30 years of SBS Television

SBS Television is thirty years old this weekend.

An initiative of the Fraser Government, the Special Broadcasting Service was established in the mid-1970s to operate the new multi-lingual radio service that had commenced in Sydney (2EA) and Melbourne (3EA).  By the end of the 1970s, the organisation was given the responsibility of operating Australia’s first multi-cultural television station – although there had been plenty of discussion and debate as to whether Australia actually wanted, or needed, such a service.  It’s a discussion that probably continues to this day but it should be noted that prior to SBS’ introduction, multicultural or even indigenous representation on Australian television was all but non-existent in a sea of American, British and white Australian culture.  There were a few exceptions, though.  The 0-10 Network presented weekly programs aimed at the Italian and Greek communities as well as presenting an educational program, You Say The Word, which was devised to improve the English language skills of a growing migrant population.  The popular drama series Number 96 also provided a glimpse of a multicultural society in Australia, often featuring characters or actors of mixed racial or cultural origin.  It might not have presented these characters in the most appropriate light, but it was a representation nonetheless.

SBS made its first television appearance with a series of test transmissions broadcast on ABC in Sydney and Melbourne on Sunday mornings in 1979.  This video (taken from SBS’s 20th anniversary special, 20/20 Vision, in 2000) recounts those early test transmissions and the formation of the new channel:

Then on United Nations Day – 24 October 1980 – the chief executive of the Special Broadcasting Service, Bruce Gyngell (pictured), presented the launch of the new Channel 0/28, which was officially opened by prime minister Malcolm Fraser.

Channel 0/28 started broadcasting from very modest facilities, occupying a few floors of an office building in the Sydney suburb of Milson’s Point.  In 1991, both radio and television branches of SBS moved to more modern facilities in the suburb of Artarmon.

Friday 24 October 1980: 6.30pm Opening Special: Bruce Gyngell presents the official opening and a preview of upcoming shows on the new Channel 0/28. 7pm Who Are We? Peter Luck presents a documentary on the people who make up Australia. 8pm Giochiamo Al Variete.  Italian variety program. 9pm Movie: Three Sea Wolves (pictured).  Australian production starring Chantal Contouri, presented in Greek and English. 10.30 Movie: Don’t Lean Out.  Yugoslav movie about a young man returning from Germany to his homeland. Saturday 25 October: 5pm Cartoons: from Italy, Hungary and Russia 5.30 La Sonrisa de un Nino.  Children’s musical program in Spanish. 6.30 Special: The Chinese Acrobatic Troupe 7.30 Montreaux Comedy Festival.  Includes To Norway, Home Of The Giants – featuring John Cleese taking a lighthearted look at his ancestry, Slim Sala Bim from the Netherlands, and Nonstop Nonsens from Germany. 9pm Movie: Hotel Pacific.  Polish film depicting life in a large Warsaw Hotel of the 1930s. 10.30 Movie: Varinka.  True story of a Russian girl who unwittingly smothers her boyfriend in bed.  French movie set in the 19th century. Sunday 26 October: 1pm Soccer: Live coverage of Australia’s National Youth Team versus Johnny Warren’s All-Stars 2pm Soccer: Philips Soccer League Grand Final.  Live coverage from Canberra 5pm Buona Sera con Rita al Circo.  Italian children’s program 5.30 Hunt For Janne.  Swedish children’s series. 6pm Das Vorstadtkrokodile. German story of a paraplegic boy who joins a children’s club. 7.30 Studio 80.  Italian variety program 8.30 Movie: Elvira Madigan.  Swedish film depicting the intense and happy love affair of two people ready to die rather than live apart.  10.30 Soccer: Highlights of the Philips Soccer League Grand Final

George Donikian (pictured) presented Channel 0/28’s first news bulletin on Monday 27 October 1980.  World News initially screened at 9.30pm weeknights but by March it had moved to the earlier 7.30pm timeslot.  The main bulletin would later move to 7.00pm before taking up its current 6.30pm timeslot by the late 1980s.  Weekend bulletins started a few years after SBS’ introduction, as did a mid-evening 9.00pm bulletin which has since moved to 9.30pm. 

But not everything associated with the fledgling channel went smoothly.  Gyngell had commissioned a talent quest series, Cabaret, from the Grundy Organisation and Willard King Productions.  The first episode, hosted by Graham Kennedy and including a panel of judges, was taped in advance and featured entrants representing various ethnic groups.  However, just days before the show was to go to air, Gyngell made a last-minute decision to change the show’s format from a talent quest to a general variety show, feeling that it unwise to involve a competitive element between multicultural communities.  The first episode was hurriedly re-taped in the new format, and Lebanese-born actor Joe Hasham, best known from the popular Number 96, took over hosting the series from that point.

On a more positive note, 0/28 did earn early applause for its adoption of soccer coverage, giving the sport a higher priority and profile than any of the other networks had done.  And soccer would continue to feature prominently on the channel, with regular programs and coverage of various leagues and the premier event, the FIFA World Cup, being broadcast on the network every four years since 1990.  Les Murray (pictured), who fronts the network’s soccer coverage, has been with the network since it launched.

Channel 0/28 broadcast initially in Sydney and Melbourne only.  In 1983 it expanded to Canberra and nearby regional centres Goulburn and Cooma – coinciding with the channel’s name change to Network 0/28.  Adelaide, Brisbane, Newcastle, Wollongong and the Gold Coast joined the network after it had changed its name on-air to SBS in 1985.  Perth and Hobart followed in 1986, and Darwin in 1994.  SBS became Australia’s first sole UHF network with the VHF Channel 0 broadcasts in Sydney and Melbourne terminated in January 1986.

As well as World News, current affairs programming, often taking a different perspective to its commercial rivals, has also featured over thirty years – with programs including SCOOP, Vox Populi, ICAM, Issues, First In Line, Insight, Living Black and the long-running Dateline, which has been running in various formats since 1984.

One of SBS’ first drama productions, the mini-series Women Of The Sun, won acclaim for its portrayal of Australian history through the eyes of Aboriginal women.  Other Australian-made dramas have included City West, The Girl From Steel City, Five Times Dizzy, In Between, House Gang, Going Home, RAN (Remote Area Nurse), The Circuit, Kick and East West 101.

Since 1983, SBS has broadcast the Eurovision Song Contest – with the event gaining a following in Australia that leaves Europeans mystified.  Another European TV tradition – the comedy sketch Dinner For One – has featured on SBS every New Year’s Eve since 1989.  The Japanese game show Iron Chef created an appetite for food-inspired competition years before anyone had thought of MasterChef.  The boundaries of comedy have been tested with shows like Pizza, Life Support and Wilfred – and a US series, South Park, became a hit.  RockWiz (pictured), ADbc, The Squiz, Hot Spell! and Letters And Numbers are among those have represented the quiz and game show genre.

In 1986, movie presenter David Stratton was joined by Margaret Pomeranz to host a weekly review program, The Movie Show.  The pair fronted the show for almost twenty years before they moved across to ABC to host a similar program, At The Movies. 

Mary Kostakidis (pictured) was part of the subtitling and management teams when Channel 0/28 launched in 1980.  She later took over from George Donikian as presenter of World News, a role she maintained for almost twenty years.  Her sudden departure from the broadcaster in 2007 was the culmination of a certain period of unrest, brought about by changes to a more populist style of news coverage and the appointment of an additional newsreader, Stan Grant.  Other news presenters over the years have included Karina Kelly, Christina Koutsoukos, Patrice Newell, Silvio Rivier (who was part of the original Channel 0/28 and  now hosts the Global Village documentary series), Indira Naidoo, Ben Fajzullin, Amrita Cheema and current day newsreaders Anton Enus, Janice Peterson, Lee Lin Chin, Rena Sarumpaet and Ricardo Goncalves.

The sensitive topic of commercials on SBS was first touched on by the network for its coverage of the FIFA World Cup in 1990, and from 1991 SBS was permitted to play five minutes of commercials each hour to supplement its taxpayer-funded income, but commercials would only appear in between programs.  In 2006, the network took a controversial step to introduce commercial breaks within programs.  It’s a change that continues to attract mixed reaction.

SBS commenced digital transmission in 2001 and, in 2002, launched a new channel, World News Channel, presenting continuous broadcasts of news bulletins from other countries in languages other than English.  Last year, World News Channel was replaced by SBS2, still presenting international news bulletins but now including more general programming such as documentaries, dramas and movies as well as some time-shifted programming from the main SBS channel (now SBS1) and extensions of the network’s coverage of sporting events such as the Tour de France.

SBS is now at a stage where its role in the media landscape is again under question.  Its move away from traditional multicultural programming, particularly on the primary SBS1 channel, has attracted criticism that it is abandoning the very reason it was created in the first place.  Its increasing reliance on commercial sponsorship and adopting populist programs such as Top Gear (a program that has since been picked up by Nine) have also attracted criticism as being in conflict with what should be the core values of SBS.  Now with the commercial networks hungry for content to fill their multiple digital channels, this is putting up the cost of certain English-language programming that SBS in the past might have been the only buyer.  SBS might be wise to rediscover the niche market of multicultural programming and tap into the vast sources of television programming produced in languages other than English instead of trying to be another ABC or another commercial network.

To commemorate its 30th anniversary, SBS’ weekly program Dateline will present a special report of highlights from its many years in covering international current affairs.

SBS have also published a website for the occasion of its 30th anniversary – including an interactive timeline and links to videos of certain milestones.

Dateline, Sunday 24 October, 8.30pm. SBS1 (Repeated Monday 1.30pm on SBS1 and Wednesday 7.30pm on SBS2)

Source: The Age, 27 October 1980; The Age, 13 November 1980; TelevisionAU: SBS

1979: June 2-8

Cover: Yootha Joyce and Brian Murphy (George And Mildred)

Script competition strikes gold
Sydney’s TEN10 has received a mammoth response to its scriptwriting competition offering a grand prize of $10,000. Tom Miller, production co-ordinator at TEN, has been working through the applications: “We’re recording every entry and to date I’m up to 1450. I’ve read about two thirds of them and I’ve seen at least seven good ideas which could possibly go into a TV series.” The panel of judges to determine the best 25 entries received includes Bruce Gyngell of the Australian Broadcasting Tribunal, television personality Stuart Wagstaff, producer Pat Lovell and chief executive of the Victorian Film Corporation, Jill Robb. The top 25 entries will receive $200 and will be invited to write a script based on their concept. The best script wins $10,000, second $2000 and third $1000. The competition is estimated to cost TEN10 around $30,000. “But if we come up with three series ideas it’ll be worthwhile. That’s cheap, and it’s giving us an idea of what the public wants. I think the ideas could be worth a fortune.”

TV Follies of ‘79
A new ABC series, TV Follies, revives the Hollywood era of musicals and dance sequences. The four-part series features many familiar actors and actresses in less than familiar roles as they perform in the mini-musicals inspired by the classic era. Some of the stars to feature include Noni Hazlehurst (pictured), Debbie Byrne, Normie Rowe, Julie McGregor, Ian Turpie, Geraldine Turner, Gus Mercurio, Kathy Lloyd, Delilah and Max Cullen.

Hot on a cold role!
Actor John Meillon hopes his portrayal of a NSW Premier in a forthcoming ABC series will give him “an entirely different change of image.” Meillon will star in Timelapse, a thirteen-part series which is due to go into production next month. The plot involves the deep freezing the body of a murdered man and bringing him back to life 20 years later. The series is set in the year 1989 against a background of political intrigue involving a fictional NSW Premier. Timelapse will also feature Robert Coleby (Chopper Squad) and Kate Sheil (Birds In The Bush). Executive producer is Eric Tayler who has worked with Meillon on ABC dramas Bit Part and The Fourth Wish.

Footballer John lining up the goals
John Cootes (pictured) left the priesthood five years ago and ended up pursuing a TV career, but says his religious training has helped him a great deal as a TV personality. “As a priest I listened to the problems of hundreds of people and learned to be a good listener. In my training I aimed to be tolerant and understanding and I like to believe I am both of these.” After leaving the priesthood, the former rugby league player became a commentator for NBN3 Newcastle and later joined TEN10’s Eyewitness News and from there went on to lead TEN10’s sports department as well as hosting the channel’s Saturday Night Live, a program previously hosted by John Singleton and, for one night only, Graham Kennedy. "It was a daunting prospect because people were naturally comparing me to Singleton and Kennedy. But I’m not either of them and I couldn’t do what they did. To me, Saturday Night Live is a variety sporting show with a touch of elegance.”

Briefly…
The first three of the Nine Network’s commissioned package of six telemovies, about the position of women in Australian society, are about to go to air. Say You Want Me, starring Belinda Giblin (The Box), Serge Lazareff (Young Ramsay) and Hugh Keays-Byrne, looks at the rape of a young wife by a businessman who has just signed her radio personality husband to a lucrative product endorsement contract. A Good Thing Going, featuring Veronica Lang and John Hargreaves, and The Plumber, starring Judy Morris, Robert Coleby and Ivar Kants, are also set to go to air.

HSV7’s Saturday Night Live booth announcer Peter Byrne has landed a role in the upcoming series Skyways.

Actress Angela Punch has signed up to appear in a new historical drama for ABC. The eight-part series, The Timeless Land, is a rare TV appearance for the actress who has normally focused on theatre and film work. Production commences in October.

On The Inside, the signature tune of the 0-10 Network’s Prisoner, has stormed up the Australian charts and is about to go gold (50,000 sales).

Viewpoint: Letters to the Editor:
”Lack of realism and attention to detail in Cop Shop turned me off the series a long time ago.” D. Price, VIC.

“I have written to Viewpoint many times before but not once have I had my views published. I don’t really have much to say except that I think it is a shame that Carol Burns (as Franky Doyle, pictured) decided to leave Prisoner.” A. Murphy, SA.

“I have been a dog breeder and exhibitor for nearly 20 years and would really enjoy seeing a full coverage of the famous Crufts Dog Show, even though I doubt if any of the breed I am interested in would be exhibited, as there are very few of them overseas. I am referring to the Australian cattle dog. However, dog showing has a huge following, there’s an ever-increasing interest in this fascinating hobby.” B. Bearup, NSW.

What’s On (June 2-8):
On Saturday night, ABC presents Chicago, the first episode of TV Follies, featuring Max Cullen, Gus Mercurio, Noni Hazlehurst, Robyn Moase, David Atkins and Ron Blanchard.

A one-hour special, The Barry Humphries Show, screens on ATV0 featuring some of Humphries’ famous characters including Dame Edna Everage and Sir Les Patterson.

This Fabulous Century (HSV7, Sunday) looks at some of the scandals that have rocked Australia – including the Oz magazine obscenity trial, the Bodyline cricket furore and the Braund Cancer Cure Scandal.

Guest stars in Peter Couchman Tonight (ATV0, weeknights) include Chelsea Brown, Normie Rowe, Fred Parsons and Peter Russell-Clarke.

HSV7 screens the premiere of documentary series This Rugged Coast, featuring Ben Cropp and his team as they circumnavigate the Australian coastline.

US mini-series Roots The Next Generations continues in two-hour episodes on Monday and Thursday nights on ATV0.

Sunday night movies: Catlow (HSV7), Say You Want Me (GTV9), The Life And Times Of Judge Roy Bean (ATV0).

Source: TV Times (Melbourne edition), 2 June 1979. ABC/ACP
YouTube: Aussiebeachut

ABC-SBS merger? again?

Newspaper reports in recent days have indicated that there could be moves, again, to merge our two national broadcasters, ABC and SBS.

And, of course, ABC boss Mark Scott thinks it's not such a bad idea:

"We think there are opportunities for efficiencies to be made whilst ensuring the independence and integrity of two great public broadcasters."

Not quite sure that SBS would have the same enthusiasm.

SBS has had to fight two attempts already to merge it with the much-larger ABC. The first, prompted by Labor prime minister Bob Hawke in the mid-1980s, saw a great level of community protest from multicultural groups that saw the merger as a threat to SBS' status as 'their' broadcaster, as SBS would inevitably vanish in the process and be replaced with an ABC2-type channel, something that would have suited ABC to the ground as a step towards emulating the grand lady of public broadcasting, BBC.

In 2000, controversial ABC chief Jonathan Shier also flagged the idea of merging the two broadcasters. The thought of ABC getting its hands on SBS funding, and access to SBS' allocation of digital television spectrum to add to its own, was obviously too good for Shier to ignore. Though while the 1986-87 merger proposal incurred the wrath of SBS supporters, in 2000 the thought of ABC merging with the semi-commercially-funded SBS saw the ABC purists dreading advertising finding its way to the national broadcaster. But from memory, Shier's 2000 campaign to bring SBS and ABC together did not inspire as much passionate debate as in 1986-7, but without the idea being driven by the Government perhaps it was never going to reach fruition anyway, and was probably more a case of Mr Shier just being controversial to grab a headline.

Of course, ABC's recent enthusiasm for 'partnering' with SBS is in stark contrast to the late-1970s, when the Fraser government invited the then Australian Broadcasting Commission to take on the responsibility of the fledgling multicultural broadcasting service which at that point consisted only of two radio stations - 2EA Sydney and 3EA Melbourne. But ABC took no interest in taking part, even though its own charter probably implied that perhaps it should.

And on the eve of SBS launching its first television service, Channel 0/28, its chief executive Bruce Gyngell (pictured) recalled that in the early stages of the government establishing a multicultural television service, ABC continued to show a lack of interest in participation:

"If you look at the ABC's submission to the Senate, they lumped multicultural television along with, and I quote, 'rural science and other minority interests'."

Perhaps now with the benefit of history, Mr Scott would like to see ABC and SBS together as one, but thirty years since the proverbial horse has bolted, it might now just amount to wishful thinking.

Pictures: 20/20 Vision, SBS. December 2000

"Good evening, and welcome to television..."

16 September 1956, fifty-two years ago, and Bruce Gyngell greets Sydney on a night that made history: television was now here, finally. Australians had to wait twenty years for TV to finally come to fruition after numerous experimental broadcasts and demonstrations, a number of royal commissions and lots of politics.

But when we watch that historic opening introduction on TV now, the truth is it was a fake. (See, it wasn't just the Chinese that faked opening ceremonies!) TCN9 Sydney essentially re-wrote history when it realised that the only footage kept of its opening night had disappeared. The introduction that we see these days, featuring Gyngell standing in front of a world map (as pictured), was recorded a year after the actual event - hence it probably looked a bit more 'sophisticated' and rehearsed than what really went to air on 16 September 1956, when Gyngell was crammed into a space no larger than a wardrobe, and had to stand on an angle to line up with the camera standing on a crooked floor. The makeshift studios which housed much of TCN9's early productions were in a church hall in the suburb of Surry Hills, as construction of TCN9's studios in Willoughby had not quite kept to schedule, and it was very important for Sir Frank Packer that his TV channel was the first to air ahead of his newspaper rivals, Fairfax, who were forming Sydney's second commercial TV station, ATN7.

And despite receiving the credit for being the first person on Australian TV, Gyngell might have been the first face seen on TV screens that evening but he was not the first voice. That honour went to studio announcer John Godson who introduced TCN9's first night of regular transmissions with a very formal spiel:

"This is television station TCN Channel 9, owned and operated by Television Corporation, 168 Castlereagh Street, Sydney. Transmitting on 195 to 202 megacycles per second from Artarmon Road, Willoughby, with an effective radiated power of 100,000 watts, vision, and 20,000 watts, sound."

Following Gyngell's welcome speech came the channel's first program, This Is Television, giving viewers a first glimpse at TV behind-the-scenes, followed by the first variety program, The Johnny O'Connor Show, and the first game show, What's My Line. Another music program, Accent On Strings, wound up the first night's programs, and Chuck Faulkner read the first news bulletin.

The channel also made its first advertising dollars with commercials for Rothman's Cigarettes, Pepsi-Cola, Audiphone Aids and headache powder Vincent's which carried perhaps TV's first ad slogan: "TV stands for Take Vincent's!"

TCN9 was Sydney's, and Australia's, only TV station for almost two months as Melbourne's HSV7 and ABC's first TV stations, ABN2 Sydney and ABV2 Melbourne, were not officially opened until November of that year.

Sources:
Those Fabulous TV Years. Brian Davies, Cassell Australia Limited, 1981. ISBN 0 7269 2216 1
Compulsive Viewing: The Inside Story Of Packer's Nine Network. Gerald Stone, Viking Penguin Books, ISBN 0 670 88690 4