle Chapman, Russell
Cheek, Barry Coleman, Jo-Anne Cracknell, Wes Crook, Alex Cullen,
Peter Cummiskey, Lara Dalton, Darrin Davies, Jason Davis, Joanne
Desmond, Melissa Doyle, Nick Duigan, Julie Dunlap, Roger Dunn, Steve
Elcoate, Susie Elelman, Nick Erby, Stephen Fleay, Alistair Frew, William
(Ray) Gamble, Ron Garbutt, John (Jack) Gleeson, Peter Greste, Aaron
ix