Ballarat television turns 50

It was at 7.00pm on Friday, 27 April 1962 that Ballarat’s first television station – BTV6 – made its first official broadcast.

The channel was the fourth regional station to launch in Victoria and marked the completion of the first stage of the roll-out of commercial television in regional Victoria.  (The second stage, started in 1964, saw the introduction of television stations in Albury/Wodonga and Mildura)

BTV6, Friday, 27 April 1962 7pm Commence Transmission 7.01 This Is BTV Channel 6.  Documentary showing the development of Channel 6 since the station site was selected 7.15 Official Opening BTV6.  Introduced by Cr. Alan Pittard, Chairman of BTV Channel 6 7.30 BP Super Show – featuring Elaine McKenna 8.30 The Grey Nurse Said Nothing 10pm Movie: The African Queen. 1951 11.30 Close Source: TV Week, 23 April 1962.

The official opening of BTV6, led by the station’s chairman Cr. Alan Pittard, included pre-recorded greetings by national TV stars Bert Newton, Bobby Limb and Bob Dyer.  Also in attendance at the official opening was Dr J. R. Dowling, chairman of national broadcaster ABC.

After the official opening, BTV6 presented an episode of The BP Super Show, featuring Australian performer Elaine McKenna.  The program was followed by the 90-minute drama The Grey Nurse Said Nothing, written by Sumner Locke-Elliott.  The play, produced at Sydney’s ATN7 in 1960, starred Lyndall Barbour, Frank Waters, Nigel Lovell, Guy Doleman, Nancy Stewart and Ken Goodlet.

Although BTV6 was last of the first stage of regional channels to launch in Victoria, the channel did claim a number of ‘firsts’.  The channel was the first in Victoria to be equipped with Image Orthicon cameras – a more modern technology than those in use by existing television stations.  BTV was also to be the first Australian channel to have its transmission facilities co-located with ABC, which was due to open its Ballarat channel ABRV3 in the first half of 1963.

On its second day of transmission BTV6 presented its first news bulletin.  The channel, now the hub for the WIN television network in Victoria, continues to produce regional news bulletins each weeknight from the same studios in Walker Street for broadcast across WIN’s statewide network.

BTV6’s early line-up of presenters included children’s host Max Bartlett (later to gain national fame on The Magic Circle Club), newsreader Arthur Scuffins (pictured) and presenters Eric Gracie, Val Oldfield, Brenda Reid and David Bell.  Early program line-ups for the channel included Australian productions BP Pick A Box, Revue ‘62, The Johnny O’Keefe Show, The Bert Newton Show and The Best Of IMT.  And with the local ABC station almost a year away, BTV6 in August commenced the direct relay of rural affairs program Country Call from ABV2 in Melbourne, keeping viewers in Ballarat and Western Victoria up to date each week on rural and agricultural matters.

To boost its signal in the fringes of its coverage area, BTV6 later installed translator stations in Nhill (BTV7), Warrnambool (BTV9), Hamilton (BTV10) and Portland (BTV11).

As well as local news the channel maintained a steady schedule of local production over the next 30 years including children’s programs, rural affairs, daytime chat shows, sporting telecasts (including the annual Stawell Gift), religious programs, talent quests and variety programs.  Apart from News, possibly the most successful local production to come from BTV6 was the variety show Six Tonight, hosted by Fred Fargher.  The weekly program, often featuring local performers as well as national guest stars, ran for over a decade from 1972.  The program, later re-named Thursday Night Live, gained a wider audience in the mid-1980s when it was picked up by other regional channels across Victoria – giving the show a potential audience of around one million viewers each week.

BTV6 won a TV Week Logie in 1987 for its children’s production Kids Only – and the show’s host, Glenn Ridge, later became a national TV presenter as host of Sale Of The Century for over a decade.

Back in the days when country TV station staffers had to be jack-of-all-trades, Gary Rice was a musician and later sales manager at the channel.  He also read the local news and became general manager of the channel and later its parent company.  His experience in management at BTV6 led to him taking on executive roles at the Nine, Ten and Seven networks in the 1980s and 1990s.

In December 1989, BTV6 and its Shepparton-based sister station GMV6 were given a new on-air identity – VIC TV – as the two stations were soon to add STV8 Mildura to their network, and were preparing for the aggregation of regional Victorian markets which was to occur in January 1992.

Expansion across the Regional Victoria market as the Nine Network affiliate saw VIC TV dominate – the first ratings survey post-aggregation saw VIC TV outrate its competitors Prime and Southern Cross Network combined.

VIC TV became WIN Television following the takeover by the NSW-based broadcaster in 1994 but maintains studio facilities in Ballarat for the production of six newscasts – one for each region across Victoria – each weeknight.

Source: The Age, 26 April 1962.

50 year reunion for GMV6

It is almost fifty years since the launch of Shepparton television station GMV6.  The channel made its official debut on Saturday, 23 December 1961 – only two weeks after the launch of Australia’s first regional television station, GLV10 Gippsland, and on the same day as another station, BCV8 Bendigo.

GMV6’s opening night kicked off at 6.00pm with Personalities Parade, a 15-minute segment featuring some of the channel’s new stars including local presenters Nancy Cato (who went on to national fame as the presenter of The Magic Circle Club and Adventure Island) and Jim Lilburne and national stars Bobby Limb and Dawn Lake.

US shows Robin Hood, Father Knows Best and Sea Hunt occupied the next couple of hours along with the channel’s first news bulletin before the station was officially opened just after 8.00pm by Deputy Prime Minister John McEwen.

The opening night entertainment continued with the BP Super Show, the movie Random Harvest and then a late news update before the epilogue and sign-off for the night.

At the time of its launch GMV6 had a staff of 19 and broadcast for around 32 hours a week.

To celebrate the 50th anniversary of the launch of the station a staff reunion is being planned for any employees of the channel between 1961 and 1989 – when GMV6’s local call-sign, identity and production was being phased out to become part of the VIC TV network, based in Ballarat, in the lead up to the aggregation of regional television markets in Victoria in 1992.

In October 1994, VIC TV was bought out by the NSW-based WIN television network.  Last year WIN vacated the building premises – in Wyndham Street, Shepparton – that had housed WIN and its predecessors since 1961.  A few months ago the building was demolished and a new digital broadcast facility for the network will be built on the site.

The reunion dinner will be held at the Shepparton RSL on Saturday, 5 November and will be compered by former GMV6 personalities Chris Eddy and Jan Deane.  The night will also include a display of memorabilia and video presentations.  There will also be lunch available at the same venue the following day, enabling attendees another chance to see the displays and to catch up with former colleagues.

Any former GMV employees interested in more information or to make bookings for the dinner event – cost is $40 per head which covers Registration, a two-course meal and tea/coffee – are invited to contact the GMV reunion organisers via gmvreunion@gmail.com

Following is the WIN News story from 2010 when WIN moved out of the original GMV6 premises…

… and GMV6’s 25th anniversary special that went to air in December 1986:

YouTube videos: regionaltv

1991: August 17-23

Cover: Matthew Krok, Rachael Beck (Hey Dad!)

The end for Hey Hey?
Nine Network executives may have be sent into a mild state of panic following a statement from Daryl Somers that he may be looking at ventures other than Hey Hey It’s Saturday in the not-too-distant future.  “It is not a foregone conclusion that Hey Hey will be on next year,” he said.  “This is the last year of our current three-year contract and we’ll certainly be talking to Channel Nine.  I love doing the program, but there are a lot of things I want to do apart from Hey Hey.  I’ve had to turn down two roles in London stage shows, whereas I’d like to be able to do these things because years down the track I may not get the opportunity.”  Meanwhile, plans are continuing for Hey Hey’s Hollywood-based special to be held later this year for the show’s 20th anniversary.

Horror head-on!
In a dramatic episode of Home And Away to screen this week, who will survive Summer Bay’s tragic car crash?  It is only known that David (Guy Pearce) and Adam (Mat Stevenson, pictured) are involved in the head-on crash – but only one will survive. 

Just another quiet night in suburbia…
A car bomb which leaves two police officers dead launches the new ABC police drama Phoenix.  The explosive scene was enacted outside the Camberwell Civic Centre in Melbourne.  Surrounding streets had been blocked off by police as a Ford Falcon loaded with more than a dozen charges was detonated, triggering a 20-metre high fireball.  Almost 100 cast and crew and six cameras were involved in the production of the explosion.

Briefly… 
The Bugs Bunny Show host Sophie Lee (pictured) is philosophical about rival Network Ten’s bid to knock the popular cartoon show down a few notches by recently launching a music video show, Power Cuts.  “I’ve read about it, but that’s cool,” she said.  “I don’t know the people involved.”

Simone Buchanan was looking forward to a change from comedy when she left Hey Dad! – and that’s exactly what she got when she took on the role of a rape victim in A Country Practice in episodes to go to air this week.  “It will allow me to break free from the typecasting from Hey Dad!,” she told TV Week.  “The ACP scenes are some of the heaviest I’ve ever been involved with.  They left me feeling emotionally and physically exhausted.  I had 19 scenes in a row.  I had to cry in all of them!”

The Barcelona Olympic Games are less than a year away and the Seven Network, given its recent financial instability, is under pressure to deliver results for the $40 million it paid for the Australian television rights.  “This will be the biggest-ever single undertaking by an Australian television network,” Seven’s network sports director Gary Fenton told TV Week.  “We’ll be taking about 150 people across, building a complete studio over there, then dismantling it all and bringing it back home.  What we plan to do is make sure that viewers see more of the Australians competing at the Games than ever before.”

John Laws says…
”Why, I wonder, would the main ABC employees’ union and the Friends Of The ABC organisation be “surprised” – as they say they are – by the ABC’s offer of a new five-year contract to managing director David Hill?  Is it because Hill dances to the beat of a different drummer?  Opposition to Hill being reappointed must, I guess, be expected because the past few years have been heady and controversial ones for the ABC.  But it’s probably never had a higher profile right around Australia, and that’s due in no small measure to Hill’s input.  Staff-management problems are to be expected in an organisation the size of the ABC, and there’s no doubt Hill has had to make some necessary – and to some people, unpleasant – decisions about staffing levels, programming and future direction.  The next five years are going to pose fresh challenges to the ABC because TV is changing all the time, and there are going to be new demands on the national broadcaster, not least of which is the possibility that, one day, it is going to have to accept some form of advertising and sponsorship.  There will also be the challenge of pay-TV.”

Program Highlights (Melbourne, August 17-23):
Saturday:  On the anniversary of the death of Elvis Presley, Seven devotes much of its afternoon and evening schedule to paying tribute – with movies Kissin’ Cousins, Elvis On Tour and Jailhouse Rock and a two-hour special The Elvis Files, presented by Bill Bixby, that promises “startling new information surrounding Presley’s death and the very real possibility that he is still alive.”  This week’s guests on Hey Hey It’s Saturday (Nine) are Craig McLachlan, Rita Rudner, Cameron Daddo and Cathy Dennis.

Sunday:  Nine presents the long-awaited debut of two-part mini-series Golden Fiddles, starring Cameron Daddo, Rachel Friend, John Bach, Kate Nelligan, Pippa Grandison, David Reyne (pictured) and Adriana Xenides.  Golden Fiddles tells the story of the struggles of the Balfour family during the depression of the 1920s, and the news which could offer them a happy and prosperous future.  Sunday night movies are Cocktail (Seven) and Death Hunt (Ten).

Monday:  Ernie Bourne (The Magic Circle Club, Prisoner, Neighbours) and Beverley Phillips (Neighbours) guest star in Col’n Carpenter (Ten).  Craig McLachlan begins his week-long stint as guest host on Tonight Live (Seven).

Tuesday:  ABC presents a direct telecast from Canberra of the first Budget speech from Federal Treasurer John Kerin.  Beyond 2000 (Seven) reports on a new discovery that may lead to a better contraceptive; and the Norwegians have developed a revolutionary system for beating rising damp.  GP (ABC) presents a special episode dedicated to Camp Quality which gives unique holidays to children with cancer.

Wednesday:  In the series return of Hey Dad! (Seven), eight-year-old Arthur McArthur (Matthew Krok) falls for an older woman.  In Neighbours (Ten), Madge (Anne Charleston) is shocked by Harold’s (Ian Smith) new business partner – Brenda Riley (Genevieve Lemon).

Thursday:  In The Flying Doctors (Nine), Clare’s (Beverley Dunn) life is turned upside down when her old flame arrives in town for the opening of Steve’s (Paul Kelman) new garage.  In E Street (Ten), the new marriage between Lisa (Alyssa-Jane Cook) and Michael (Graham Harvey) could be on shaky ground – is she still in love with Wheels (Marcus Graham)?

Friday:  Star Search – The Next Generation (Ten) presents a ‘celebrity special’ looking at past guests and winners.

Source: TV Week (Victoria edition), incorporating TV Times and TV Guide.  17 August 1991.  Southdown Press

Obituary: Godfrey Philipp

Godfrey Philipp, the co-creator of children’s programs The Magic Circle Club and Adventure Island, has died and this week has been remembered by former colleagues at a memorial service in Melbourne.

Coming to Australia from the UK in the late 1950s, Philipp joined GTV9 as a production assistant, working on programs including In Melbourne Tonight.  He then went to NBN3, Newcastle, as a senior producer-director.

Then, back in Melbourne, he co-created The Magic Circle Club – a lavishly-produced children’s series that was one of the first productions to come from new Melbourne channel ATV0 in the mid 1960s.  The pantomime series was created by Philipp and writer John Michael Howson and starred Nancy Cato amongst a crew of characters including Fredd Bear (Tedd Dunn), Fee Fee Bear, Leonardo di Funbird, Marlena de Witch, Mother Hubbard, Cassius Cuckoo, Sir Jasper Crookley, Twaddle and Boddle and Patricia-who-wishes.

There were masses of protest from young fans when The Magic Circle Club was axed by ATV0 after more than 500 episodes in May 1967.  Philipp then went on to produce Hey You!, a short-lived sitcom from the same channel.

Philipp and Howson then went across to ABC to create Adventure Island, a similar concept and format to The Magic Circle Club that would go on to be just as popular and would run for five years before its axing was also met with outrage from young viewers.

Despite the sudden axing of the program, in 1973 Philipp was awarded a Logie for his contribution to children’s television.

Howson paid tribute to his former colleague at the memorial service:

''He did things with black and white television - pre all the wonderful digital magic that they now have - that were amazing.  'If I came up with, 'they're up on the moon and they catch a rocket there', he would work out how to do that. With one light, he'd change the whole effect of a scene. People come up to me today and say, 'oh the colours (of Adventure Island) were beautiful. I tell them, 'it wasn't in colour, it was in black-and-white'.''

In 1978, he produced another children’s series, Rainbow, for regional television station NRN11 in Coffs Harbour.  The series, comprising five episodes, featured children from local schools with each episode covering a different theme.  The program won a TV Week Logie Award in 1979 for most outstanding contribution to children’s television but was never picked up for screening by a capital city network.

Philipp then went to the Reg Grundy Organisation where he produced and directed episodes of the popular drama Prisoner.

As the years went on Howson said that Philipp – “who was not emotionally strong” – had started to “cut himself off from the world.”  It is believed that he was homeless for some time and spent the last ten years of his life at the Brotherhood of St Lawrence aged care centre in Fitzroy – the venue of this week’s memorial service.

“I will always remember Godfrey with a great deal of love and affection, great memories and gratitude for what he did,'' Howson said.

Source: TV Times, 20 January 1965.  TV Week, 24 February 1973. TV Week, 24 March 1979. The Age.

Tedd Dunn

Tedd Dunn, the man who put life into the TV character Fredd Bear, has died from cancer.

Dunn, 66, was a fashion designer and was wardrobe manager at the new Melbourne channel ATV0 when the station was looking for ideas for a children’s show. He created the costume for Fredd Bear (the two Ds taken from his own name) and subsequently ended up wearing it, as he made the costume so big that, with his towering frame, he was the only one who could wear it.

Dunn, as the non-speaking Fredd Bear, made his on-camera debut on ATV0 in August 1964 on The Children’s Show, which became The Magic Circle Club, hosted by Nancy Cato.

Portraying Fredd Bear, in a suit made up of fur and padding and not allowing much circulation, almost threatened Dunn’s own life when he appeared in the Melbourne Moomba procession in 1965. Normally the suit can only be worn for about 45 minutes, but delays on the day caused Dunn to be in costume for over two hours and he was close to blacking out. Always the professional, Dunn refused to remove the headpiece from the suit to allow him to breathe and therefore ruin the illusion of Fredd Bear from his young fans. He managed to stay conscious long enough to hand over a bunch of flowers to Prince Phillip at the end of the procession. The incident led to several months’ recovery for Dunn, and upon returning to the channel he re-designed the outfit to reduce heat and improve circulation.

After The Magic Circle Club was axed, many of those involved moved over to ABC to create Adventure Island, but Dunn stayed at ATV0 where the Fredd Bear character lived on in Fredd Bear’s Breakfast-A-Go-Go from 1969 to 1971. The two-hour program, starring Fredd Bear with Judy Banks (pictured, with Fredd), Mike McCarthy and Colin McEwan, featured a mix of cartoons and studio segments and became a ratings hit in a timeslot not normally known for high ratings.

Later going on to be a producer at ATV0, in 1975 Dunn won a TV Week Logie award for Most Outstanding Creative Effort after his work on special presentations Gown Of The Year and The Sound Of Christmas as well as Frankie Howerd specials.

Source: Melbourne Observer, From The Word GO! – Forty Years Of Ten Melbourne, TV Tonight, Herald Sun, TV Week 15 March 1975.

TV names in Queen’s Birthday Honours

John Michael Howson (pictured) and actor Joe Hasham are two of the over 550 Australians to be acknowledged in this year’s Queen’s Birthday Honours list.

Howson started his career as a newspaper cadet journalist before becoming a writer for Melbourne’s ATV0 in 1964, contributing to The Ray Taylor Show and co-writer and performer (as Clown) for The Magic Circle Club, and followed the latter when it moved to ABC and became Adventure Island.

He later became a regular presenter on The Mike Walsh Show, Midday With Ray Martin and Good Morning Australia – including 17 years as Hollywood correspondent.  Howson has since returned to writing where he co-wrote stage hits Shout! and Dusty and is a presenter on radio station 3AW.

Lebanese-born Joe Hasham (pictured) rose to fame in Australia in the early 1970s as gay lawyer Don Finlayson in the controversial soap drama Number 96.  The character of Finlayson was seen as ground-breaking for being the first openly gay character in a TV series, and was one of only three characters to survive the show’s entire six-year run. 

Following the end of Number 96 in 1977, Hasham went on to appear in The Young Doctors and in the early 1980s hosted the variety series Cabaret on Channel 0/28 (now SBS).  Hasham is now based in Malaysia.

This year’s honours list included a posthumous recognition for surgeon and cancer campaigner Prof Chris O’Brien who died only last week.  Prof O’Brien was known to viewers through his appearances on the Nine Network medical series RPA.

Jonathon Welch, creator of the Choir of Hard Knocks which featured on ABC, journalist and former 60 Minutes reporter Ian Leslie and SBS chairwoman Carla Zampatti were also recognised in this year’s honours.

Ernie Bourne

Veteran performer Ernie Bourne has died in Melbourne at the age of 82.

With a career dating back to the earliest days of Australian television, English-born Bourne appeared in early productions such as the courtroom drama Consider Your Verdict and the situation comedy Hey You! (pictured)

Bourne also starred in the popular '60s children's series The Magic Circle Club and its spin-off Adventure Island. Other TV credits include a raft of Crawford dramas such as Homicide, Division Four, Matlock Police and The Sullivans and historical dramas Against The Wind, Cash And Company and The Last Outlaw.

In the '80s, Bourne had ongoing roles as prison chef Mervin Pringle in Prisoner and later as mechanic Rob Lewis in Neighbours.

As well as his lengthy list of television roles, Bourne was also an accomplished stage performer with roles in They’re Playing Our Song, Mame, Mack And Mabel, Anything Goes and Man Of La Mancha.

According to IMDB, Bourne's most recent TV series roles were in children's series Thunderstone and cop drama Blue Heelers. More recently, Bourne has featured in a series of commercials for a Melbourne sporting gear outlet.

And showbusiness runs in the family with daughter Sally, who also had an ongoing role in Prisoner, currently in the stage production Shane Warne The Musical.

Source: TV Tonight, Aussie Theatre, IMDB, Perfect Blend, Have Phaser Will Travel
Picture: From The Word Go! (ATV10)