YouTube: Revisiting Skippy

It's been a while since a YouTube video has featured here, but I came across this one recently and thought it would be of interest.

This video takes us back to the original locale used for the 1960s children's series Skippy The Bush Kangaroo, an area adjacent to the Ku-ring-gai National Park, north of Sydney.  Surprisingly, the ranger's headquarters - constructed specifically for the series' production  - is still intact, though showing some signs of wear.  The helipad is now a duck pond but the building's interior is like a time capsule with the decor and furnishings appearing to be virtually untouched since being occupied by Skippy and her fellow co-stars.

Ninety-one episodes of Skippy The  Bush Kangaroo were made between 1966 and 1969.  The program was made by Fauna Productions with some financial assistance from the Nine Network, and was sold to 128 countries including the United States where it was syndicated to 160 local television stations.  A feature film, Skippy And The Intruders, was also made.

Skippy also recently made news when one of the show's former stars, actor Tony Bonner, made a claim for royalties from the series following the DVD release.

Skippy The Bush Kangaroo also starred Ed Devereaux, Ken James (who later went on to The Group, The Box and Skyways), Garry Pankhurst, Liza Goddard and a guest list that includes some of Australia's most well-known actors.

A far more detailed history and episode rundown of Skippy The Bush Kangaroo can be found at TV Eye - Classic Australian Television.

YouTube: leokimvideo
IMDB: Skippy The Bush Kangaroo

Stop the digital TV discrimination!

Not only did ABC announce the upcoming launch of its new ABC News Breakfast venture for ABC2, but also press reports last week indicated that the commercial networks appear to be putting in some planning and acquiring programming for their new standard-definition digital channels that they are permitted to launch from 1 January 2009.

But, while it is great to see our national broadcaster and commercial networks embracing their digital future, the community TV sector continues to be left wanting for a piece of the digital pie.

Both past and present governments have done little to ensure community TV has a migration path to digital transmission - while our national and commercial broadcasters have had access to free digital spectrum, allowed to run in parallel to their analogue frequencies, plus other concessions and incentives to roll-out digital transmission sites in order to fulfil the Government's digital transition strategy.

The plight of Perth's Access 31, which has now since ceased operation, is a reminder that without a licence to broadcast in digital, the community TV sector risks losing its relevance in the market and, therefore, its financial sustainability as it will struggle to find sponsorship funds when its viewer base is being eroded - particularly as the market penetration of digital tuners is on the increase and will continue to do so as ABC, SBS and commercial operators ramp up their digital offerings.

What can you or I do to help? Tell the Government what community TV means to you, that you support its transition to digital and that the Government provides the technical (ie. digital spectrum) and financial means to do so.

Write to Senator Stephen Conroy, Minister for Broadband, Communications and the Digital Economy.

Write to the Prime Minister, Kevin Rudd.

Contact your local community television station for more information:

C31 Melbourne
TVS Sydney
QCTV Brisbane
C31 Adelaide

Disclaimer: I write this article only as a digital TV viewer who has effectively lost access to viewing my local Channel 31*. I have no connection or affiliation to any community TV group so the views expressed here are my own and not intended to represent those of any community TV organisation.

* and yes, I am aware that there are steps to be taken to essentially have the analogue signal 'bypass' the digital set-top-box connection to my TV set. It is not a practical solution in this instance.

1978: October 7-13

The Sammys: Who will win?
TV Times promises a glittering night of stars when the third annual Australian Film and TV Awards - otherwise known as The Sammys - will be presented this week from the Seymour Centre in Sydney. The awards are a joint venture between TV Times, the Seven Network and the Variety Club of Australia. Roger Climpson will be the awards host and among the presenters to take part in the awards will be Tasmanian-born Hollywood actress Merle Oberon.

There are 39 award categories in this year's Sammy awards covering both film and television, but not all will be included in the two-hour Seven Network telecast. Following is a list of some of the award categories and nominations:

Best Variety Performer: Bert Newton (pictured), Paul Hogan, Don Lane, Barry Crocker, Marcia Hines, Julie Anthony, Garry McDonald

Best Actress In A TV Series: Joanne Samuel, Lorraine Bayly, Jill Forster, Tina Grenville, Paula Duncan, Rowena Wallace, Julieanne Newbould, June Salter

Best Actor In A TV Series: Paul Cronin, Sonny Blake (pictured), Nick Hedstrom, Malcolm Thompson, Tim Page, George Mallaby, Peter Adams, John Hamblin

Best Drama Series: Case For The Defense, Young Ramsay, The Sullivans, Cop Shop, The Young Doctors, The Restless Years

Best Sports Coverage: Australian Open Golf, VFL Grand Final, Davis Cup Tennis, World Series Cricket, VFA Grand Final, Hardie Ferodo 1977

Best Current Affairs Program: Willesee At Seven, Four Corners, A Current Affair, Eleven AM, Shoulder To Shoulder.

Best Comedy Program: The Norman Gunston Show, The Naked Vicar Show, Bobby Dazzler, Father Dear Father, The Paul Hogan Show, The Dave Allen Show, Benny Hill In Australia

Best Children's Series: Romper Room, Fat Cat And Friends, Here's Humphrey, Super Flying Fun Show, The Curiosity Show, What In The World, The Magic Bag, Wombat, This Week Has Seven Days, Happy-Go-Round, Magicat

Best Light Entertainment Series: Family Feud, This Is Your Life, Sound Unlimited, It's Not Just A Story, Blankety Blanks (pictured), The Mike Walsh Show, The Peter Couchman Show, Countdown, Mastermind, Nightmoves

Gold (Female): Cornelia Frances, Delvene Delaney, Lorraine Bayly, June Salter, Marcia Hines, Noeline Brown, Paula Duncan, Joanna Lockwood, Caroline Jones, Julieanne Newbould, Wendy Hughes.

Gold (Male): Don Lane, Paul Hogan, Mike Walsh, Graham Kennedy, John Waters, Harry Butler, Roger Climpson, Garry McDonald, Robert Moore, Mike Willesee (pictured), Sir Robert Helpmann, Paul Cronin, Gulpilil, Bill Hunter.

Grundy claims record!
Reg Grundy Productions is claiming a world record for an independent TV production company. The company has a current production schedule of around 30 hours a week of TV programming, with programs emanating from four capital cities: The Restless Years, The Young Doctors and Blankety Blanks from Sydney, The Daryl And Ossie Show from Melbourne, Pyramid Challenge and Perfect Match from Brisbane, and Family Feud from Perth. Although this only accounts for around 17 hours a week of TV airtime, production of game show episodes are produced in larger quantities each week to enable stockpiling of episodes. For instance, Pyramid Challenge has 20 episodes being produced in one week, while they are only aired at a rate of five per week.

Not just a pretty face!
Monique Daams (pictured) is the girl adding a touch of glamour to the 0-10 Network's The Daryl And Ossie Show. The Dutch-born 24-year-old has appeared in numerous TV commercials and modelling contests - winning the Australian Quest of Quests four years ago - but this is her first regular TV appearance. Executive producer of The Daryl And Ossie Show, Bill Mason, predicts a big future for Daams, "We wanted a fresh face, one that was not over exposed on TV, and someone with intelligence as well as beauty. We saw several dozen girls and Monique fitted our concept perfectly. We think she has a big future in TV."

Just briefly:
Crawford Productions and the 0-10 Network are planning a new police drama for next year, tentatively titled Murder Squad.

Harry Michael's Greek Affair looks like becoming a home away from home for former Number 96 stars, with Elaine Lee, Joe Hasham, Bettina Welch and Shiela Kennelly having filled in for Michaels who is in Greece.

Paul Jennings, the former radio newsman whose political impersonations made him a national personality on shows like A Current Affair, is now working backstage at ATV0 as the warm-up man for the studio audience of The Tea Ladies.

Viewpoint: Letters to the Editor:
"There are many things on TV that bother me, but three things especially make me clench my fists. The first is Ross D Wylie on ATV0. I like the movies they put on but I can never stay awake once he comes on. And why can't GTV9 bring their late movies up to date? We're almost into the 1980s and they're showing films from the 1940s and 1950s. And I like Mike Walsh but I also like a bit of variety. I'm sick to death of soap operas." S. Edgell, VIC.

"I am sick of reading letters complaining of small inaccuracies in the production of The Sullivans. Some the criticisms are not even valid. Even if the criticisms do have some basis, surely a more constructive way of rectifying the mistake is to write to Crawford Productions directly." A Pellizzer, VIC.

What's On (October 7-13):
The Nine Network's new early-morning show, The Job Show, debuts on Monday, screening weekdays at 6.30am leading in to The Super Flying Fun Show.

The third annual Sammy Awards are on HSV7 on Wednesday night at 8.30pm, honouring the best talent in Australian film and television.

GTV9 presents the (TV Week) King Of Pop Awards, a 90-minute presentation on Friday night, hosted by Glenn Shorrock with special guests Kate Bush and Leif Garrett.

Sunday night movies are The Great Scout And Cathouse Thursday (HSV7) and Lost Horizon (ATV0) while GTV9 presents the first instalment of mini-series The Bastard, with remaining parts screened on the following two nights.

Source: TV Times (Melbourne edition), 7 October 1978. ABC/ACP

ABC2's dawn of a new era

When it comes to news and breakfast TV,  the commercial networks have almost had a monopoly on it - with various versions of Today and Sunrise, and not forgetting Ten's 6am news and the old Good Morning Australia - but from November not only will our ABC be delving into this arena, it will be doing so with an innovative format and as an investment into its digital channel ABC2.

From Monday 3 November, ABC News Breakfast launches with four hours every weekday of news and current affairs with Virginia Trioli, Barrie Cassidy and Joe O'Brien, but don't expect any "Mel and Kochie"-type nicknames for this group, this will be serious stuff for those that don't prefer the froth and bubble of the Sunrise set or Today.

An innovative aspect of the program is that it will also involve ABC news crews around the country and will also interact with ABC radio programs such as AM, PM, Radio National Breakfast and The World Today, as well as crossing to ABC's Melbourne and Sydney breakfast radio programs. 

Viewers will also be able to interact with the program in real-time by SMS and email, with messages received being displayed on screen during the program.  And to make the program accessible in real-time to all Australians, rather than central and western time zones having to see the show on delay, it will be streamed live from the show's website http://www.abc.net.au/breakfast. 

It is a bold venture for ABC to combine radio, television and online resources into a single program.

Placing ABC News Breakfast on ABC2 is also a big step in promoting digital television.  ABC2 has been in operation since 2005 but until now the amount of exclusive content it has aired has been largely limited to youth-oriented shows like Good Game, Hack Half Hour and JTV - but the advent of ABC News Breakfast on ABC2 shows a strong commitment to expanding ABC's digital offerings.

And placing ABC News Breakfast on ABC2 means that the children's timeslot that has occupied ABC1's mornings for decades can continue unchanged.

ABC2 is available as a standard-definition free-to-air digital channel and is also available on pay TV via Foxtel, Austar, Neighbourhood Cable and TransACT.

Source: ABC

ABC News Breakfast. 
Starts Monday 3 November, 6.00am, ABC2

1978: September 30-October 6

Happy the War bride
When Alice Morgan and Michael Watkins (Megan Williams and John Walton, pictured) walk down the aisle together on The Sullivans, the bride's dress will bring back happy memories for one viewer, Mrs Emmett of Victoria, who wore the same dress on her own wedding day in 1943 and offered it to Crawford Productions for use on the series. The wedding of Alice and Michael took place at Melbourne's Church of Our Lady of Victory in Camberwell but, unlike a real wedding, took a full day of rehearsals and filming before Alice could say "I will." The wedding episode of The Sullivans screens this week on GTV9 Melbourne and later in October on TCN9 Sydney and NWS9 Adelaide.

Blinkity blinks!
Most quiz shows give contestants a chance to show how clever they are. Not so, with ABC's new show Micro Macro, as host Noel Ferrier (pictured, centre) says it will show them up with not a clue as to the answer. An adaptation of a European format, Micro Macro will put two teams of celebrity panelists against each other in a quiz of visual puzzles relying on the quickness of the eye. Among the regulars to appear on the show will be Carol Raye, one of Ferrier's companions on Blankety Blanks, and personality Jimmy Hannan, who is more familiar to viewers as a game show host rather than contestant.

The pause that refreshes
This Day Tonight host Clive Hale (pictured) finds there's nothing like a bit of meditation to calm those pre-program nerves, but he's never meditated in the studio, always at home. But since he and wife Elizabeth moved from Adelaide to Sydney so he could take over as host of the NSW version of This Day Tonight, he's often had to give his daily meditation a miss. "I'm determined to get back into it. TV is a high pressure industry and it's fairly unnerving talking into a lens," he told TV Times. Despite the show's increased ratings since Hale took over the hosting role, This Day Tonight is set to finish up later in the year.

The call of the wild!
TV channels are often inundated with phone calls from viewers asking about certain programs or to give feedback - sometimes constructive, but sometimes just illogical! One such phone call went like this:

Caller: "Why have you taken off The Restless Years?"
Receptionist: "But this is Channel 7, and that program is on Channel 0."
Caller: "I don't care. Just tell me why you've taken it off!"

Viewers have also had cause to call up Sydney's TCN9 to complain about The Mike Walsh Show. Rival station TEN10, which used to screen the show, still gets viewers complaints about the program, and ATN7 and ABN2, neither of which have ever screened it, also receive complaints about it!

And in Melbourne, one young viewer calls up HSV7 when The Flintstones is repeated, and always asks to speak to Fred Flintstone, but responds angrily when told that Fred is not available. A Perth woman also called up STW9 to ask if she could borrow a couple of palm trees, as seen on Gilligan's Island, for a Hawaiian party.

Viewpoint: Letters to the Editor:
"After the never-ending stream of cops and robbers and doctors and nurses, the classic The Importance Of Being Earnest was like a welcome oasis. As it was heralded by TV Times as the movie of the week, earning a four-star rating, one might wonder why good family entertainment such as this could be shown at midnight. Perhaps TEN10 are aiming at giving the dole payees, who don't need to rise at 6 or 7am, a little culture." V. O'Hara, NSW.

"Richard Peach and Richard Morecroft both look great and do a great job of newsreading. And thanks for presenting us with a weatherman, who tells us about the weather. Better than the over-glorified, shiny females of the commercial stations." A. Voake, SA.

"Having watched The Truckies' episode 'Country Music', I register my disgust with the series. Having virtually endured the previous episodes (because we haven't a choice of channels), the 'Country Music' episode I found most distasteful. If ABC is hoping to sell the series overseas I now add that it will certainly paint a sad and sorry picture of our Australian male, and our truckies in particular." W. G. Walker, WA.

What's On (September 30-October 6):
HSV7's live telecast of the 1978 VFL Grand Final is not listed in the program guides, possibly not confirmed at time of publication, but a full replay is scheduled for 6.30pm Saturday night.

Following the Grand Final, Penthouse '78 presents a special edition to celebrate 1000 episodes of HSV7's World Of Sport, featuring highlights of over twenty years of the world's longest running sports show. Joining host Ernie Sigley is World Of Sport host Ron Casey and regulars including Bill Collins, Fred Villiers, Jack Elliot, Rollo Roylance, Lou Richards and Gus Mercurio.

Sunday morning and afternoon on HSV7 is dominated by the Hardie-Ferodo 1000, over nine hours of live coverage from Bathurst Raceway in NSW.

Monday afternoon marks the debut of ATV0's new game shows Pyramid Challenge and Perfect Match and variety show The Steve Raymond Show.

The documentary The Last Tasmanian features on ATV0 on Wednesday night, a two-hour presentation tracing the genocide of the Tasmanian Aborigines, starting with the arrival of white man in 1803 and culminating with the death of Truganini - the Last Tasmanian - in 1876.

Sunday night movies are Sharon: Portrait Of A Mistress (HSV7), Soldier Blue (GTV9) and the premiere of US series Dallas (ATV0) with the first series of five episodes to be screened over three nights. ATV0 follows Dallas with a special presentation, Television's 22 Years, hosted by Steve Raymond (pictured) and featuring guests Graham Kennedy and Johnny O'Keefe.

Source: TV Times (Melbourne edition), 30 September 1978. ABC/ACP

TelevisionAU Update 28-Sep-08

http://www.televisionau.com

FLASHBACK #47: TV's most famous family, the Newtons, could never be accused of being camera-shy - but it was not often that they all appeared in the same series. In 1988, 11-year-old Matthew Newton (pictured) had the role of Freddo in the children's comedy Sugar And Spice - and making a guest appearance in one episode is the rest of the clan - Bert, Patti and Lauren. The role of Freddo was the young Newton's second dramatic role after an earlier appearance in the Nine Network's The Flying Doctors. (Go to http://www.televisionau.com for full picture)

Sugar And Spice was a $3 million adventure-comedy set in the 1920s, produced for the Seven Network, and also featured Radha Mitchell, Susan Ellis and Frank Wilson. Picture: TV Week, 10 September 1988

NEW CLASSIC TV GUIDES:
Melbourne 1964 1982
Adelaide 1983
South Australia 1982 1984 1988

TELEVISIONAU - THE HISTORY OF AUSTRALIAN TELEVISION
http://www.televisionau.com/
http://blog.televisionau.com
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/televisionau
http://au.youtube.com/user/TelevisionAU

Peter Leonard

Former WIN Television newsreader Peter Leonard has died after a battle with mesothelioma.  He was 66.

A resident of Canberra for more than fifty years, Leonard began his career at radio station 2CA in 1962, and stayed for nearly ten years.  He then served as a news presenter for local ABC radio and television for two decades before joining WIN Television in the early-'90s to read its Canberra-based news bulletin.

Leonard stayed at WIN News until he announced his retirement in July last year.  He was diagnosed with mesothelioma in January this year.

ACT Chief Minister Jon Stanhope paid tribute:

"He's lived here almost all his life. He's a person from the region, a Canberran for more than 50 years, a former Canberran of the Year.  I know of nobody in Canberra that really we could actually claim as quintessentially the 'voice of Canberra'."

Peter Leonard is survived by his wife Gwen, his children Matthew, Nathan, and Natasha and his grandchildren.

Source/Picture: ABC

1978: September 23-29

Cover: Michael Landon (Little House On The Prairie)

The Sammys are coming!
The third annual Sammy Awards promise to be the most exciting yet, with a stunning line-up of stars, programs and movies all vying for honours among 39 categories. This year will also mark the inauguration of the Chips Rafferty Memorial Award. The Sammy Awards, presented by TV Times in association with the Variety Club of Australia and the Seven Network, will take place on 11 October at Sydney's Seymour Centre. The two hour telecast will be hosted by Roger Climpson.

Dating Jenny is no picnic!
Since playing the mysterious Miranda in the movie Picnic At Hanging Rock, Anne Lambert has had roles in The Box, Glenview High and Chopper Squad, and now takes on a new role in Cop Shop. Lambert plays Jenny McGregor, girlfriend of Constable Roy Baker (Gil Tucker, pictured), but has some strange fascinations: "Jenny has a strange fascination towards violence. She is attracted by the uniform, the guns and the handcuffs."

TV ads draw viewers' fire
In 1977, 715 people were so annoyed by advertisements that they complained to the Advertising Standards Council (ASC). Half of those complaints were specifically about television advertising. The largest proportion of complaints were in the "taste and decency" category. Among the advertisements to be accused of general bad taste included those featuring bus-loads and TV screens full of lemons, the depiction of bad manners in bubble gum and potato chip advertisements, the depiction of rats eating Australia in an anti-inflation ad, the use of rough words such as 'gutsy' and 'damn', and advertisements for R-rated movies. Complaints were also received about the use of sex to sell products such as toothpaste and vitamins, the depiction of women in advertising and advertising displaying food wastage. The ASC's third annual report states that about one in eight complaints received are found to be justified.

Service to help the unemployed
The Nine Network is about to launch a new weekday morning program aimed at helping the unemployed find work. The half-hour program, Looking For A Job, will be hosted by Brian Bury and Gail Jarvis and will update job opportunities as listed by the Commonwealth Employment Services. The program will also feature interviews with representatives from major employers including BHP and The Shell Company of Australia, government agencies and the armed forces.

Viewpoint: Letters to the Editor:
"I am glad to see ABC produce a program for our truckies, but as a truckie's daughter I was let down by the program. Here in Western Australia our truckies aren't beer-drinking, pill-popping drivers. Sure, they do both, but only to a certain extent. The program is making the WA truckie look exactly the opposite to what he really is. In the East the truckie may be like that, but over here it's a different matter." V. Mazza, WA.

"I am concerned about the order in which episodes of Doctor Who are screened. I would rather see all the Jon Pertwee stories in order (and the Tom Baker ones for that matter) than just a handful of randomly selected stories." S. Collins, QLD.

"Again we have an example of how writers are regarded in this country. In the preamble to Woman In The House on Stuart Wagstaff's World Playhouse, Stuart Wagstaff made a point of mentioning everyone at the beginning of the play, with the exception of the writer. Mr Wagstaff also said "... but it was really Neil Fitzpatrick's play." Correction. It was Luis Bayonas' play. Surely as an actor, Mr Wagstaff knows that neither the actors nor the director could have done such a good job if they hadn't started with a good script." M. Kelly, NSW.

What's On (September 23-29):
With The Daryl And Ossie Show now airing weeknights on ATV0, their former Saturday morning timeslot on GTV9 is now taken by The Super Saturday Show, a line-up of cartoons presented by Queensland personality Jacki MacDonald.

Guest performers on this week's Penthouse '78 include Bartholomew John, Maria Venuti and Col Elliott.

It's the lead up to the 1978 VFL Grand Final and on Monday night, HSV7 has the Brownlow Medal Count live from the Southern Cross Ballroom hosted by Peter Landy. On Thursday night, Landy presents a one-hour special That Was The Season That Was. On Friday afternoon there's live coverage of the Bourke Street parade of the Grand Final teams, and on Friday night through to Saturday morning, John Waters presents the Football Marathon, featuring highlights from HSV7's archive of VFL matches.

Relative Air Pollution, the second episode of ABC's comedy Tickled Pink, features Noel Ferrier (pictured) as owner of a radio station, 2KK, and traces his tormented life at the hands of his wife and sister-in-law, which becomes further complicated when the radio station undergoes a metamorphosis at the hands of his nephew, Jethro (Robert Hughes). The comedy also stars Judi Farr, Robina Beard, Stephen O'Rourke and Shaunna O'Grady.

Sunday night movies are The Don Is Dead (HSV7), Nowhere To Run (GTV9) and White Line Fever (ATV0), while on ABC, performer Jill Perryman is the special guest on the final episode of variety series Capriccio!

Source: TV Times (Melbourne edition), 23 September 1978. ABC/ACP

Malcolm Searle

Former TV quiz show host and radio presenter Malcolm Searle passed away earlier this week at the age of 77.

Tamworth-born Searle was the original host of the Melbourne-based quiz show Coles £3000 Question from 1960 until ill-health forced him to resign in early 1963. He was later one of the 'Good Guy' presenters on Melbourne's popular music radio station 3AK.

Searle then moved to Brisbane as a presenter on the recently-launched TVQ0 before moving to Sydney to host The Marriage Game. He later returned to Queensland, working in the hotel and restaurant industries and maintaining other business ventures.

In the late 1970s, Searle had returned to Brisbane to host the game show Pyramid Challenge for the 0-10 Network.

The funeral for Malcolm Searle was held today in Nambour, Queensland.

Source: Jocks' Journal

Ernie Sigley preparing to sign-off

Ernie Sigley, the "little Aussie battler" with over fifty years in radio and television, has announced his resignation from his long-standing role as afternoon host on Melbourne radio station 3AW, signaling a move into semi-retirement.
Beginning at radio station 3DB as a turntable operator in 1952, Sigley went on to become a disc jockey for the station and then graduated to television in 1957 as one of the hosts of Melbourne's first popular music program Teenage Mailbag on HSV7.
He then took a gamble and tried his luck overseas, managing to score work at BBC and at Radio Luxembourg. Returning to Australia in the mid-'60s, Sigley went to Adelaide where he took over as host of NWS9's Adelaide Tonight. Hosting Adelaide Tonight for almost a decade led to Sigley and co-host Anne Wills scoring a swag of TV Week Logie awards for most popular personalities in South Australia.
In 1974, Sigley returned to Melbourne to host The Ernie Sigley Show at GTV9, and which famously paired him up with former go-go dancer Denise Drysdale. They both went on to win TV Week Gold Logies as most popular personalities on Australian television and also had recording success with their single 'Hey Paula' becoming a best-seller.
The Ernie Sigley Show came to an abrupt end early in 1976 when an off-air outburst - after an episode which had been cut short for a sports awards telecast coming down the link from Sydney - aimed at his producer Peter Faiman and boss Kerry Packer saw Packer sack him in person the next day.
After being sacked, Sigley went to ATV0 to host a nightly variety show, Ernie, and in 1978 he replaced Mike Williamson as co-host of HSV7's Saturday night variety show The Penthouse Club, which then became Saturday Night Live.
In 1981, after a break from TV, Sigley made a few token appearances on game shows like Personality Squares before being signed up by Reg Grundy to host the Seven Network's new game show Wheel Of Fortune, a role which he held for three years before handing over to John Burgess. At the same time he launched Wheel Of Fortune, he also returned to 3DB, where his career began thirty years earlier, to host the breakfast program. And in 1982, he had a brief stint as host of the regional variety program Thursday Night Live from Ballarat's BTV6.
In the mid-'80s, Sigley reprised The Ernie Sigley Show for GTV9 which had only a brief run before he went to the Ten Network to host the daytime talent show Pot Luck, a revival of the 1970s Pot Of Gold.
In 1989, Sigley and Denise Drysdale were reunited, hosting GTV9's new morning show In Melbourne Today which later became Ernie And Denise when the program went national a few years later. Sigley also returned to radio, first at 3AK, then to 3AW in 1996 where he continues hosting the afternoon shift until later this year.  Sigley, who recently celebrated his 70th birthday, is expected to stay at 3AW but in a part-time or reduced capacity.