The forecast is still fine for Ilona

In the late 1970s and early 1980s Ilona Komesaroff (pictured) was the face of the weeknight weather report on the then top-rating Seven National News at Melbourne’s HSV7. 

After almost a decade presenting weather forecasts the former model with the exotic name – in an era before the days of multiculturalism on mainstream TV she was often referred to on screen and in TV listings only as ‘Ilona’ – moved into reading the news at the channel but then virtually disappeared from our screens without a trace.  One of her last TV appearances was presenting an educational segment on schools program TV Ed on SBS.

But in an interview published yesterday in The Age, Komesaroff had moved on from the bright lights of television in the 1980s to make a fortune by inventing “moving sand” pictures – sands that move between glass to create colourful patterns and landscape-type images – with consultation from the CSIRO.  It was an invention that sparked a number of imitators, some of which she sued for copying her patented idea.

She then became an editor and photographer for Australian Hair and Beauty Magazine, published by her husband Russell Smith.  Her photographic experience then led to her starting her own business venture, Melbourne Photo Repair, specialising in restoration and altering of photographs.

The full article by Lawrence Money can be found at The Age website, and following is a video featuring a Seven National News update with Komesaroff:

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Magazine covers from Christmases past

Television.AU wishes everyone a very Merry Christmas and takes a trip down memory lane to some of the TV magazine covers that have marked this very special day…

George Mallaby and Rowena Wallace (Cop Shop), pictured with Mallaby’s son Guy and co-star Greg Ross’ son, Simon.  TV Week, 1978

Humphrey B. Bear (Here’s Humphrey).  TV Times, 1978.

(Clockwise from bottom left) Marcia Hines (Marcia’s Music), Mike Walsh (The Mike Walsh Show), Susan Hannaford (The Sullivans), John Orcsik (Cop Shop), June Salter (The Restless Years), Peter Lochran (The Young Doctors).  TV Times, 1979

Tony Barber and Alyce Platt (Sale Of The Century).  TV Week, 1986.

Kylie Minogue (Neighbours).  TV Week, 1987.

Kerrie Friend and Cameron Daddo (Perfect Match). 
Scene On TV (The Sunday Mail, Brisbane), 1987.

(Clockwise from top left) Graeme Goodings, Jane Doyle, Max Stevens and Anne Wills (Seven Nightly News, Adelaide).
Sunday Mail TV Plus (Adelaide), 1993.

None Hazlehurst and John Jarratt (Better Homes And Gardens) with Bree Desborough, Kristy Wright and Lynne McGranger (Home And Away). 
TV Week, 1998.

Carla Bonner, Madeleine West, Kym Valentine (Neighbours). 
TV Week, 2000.

Kate Ritchie (Home And Away).  TV Week, 2006.

Some other TV memories of Christmases past as presented on this blog:

Merry Christmas, ‘76 style
Merry Christmas from QTQ9 (1967)
TV Week’s Strictly Christmas (1992)
Christmas cheer from SBS (1983)
’Twas the night before Christmas…

GLV: Australia’s first regional channel

It is 50 years today since Australia’s first regional television station was officially opened.

GLV10, covering Gippsland and the Latrobe Valley in eastern Victoria, was opened on Saturday, 9 December 1961.  The launch was the culmination of seven years of planning, starting when a group of influential Gippsland individuals formed Gippsland Telecasters.  The group also had the support of the local print media who were keen to contribute to the proposed channel’s local news coverage.

Gippsland Telecasters then joined with other local businesses – including  newspapers, theatres and drive-ins – and local churches to become shareholders in Eastern Victorian Television, the company that would submit the application for a television broadcasting licence for Gippsland and the Latrobe Valley.

The successful application then saw the appointment of the channel’s first General Manager, Gordon Lewis, who began working from temporary offices in the former Traralgon Town Hall.  Construction then began on the station’s premises located on the Princes Highway just outside of Traralgon.

Launching five years after the advent of television in Sydney and Melbourne, GLV promised a modern and well-designed production facility – in a building designed specifically for a television station, unlike Melbourne channels GTV9 and HSV7 whose studios were converted from pre-existing buildings. 

GLV10’s opening night’s programs started at 5.45pm with a 15-minute film, Touring Gippsland, to be followed by an introduction to the station by radio 3TR announcer Don Ewart (pictured).  Unfortunately, Ewart’s opening words were never heard by anyone outside the studio as his microphone was not switched on.

Programs to follow included imports Jungle Jim, Whirlybirds and I Love Lucy before the formalities of the official opening of the station by the Chairman of the Broadcasting Control Board, Mr R. G. Osborne, accompanied by General Manager Gordon Lewis.  Opening night was also attended by a number of ‘national’ personalities including Horrie Dargie, Bobby Limb, Happy Hammond and Johnny Chester. 

Later in the evening GLV10 crossed to Melbourne’s ABV2 for a one-hour live coverage of the day’s Federal Election results before presenting a 15-minute local news bulletin and then signing off for the night.

The new channel had a staff of 35 and was planning to broadcast initially for around 30 hours a week.

Two weeks after GLV10’s debut came the launch of regional stations GMV6 Shepparton and BCV8 Bendigo.

Like many regional channels in the early days GLV maintained a number of local productions.  The channel’s first news service was a daily 15-minute bulletin presented by Don Ewart, including local news and day-old national news footage that had been sent overnight by train from Melbourne.  Early local programs included children’s program GLV Teleclub, pop music program Teen Time, talent quest Battle Of The Towns, variety program Showtime, documentary series Gippsland’s Pathway Of Time, local sports coverage and Sunday afternoon programs Spotlight On Sport and Farming Today.

By 1963, GLV10 had begun the direct relay of the main evening news bulletin from GTV9 in Melbourne to supplement its own ten-minute local news bulletin.  The channel was also using the relay facility for the broadcasting of programs like In Melbourne Tonight, Homicide, Sunnyside Up, daytime game shows and VFL coverage, enabling local viewers the chance to see these programs as they were going to air in Melbourne or at least shortly after.

By the mid-1970s GLV10 had partnered with Bendigo channel BCV8 with both channels providing a common schedule across their respective areas.  Mildura channel STV8 then affiliated with the two channels and adopted their schedule and branding. 

In 1979, GLV10 had agreed to convert its call-sign and frequency to GLV8 in January 1980 in order to allow Melbourne channel ATV0 access to convert to the channel 10 frequency.

And like many regional television stations GLV provided a training ground for some that went on to careers in the wider media industry.  Journalist Malcolm Gray went on to Melbourne channels ATV0 and HSV7.  A former Miss Victoria, Simone Semmens, was a local newsreader before joining the Seven Network.  Keith McGowan, who went on to a 50-year career in broadcasting, hosted Teen Time in the 1960s.  Richard Zachariah was a local presenter at GLV before going to the Seven Network to present Seven National News and Eleven AM, and co-host ABC’s The Home Show with then partner Maggie Tabberer.  Award-winning journalist and Four Corners reporter Sally Neighbour also came from GLV8.

Showbiz veteran Denise Drysdale, a resident of the local area, presented a morning show on GLV8 during the 1980s.

GLV has endured many on-air name changes over the last few decades – from Southern Cross TV8 (1982) to Southern Cross Network (1989), SCN (1993), Ten Victoria (1994) and Southern Cross Ten (2001).

From 1992, the aggregation of regional markets in Victoria saw the Southern Cross Network of GLV and BCV expand its signal into the regions of Ballarat, Shepparton and Albury, while the incumbents from these regions in turn expanded into the areas covered by GLV and BCV.

With aggregation the Southern Cross Network affiliated with the Ten Network for the supply of programs supplemented by locally-produced programming such as maintaining local news in the Bendigo and Gippsland markets, a statewide edition of Eyewitness News with Rob Gaylard, and children’s program Surprise Surprise.

Some changes in the news format and presentation followed but the change to Ten Victoria in May 1994 saw all local production ceased and the network essentially becoming a straight relay of Network Ten’s schedule.

In 2000, GLV was forced to shutdown its Channel 8 signal in Gippsland and move to UHF Channel 37.  This was to accommodate the launch of the digital signal from GTV9 in Melbourne which was to use the 8 frequency.

From its modest beginnings with two regional channels in Victoria, Southern Cross Ten as it is now covers regional markets from Portland in western Victoria right up to Cairns in the far north of Queensland and across to Broken Hill and the Spencer Gulf region in South Australia.  Much of its on-air presentation is co-ordinated from centralised facilities in Canberra.

With the advent of digital television and multi-channels Southern Cross Ten has also adopted the Ten Network’s digital channels Eleven and One across its coverage areas.

And in Gippsland, as with the rest of regional Victoria, it was the end of an era in May this year with the shutdown of all analogue television transmissions from all local broadcasters – just a few months short of today’s 50 year milestone.

Source: TV Week, 7 December 1961.  The Age, 9 December 1961.  The Latrobe Valley Express, 9 December 1986.  Morwell Historical Society.

Obituary: Sean Flannery

Veteran journalist Sean Flannery has died after a battle with cancer at the age of 69.

Born in 1942, Flannery started his radio career at 2SM but later became known for his work on the 2UE program Night Watch that aired every Sunday morning.

He later joined the Ten Network in Sydney and also read the news for Ten and Seven in Adelaide. 

Former colleague David Richardson has written a tribute to Flannery on the Today Tonight website:

“Sean Flannery was a character in the truest sense of the word.  A larrikin in the ultimate Australian sense.  A bloke who loved a beer, he was the epitome of the old school journo from the days of copy boys, cadets and hard-drinking, hard-playing journos – a bloke who was just full of life.”

News Limited CEO and chairman John Hartigan also paid tribute:

"Sean was one of the great characters of radio and TV reporting.  Funny, smart – one of the last swashbucklers of journalism."

Sean Flannery will be farewelled at a funeral in Sydney on Tuesday.

Source: Daily Telegraph, Today Tonight
YouTube: d0nkeyshines

Mal Walden: 50 years of broadcasting

Melbourne’s The Age Green Guide has presented a special feature on Network Ten newsreader Mal Walden just prior to his 50th anniversary in broadcasting, which is reached on Monday.

Born in the UK, Walden came to Australia with his family in the 1950s.  His first taste of the media came in 1961 when he won a secret sound contest on local radio station 3YB in Warrnambool.  Upon touring the station when collecting his prize a young Walden decided to pursue a career in broadcasting. 

He started at 3YB and then went south to Tasmania, to Launceston radio station 7EX and television station TNT9.  He then returned to the mainland to Melbourne radio station 3DB, working alongside David Johnston and Brian Naylor – a trio that would work together for a decade, at 3DB and then at HSV7, before becoming friendly rivals with each working at opposition TV stations in the 1980s.  Naylor made the switch from HSV7 to GTV9 in 1978, Johnston took a break from television news before returning to front Eyewitness News on the newly-launched ATV10 in 1980, and Walden took over from Naylor as chief newsreader at HSV7.

Starting at HSV7 in the early ‘70s, Walden hosted the game show Jeopardy before beginning a journalism cadetship.  But it was in 1974 that he got his big break as the first television journalist to arrive in Darwin after the city had been devastated by Cyclone Tracy on Christmas Eve.

Replacing Naylor at the news desk in 1978, Walden presented Seven National News for nine years before he was sacked by the station’s new Sydney-based management.  A tearful farewell at the close of his final Seven news bulletin was followed by the channel getting its lowest ever news ratings, and his subsequent appointment to Ten’s Eyewitness News, working with former colleague David Johnston, saw that bulletin reach some of its highest ever ratings figures.  

Walden had various roles at Ten, first presenting human-interest stories in the news segment Mal’s Melbourne, before reading the news next to Johnston and newcomer Tracey Curro in 1988, and then reading the weekend bulletins.

When Johnston moved back to Seven at the end of 1995, Walden was the natural successor to read Ten’s 5.00pm bulletin – first alongside Jennifer Hansen and now Helen Kapalos.

He has also presented special events for Ten, including the Young Achiever Awards and ATV10’s 30th anniversary special in 1994, and wrote the book From The Word GO! – Forty Years of Ten Melbourne in 2003.

Earlier this year Walden was part of Ten’s major news revamp which saw him move from the 5.00pm news hour to front the new Ten Evening News bulletin at 6.30pm.  Although the bulletin was soon wound up, Walden’s ratings performance was better than that of his interstate counterparts.  He is now back at the 5.00pm news desk four nights a week.

Walden’s widespread appeal comes not just from his newsreading authority but also his ability to show a lighter side to the news.  His cheeky on-air comment that a story about disgraced air hostess Lisa Robertson was ‘a waste of time’, his stumbles over the pronunciation of the word ‘phenomenon’ and the occasional ad-libbed weather report are some of his lighter moments that have endeared him to viewers.

The full Green Guide article can be found here.

YouTube: thankgoditstimm, butterboy69, Conniptions886, Autopenguin

Good Friday Appeal tradition continues

Flashback to 1972… and Temptation and Great Temptation hostess Barbara Rogers and Homicide star Leonard Teale (pictured) are promoting the Good Friday Appeal telethons for Melbourne’s HSV7 and Adelaide’s ADS7.

The Adelaide telethon has long gone, but Melbourne’s Royal Children’s Hospital Good Friday Appeal continues to tap into the generosity of Victorians to raise funds for one of the world’s great children’s hospitals.  More than $211 million has been raised since the Appeal’s modest beginnings as a sports carnival in 1931.  Radio station 3DB joined the Appeal during World War II and HSV7 first took part in 1957.

This year’s telethon, the culmination of twelve months of various fundraising efforts across the state, will be held at Melbourne’s Etihad Stadium and broadcast across Victoria through HSV7 and regional affiliate Prime Television.  Melbourne radio stations 3AW and Magic 1278 as radio partners of the Appeal will also cover the day’s activities.

The Appeal promises to feature many of Seven’s on-screen personalities from various programs including Home And Away, Packed To The Rafters, Winners And Losers, Australia’s Got Talent, Seven News, Dancing With The Stars and The Morning Show.  Royal Children’s Hospital ambassador and former Seven personality Dan Webb, probably best known as host of game show Video Village in the 1960s and journalist with Seven National News in the 1970s and ‘80s, will also be making an appearance.

Last year’s Appeal raised a record total of $14,462,000.

The Royal Children’s Hospital Good Friday Appeal.  Friday 22 April, from 9.30am.  HSV7 (Melbourne) and Prime Television (Regional Victoria) – in association with the Herald and Weekly Times and radio stations 3AW and Magic 1278

UPDATE @ 12.40 AEST 23.4.2011 The Royal Children’s Hospital Good Friday Appeal has signed off with a record-breaking final total of $15,156,000.

Malcolm Gray

Former Seven National News reporter and presenter Malcolm Gray has died at the age of 66.

Formerly a journalist at regional station GLV10 in Gippsland in the 1970s, Gray moved to Melbourne’s ATV0 before joining HSV7 as an on-the-road reporter and newsreader – but it was in the mid-‘80s when he started presenting the weather forecast for Seven National News that he suddenly became a hit with viewers statewide.  Gray’s presenting of the weather with humour, where he was not immune to using the occasional large prop or shouting out greetings to nominated streets in various Victorian towns and suburbs, was in stark contrast to the more conservative weather presentation of rivals at National Nine News and Eyewitness News.

Gray continued to present the weather at Seven National News until 1987.

The Seven News team in Melbourne have placed a notice in the Herald Sun offering a tribute to their former colleague:

Our thoughts and support to the family of Malcolm Gray, a former colleague and friend of the Seven Network. Malcolm was a much loved and respected associate and will long be remembered for his great nature and memorable weather segments. Sincerely - Steve Carey and the 7 Melbourne News Team.

Source: Herald Sun

Remembering Seven’s Epping era

The Sunrise team earlier this week posted a picture via their Twitter feed showing the demolition (“using Gladiator props as wrecking balls?”) of the Seven Network’s former studios in Sydney.

The studios, in the suburb of Epping, were barely completed when the ribbon across the Studio B doors was cut on ATN7’s opening night – 2 December 1956.  And the opening night almost didn’t happen at all as a massive thunderstorm hit Sydney earlier that day, blacking out many suburbs – including Epping.  Power was restored just in time to allow the studio cameras the required 45 minutes to warm up before airtime.  VIPs arrived at the complex in torrential rain and had to make their way across mud tracks to get to the building.

In its early years the Epping complex hosted many Australian television firsts – the first ‘tonight’ show, Sydney Tonight with Keith Walshe, the first breakfast news show, Today with Ray Taylor, the first current affairs show, Seven On 7, and the first soap operas, Autumn Affair and The Story Of Peter Grey.  ATN7 was the first TV station in Australia to install videotape equipment in the late 1950s.  The station also partnered with Melbourne’s GTV9 to complete the first ever transmission between Sydney and Melbourne via a series of microwave links.

Other shows to have emanated from Epping include Revue ‘61, Startime, Sing Sing Sing (The Johnny O’Keefe Show), Beauty And The Beast, Captain Fortune, Pick-A-Box, The Mavis Bramston Show (pictured), My Name’s McGooley What’s Yours?, Great Temptation, Sydney Today, Eleven AM, The Naked Vicar Show, Kingswood Country, Romper Room, Sounds, Cartoon Connection, Saturday Morning Live, Sportsworld, Terry Willesee Tonight, Wheel Of Fortune, Hey Dad!, Real Life, Sunrise and The Main Event.

Some of TVs most famous names have also spent time at Epping.  Roger Climpson was ATN7’s principal newsreader for many years and also hosted This Is Your Life and Australia’s Most Wanted.  Mike Willesee, Graham Kennedy, Clive Robertson, Rex Mossop, Paul Hogan (pictured), Norman Gunston (Garry McDonald), Peter Luck, Bill Collins, Maggie Tabberer, Jana Wendt and Andrew Denton have also worked at the Epping studios.  And of course the many actors and actresses that passed through the various dramas to have come from Epping – series including Jonah, Motel, Catwalk, Class Of ‘74, Glenview High, A Country Practice, Sons And Daughters, Rafferty’s Rules, Home And Away, All Saints and Packed To The Rafters.

ATN7 has now moved to new facilities at the Australian Technology Park (pictured) in the Sydney suburb of Redfern – while news production facilities, including Sunrise, Seven News, Today Tonight and The Morning Show, are based at Martin Place in the Sydney CBD.

Source: Sunrise, Sydney Architecture, Forty Years Of Television: The Story Of ATN7.

Murray Nicoll

Award winning journalist Murray Nicoll has died after a battle with leukaemia.

With a career spanning 45 years, including print, radio and television news, Nicoll, 66, won a Walkley Award for his coverage during the 1983 Ash Wednesday bushfires where he described to listeners of radio 5DN, Adelaide, the devastation of watching his own home burn down.  The report was broadcast around the world.

Nicoll has worked for ABC Radio and for Melbourne radio station 3AW.  For the last five years he has worked at Seven News in Adelaide.

Seven News chief Terry Plane paid tribute to Nicoll:

"The further he went into journalism, the more of a story teller he became.  Murray's had a remarkable career in journalism across radio, print and television and I think everyone here at Seven feels privileged to have spent the last five years of his career with him."

Murray Nicoll is survived by wife Frankie and daughters Tia and Peta.

Source: ABC, Adelaide Now

The 52nd TV Week Logie Awards

Home And Away actor Ray Meagher (pictured) has been awarded the TV Week Gold Logie for Most Popular Personality on Australian Television.  Despite Meagher’s lengthy career, including 22 years on Home And Away, it is his first Logie award.

Home And Away also won an award for actor Luke Mitchell as Most Popular New Male Talent.  And Seven’s other drama Packed To The Rafters also swept up several awards last night – Most Popular Drama Series, Most Popular Actress (Rebecca Gibney) and Most Popular Actor (Hugh Sheridan).

Seven also won Most Outstanding News Coverage for Seven News’ coverage of the Black Saturday bushfires in Victoria and Most Outstanding Sports Coverage for the V8 Supercars: Supercheap Auto Bathurst.  Better Homes And Gardens won Most Popular Lifestyle Show.

The Ten Network was well rewarded last night with two Logies for its hit show Masterchef Australia (pictured) – including Matt Preston winning the Graham Kennedy Award for Outstanding New Talent – and Talkin’ ‘bout Your Generation winning three Logies, including Shaun Micallef for Most Popular Presenter.  The 7PM Project also scored a win with Carrie Bickmore winning Most Popular New Female Talent, and Bondi Rescue won Most Popular Factual Program.

The Nine Network didn’t score all that well at last night – winning only one award for The Footy Show (NRL) as Most Popular Sports Program.

ABC won awards for Most Outstanding Children’s Program (My Place, ABC3) and for its Four Corners report, Code Of Silence.  SBS’ drama series East West 101 won two Logies – Most Outstanding Drama and Most Outstanding Actor (Don Hany) – and the telemovie Saved won Most Outstanding Actress for Claudia Karvan.

The tribute to those in the industry that have passed away in the last 12 months included a performance by PJ Lane, son of Don Lane (pictured), who was joined on stage by several performers from the earlier days of IMT and The Don Lane Show, including Philip Brady, Toni Lamond, Patti Newton, John Michael Howson and Geoff Harvey.

Bert Newton, hosting the awards solo for the first time since 1993, did an admirable job for what has become one of the toughest gigs in television – keeping up the tradition of topical humour as well as a candid interview with guest k.d. Lang.  Restoring Newton to the hosting role could be regarded as a safe option after the last few years’ instability in the Logies hosting, but he did well to restore some of the Logies’ sense of occasion.

Newton also presented an excellent introduction to the Hall of Fame presentation, with former Melbourne newsreader Brian Naylor (pictured) posthumously inducted in the TV Week Logie Awards’ Hall of Fame in an outstanding tribute including speeches by Naylor’s former colleagues Mal Walden, Peter Hitchener and Peter Mitchell.

Musical performances came from Gabriella Cilmi, k.d. Lang, John Mayer (who seemed rather disinterested in being at the awards) and the Rogue Traders.

Last night’s four-hour presentation at Melbourne’s Crown Casino earned an average of 1.4 million viewers for the Nine Network across the five cities – a decline on last year’s awards which were watched by 1.58 million viewers and the Red Carpet arrivals which scored 1.7 million viewers.  The Logies were beaten in the ratings last night by Nine News, Masterchef Australia and Seven News – though none of those had a four-hour run time and the Logies did not wind up until after 11.30pm.

Nine also won the night’s ratings convincingly with a 32.8 per cent share, well ahead of Seven (25.4%), Ten (19.1%), ABC1 (9.9%) and SBS1 (3.4%), with digital channels GO! (4.5%), 7TWO (2.5%), ONE (1.4%), ABC2 (0.7%), ABC3 (0.2%) and SBS2 (0.1%).

GOLD LOGIE:
Ray Meagher, Home And Away

SILVER: MOST POPULAR ACTOR
Hugh Sheridan, Packed to the Rafters
SILVER: MOST POPULAR ACTRESS
Rebecca Gibney, Packed to the Rafters
SILVER: MOST POPULAR PRESENTER
Shaun Micallef, Talkin' 'Bout Your Generation

MOST POPULAR DRAMA:
Packed to the Rafters, Seven
MOST POPULAR REALITY:
MasterChef Australia, Ten
MOST POPULAR NEW TALENT: MALE
Luke Mitchell, Home And Away
MOST POPULAR NEW TALENT: FEMALE
Carrie Bickmore, The 7PM Project
MOST POPULAR LIFESTYLE:
Better Homes and Gardens, Seven
MOST POPULAR LIGHT ENTERTAINMENT:
Talkin' 'Bout Your Generation, Ten
MOST POPULAR SPORTS:
The Footy Show NRL, Nine
MOST POPULAR FACTUAL:
Bondi Rescue, Ten

OUTSTANDING AWARDS:

SILVER: MOST OUTSTANDING ACTOR:
Don Hany, East West 101
SILVER: MOST OUTSTANDING ACTRESS:
Claudia Karvan, Saved
SILVER: MOST OUTSTANDING DRAMA SERIES, MINISERIES OR TELEMOVIE:
East West 101, SBS1
MOST OUTSTANDING NEWS COVERAGE:
Victorian Bushfires, Seven News
MOST OUTSTANDING PUBLIC AFFAIRS REPORT:
Code of Silence, Four Corners, ABC1
MOST OUTSTANDING LIGHT ENTERTAINMENT:
Talkin' 'Bout Your Generation, Ten
MOST OUTSTANDING SPORTS:
V8 Supercars: Supercheap Auto Bathurst, Seven
MOST OUTSTANDING CHILDREN'S:
My Place, ABC3
MOST OUTSTANDING FACTUAL:
Law And Disorder, SBS1

GRAHAM KENNEDY AWARD FOR MOST OUTSTANDING NEW TALENT:
Matt Preston, MasterChef Australia

TV WEEK LOGIE AWARDS’ HALL OF FAME:
Brian Naylor

Brian Naylor to enter Logies’ Hall of Fame

Former Melbourne television personality Brian Naylor is to be posthumously inducted into the TV Week Logie Awards’ Hall of Fame at next month’s awards presentation.

TV Tonight reports that TV Week is set to announce Naylor’s award tomorrow.

This is the fourth time that a Hall of Fame Logie has been awarded posthumously – photographer Neil Davis (1986), actor and performer Maurie Fields (1996) and Crocodile Hunter Steve Irwin (2007) also received posthumous recognition with entry into the TV Week Logie Awards’ Hall of Fame.

Naylor, a former radio presenter on 3AK and 3DB, made the transition to television in the late 1950s as host of children’s variety program Swallow’s Juniors (later re-named Brian And The Juniors), which had made the move from 3DB to HSV7.

He later moved into the newsroom at HSV7, hosting the current affairs program This Week and reading news bulletins before being appointed to the role of chief newsreader for the Melbourne edition of Seven National News in 1970.  Naylor’s popularity with audiences in Melbourne and across regional Victoria led to him being signed up by rival GTV9 in 1978.  Nine had endured several years of poor ratings for its evening news and even bringing veteran newsreader Eric Pearce out of retirement had failed to lift its fortunes – but signing up Naylor was a major coup and the audience followed Naylor across to Nine.  National Nine News would continue to dominate the ratings during Naylor’s 20-years as newsreader, fending off fierce rival Ten’s one-hour news and a resurgent Seven in the late 1980s and early ‘90s.

Naylor also gained a national profile as presenter of the annual Carols By Candlelight for ten years, before the role was taken over by Ray Martin, and produced and hosted documentaries for the Nine Network.

In February last year Naylor and his wife Moiree were among the 173 killed by the Black Saturday bushfires.

Last month, the short-list of nominations for the Logies’ Hall of Fame was leaked to the media for the first time in the awards’ 27-year history.  Among others on the short list were Naylor’s long-time Sydney counterpart Brian Henderson, two-time TV Week Gold Logie winner Maggie Tabberer, Dateline host George Negus, SBS sporting commentator Les Murray, sports presenter Ken Sutcliffe, former newsreader Ian Ross, Home And Away stalwart Ray Meagher and former Network Ten drama Prisoner.

The TV Week Logie Awards will be held at Melbourne’s Crown Casino on Sunday 2 May and telecast on the Nine Network.

Source: TV Tonight

Ian Ross signs off for the last time

Sydney newsreader Ian Ross has tonight presented his last news bulletin, ending a career spanning over 50 years.

Starting his career in radio at Sydney stations 2GB, 2SM and regional station 2MW, Ross made the move to television, to Sydney’s TCN9, in 1965.  He then went to the United Kingdom for two years at news agency UPITN.  Upon returning to Australia in 1974, Ross returned to Nine – and would stay at Nine for the next 38 years.

For many years, “Roscoe”, as he was nicknamed, gained a national profile as the newsreader on Nine’s breakfast show, Today, before going into semi-retirement.

In December 2003, the Seven Network scored a coup by signing up Ross to replace Ross Symonds and Ann Sanders as the chief newsreader for Seven News in Sydney.  Ross’ arrival at Seven came a year after the ever-popular Brian Henderson had retired from rival National Nine News after forty years, and it marked a significant change in Sydney’s news viewing habits, as Seven News, forever the runner-up in Sydney’s fierce TV news battle, had become the city’s top-rating news service.

The dominance of Seven News in Sydney, coupled with the increasing popularity of breakfast program Sunrise, saw the Seven Network finally challenge the Nine Network’s long held standing as Australia’s most popular news source.  Seven News now convincingly wins over Nine News, Sunrise wins over Today, Today Tonight wins over A Current Affair, Weekend Sunrise claimed victory over Nine’s long-running Sunday program last year, and Sunday Night has taken a lot of the shine off 60 Minutes.

In retiring from Seven News, Ian Ross hands over the nightly bulletin to weekend newsreader and Sunday Night co-host Chris Bath.

Source: Seven News, DanNews, Sydney Morning Herald

50 years of BTQ7, ABQ2

This weekend marks yet another television station’s 50th anniversary.  Brisbane’s BTQ7 was launched on 1 November 1959.  It was Brisbane’s second TV channel, following QTQ9 that had launched in August of that year. 

Brisbane also didn’t have to wait long to get their third TV channel, as national broadcaster ABC opened its Brisbane channel, ABQ2, on 2 November 1959. 

Like QTQ9, BTQ7 was broadcasting from studios and transmission towers constructed up on Mount Coot-tha in Brisbane.  ABQ2 opted instead to have its studios in the suburb of Toowong but had its transmission towers at Mount Coot-tha.

Early personalities on BTQ7 included Brian Tait, children’s presenters Nancy Knudsen and Lester Foxcroft, women’s presenter Sybil Francis and newsreader Brian Cahill.

One of BTQ7’s earliest variety shows was The Late Show with Tait.  The program won the first TV Week Logie award for most popular program in Queensland.  In the early ‘60s, BTQ7 launched Theatre Royal, a show that took the vaudeville style of comedy onto television, featuring comedian and The Late Show star George Wallace Jnr and a team of performers including Eddie Edwards, Dick McCann, Jackie Ellison and a young actress by the name of Rowena Wallace (no relation to George).  Theatre Royal was immensely popular, screening every Friday night for six years, and was also shown interstate.  It won six TV Week Logie awards as Queensland’s most popular program.  The show ended after George Wallace suffered a stroke and died in 1968 at the age of 50, but his legacy continued as TV Week then initiated the George Wallace Logie for Best New Talent.

Also to come through BTQ7 in the ‘60s and ‘70s was Annette Allison, a performer on early variety and teenage shows before hosting her own daytime show, Annette.  She then went to Melbourne to ATV0 to read the news and co-host the morning show Everyday (later Good Morning Melbourne).  Dina Heslop was a host of the BTQ7’s children’s program Dina And Percy and was also a contributor to the national This Week Has Seven Days before becoming a producer for later shows like the Logie Award-winning Wombat.  Jacki MacDonald also had a stint at BTQ7 in the ‘70s, hosting her own show, Jacki’s People.  After Jacki left BTQ7, they then employed her sister, Fiona, to host a children’s program and was later a presenter on Wombat.

In the mid-‘70s, Reg Grundy produced a soap opera, Until Tomorrow, at the studios of BTQ7.  The series was a rare venture into daytime drama and screened nationally on the Seven Network, featuring Babette Stephens, Ron Cadee, former TV Week Gold Logie winner Hazel Phillips and a young Barry Otto.

Other programs to have come through BTQ7 over the years included  daytime show Bailey And The Birds, teenage shows National Top 40 and Teen Time, children’s shows Boris’ Breakfast Club and Seven’s Super Saturday, game show Family Feud and variety shows Top Of The Bill and Wak’s Works.

Of course, it would be remiss not to mention BTQ7’s landmark promotional jingle, ‘Love You Brisbane’, that was produced for the channel in the early ‘80s and was used by BTQ for several years.  Sung by popular local performer Kim Durant, the song was even released as a single and was a top-seller.  The jingle was later adapted to TVW7, as ‘Love You Perth’, and regional Queensland broadcaster Sunshine Television (now Seven Queensland) before BTQ7 and Seven Queensland reprised it a few years ago:

Newsreader Brian Cahill had two stints at BTQ7, he was the channel’s first newsreader when it launched in 1959 and, after a stint at QTQ9, was there again in the ‘70s.  During the ‘60s, Cahill was joined at the news desk by former ABQ2 newsreader Ron Brady.  Others to have presented news at BTQ have included Mike Higgins, Nev Roberts, Donna Meiklejohn, Janne Rayner, Ken Hose, Garry Wilkinson, Frank Warrick and present-day newsreaders Rod Young, Kay McGrath and Sharyn Ghidella.

As well as news, BTQ7 produced local current affairs with programs including Haydn Sargent’s Brisbane, State Affair, Carroll At Seven and magazine programs PM Magazine and The Great South East.

BTQ7 last week screened a special, Flashback – 50 Years Of Channel Seven, and tonight (Sunday) newsreader Brian Cahill makes a return to the Seven News desk to mark the fiftieth anniversary of his presenting the first news bulletin on opening night at BTQ.

And, by coincidence, BTQ7’s fiftieth anniversary coincides with a new era for the Seven Network as it launches its new digital channel 7TWO on the same day.

A lot of the material in this article, particularly related to the earlier years at BTQ7, is sourced by the book On-Air 25 Years Of TV In Queensland.  Compiled and edited by Christopher Beck. (1984)

50 Years of TVW7 Perth

Perth’s first TV station TVW7 celebrates its 50th birthday with a two-hour special this Friday night.

Hosted by Yvette Mooney and Simon Reeve, both familiar TVW names dating back over 20 years, the program will look back at the life of the channel that has dominated Perth television for most of the last half century.

The program will also pay special tribute to the channel’s newsreading team of Rick Ardon and Susannah Carr, who have been reading the news together for TVW7 since 1984 – making them quite possibly the longest-serving newsreading team in Australian television.

The program is the lead-up to a staff reunion of TVW7 employees to be held on Sunday and also coincides with this month’s launch of an exhibition by Australian Museum of Motion Picture Technology to celebrate 50 years of television in Western Australia, covering the development of Perth channels TVW7, ABW2, STW9, NEW10 and regional networks GWN and WIN.

Channel Seven Perth: The First 50 Years.  Friday 16 October, 8.30pm.  TVW7 Perth/GWN Western Australia.

External Links:
Australian Museum of Motion Picture Technology
WA TV History

Jeff Newman calls it a day

West Australian personality Jeff Newman has decided to retire from Perth’s TVW7 – over forty years after joining the channel and just a few months shy of TVW’s fiftieth birthday celebration.

A former radio announcer, Newman started in television at STW9 in the mid-‘60s before joining TVW7 in 1967.  A presenter of various programs including quiz shows It’s Academic and Letterbox and local variety shows including Perth’s New Faces and Reach For The Stars, Newman joined TVW7’s news department in 1982 and for the last eight years has been Seven News’ weather presenter.  In 2001, It’s Academic was revived with Newman again as host.

Newman has also been actively involved in TVW7’s annual Telethon since it started in 1968 and in 1994 was awarded an Order of Australia Medal for his services to Telethon and the Variety Club of Western Australia, which he founded. 

Newman has also won five TV Week Logie awards for Most Popular Personality in Western Australia.

It is reported that Newman will appear at one more Telethon, to be held in October just as TVW7 celebrates its 50th birthday.

Source: WA Today, Perth Now, TVW7, WA TV History