Community TV not invited to the budget party

Tonight’s announcement of the Federal Budget for 2009-10 has promised a windfall for our national broadcasters, ABC and SBS, but the community TV sector – again – appears to have been left out in the cold.

ABC has been allowed an additional $151.7 million in its budget allocation to fund the launch of its new children’s channel, ABC3, and to increase Australian content, particularly drama.  ABC will also receive some additional funding to support the development of online content in regional areas.

SBS has been given an additional $20 million over three years to boost Australian content.  This is despite the broadcaster asking for an additional $70 million to fund programming initiatives and a new channel to replace the digital World News Channel.  Regardless, SBS appears to be moving ahead with its new channel, SBS2, to launch next month.

The Government has also promised $140 million to assist regional communities in the transition to digital television.

However, the community TV sector – surely, the most financially-starved of all broadcasters – has been omitted from tonight’s budget promises.  This is despite past assurances by Senator Stephen Conroy that community TV will be looked after in the transition to digital transmission.

So far, both previous and current governments have done little to assist or support community TV in migrating to digital – despite the national and commercial broadcasters being given assistance in funding, infrastructure and broadcast spectrum – and have also been allowed to simulcast in both analogue and digital to allow viewers time to make the move to digital equipment before analogue transmissions are shut down across Australia between 2010 and 2013.

Recent news reports indicate that 43 per cent of capital city households have already made the transition to digital television – and, potentially, just as many households are now without access to community television.

Over eight years since the launch of digital television in Australia, Community Television continues to be restricted to analogue-only transmission with no confirmed migration path to digital.  The only concession allowed to the community channels to date has been the inclusion of the community channels in the to-be-launched Electronic Program Guide (EPG) as part of the Freeview platform. 

The Australian Community Television Alliance, representing TVS Sydney, C31 Melbourne, C31 Adelaide and QCTV Brisbane, has already called for an urgent meeting with communications minister Senator Stephen Conroy to discuss the budget developments.

Source: The Age, Senator Stephen Conroy, TV Tonight, Australian Community Television Alliance

1979: May 5-11

Cover: Robin Williams, Pam Dawber (Mork And Mindy) 

Bid to help Australia’s deaf fully ‘receive’ TV
A new non-profit organisation, Australian Centre for Visual Television (ACVT), aims to provide television programming to the estimated five per cent of Australians suffering hearing loss.  ACVT’s producers, actor Adam Salzer and actress Alexandra Hynes, have been involved with Sydney’s Theatre for the Deaf for four years and will soon visit Europe and the US to learn what is being done there for deaf viewers.  The group hopes to have a program pilot developed, produced and sold to a network by 1981 – which, co-incidentally, is to be the International Year of the Disabled Person – and is encouraging Australian networks to follow the US in the captioning of television programs.  ACVT has, however, already scored one achievement by persuading a clothing store chain to include sign language in its commercials

Inside story
The stories, characters and scenarios depicted on the new series Prisoner, although they are fictional, are the result of painstaking research.  Peita Letchford, a former high school teacher and graduate of the Australian Film and TV School, was employed by the Reg Grundy Organisation, when it was developing the new series, to research the prison system and just what happens to the inmates from the time they first step off the paddy wagon.  Letchford interviewed several former inmates and prison officers and toured a women’s prison to get an insider’s perspective.  One vivid experience was when she was being guided through a prison hospital and saw, through an open door, in a small room was an inmate just sitting on a bed, with a dazed look on her face, just staring into space.  "And as we walked past the assistant superintendent said she had murdered someone last night and that when someone murders they’re put in these observation cells for three days.  It was just incredible that she had murdered the night before.  She was very young.”

Life wasn’t meant to be easy when your partner’s an ostrich
Daryl Somers’ professional partnership with Ossie Ostrich has taken on human proportions: “I could never think of Ossie being shoved into a suitcase or left lying around the studio like a prop.  He’s very much a character that lives.  When I work on Hey Hey It’s Saturday, I always talk to Ossie, I never think of anyone else.”  Ossie’s human alter-ego Ernie Carroll agrees: “It’s Daryl and Ossie that have that smart repartee.  I know for a fact that I could never compete.”  Carroll is fortunate, in that regard, that he can leave Ossie at work: “No one ever sees me on TV so I don’t get stopped in the streets by curious viewers.”  For Somers, even when working away from the show, he can’t leave Ossie behind: “I work interstate at a lot in the clubs and cabaret rooms.  Most of the people who go to the clubs have children who watch TV and those kids will ask me about Ossie.”

So you want to be in TV?
Television is often seen to be an exciting and lucrative industry to get involved in.  The problem is that available positions are rarely advertised and when they are there is an avalanche of applications.   For instance, BTQ7 Brisbane recently received 450 responses to a job advertisement for a camera operator.  But television does offer a range of jobs for those looking for a break in the industry.  A make-up artist, with qualifications in cosmetics and hairdressing, could earn anything from $170 a week.   A qualified graphic designer could expect around $250 a week, and trainee lighting technicians start at $81 a week, if under the age of 17.  Trainee sound technicians start at around $80 a week and trainee video technicians can expect a starting wage of $100 a week.  Wardrobe assistants, film editing assistants, researchers, set builders and designers and camera assistants are also positions that can give newcomers a break into the industry.

Briefly…
Michael Parkinson is rarely lost for words on screen, but a recent studio interview with wildlife expert Harry Butler, who had bought in a python for the segment, did leave Parky rather speechless.

Actors in upcoming episodes of The Sullivans are taking a three-week course in prisoner behaviour before joining the show.  They are being taught how genuine prisoners behaved in Singapore’s Changi Prison during World War II, and to talk a smattering of Malay.

Prisoner star Val Lehman is lobbying producers to write a Christmas-time pantomime into the series.

Viewpoint: Letters to the Editor:
”I am terribly upset that TCN9 continually allows The Mike Walsh Show to run overtime and then cuts five or ten minutes of Days Of Our Lives to make up!  I can prove this because I live in the viewing area for Newcastle as well as Sydney.  I am always seeing parts of Days on NBN3 that have been cut out of TCN9.  I urge all Days fans to watch their clocks and when The Mike Walsh Show goes overtime get on your phones and jam the Nine switchboard.  Maybe then something will be done.” A. Brennan, NSW.  (TV Times responds:  “TCN9 denies Days Of Our Lives has ever been cut.  Nine sends Days Of Our Lives by cable to Newcastle.”)

“In Europe, show-jumping commands a large audience on TV.  Last year an Australian rider won the prestigious trophy at Wembley Stadium in London, the King George V Cup, yet nobody saw or heard of it here.” C. O’Brien, NSW.

“Despite the popularity and general acceptance of The Sullivans by a younger generation, I suggest some glaring examples of incorrect detail must be apparent to veterans of World War II.” C. Casten. VIC

What’s On (May 5-11):
The Victorian State Election is held on Saturday – with varying levels of results coverage across all four Melbourne channels.  ABC presents a one-hour coverage at 7.30pm with Ralphe Neill and Barrie Cassidy, then returns for another hour at 9.35pm.  HSV7 has election updates throughout the evening, hosted by Dan Webb, and a 30-minute wrap-up at 11.00pm.  GTV9’s Brian Naylor presents updates through the evening, and ATV0’s Michael Schildberger is joined by ACTU president Bob Hawke and former premier Sir Henry Bolte for a half-hour special report at 7.30pm.

Former TV Week Gold Logie winner Lorrae Desmond and athlete Raelene Boyle are among the guests, appearing between live crosses to harness racing at Moonee Valley and the Tattslotto draw, on HSV7’s Saturday Night Live.

This Fabulous Century (HSV7, Sunday) looks at plague and pestilence in Australia’s recent history, such as rabbits, prickly pear, sharks and the blow-fly.

Sigrid Thornton, Michael Long and Mercia Deane-Johns are guest stars in Cop Shop (HSV7, Monday and Thursday).

ABC’s travel series Holiday visits Thevenard, a remote island off north-west Australia, Phillip Island and the Victorian coastal town of Mallacoota.

Sunday night movies: Pete ‘n’ Tillie (HSV7), Gambit (GTV9), Women In Love (ATV0).

Source: TV Times (Melbourne edition), 5 May 1979.  ABC/ACP

TV Week Logie Awards 2009

Packed To The Rafters star Rebecca Gibney has won the TV Week Gold Logie for Most Popular Personality on Australian TV.

The hit Seven Network series won a total of six awards in tonight’s presentation, including two for new talent Jessica Marais and Gibney also winning the Silver Logie for Most Popular Actress.

The Nine Network’s Underbelly won three awards, including Outstanding Drama Series.  Series stars Gyton Grantley and Kat Stewart won Outstanding Actor and Actress awards.

Network Ten’s Rove McManus won the Logie for Most Popular TV Presenter and Rove won Most Popular Light Entertainment program.

ABC1’s The Hollowmen won for Most Outstanding Comedy Program and current affairs program Foreign Correspondent won for Most Outstanding Public Affairs Report.

SBS’ First Australians won the Logie for Outstanding Documentary.

FOX Classics host Bill Collins was inducted into the TV Week Logies’ Hall of Fame.

The awards presentation was hosted by former Big Brother host Gretel Killeen and also featured performances by Annie Lennox, Jessica Mauboy and Natalie Bassingthwaighte.

List of all winners:

Silver Logie — Most Popular Actress
Rebecca Gibney (Packed To The Rafters)

Silver Logie — Most Popular Actor
Todd Lasance (Home And Away)

Silver Logie — Most Outstanding Actor
Gyton Grantley (Underbelly)

Silver Logie — Most Outstanding Actress
Kat Stewart (Underbelly)

Most Popular Reality Program
So You Think You Can Dance Australia (Network Ten)

Most Outstanding Comedy Program
The Hollowmen (ABC1)

Most Outstanding News Coverage
"China Earthquake" (ABC News)

Most Popular Lifestyle Program
Better Homes And Gardens (Channel Seven)

Silver Logie — Most Popular TV Presenter
Rove McManus (Rove/Are You Smarter Than a 5th Grader?)

Most Outstanding Sports Coverage
Beijing Olympics (Channel Seven)

Most Popular Sports Program
The Footy Show NRL (Nine Network)

Most Popular New Male Talent
Hugh Sheridan (Packed To The Rafters)

Most Popular New Female Talent
Jessica Marais (Packed To The Rafters)

Most Popular Factual Program
Bondi Rescue (Network Ten)

Graham Kennedy Award For Most Outstanding New Talent
Jessica Marais (Packed To The Rafters)

Silver Logie — Most Outstanding Drama Series, Miniseries or Telemovie
Underbelly (Nine Network)

Most Outstanding Children's Program
H20: Just Add Water (Network Ten)

# Most Outstanding Public Affairs Report
"Afghanistan: A Survivor's Tale" (Foreign Correspondent, ABC1)

Most Outstanding Documentary
First Australians (SBS)

Most Outstanding Factual Program
Border Security (Channel Seven)

Most Popular Light Entertainment Program
Rove (Network Ten)

Most Popular Drama
Packed To The Rafters (Channel Seven)

TV Week Logie Awards' Hall Of Fame
Bill Collins

TV Week Gold Logie — Most Popular Personality
Rebecca Gibney

Source: TV Week

1979: 21st TV Week Logie Awards

After more than twenty years in television it had been a long time coming – but the 21st anniversary TV Week Logie Awards finally saw Bert Newton win his first Gold Logie.

Newton, a veteran Logies host as well as host of New Faces and sidekick on The Don Lane Show, had been nominated several times over the years for the Gold Logie and had seen colleagues Graham Kennedy and Don Lane already take home gold statuettes in previous years.  In accepting his Gold Logie, Newton mentioned his mother, Gladys: “I want her to experience what I am experiencing now.  We lost her daughter, my sister Alice – she was my greatest fan – a couple of years ago.  Mum, this is for your daughter and my sister.”  Newton then phoned his mother from his Hilton Hotel suite immediately after the show.

As well as winning the Gold Logie, Newton also won the award for most popular male personality in Victoria.

The awards presentation was held on Friday 16 March 1979 at Melbourne’s Hilton Hotel and televised nationally through the Nine Network and relayed to thirty regional channels across Australia.

The night provided some famous moments – Robin Williams, from Mork And Mindy, was a comic hit on the night, and champion boxer Muhammad Ali provided a moment that would be recalled in Logies history for many years to come.  Host Newton had quipped, “I like the boy..!” to Ali – a comment that is largely innocent in Australia but the term “boy” has racist connotations in America.  Some rapid adlibbing from the normally unflappable Newton saved the moment from turning nasty.

But it was a moment that was close to not happening at all, as Ali had only agreed to appear at the awards night less than 24 hours before showtime and had only arrived at Melbourne airport minutes before the show started.  A police escort rushed him to the Hilton Hotel and through the crowds of onlookers waiting to catch a glimpse of him.

Other overseas guests at the awards included Lauren Tewes (The Love Boat), Cicely Tyson (Roots), British actor David Hemmings, American actor Henry Silva, Days Of Our Lives stars Susan Seaforth Hayes and Bill Hayes and George And Mildred stars Yootha Joyce and Brian Murphy.

A total of 43 awards were presented on the night.  The Nine Network’s long-running drama series The Sullivans  (pictured) claimed four Logie awards – including Paul Cronin and Lorraine Bayly for most popular lead actor and actress awards and The Sullivans winning most popular Australian drama series.

The Don Lane Show won most popular variety or panel show as well as most popular program in Victoria.

The Seven Network’s landmark 1978 mini-series Against The Wind (pictured) won three awards – Jon English for best new talent, Kerry McGuire for best performance by an actress in a supporting role and Against The Wind won best new drama.

The 0-10 Network won a special Logie for Outstanding Contribution to Community Service with its Have A Go campaign.  The campaign, initiated by Sir Kenneth Humphreys, chairman of TEN10 Sydney, was a series of commercials to motivate Australians to take a greater sense of pride in their country.  The campaign was later endorsed by the prime minister, Malcolm Fraser, as well as state governments. 

The film documentary The Last Tasmanian, aired on the 0-10 Network, won the Logie for best single documentary.  The film, three years in the making, traced the life and death of the Tasmanian aborigines and had been a hit around the world with French and Welsh language versions also made.

Regional television also won two awards.  The annual award for Most Outstanding Contribution by Regional Television was won by Goin’ Down The Road, a 30-minute documentary by Central Tablelands station CBN8.  The documentary about a rodeo rider was selected from a final list of four nominations – the others being Six Tonight (BTV6, Ballarat), Voices Of The River (TNT9, Northern Tasmania) and Bravo Boston (NBN3, Newcastle).

The Logie for most outstanding contribution to children’s television is usually won by a capital city network, but in 1979 the award was taken out by Rainbow, a series of five programs produced by Northern Rivers station NRN11.  The series, produced by Godfrey Philipp, featured children from local schools with each episode covering a different theme.

ABC won two Logies for its single drama, Bit Part, featuring veteran actor John Meillon.  And 12-year-old Warwick Poulsen won the industry voted award for most popular performance by a juvenile for his role in the telemovie Because He’s My Friend where he played a retarded child.  Actor Michael Aitken won a Logie for his script for Neutral Ground, an episode of the Tickled Pink comedy series.

The full list of winners from the 21st annual TV Week Logie Awards:

Viewers’ Voted Awards

Gold Logie: Bert Newton (New Faces, The Don Lane Show)

Silver Logie – Most Popular Actor: Paul Cronin (The Sullivans, Nine)
Silver Logie – Most Populat Actress: Lorraine Bayly (The Sullivans, Nine)

Most Popular Teenage Personality: John Paul Young
Most Popular Variety or Panel Show: The Don Lane Show (Nine)
Most Popular Comedy Show: The Paul Hogan Show (Nine)
Most Popular Drama: The Sullivans (Nine)

Best New Talent: Jon English (Against The Wind, Seven)

Industry Panel Awards

Best Performance By An Actor In A Major Role: John Meillon (Bit Part, ABC)
Best Performance By An Actress In A Major Role: Kerry McGuire (pictured. Against The Wind, Seven)

Best Performance By An Actor In A Supporting Role: Peter Adams (Cop Shop, Seven)
Best Performance By An Actress In A Supporting Role: Chantal Contouri (The Sullivans, Nine)

Best Performance By A Juvenile: Warwick Poulsen (Because He’s My Friend, ABC)

Best Single Drama Production: Bit Part (ABC)

Best TV Script: Michael Aitken for Neutral Ground (ABC)

Best Single Documentary: The Last Tasmanian (0-10 Network)
Best Documentary Series: A Big Country (ABC)

Best News Report: Bank Siege (QTQ9 Brisbane)
TV Reporter Of The Year: Bill Bennett (Willesee At Seven, Seven)

Best Sports Report or Documentary: Surfabout (Nine)
Outstanding Coverage of a Sports Event: Bathurst Hardie-Ferodo (Seven)

Outstanding Contribution to Community Service: Have A Go campaign (TEN10 Sydney)

Outstanding Contribution to Children’s TV: Rainbow (NRN11 Coffs Harbour, RTN8 Lismore)

Outstanding Contribution by a Regional Station: Goin’ Down The Road (CBN8 Orange)

State Awards (Most Popular Male, Most Popular Female, Most Popular Locally-Produced Program):

VIC: Bert Newton (GTV9), Mary Hardy (pictured. HSV7), The Don Lane Show (GTV9)

NSW: Mike Walsh (TCN9), Noeline Brown (ATN7), The Mike Walsh Show (TCN9)

QLD: Paul Griffin (QTQ9), Jacki MacDonald (TVQ0), Country Homestead (QTQ9)

SA: Ernie Sigley (NWS9), Pam Tamblyn (ADS7), The Ernie Sigley Show (NWS9)

WA: Terry Willesee (STW9), Stephanie Quinlan (TVW7), Channel Nine News (STW9)

TAS: Jim Cox (TNT9), Kerry Smith, Saturday Night Show

Source: TV Week, 24 March 1979, 31 March 1979.

More news is good news?

Network Ten have, for many years, stretched the boundaries of news presentation in this country.  They were the first network with a one-hour evening news in the ‘70s.  They adopted the American style of heavily-populated news desks and casual interaction between presenters.  They tried, albeit briefly, to have a three-newsreader format in Sydney and Melbourne.  They were the first network to break the 6.00pm news barrier – with NEW10 in Perth in 1988, and then the whole network going ‘first at five’ in 1992. 

And, today, there are reports that Ten is considering expanding its one-hour 5.00pm news bulletin to 90 minutes, putting it up against Seven News and Nine News.  If the move goes ahead, is the first time since 1991 that all three networks will have news at 6.00pm. 

The move is, apparently, to save the network millions of dollars it is paying each year for trotting out re-runs of The Simpsons at 6.00pm, by utilising resources it is already paying for.   And given that Ten usually wins the 5.00pm hour in the ratings – despite the high-profile game show contest being fought between Seven and Nine at 5.30pm – it is hoped that this audience will flow over to 6.00pm and may also increase the profile of Neighbours, which struggles at 6.30pm.

Since the report appeared in this morning’s press, Network Ten has since denied the suggestion that it is going through with this change to its news format, although they have conceded that pilot bulletins in the expanded format were trialled.

The issue raises the question, though, do we need three versions of news at 6.00pm?  In a market where we only have three commercial channels, would it not be better to offer an alternative to the two networks already offering news at that time?  On the other hand, Ten has tried to offer alternatives at 6.00pm for many years now – Hinch, Studs, Jeopardy!, Level 23, Echo Point, Battle Of The Sexes, and many, many re-runs of The Simpsons, just to name a few – and none have really clocked up decent ratings.

There is no denying that Ten needs to do something with its 6.00pm timeslot, but is more news the answer?

Source: Daily Telegraph, Brisbane Times

1979: April 28-May 4

Hogan’s Heroines
Delvene Delaney’s absence from The Paul Hogan Show this year has led to a lucky break for two female beauties from vastly different backgrounds.  Karen Pini, from Western Australia, rose to fame as a runner-up in the Miss World contest of 1976 and later appeared as a nude centrefold in the first edition of Australian Playboy magazine.  Pini is now pursuing an acting career with The Paul Hogan Show as well as a role in The Young Doctors.  Sue McIntosh had worked in television in the United Kingdom, as an actress and presenter, before coming to Australia where (as Sue Donovan) she became best known as the host of ABC’s Adventure Island as well as appearances in The Graham Kennedy Show, The Don Lane Show and The Mike Walsh Show, as well as hosting GTV9’s You Me And Education.

Quest winner to study in US
Marilyn Meier, the 14-year-old viewers’ choice in ABC’s Quest ‘78 talent series, has decided to follow her dream and study in the US.  The young performer is to study with four or five months tuition with Bela Siki, Professor of Music at the University of Washington. Ms Meier will also attend a six-week summer school at the Banff School of Fine Arts in Canada after winning a $1000 scholarship to the school. 

Tanya’s back to bridge the gap
Tanya Halesworth (pictured), one of ABC’s first female TV presenters in the ‘50s and later host of the Nine Network’s all-female current affairs program No Man’s Land, is returning to the national broadcaster to host Sunday Spectrum, a two-and-a-half hour arts and entertainment program featuring documentaries, concerts and local material.  The first edition of Sunday Spectrum will also include an interview with ACTU president Bob Hawke, who will be the first in a series of interviews with well-known Australians to discuss the books that have had the most influence on their lives.  Sunday Spectrum starts on ABC in mid-May.

Dr Susan’s prescription for living
Judy Lynne, Dr Susan Richards in The Young Doctors, is making a 30-minute pilot for what she hopes will be picked up for a 26-episode series.  The new program, Live Life, looks at various leisure activities and to inspire people to make more active use of their spare time.  The pilot, which is being made with the support of the Nine Network, is the result of twelve months’ research and planning.  The network is to decide in May if the pilot will be expanded into a series.

Briefly…
Olga Davis, one of the hosts of ATV0’s Grecian Scene, has just returned from Greece where she was gathering material and interviewing Greek performers.  The program, which screens every Saturday on ATV0, is also shown in Greece and in some Arab countries.

Actor Terry Donovan, who has been touring Australia to promote the movie The Money Makers, has signed up to replace George Mallaby in Cop Shop.  Donovan will start work on the series later in the year.

Even though Number 96 ended production over a year ago, Pat McDonald is still finding it hard to shake off the Dorrie Evans (pictured) persona she portrayed for over five years: “I did realise at the time that it would take a long time for people to forget her completely, but I didn’t think she would still be alive in people’s minds to the extent that she is today.  I’m constantly amazed by it.  I have a feeling I will have to play a few very dramatic, completely different roles on TV before people will let me move on.”

Viewpoint: Letters to the Editor:
”I’m glad The Goodies are back on ABC.  It’s a really good show; the three stars are brilliant comedians and writers, the show is always hilarious and it’s on at a reasonable time.” S. Carrington, NSW.

“In episode four of Anna Karenina on ABC, Count Vronsky’s horse fell at the last jump of a steeplechase.  Was the mare he was riding really destroyed?”  A. Moores, NSW.  (Editor’s reply: “nyet”)

“I and many others think Doctor Who is about as thrilling as the tenth rerun of Days Of Our Lives.  This is typical of British shows, especially on ABC.” D. Johns, QLD.

What’s On (April 28-May 4):
Weekend sport includes the finals of the World Tournament Hockey, live from Perth, and the 1979 Australian Sports Sedans, from Sydney’s Oran Park, live on ABC.  ABC and HSV7 have Saturday night replays of highlights from the day’s VFL matches.  On Sunday afternoon, Melbourne and Richmond clash in the Commodore Cup, live from Moorabbin, on HSV7.

Singer Denis Walter (pictured) is a guest star on this week’s Young Talent Time (ATV0, Saturday).  Later in the evening, Lucky Starr, Geraldine Fitzgerald, Terry Donovan, Cheetah and Dave Allenby are some of the guest stars on HSV7’s Saturday Night Live.

The first batch of multicultural programs compiled by the Special Broadcasting Service (SBS) are shown on ABC over three hours on Sunday morning.

In this week’s Marque: 100 Years Of Motoring (ABC, Thursday), Peter Wherrett looks at the Mini and the front-engine, front-wheel-drive cars that it has since inspired.  Then he compares GM’s Corvair with the early Volkswagens.

HSV7 launches a new weekly children’s show, Stax, promising a new approach to television where children, aged 7 to 13, provide the ideas for the show and present them.  The program is produced for HSV7 by Bob Weis and new company Open Channel.

Sunday night movies: Breakout (HSV7), Paper Tiger (GTV9), Airport 1975 (ATV0).

Source: TV Times (Melbourne edition), 28 April 1979.  ABC/ACP

One, Two, Three for ABC

Twelve months on, last year’s 2020 Summit has bore little fruit although the Government has made two decisions based on the discussions conducted over the two-day event.

One of those decisions is to approve funding for ABC to establish a television channel specifically for children.

The new channel, tentatively ABC3, will include a mix of in-house and private sector production – and promises that 50 per cent of all programming will be Australian.

Programs will cover all genres including drama, animation and documentaries. ABC’s director of television Kim Dalton said that the broadcaster will announce more details of the channel over the coming weeks and months.

The announcement of the new ABC channel comes after Network Ten has launched its 24-hour high-definition channel OneHD and SBS has announced plans to relaunch its World News Channel as SBS2. The Nine Network has not made any formal announcement, though it is suggested that their new digital channel may be an entertainment channel called GO!99.

That leaves Seven still to make any hint as to what its multi-channel plans are beyond its existing part-time channel 7HD – when almost two months ago, network chief David Leckie teased the press with a statement that an announcement was imminent.

Source: ABC, TV Tonight, NineMSN

Bill Collins joins Logies’ Hall of Fame

TV Week has announced Bill Collins as the 26th inductee into the TV Week Logies Awards’ Hall of Fame.

For over forty years, Collins has shared his passion for movies with many thousands of magazine readers and TV viewers.  Formerly a lecturer at the Sydney Teachers’ College, Collins began presenting movie reviews on ABC’s afternoon program, Roundabout, in the early ‘60s. 

From 1963, Collins started writing movie reviews for TV Times magazine and later moved to commercial television to review and introduce movies – first at TCN9 and then at ATN7 Sydney, where he also presented movie reviews on the Sunday night news!

By the early ‘80s, Collins had moved across to Network Ten where his movie presentations, with passionate and often unscripted reviews that were almost as epic as the movie titles he was presenting, became a long-running staple of Saturday night television across the country.   As well as The Golden Years Of Hollywood, there was The Bill Collins’ Picture Show, and many midday and weekend movie matinee presentations for Network Ten.  Also during the ‘80s, Collins reviewed movies for TV Week and his weekly column, You Asked For It, ran for several years.

In the mid-‘90s, the advent of pay-TV saw classic movies appearing less and less on free-to-air TV – so it was inevitable that Collins would move The Golden Years Of Hollywood to Foxtel where it currently appears on the Fox Classics channel.

The TV Week Logies’ Hall of Fame was introduced in 1984 to recognise the achievements of those who have made significant contribution to the Australian television industry.  The first recipient was legendary TV producer Hector Crawford.  Over the years, the Hall of Fame has welcomed actors and actresses, producers, executives, presenters and even programs that have made extended contributions to television.

Bill Collins will be inducted into the TV Week Logie Awards’ Hall of Fame at this year’s awards presentation on Sunday 3 May.

Source: ABC, TV Week

1979: April 21-27

Busted!  Linda Stoner’s day in a real cop shop
Cop Shop newcomer Lynda Stoner (pictured, with co-star Gil Tucker) spent a day at Melbourne’s Russell Street police station to get some practical advice on the type of police work the actress may be expected to emulate in the popular Seven Network series.  The former Miss TV Times winner is also finding that, like in her previous role as a nurse in The Young Doctors, the uniforms are proving to be a bit of a problem: “I didn’t like the nurses uniform and this police uniform is a problem, too.  I’m two sizes bigger around the top than the bottom.  The skirts seem to sag while the buttons at the top do not have much chance of lasting long!”  

TV series for ethnic groups
The Government-funded Special Broadcasting Service (SBS) is producing a series of three-hour programs to screen on ABC on Sunday mornings from later this month. Executive producer of the weekly program is Rowan Ayers, a former BBC executive who was recently a producer of special projects for the Nine Network.  Ayers was also an executive producer of the Nine documentary series The Africans, which screened earlier this month.  Although the series features programs of interest to as many as forty different ethnic groups, Ayers hopes that the programs offered by SBS will be of interest to all Australians:  “The series is not meant only for migrant groups.  We hope that all Australians will find it interesting as well and will learn about the different ethnic groups in this country.  Each program is basically a ‘network’ of different programs, some from other countries and others made in Australia.  We’ll have material from places such as Korea, Thailand, Greece, Italy, Germany, Turkey and France.”

Bert Newton in TV deal
The Nine Network is about to announce a new contract deal which will make Bert Newton (pictured) possibly the highest paid performer in Australian TV.  The Nine deal, which comes just after Newton was signed to a Melbourne radio station to a five-year contract worth $1 million, follows a very generous offer made by the Seven Network last year in response to Nine poaching Seven personalities including Brian Naylor and Paul Hogan.  The Seven offer eventually failed when network stations outside of Melbourne shirked at the cost of hiring someone whose popularity is not as strong outside of Melbourne.  The previous year, Newton, his on-air partner Don Lane and producer Peter Faiman were also made an offer to move The Don Lane Show across to ATV0.

Airport series set for take-off
Production is well underway on the new Seven Network drama series Skyways.  The series, set in an international airport, has a cast of thirteen – including Deborah Coulls (The Restless Years), Bartholomew John (The Young Doctors, The Penthouse Club), Bruce Barry, Tony Bonner (Skippy The Bush Kangaroo, Cop Shop), Ken James (Skippy The Bush Kangaroo, The Box), Joanne Samuel (Class Of ‘74, The Young Doctors), Brian James, Judy Morris, Gaynor Martin and New Zealand actor Bill Stalker (pictured).  No screening date or timeslot has been announced as yet but inside sources claim the series will be aimed for an early-evening timeslot.

High energy channel!
A report presented on BTQ7’s Haydn Sargent’s Brisbane, on an alternative source of energy, has gained national interest.  Producer Earle Bailey had found that the Horvath Energy System, invented by 49-year-old Stephen Horvath of Sydney, was given only minimal coverage in the southern states.  Bailey then sent a team to Sydney to assess the invention that claimed to produce everlasting, pollution-free and inexpensive energy by a fusion process using hydrogen and its isotopes.  It was claimed that the system, which Horvath had already installed in his car, could be mass-produced within 16 months, reducing the dependency on fossil fuels.  The BTQ7 report was later picked up by HSV7 Melbourne and TVW7 Perth and also distributed worldwide by Visnews.

Briefly…
The Seven Network has joined the Nine Network and ABC in bidding for the rights to televise the 1979-80 Australian Test cricket season.  The 0-10 Network may have dropped out of the race after Sydney press reported details of their bid to the Australian Cricket Board.

Plans to present an edition of The Don Lane Show from within Melbourne’s Pentridge Prison have been dropped.  Producer Peter Faiman said the show, to air this week, will still feature interviews and filmed stories from within the 150-year-old prison but will be presented from GTV9’s studios as usual.  Faiman also promised a surprise, saying that during the show they will breaking a major historic discovery.

After 21 months as Alison Clark in The Restless Years, Julieanne Newbould has asked to be written out of the show: “At the moment I don’t know what I’ll do.  But there comes a time when you can become typecast.”

The ‘Brian Tells Me So’ tune that TCN9 and GTV9 have been using to promote their newsreaders – Brian Henderson and Brian Naylor – has become so popular it is to be released as a single.

Former Number 96 and The Box star Briony Behets has agreed to a guest role in the new series Prisoner.

Viewpoint: Letters to the Editor:
”I am appalled that ABC would put such a blunderer as Ian Meldrum on air, especially as Countdown is one of their most popular shows.  A perfect example of this man’s foolishness was when he was talking to tennis star Vitas Gerulaitas and he addressed him as Bjorn.” J. Ward, QLD.

“I would like to say how exciting it is to see ABC coming back into current affairs with Nationwide.  The closing down of This Day Tonight and Monday Conference left ABC viewers with a feeling of desolation.” L. Mills, SA.

“Why is The Sullivans (pictured) screened every weeknight in Sydney and only twice a week in Perth?  It’s a bit lousy because Perth will never catch up with Sydney!” C. Simmonds, WA.

 

 

What’s On (April 21-27):
Weekend sport on ABC includes live coverage of the King’s Club Regatta from Adelaide and the World Hockey Tournament from Perth.

This Week Has Seven Days (HSV7, Saturday afternoon) features a segment on Australian varieties of lizards.  This week’s medical segment looks at skin burns. And the careers segment looks at the job of the veterinary nurse.

Documentary series This Fabulous Century (HSV7, Sunday) presents the first of a two-part episode on war.  Peter Luck talks to survivors of the German and Japanese prison camps.

Monday night on HSV7, Norman Gunston presents his first special for 1979 with international guests including Lee Marvin, the Bee Gees, Dinah Shore, Barry Manilow, Troy Donahue, Dionne Warwick, Karen Black and Harry Reems, a star of the adult film Deep Throat.

ABC presents the premiere of its new drama series Twenty Good Years.  The story begins in 1956.  Ron (Harold Hopkins) meets Anne (Anne Pendlebury), a Jewish girl.  When the relationship becomes series, both the couple (pictured) and their families are faced with some difficult decisions.  The series also stars Leila Hayes, John Murphy, Jonathan Hardy, Anne Charleston, Julia Blake and Michael Carman.

ANZAC Day is commemorated with various programs during the day.  ABC presents live coverage of the ANZAC Day March, followed by a special, The ANZAC Story, which looks at the ANZACs during the Great War 1914-18.  ATV0 presents a one-hour special Return To ANZAC, featuring the 1975 pilgrimage of 70 Australians to ANZAC Cove.  Later in the afternoon, ATV0 presents the ANZAC episode of the series Australians At War.

Sunday night movies: The Savage Bees (HSV7), Adventures Of A Taxi Driver (GTV9), Carry On Round The Bend (ATV0).

Source: TV Times (Melbourne edition), 21 April 1979.  ABC/ACP

John Sorell

Former National Nine News chief John Sorell has died at Melbourne’s Alfred Hospital. The 72-year-old had suffered a heart attack on Friday.

A dual Walkley Award winner with a long history as a print journalist – working at newspapers including The Mercury, The Age, The Herald and Sunday Observer – Sorell went on to lead the GTV9 newsroom from 1975 at a time that the station’s evening news bulletin was being soundly beaten by Seven.

It was Sorell who, during 1978, made a successful bid to poach top-rating Seven newsreader Brian Naylor. Naylor joined National Nine News early in 1979 and went on to lead the news ratings until his retirement in 1998.

Sorell retired from Nine in 2003, leaving while the channel’s news was still in front in the ratings.

Just two months ago, Sorell wrote a tribute in the Herald Sun to Brian Naylor who died with wife Moiree in the tragic bushfires that devastated parts of Victoria.

Source: Herald Sun, The Age, TV Tonight