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The TVW7 50th Anniversary Reunion online registrations now being recorded at

www.tvwreunion.com

The following comments were posted on the tvwreunion.com web site by people registering for the TVW 50th Anniversary Reunion on Sun 18th October, in the grounds of TVW Channel 7.


Bill Mather-Brown

Switchboard Operator (1959-1960)

I was the first switchboard operator at Seven and started there just before it opened and stayed until sometime in 196O. Jim Cruthers was the boss, Frank Moss general secretary, Darcy Farrell in charge of the news room. Brian Treasure was one of the wheelers and dealers and some of the other staff members with me were Tony Letch, graphic arts, Ross Cusack and Athol Thomas, journalists, Rolf Harris, LLoyd Lawson, Coralie Condon, Harvey Bean, Steven Lumsdaine, Ilene Marks to name a few. I look forward to meeting you at the function. All the best. Bill Mather-Brown.



Len McKenna

Presenter- Len McKenna’s Nature Parade (Oct. 1959 – Oct. 1969)

I appeared in my segment of the Children’s Session in the first week of television. It became a weekly session and continued for ten years until the last week of the children’s session in Oct. 1969.



Betty Delaporte (nee Nesbit)

Canteen (1959-1970)

My three sons sang, “This is Children’s Channel Seven” the first night Rolf Harris was on he gave them an autographed wobble board. Sadly they wobbled it to bits.



Essie Over

Children’s Programming (1960’s)

My brother and I worked at Children’s Channel 7 with Rolf Harris. We were known as Frank and Essie Over of “Over & Over” which was our heralding tune song. We were basically puppeteers and Frank introduces animated cardboard characters to Perth television for the first time. We worked as a team with Rolf Harris in 2 of a series of 3 programmes. Rolf provided the musical accompaniment with suitable emphatic sounds. I did the singing, wrote the script, did the stories, narration and Frank made and provided all the puppets, cut out characters animation, sets, backdrops and did most of the movements for puppets, assisted by myself and sometimes my niece Jennifer Clark.

Working with Rolf we produced 2 series;

1. Artie Emu

2. Nursery rhyme time

Penny Hoe was the director of these series.

After Rolf Harris left TVW7, to go back to the UK, Frank and I produced a new series of Aboriginal legends and children’s stories of a small Aboriginal boy- Warrabindi and his constant companion and dream time brother, a small Goanna lizard Yo-Yo. This was very popular with Aboriginal and white audiences of the time. We had a great fan mail.

Harry Butler Anthropologist and Explorer, gave us a disc recording of authentic Aboriginal Corroboree music for use in appropriate scenes. Brian Treasure was an enthusiastic supporter. Coralie Condon producer and Penny Hoe directing. We worked for Channel 7 for 3 years in total in the Children’s programming.

Lloyd Lawson and others helped in the narration.



Janice Williams (nee George)

Singer appearing on Teen Beat, Club Seventeen, Tuesday Date & Today (1960-1962)

I experience great times in the early days of Channel Seven, singing along names such as, Garry Meadows, Gary Carvolth, Rolf Harris and all the young support singers on the shows. Would love the opportunity to make contact with all these old ghosts.



Bert King

Engineering Studio and Bickley transmitter (1960-1971)

Please note that in the staff list there are three names not included that I know of ….Tom Storer, now deceased, and Tom Mitchell, also now deceased both were in engineering. A third was Richard Parkes (engineering transmitter).


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John Quicke and Bert King


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Bert King with John O’Callohan and TVW’s first OB Van


Peter Buzzard

Broadcast Technician and Operator (TVW 1960’s)

Would just love to catch up with all the old crew, at least, — those of US, – still boxing on with LIFE !!!

Still living in Perth and STILL watching TVW -7


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Ray Caley and Peter Buzzard in the 1960’s Telecine area




Patricia Shipperd (nee Holmes)

Performer (1960-1982)

Performed on numerous occasions with Coralie Condon’s afternoon shows. Backing singer for visiting artists Took part in Productions by Max Bostock ie. Mother’s Day and Anzac Day. Worked for 21 years on Telethon as a volunteer from PMH. Would love to meet up with old colleagues and friends, went to last one and thoroughly enjoyed it.



Marye Louise Daniels (nee Baker)

Production Assistant, Children’s Shows Sec. to Harry Butler, assisting with Make-up Children’s Channel 7 (1961-1965)

Frank Moss originally employed me in about 1962. I had the great pleasure of being the very first married woman to work at Channel 7. Mr. Moss informed me that it was the policy of Channel 7 not to employ married women. My appearance was bright and I had a happy smile and I lived in close proximity – so I got the job – How fortunate I was!

I lived in the same street – Cobham Avenue – so I walked to work every day. I still have a photo of the sign that was placed on the corner of Cobham Avenue and Flinders Street – 54 CHILDREN LIVE IN THIS STREET, PLEASE DRIVE CAREFULLY. (the sign was changed when advised of more children born).

I was the secretary for Harry Butler (Naturalist) and assisted him with all the insects/worms/little things viewers used to send in for his Show (in their matchboxes and plastic containers) – never knowing what spider would jump out at me!

The *Tonight Show* – was just starting – and I assisted also in production of this show.

I assisted Carolyn Noble and Gary Carvolth, Johnny Young, Garry Meadows, and many more on Children’s Channel 7. I was the Production Assistant. I worked under John Dee, Marion Greiling and Max Bostock as Production Manager. Brian Treasure was Station Manager.

I assisted in the make-up department, with make-up for Eartha Kitt, big Lorne Green from Bonanza and many more overseas artists.

I was having a great deal of trouble with my divorce and it was stressing me – Mr. Moss actually dismissed me, but telephoned me 2 weeks later and asked me to come back again as they all missed me and I was such a good/pleasant and wonderful worker.

TVW Channel 7 allowed me to bring my 2 children into work with me (believe it or not?) and they would be in the audience of the children’s show. My son, was 5 years old – a bouncy young boy, very outgoing – and they asked me if he would do an egg commercial – throwing a ball, in cricket, and kicking a football – and finish up eating a hard boiled egg. He hated eggs and would not do it – we tried to coax him with the promise of future earnings would enable him to have a new bike – but alas no!

My daughter was one of the original Shirley Halliday dancers and appeared many times in the children’s show.

My years at TVW Channel 7 were brilliant – I have so many wonderful memories – too many to write them all down. Maybe I should write a book. Best regards for the day, I sincerely hope to come along and share the 50 years of TV.


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The ever changing warning sign on Cobham Avenue





Rosemary Mostyn (nee Peet)

Secretary to News Editor, Darcy Farrell (1963-1964)

The Reunion is a great idea! I look forward to catching up with old work colleagues and looking around the TVW premises to see the amazing changes in 45 years. Coincidentally, my 45th wedding anniversary is on 16 October 2009.I therefore had to reluctantly resign from TVW in 1964 as married women were not allowed to work… its certainly different today!!



Dianne Froud (nee Moore)

The Patch Girls (1963-1964)

The Patch Girls featured on “Tonight on Seven” and in “The Good Oil” a musical production by Coralie Condon and featured Kevan Johnston, Jill Perryman and Danni Harford.



Bob Penno

Studio Maintenance, OB’s and Bickley Transmitter (Jan 1963-Jan 1965)

Great to catch up with some of the “oldies”, did miss quite a few at the “50 Years of TV Reunion” and looking forward to catching up again.

It is a time when we ought to think about those who contributed and are not with us any more!!

Best wishes to the volunteers who put this together…. Thanks



Don Rock

Accounts/Traffic (1963-1996)

Paymaster/ Data Processing Supervisor/ Credit Manager/ Telethon Performer (Harmonica)

Don joined Channel 7 on 22nd April 1963 as a Roster/Accounts Clerk, subsequently becoming Assistant to the Paymaster (Bernie Roddy). He worked as Paymaster for 8 or 9 years and then transferred to the Traffic/Data Processing Department as Data Processing Supervisor responsible for programming the IBM 447 Accounting Machine, the electro-mechanical monster which read punched data cards to produce the Station Log, Monthly Accounts, Booking Confirmations and Commercial Content information. With the advent of computers Don returned to general accounting and credit control work before his appointment as Credit Manager for the last 10 to 12 years. During his time at Channel 7 Don made numerous TV appearances playing harmonica. He retired on 30th September 1996.



Joan Dye (nee Cohen)

Production, Front Office, Foyer (1964-1967)

Employed by Frank Moss, firstly in Production handling mail for Today, Club 7 Teen, Vox Adeon Show, Tonight. Front Office running of programs each day on a machine, Switchboard Operator and Receptionist.

My continuous support of TVW Channel 7 remains. Many happy memories of the wonderful team dieted by Sir James Cruthers, Secretary Frank Moss, Brian Treasure and Max Bostock to name a few. Locally produced shows, the News directed by Darcy Farrell, Sports by Robert Cribb and Harry Kelly, Club Seventeen (Max Bostock and Gordon McColl) Children’s Channel 7 (marion Leyer) and wonderful efforts by Coralie Condon, together with many other talented staff. The friendship was fantastic amongst staff and entertainers and in all a wonderful company to be associated with.



Sally Carvolth (nee Trevorrow)

Stenographer/typist in Accounts (1965-1966)

I have only just heard of this event from my son and would enjoy catching up with everyone. What a wonderful idea.



Bill Meacham

Head News Cameraman (1967-1980)

Hi to the organisers… Darcy Farrell gave me a call about the details. I would like to attend.


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Left: Bill Meacham Right: John Hudson
Rear: John K. Watts



John Rogers

Sporting (1969-1990)

Football commentator, World Of Sport Chairman/panelist I also telecast baseball, yachting,motor racing, golf and spent time as the sports news reader on Saturday evening news.

I started with 6IX in, I think, about 1970 when their studio was at the bottom of ST George’s Tce. The station was then taken over by TVW7 and moved to Tuart Hill. Ch7 had a huge blue with the then W.A.F.L. over around the fence advertising at Subiaco Oval and pulled out of telecasting footy for a number of years.



Ron Christie

Producer-Director-Promotions (1970-1975)

I am really looking forward to this opportunity of meeting so many friends who were part of an exiting period of television at TVW. I am reminded of ALMOST ANYTHING GOES a live variety production telecast on Saturday nights with hosts Peter Dean @ John Fryer. I think it was on air for about three years and scores of Perth artists performed and entertained along with one or two visiting artists, each week, who were appearing at Perth’s vibrant night club and hotel scene. The program employed a large crew both technical and production, including our outside broadcast unit, providing coverage of the daily double from Gloucester Park trotting live into the program. As the producer, I was involved with a large number of station personnel, from sales, publicity, management, traffic and accounts departments, set designers and set constructions.

I have many happy memories of my time at TVW, and I look forward to meeting my past workmates and friends.


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Ron Christie



Rhonda Thunder (nee James)

Production (1970-1977)

Not only was I working at Channel 7 but I met my late husband Tim Thunder through 7 and this is an opportunity to remember his 28 years of working there.


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The fondly remembered Tim Thunder




Annette Grennell (nee Purvis)

Performer on-camera (1970) and Publicity Dept with Kay Sunners and Don Rowe (1975-1979)

My years as part of the TVW 7/6IX family were some of the happiest times in my life. I was fortunate enough to work in front and behind the camera when TVW made an abundance of wonderful local programs. I owe everything to Marion Leyer and Brian Smith for giving me a wonderful musical career filled with amazing memories. Then being lucky enough to work in Publicity with the “Stunning” Kay Sunners and the “laugh a minute” Don Rowe… Those were the days…

Kaysie and I will be coming to reminisce… can someone find out where the amazingly talented Lynne Wholley is??

Thank you to the fabbo committee for organising this once in a lifetime happening.



Karen Beckett

Stars Of The Future/regular singer (1972-75)

I’m really looking forward to being a part of this celebration and catching up with old friends.

Thanks, Karen Beckett



Rudi Gracias

Radio 6IX, Channel Seven,Group Colour,Perth Entertainment Centre, City Theatres (back to) Channel Seven and finally Telethon (1973-87 & 1989-2009)

I’ve had a varied and eclectic career with TVW Enterprises in it’s it many incorporations and incarnations(almost as many as the positions I’ve held!).

Assistant Accountant, Accountant, Front of House Manager, Business Manager, Chief Accountant and Commercial Manager Channel Seven Perth 1973-1987 & 1989-2007, then General Manager Channel 7 Telethon Trust 2007 to August 2009.

Like many who have worked and married at Seven I’m no exception. My wife Linda worked at Seven as PA to the Managing Director, Greg Byrne and also did a stint at Telethon.

As soon as I’ve some time, I’m going to post something about my career so watch out – promise not to reveal too much!.

Thanks to the committee for the excellent website and organisation.

Cheers

Rudi



Carolyn Bendall

Secretary to Darcy Farrell, News Editor (1975-77)

I began working with Frank Moss as his secretary but shifted to News and worked as Darcy Farrell’s secretary. Later, when Jeff Newman and Darcy Farrell left to start their own PR Company, Farrell Newman, they asked me to go with them, which I did.


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Carolyn Bendall



Tony Graham

Floor Manager/ Camera (76-79) then Telethon FM after leaving 7 (until app.1996)

No longer in the game .. since leaving TVW have been doing Forensic Psych. at Graylands and now in NSW. Probably staying at the Carlisle Hotel when I get there. Say hello to Steve “Furball” Saunders – News Camera.



Michael Wilkinson

Catering Manager, TVW catering and nominee licensee of the Perth Entertainment Centre (1976-1984)

Commenced as Catering Manager at Tuart Hill and fondly remember catering for the annual clients Xmas parties.

Later transfered to the Perth Entertainment Centre as Restaurant and Catering, then subsequently the Nominee Licensee.



Paul Andrew New

Workshop and Fat Cat Show

Paul reports that he worked as a casual carpenter in workshop building sets and also did Percy Penguin for some time, until the 1984 when workshop was closed down.



Ken Donnachy

Sales (1978-1986)

Ken Donnachy said, “I started at TVW in 1978 in Sales, working with Greg Byrne, Bob Horley, John Wright, Bernie Connell, Ric Nairn. I think I left in 1986.

It was a really terrific place to work, and it was like a big family.

I loved it!

Looking forward to the reunion.”



Val Sutherland (nee Amoore)

Typist/Publicity Co-ordinator/Publicity Manager (1979-1985)

My years at Channel 7 were so much fun and I was very fortunate to meet a group of fantastic people that are still my very best friends today (including my husband!!). Happy 50th TVW and here is to a great reunion. Congratulations to the Committee for the great webpage.

Val Sutherland



Trevor Kerslake J.P.

Props/staging (1979 to the last studio telethon 25 in all)

I started at TVW on the Chard Haywood Show with Keith Mackenzie who I original worked with in the U.K. I was employed as the Senior Studio hand responsible for all Props. Was stage manager for many years as a casual on Telethons and later became A.F.M with Jeff Thomas.



Debra Allanson

Children’s Presenter – Fat Cat’s Funtime Show and Early Birds Weather Presenter (1980-1983)

This is a wonderful idea! I have forwarded the link to a couple of wonderful friends who, like me, started their media / entertainment career at dear old TVW.

I recently outed myself as a former weather girl and Fat Cat offsider during a presentation to the Screen Producer’s Association of Australia.

I surprised myself even more by revealing how the TVW Transmission tower was – to a TV-loving baby boomer girl – every bit as glamorous, exciting and magnetic as the Hollywood sign still is to wannabee movie stars. As I’m better known as a “suit” it was received with surprise and much good humour!

Debra now has a 20-year background in content funding, distribution and business strategy in the UK and Australia, including 7 years as CEO of ScreenWest. Debra made the move to digital media in 2001 to become a Melbourne-based producer of interactive content.


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Debra Allanson



Hayley Morris

Secretary – Receptionist (1987-2004)

I worked at Channel 7 for around 17 1/2 years and had a blast. With so many great memories, including working on studio events & productions, family fun days and at the Royal Show, driving around Fat Cat to shopping centres, being in commercials and promos and dressing up for something or other and being part of a different family each week during Telespin with Mainy. I assisted production with It’s Academic, gave studio tours and enjoyed working every Telethon weekend and being totally exhausted like everyone else at the end which just made that ‘after party’ that much better, even if you couldn’t stand anymore. I never made it to work on the Monday just like many others. There were many other things but I don’t think we have enough space to list (and there was heaps of work done of course). We always had drinks on a Friday and some great sundowners which in the early days would quite often go into the early hours of the next morning and Christmas parties that included bumper cars and fireworks, dressing up and dancing the night away. Working with different departments gave me a good variety of jobs and when I started there were so many staff the place was a buzz. I can’t wait to catch up with all those wonderful people.






Jan Maravillas (nee Galliott) – 6IX

Posted by ken On October - 3 - 2009

Jan Galliott started with radio station 6IX in 1970, when it was still located in Mounts Bay Road.


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Jan Galliott, David Dallimore, Maureen Burgwyn, Ian Haselby and Kerry Peterson
Photo taken in the TVW Traffic Department in the early 70’s


Following the constructions of the new radio studios at Tuart Hill, Jan moved out to Seven in 1971, where she worked in the 6IX Schedules and Traffic section, being responsible for logging and cassetting.


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TVW/6IX Traffic department Mid ‘70’s
Back row: Gary Abbott, Dorothy Robins, Rod, Shane Roderiga, Jamie Martinovich, Bob Page
Front Row: Athol Smith, ? , Don Rock, Judy Duggan, Lyn, Jenny, Jan Galliott, Kerry


Like all staff working at the TVW site, Jan became involved in the combined station activities such as the Netball Team and the Christmas Pageant.


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Sophia Stefanoff, Lynette Thorpe (deceased), Velia Cometti, unknown, Darienne, Luise Borsje, Maureen Burgwyn, Jan Galliott and Jackie


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Jan Galliott on a bike dressed as clown for the 1973 Christmas Pageant


Jan left in 1975 for the big trip to London and returned to work in 1976.

At the 1977 Telethon, Richard Ashton introduced Jan to her future husband, a sailor off the USS Midway. They married in 1979.

Jan returned to 6IX in 1981, after living in the United States. Then leaving at the end of 1981 to have their first child.


Other Secretary stories…


TVW Secretaries Introduction

Stories provided by TVW’s secretaries …
watvhistory.com/2009/09/the-tvw-secretaries-introduction/

Gwen Andrew

Gwen Storey (nee Andrews) …
watvhistory.com/2009/09/gwen-wendy-storey-nee-andrews-secretary/

Jeannette Ashley

Jeannette Smith (nee Ashley)
watvhistory.com/2009/09/jeannette-smith-nee-ashley-tvw-1971-1973/

Luise Borsje …

Luise Nelthorpe (nee Borsje)
watvhistory.com/2009/10/luise-nelthorpe-nee-borsje-secretary/

Maureen Burgwyn …

Maureen Iustini (nee Burgwyn)
watvhistory.com/2009/10/maureen-iustini-nee-burgwyn-secretary/

Lyndell Carter …

Lyndell Jobson (nee Carter)
watvhistory.com/2009/09/lyndell-jobson-nee-carter-tvw-1970-1974/

Hilary Everard …

Hilary Everard
watvhistory.com/2009/07/letters-for-former-tvw-staff-hilary-everard/

Joy Heweston

Joy Campbell (nee Heweston)
watvhistory.com/2009/09/joy-campbell-nee-heweston-secretary/


Jill Korbosky

Jill Norton (nee Korbosky)
watvhistory.com/2009/09/jill-norton-nee-korbosky-secretary/

Kay Sunners …

Kay Linton-Mann (nee Sunners)
watvhistory.com/2009/08/kay-linton-mann-nee-sunners-remembers/






Maureen Iustini (nee Burgwyn) – Secretary

Posted by ken On October - 2 - 2009

Maureen Burgwyn joined 6IX shortly after TVW took over the radio station. The studios were then located next to WA Newspapers in Mounts Bay Road (in a now demolished building across the road from the present bus station). When the seventeen year old Maureen applied, she was shortlisted by 6IX and appointed by TVW Company Secretary Frank Moss at Channel Seven.

Meanwhile, new 6IX studios were build adjoining TVW at Tuart Hill, and while waiting for the rest of the radio staff to move out from the city, Maureen was engaged as a secretary in the Traffic department. Eventually both the radio and TV traffic departments were amalgamated on the ground floor, where Maureen worked with former veteran announcer Mr David Dalimore, Bob Page, Helen Story, Jan Galliott and Linda Brownrigg.

It was not long before the combined staff were engaging in all manner of TVW activities from the Christmas Pageant to Telethon. This included recreational activities such as the netball team.

Jan Maravillas (nee Galliott), who is still Maureen’s best friend after all these years, has provided the following names for the photos of the Channel 7 netball team.

“We did win the best dressed team if not a game, and not due to Glenys Gill’s fine coaching, but probably due to the late Friday nights drinking with the crowd after work.
’, said Maureen.


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Standing:Frank Moss, Jackie, Jan Galliott, Luise Borsje, unknown, Maureen Burgwyn, unknown

Kneeling: Velia Cometti, Sophia Stefanoff, Lynette Thorpe (deceased), Darienne



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Sophia Stefanoff, Velia Cometti, Lynette Thorpe (deceased), Luise Borsje, Darienne, Jan Galliott, Jackie, unknown, Maureen Burgwyn


Maureen sadly reports that her close friend, workmate and team mate Lynette Thorpe passed away some 15 years ago.


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Lynny Candy (nee Thorpe)

This well liked lady from Publicity, firstly lost her husband in a freak accident as a tourist in India, then lost two of her sons in a train crossing accident involving a motor bike, finally succumbing to cancer. Lynny Candy (nee Thorpe) is survived by her eldest son Sean. A very sad outcome for such a friendly soul, though she will be fondly remembered.

Maureen’s sister Sharon Gallagher (nee Burgwyn) worked in TVW’s production department with Pedro Dunn and Perry Santos. Pedro was a dear friend of Sharon’s until her death. Sharon sadly passed away on March 10th 2006, quite suddenly and totally unexpectedly. And dare I say unnecessarily, Joondalup missed diagnoising her symptoms. 


Maureen kindly provided the following photos. One of which appeared in the West Australian newspaper to publicise TVW’s first Christmas Pageant in 1972.


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Lyndell Carter, Linda Brownrigg, Louise Borsje, Maureen Burgwyn, Anne Pick and Jeannette Ashley



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Lyndell Carter, Linda Brownrigg, Louise Borsje, Maureen Burgwyn, Anne Pick and Jeannette Ashley

Maureen reports that she, “Remembers carrying the signage for the first Christmas Pageant. No one thought to cut holes in the banners, so the wind just kept trying to blow us backwards. Carrying it down the terrace while trying to look like we were not in pain was extremely hard, with blisters on the feet at the end…  But great fun. Still have a few of the publicity photo’s which are good to show the children.”


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On the right: Jeannette Ashley, Linda Brownrigg and Anne Pick
Hidden: Lyndell Carter, Louise Borsje and Maureen Burgwyn


“Also did an ad for Telethon for plastic poncho’s for the football crowd. Money raised for Telethon of course, I was only 17 first job, I remember going home to my younger sister and brother plus friends sitting in the lounge waiting for the ad to come on.

Working at the Lion Park when needed. Hostessing for the football awards. So many things we could get involved with. Working for 6IX, Channel Seven was never boring, made great life friends also, so thank you Frank Moss for choosing to hire me.”



Other Secretary stories…


TVW Secretaries Introduction

Stories provided by TVW’s secretaries …
watvhistory.com/2009/09/the-tvw-secretaries-introduction/

Gwen Andrew

Gwen Storey (nee Andrews) …
watvhistory.com/2009/09/gwen-wendy-storey-nee-andrews-secretary/

Jeannette Ashley

Jeannette Smith (nee Ashley)
watvhistory.com/2009/09/jeannette-smith-nee-ashley-tvw-1971-1973/

Luise Borsje …

Luise Nelthorpe (nee Borsje)
watvhistory.com/2009/10/luise-nelthorpe-nee-borsje-secretary/

Lyndell Carter …

Lyndell Jobson (nee Carter)
watvhistory.com/2009/09/lyndell-jobson-nee-carter-tvw-1970-1974/

Hilary Everard …

Hilary Everard
watvhistory.com/2009/07/letters-for-former-tvw-staff-hilary-everard/

Joy Heweston

Joy Campbell (nee Heweston)
watvhistory.com/2009/09/joy-campbell-nee-heweston-secretary/


Jill Korbosky

Jill Norton (nee Korbosky)
watvhistory.com/2009/09/jill-norton-nee-korbosky-secretary/






Luise Nelthorpe (nee Borsje) – Secretary

Posted by ken On October - 2 - 2009

From 1971 to 1976, Luise Borsje was the Secretary to TVW’s Chief Executive Officer Max Bostock, part of the production team and also involved in setting up the inaugural Xmas Pageant and Director Gerry Swift’s Assistant on “It’s Academic” with Jeff Newman.

Luise kindly emailed this story of a period of high productivity at TVW Channel Seven during the seventies.

When people talk about good old days, my time at TVW was the real thing. I loved going to work…there was always something new to create and working on lots of projects made each day different. We all “bogged” in when required like staying up the full 24 hours of Telethon helping out in whatever shift was required, working every weekend in the lead up to the Christmas Pageant, spending a weekend on the Swan River racing against Jeff Newman in a homemade “bathtub” in the Bathtub Derby…. and lots of other projects. We didn’t mind – we loved it. Reading the other secretaries’ comments about their memories of documents having to be “perfect” made me laugh – I can certainly remember that as well…..heaven forbid you presented a document with mistakes in it. It was so ingrained in us that even after all these years it still bothers me to see documents with mistakes.. (this rushed email excepted)


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Luise Borsje in Jeff’s Bathtub when the Birdman Rally was combined with Offshore Power Boat Racing from Two Rocks



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Jeff Newman and Luise head to head in the Bathtub Derby on the Swan River in May 1972


We all reminisce about Frank Moss with much fondness. My memory, along with several others, also goes back to us being marched up to Mr Moss’s office to kneel on the floor to have the height of our uniforms measured from the ground – certainly not part of any employment requirement these days!…..all harmless but we were shaking in our boots… And that was in the days of hot pants – but it would never do to have that much leg showing at TVW. We did try to add a few embellishments to change the monotony of the same thing every day, as Jeannette noted – it never worked…..Mr Moss’s footsteps could be heard coming up the rear to have a “talk”. I remember Jeannette Ashley and myself both having a few wigs which we alternated now and then just to give us a different look!

I think I gave poor Frank so much grief. In those days it was compulsory to be a union member and I don’t take lightly to things compulsory. Every time the union recruiter would come to the station I would run and hide in different places in the building and Frank would be pursuing me! He even sent girls into the toilet to find me. It got to be quite stressful for Frank as it happened so often with me running, followed closely behind by him pleading the union’s case. Anyway, the union gave up trying to chase me – sued me instead and I had to go to court!

I also remember the visit from the well endowed English personality “Alexandra the Great”…… she was a sight to behold…… actually defying gravity! and most of the male population were hanging around their doorways in that long corridor during her visit to the station. As they needed a male of impeccable standards to show her around the station, Syd Donovan was chosen from the multitude of volunteers!

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Stuart Wagstaff with Alexandra The Great 48

Another time, I can remember we had a camel outside at the back near the workshop, being “interviewed” for a prospective job in the Xmas Pageant. Max & I were both trying to manoeuvre him into position – me at the front and Max (thank God) at the back. The camel was very grumpy that day, refusing to comply, and suddenly we both copped it —- poor Max – he certainly ended up the worst!


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Max Bostock as a Christmas pageant marshall cruising up and down the route checking that all is OK



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Luise in the dual roles of Christmas Pageant clown and marshall


Those early days of working on the birth and subsequent years of the Christmas pageant were wonderful. What started out with just a few floats is now so huge and a part of Perth culture. We were such a small team back then. Then in about our 3rd year we had grown so much, we actually had a building in Baden Avenue, Osborne Park to accommodate all our floats and rehearse with the kids on them, making sure each and everyone had a seatbelt. We had dancing troupes everywhere…..it was such a fabulous opportunity for all the groups of young dancers in Perth to showcase their skills to such a large crowd once a year.


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TVW secretaries Linda Brownrigg, Anne Pick, Louise Borsje, Jeannette Ashley, Lyndell Carter and Maureen Burgwyn

Editors note: The newspaper reported that these six mini-Santas added an extra touch of glamour to the 1972 Christmas Pageant through the streets of Perth.

As I type, more comes to mind, but as all good things must come to an end, I look forward to catching up in person with lots of the wonderful people I worked with…..a little scary really as we were all nearly 40 years younger!!!


Other Secretary stories…


TVW Secretaries Introduction

Stories provided by TVW’s secretaries …
watvhistory.com/2009/09/the-tvw-secretaries-introduction/

Gwen Andrew

Gwen Storey (nee Andrews) …
watvhistory.com/2009/09/gwen-wendy-storey-nee-andrews-secretary/

Jeannette Ashley

Jeannette Smith (nee Ashley)
watvhistory.com/2009/09/jeannette-smith-nee-ashley-tvw-1971-1973/

Lyndell Carter …

Lyndell Jobson (nee Carter)
watvhistory.com/2009/09/lyndell-jobson-nee-carter-tvw-1970-1974/

Hilary Everard …

Hilary Everard
watvhistory.com/2009/07/letters-for-former-tvw-staff-hilary-everard/

Joy Heweston

Joy Campbell (nee Heweston)
watvhistory.com/2009/09/joy-campbell-nee-heweston-secretary/


Jill Korbosky

Jill Norton (nee Korbosky)
watvhistory.com/2009/09/jill-norton-nee-korbosky-secretary/






Vic Jones reflects on the early days of Audio

Posted by ken On October - 1 - 2009

Vic Jones (TVW 1960-1966, 1983-1995, 2006 ‘till now) reflects on the early days of Audio.

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Vic Jones remembers back when things were a “bit different”.


People say how great things were back in the 60’s…I say how great things are now.


In those early days basically “good sound” was when you could make out what was being said and “bad sound” was when you couldn’t…a bit of truth, but wasn’t good enough in my opinion.


With the advent of stereo, 5.1 surround-sound, and home theaters, this has all changed and audiences now have much greater expectations. But getting to this point has been one “heck of a ride”.


I started my career in Television in the “front office” as a Junior Clerk six months after the start of TVW7.


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Vic Jones – 1960 TVW7 Junior Clerk


Not happy with boring paper work and eighteen months later after completing some (minimal) studies, transferred out of the “front office” to the Engineering Dept as a Junior Technician…then into Audio as an Operator (part of Engineering in those days) where I stayed until 1966.


Later I returned in 1983 and stayed on as an Audio Director until 1995. I returned again in 2006 after working in television in Jakarta as an Audio Dept Manager for Yasawira Tama Cipta and in Malaysia as General Manager for HVD. Now back again with TVW as a casual Audio Director on weekend news. (and loving it).


The pinnacle of my operational career was being selected as an Audio Director for the Seven Network 1992 Olympic Games in Barcelona.


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Vic Jones AMU2 1962


I’ve seen huge changes in the TV industry over the years, including here in Perth, the eastern states (Ch 2, 7 & 10) and overseas. It’s now nothing like it used to be.


So much equipment used in those early years has all passed us by. Turntables died (although on a novelty comeback), ¼“mono Reel-to-Reel tape recording died, EMT plate died…and in recent years (which would have been great to have in the 60’s) Multi-Track tape recording died, Audio Cassette died, DAT was dead on arrival, endless loop Cartridge machines died, VHS & Betamax died, 8mm is almost dead, Laser Disc died, and the list goes on.


Even some of the consumer equipment that has been phased out over the years was better than some of the commercial equipment we used back in the early 60’s. Sometimes it was just a matter of waiting for inventions.


I was given a 2” Video tape of on air recordings of my band performances on Club 7 Teen back in 1966 as I was leaving TVW for the first time and was told by Gerard Swift (TD) “keep that tape Vic…some day someone may invent some consumer equipment that you can have it transferred to”. Eventually that happened in the mid 70’s, when I was able to get it dubbed to VHS.


Television was perceived in those early days as “radio with pictures,” and the industry’s structure was modeled on those of Radio.


Performers, Technicians and Executives were drawn from Radio where possible, but a number of Executives came from the Newspaper industry with little or no knowledge of Radio, let alone Television.


It was exciting but tough pioneering times for everybody back then and many an argument was based upon “hearsay” on the way things should be done. (no body really knew)


The Audio Dept was always reminded that it’s “just radio with pictures” and “audio was not very important” in the Television industry, which caused no end of frustrations. Yes we had to have sound but “not too much time and money would be spent on it” we were always told…”pictures is what it’s all about now”


That thinking has changed dramatically over the years. Audio has finally caught up and now in an equal partnership with Video, but it took a long time. We had very little in the way of good audio equipment back then and very limited skills.


Radio microphones were non existent …where would we be now without radio microphones?


In those days you had to be a Technician or Electrician to be an Audio Operator and Alex Stewart, Colin Gory and George Baker were the originals. Alex I believe came out of Radio, so had some audio (technical) experience, but Colin and George were Electricians with no audio experience. They were all involved in wiring up Studio 2 AMU and having no one to train them were ‘self trained” as such in the operational aspect.


I had the good fortune of having them train me as I had been there in the Accounts Dept for 18 months before transferring into Audio where they have had time to “master their craft”.


I really looked up to these guys, these guys were my heroes, but with due respect to Colin, George and Alex, it was a little like the blind leading the blind as nobody had taught them in Television. There were no Schools of Audio Engineering as we now have.


. 004-Colin Gory – approx 1961 Photo courtesy Gordon “Pockets.jpg

Colin Gory – approx 1961 Photo courtesy Gordon “Pockets” McColl (edited)

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George Baker 1963

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Alex Stewart – AMU2 – Photo courtesy Gordon “Pockets” McColl


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Lindsay Smith approx 1962 – Photo courtesy Gordon “Pockets” McColl (edited)



Lindsay Smith (an Electrician) and I started about the same time in Audio and we would “bounce” ideas off each other in an attempt to learn new skills.


Terry Green started a few months before I left in 1966 as my replacement and as he came from Sydney TV with Operator experience he was treated by me as a Guru and I learnt a lot from him. The east were so much more advanced in audio than TVW back then, as I found out when I joined TEN10 in Sydney.

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Terry Green – Audio “Guru”


The first Audio Control Room (AMU2) which was used for “On Air” Co-ordination and Studio Control had a PYE audio mixer which was very basic.


The room acoustics weren’t so good, but much better than the later built AMU1. The walls were parallel and just pegboard, or glass and the floor was hard. What did break up the “flutter” echo’s was the fact that the rack of equipment was directly behind the operator.


The room wasn’t very sound proof which became a problem when recording loud Rock & Roll bands in the Studio. At times I didn’t know whether the sound was through the walls or from the single monitoring loudspeaker, which made it hard to get a balance.


But recordings done in this control room always sounded better than AMU1 because you could (mostly) hear what you were doing due to better room acoustics.


Colin Gory did a great job of Rolf Harris’s “Tie Me Kangaroo Down Sport” considering the lack of equipment he had to work with.


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AMU 2 1962


We had no parametric EQ and the best way to EQ a microphone was to move it closer or further away from the talent or instrument or change the type of microphone. If the sound was too “bassy” then the microphone would be moved further away relying on the “proximity” effect of the microphone to solve the problem, but this would then create other problems such as pickup spill from other instruments or added studio noise.


No compression or limiters in those days and in the early stages, no reverb effects, just tape feedback and no fold-back for the artist if working with a band.


The faders had to be dismantled each day prior to going to air and oiled. This was to avoid “scratchy” sounds going to air as the faders were moved.

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The PYE Mixer Faders


The Audio Control Room was side on to the VMU overlooking Studio 2, about where AMU5 VO Booth is now… where the current news Journo’s do most of their VO recordings.

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Studio 2 VMU


Studio 2 VMU was used not just for studio control, but also live “on air’ co-ordination.


The audio equipment rack was full of valve operated amplifiers which gave no end of trouble. They would make a frying sound as the valves started to fail. The valves would always wait until I was on air to “die” and the problem then was to work out which amplifier was the trouble maker and change it over without loosing too much on air audio.


At the rear of the AMU2 control was a Voice Over Booth or an Announce Booth as we called it. The Booth microphone (RCA 77 DX ribbon microphone) was always through an open fader on the audio desk, but it had a switch for ON/OFF in the Booth so they could switch their microphone on themselves at the appropriate time (when they remembered).


A lot of commercials and promo’s were done live to air from the Announce Booth.


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Pam Leuba in the Announce Booth.


The control room had two Beyer 77 mono tape machines, one on each side of the mixer making it hard to operate for jobs requiring dubbing machine to machine, but the layout looked good (symmetrical within the room) from an engineers perspective and I was told that’s important. Things just had to look good…it didn’t matter if it didn’t do the job properly.


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Beyer 77 Mono Reel to Reel ¼” Tape Machine

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Studio 2 VMU & AMU 1960 (as remembered)

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Studio 1, 2 & 3 Control changes approx 1964 (as remembered)


Initially echo for band recordings was done by using tape feedback, but eventually a reverb unit was installed in the rack which was full of springs with senders and pickup sensors at the end of the springs which created a delay. It sounded shocking and produced a very “tinny” sound, so wasn’t used much.


Hum and buzz were always a problem as little was understood in those days about earth loops and how to get rid of them.


There was no multi tracking of recordings due to the lack of equipment, so to get around it a band would lay down a number of instruments or vocals on to ¼ inch mono reel to reel tape and then we played it back and recorded on the other reel to reel with additional vocals or instruments from the studio added to it. Two passes would be about the best we could do because of the added tape “hiss”.


No such thing as an instrument “DI” (not invented then), so to get around that we would attach wires directly to the speakers of a musicians amplifier and plug into the mixer. This would give a clean sound without spill from other instruments. It was some time before we worked out how to do this.


Turn tables were used to play music for news stories as initially they had no sound on film…this was off 78 RPM records. Commercials were often played direct to air off a 45 RPM record if there wasn’t time to dub to a reel to reel tape.


To put a commercial or promo record to air, the turntable was turned on and switched to the appropriate speed (when remembered) and the record slipped (held from turning) with one hand until required to be let go and played whilst opening up a fader with the other hand. At times the 45 RPM record was warped and would jump a groove or two during this activity which resulted in one of many fault reports going to Brian Treasure.


To shorten a piece of music with a natural end for example to 30 seconds on an LP running at 33 1/3 RPM, you would put the stylus on the end of music groove and revolve the turntable backwards counting 17 turns plus a bit to allow for speed pick up so the music wouldn’t “wow” in as the turntable was started and fader opened.


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AMU 1 Turntables


I remember a time when I dropped a stack of 78 RPM records just prior to going to air with the news. I had two stacks of records, one for each turntable and they were in order of the news stories. No sound on film, just a voice over from the news reader or booth announcer and music off 78 RPM records.


There were various genres such as funeral marches, bouncy music etc. Well they all got mixed up and some were broken, so you could imagine the turmoil a matter of seconds to air with little time to sort them, with a result in bouncy music relating to a funeral and somber music where it shouldn’t be, being put to air…another fault report to Brian Treasure.


Commercials were sometimes put to air with live talent from the studio floor. I would run down to the studio floor and set up the talent with mics whilst a film was going to air hoping I had enough time to get back between commercial breaks (as they were mostly live from Audio). Sometimes I would get back in time and sometimes not, as the scheduled time was not always accurate…another fault report to Brian Treasure.


Down stairs in Master Control there was always Frank Deusien keeping a watchful eye on me…“sorry Vic…will have to put the fault in the book for Mr. Treasure”…so you can see I could never get away with anything.


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Frank Deusien in Master Control – Photo courtesy Ken McKay


There was a time after setting up a mic on the studio floor talent and I had returned to the control room, when he decided to go to the toilet without advising the control room, so he took the mic off and forgot to put it back on when he returned, which resulted in no clear audio going to air …he was way “off mike” and couldn’t be heard properly…another fault report to Brian Treasure.


At times an extra ¼ inch reel to reel tape commercial would be brought in at the last minute to go in the same break as two other tapes (one off each machine already cued up) and this would mean once the 2nd tape was playing after the 1st one finished, the 1st tape would have to be spooled off and the extra loaded and cued up in maybe 10 or 20 seconds. There may be a delay with no sound going to air (“dead air”) while cueing the tape, thus a fault report would have to be filled in and sent to Brian Treasure.


Endless loop Cart Machines were around in the early 60’s, but TVW didn’t have them for many years, so commercials and promos were put to air off reel to reel, turntable and live from the announce booth resulting in much “dead air” and pissed off clients demanding free re-airing of their spot.


On one occasion on my shift the booth announcer person fell asleep and missed a live on air commercial read… it seemed like I was for ever at Brian Treasures office explaining things, generally after sitting outside his door for anything up to half an hour ‘sweating it out” after being summons to his office.


Editing of music was done by physically cutting the ¼” reel to reel tape taking a piece out and re joining it. The Nutcracker Suite Production audio was all edited this way and I remember the mess we got into with tape all over the floor when one short piece of music that was cut out that was supposed to be moved to another position went missing. We eventually found it but on inserting it into the main reel and the rush to finish, I had inserted it running backwards and wasn’t picked up until rehearsals. To me violins sound much the same being played either way.


Studio 1 AMU was later built in around 1964 with some improvements, but the control room acoustics were very bad. There were too many hard surfaces within the room, such as metal air conditioning ducting, equipment racks, hard walls and floors and lots of glass “coloring” the speaker sound.


Many hard surfaces were parallel to each other causing all sorts of “flutter” echo’s …it was a case I found myself listening to the room and not the talent.


Everything sounded like it had far too much reverb on it. The best the engineers did to improve the room acoustics was to place egg cartons on the back wall behind the operator which did very little to fix the problem.


It also didn’t help having the loud speaker so high above the operator…you will notice you can’t even see it in the photo below. “but it’s good quality…it’s a Warfedale” I was told. “So what !!! …it’s too far away in a room with such live ambience” I explained. I was too young with very little experience to get through to the right people. The Engineers were just not Operator savy. (sorry guys)


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AMU1 Control


The desk was a 24 channel EMI mixer, not much better than the PYE in AMU2, but at least the reel to reels were in a good position.


The main passage to the VMU 1 was through AMU 1, so we had to put up with a lot of noise as people passed through these areas. There were always lots of tours.


What we did finish up getting in AMU 1 that was good was an EMT reverb plate. The physical size was huge…about 4 ft x 8 ft and weighed approx 700 lb It was mounted on the mezzanine floor next to the existing viewing room in Studio 1 with a remote control back to AMU1.


During the ’60s and ’70s, most reverb used on famous recordings through out the world was generated using an EMT reverb plate. The sound quality of a plate is incredibly smooth and very dense.


Invented in 1957 by EMT of Germany, the plate reverb consists of a thin metal plate suspended in a (supposed) sound proofed enclosure. A transducer similar to the voice-coil of a cone loudspeaker is mounted on the plate to cause it to vibrate. Multiple reflections from the edges of the plate are picked up by microphone-like transducers.


Reverb time is varied by a damping pad operated by a small electric motor which can be pressed against the plate thus absorbing its energy more quickly….but you couldn’t change the reverb time once in recording or on air mode as the pick up sensor would pick up the motor noise. The time decay ranged from 0 seconds to over 5 seconds long.


It was dismantled around 1987 and replaced by a small digital unit and reverb never sounded as good again.


The photo below is not the actual EMT plate unit…just for example only.


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EMT Reverb Plate


Our microphones may have been good quality for their day (and expensive) but in many cases wrong for the job or just looked bad on camera.


A “neck microphone” (BK6) as it was commonly called, was the predecessor to the current lavalier mic. They were big and bulky…not a good look. Check the photo below.


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BK6 “neck microphone” on Trina Brown – still being used in 1968 (and later) Photo courtesy Bob Finkle collection


At least with the men, they were in most cases able to hide the microphone under their tie.


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Carolyn Noble with BK6 Neck Mic


We had a boom with a BK5 on it which is a close working cardioid mic and should be used no further than 18 inches from the talent but was used 6 to 10 feet away. It caused all sorts of bad audio.


There would be a band playing live and the singer working on the boom mic which was probably 6ft away at the best, with the audio sounding very bad and hollow because of the spill from the band and we would be battling to hear the vocalist with any sort of clarity, when a direction would come through from the Director “lift the boom for wide shot” …well the audio would suffer even more, with comments “they can get good sound in the east using a boom”…like yeah…right!!!


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Typical (BK5) Boom position probably picking up a massive amount of room ambience with hollow dialogue.


The Producers and Directors were against using hand mic’s, because they considered it wasn’t good visually. At the end of my first stay leaving in 1966, they were considering using hand mic’s for music and had started using them in the children’s show with great success.


But their way around correcting bad audio for singers with bands was to “mime” which looked awful and was embarrassing to watch and embarrassing for the bands. I was in a band called The Thorts” at the time which had a number of appearances on Club 7 Teen and I hated working this way. I still “cringe” today when I see the replays.


Foldback for artists was initially non existent when singing with their bands; therefore they couldn’t hear themselves over the noise of the band which tended to make them sing out of tune.


In later years when allowed to sing with a hand microphone they would sing through their own instrument amplifiers. This certainly helped.


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The Thorts (miming) on Club 7 Teen in 1965 – Left to right…Vic Jones – Bass Guitar, Les Watling – Drums, Nigel Van Ross – Rhythm Guitar, Harry Allen – Lead Guitar, Ray Van Ross – Lead Singer (with no hand mic)


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Ray Van Ross & Vic Jones (in trouble)


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The Thorts (hamming it up) on Club 7 Teen in 1965 – Left to right… Ray Van Ross, Vic Jones, Les Watling, Nigel Van Ross, Harry Allen


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Johnny Young & the Strangers (miming) in Club 7 Teen 1965


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Johnny Young – Club 7 Teen 1965


I left TVW for the first time in 1966 completely frustrated as I felt the Audio Dept just wasn’t moving forward. The new AMU1 to me was just a backward step.


Audio Operators were part of Engineering at TVW back then, which I believe held progression back. In the east they came under Production with their Management having a much better understanding of Production & Operational issues than Engineering.


If there was a problem it was better for Management of Production to ‘fight it out” with Engineering Management over an issue than an Operator. This had all changed when I returned in 1983 and Audio was then part of Production (were they belong).


I also had to make a decision whether to work full time in Television or pursue a band career. With the overall excessive hours I was working between both I found it hard to do justice equally, so made the decision stay in Television and went east to gain more operational experience.(never played a guitar since).


I worked for awhile for Channel 2 and later Channel 10 where they were working with cheap hand mic’s getting a great sound but by using EQ and also using shot gun mic’s on their booms which TVW didn’t have.


Very little “miming” was ever done in the east. Audio for commercials and promos were coming off endless loop cart machines (which had been around for at least 6 years), with auto triggering from film and they had only been on air less than a year.


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Vic Jones final shift AMU2 1966


I lost track of the happenings at TVW for awhile after leaving in 1966 and it was some time before things started to move forward in the Audio Department.


Here are photos of Dianne Chappell in the late 60’s and Tim Thunder in the early 70’s still doing it tough on the old PYE mixer in AMU2.


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Dianne Chappell – approx 1967 – Photo courtesy Dianne & Barry Hodge


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Tim Thunder early 70’s Photo courtesy Paul Huxham


I returned again in 1983 after massive changes and improvements had been made mostly since 1979, especially in the areas of Engineering and Production.


The new layout of the Studio 1 & 2 control rooms rebuilt in 1979 are the best I have experienced in all my travels over the years. Walls and glass all angled to each other with virtually no flutter echo’s or room standing sound waves. You could truly hear what you were mixing. I’ve not found any station in Australia or overseas to have anywhere near a better studio and control room layout.


The photo below shows AMU1 before being “mothballed”. I haven’t any photos of the original AMU1 mixer. It was a PKE custom analogue mixer and was replaced with a Soundcraft TV24 around 1989.


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AMU1 looking into VMU1 (about 1994)



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AMU1 layout (walls, glass and equipment rack mostly angled to each other)


It had been a long battle for Production to get where they got to after such a slow start during those early years before being closed down, but I considered TVW facilities had got to the point of being the best in the country.


It’s a pity TVW are not doing any serious productions anymore. Kevin Campbell and John Crilly did a great job in keeping the station in production as long as they did.


Over those recent years of production, in many ways TVW had been a “yard stick” for the way things should be done by the stations in the east.


We in Perth never had the budgets for production that the eastern states stations had, so on many occasions we had to “improvise” and work harder at achieving an outcome with many times achieving better results due to the old “lateral thinking” way of doing things.


Talking of “lateral thinking”, I remember the America’s Cup where Tim Thunder and I nearly lost our jobs.


We were enhancing or “sweetening” the audio on the final of the yacht races live to air with techniques management couldn’t believe we were using.


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“VICTIM” America’s Cup. 1987


During the “Round Robin Series” preliminary races, we were allowed to have radio microphones on the yachts, but not allowed to be used during the finals in case strategies were picked up by opposition yacht crews.


We recorded those effects during the preliminary races and transferred the sound effects on to six endless loop cartridge machines (no digital machines or computers for us back then) and played them back during the finals.


Each machine would have its own dedicated effects…“boat bow wash”, “sails flogging”, “winch grinding”, “people yelling”, “boat creaks and groans”, etc.


Between Tim and I we would play these FX back into the live coverage with uncanny sync. It sounded so “live” to the point Channel 9 complained to our management that we were using “live” FX audio.


Management came down on us like a ton of bricks and we were told not to use “live” FX. We argued that they weren’t “live”, but we couldn’t convince management at the time.


Tim and I looked at each other and decided that as we weren’t doing anything wrong and we weren’t going to spoil a good coverage with no FX, we would continue on with our “enhancement”.


Shortly later there was another knock on the back of the OB Van and we were told “keep that up and you would both be out of a job”. Once again we stated we were not using “live” FX and come into the van and watch.


With some in trepidation management came into the van and watched for awhile and couldn’t believe what was seen and heard. A perfect syncing of the FX to the yacht race, with no “live” FX being used, which was thus communicated to Channel 9. It was far too late for them to do the same, so we had a big scoop on them with our FX.


The enhancement of audio hasn’t always gone our way. In the early days of enhancing golf, Paul Huxham wrote a computer program (the wizard that he is) where he could play down effects using his computer keyboard. It worked a treat adding FX where there were no mic’s (damn rabbits) such as golf club hitting ball, ball falling into hole (gurgle gurgle) …it sounded brilliant.


But the problem was that due to a slight delay in triggering an effect he would have to hit the keyboard slightly early to allow for the delayed start. This worked OK until one ball decided to go around and around the hole as if it were to fall in, so Paul in anticipation triggered the FX of the ball falling into the hole to find the ball had decided to continue across the green.


John Crilly was producing at the time… took one look at Paul and the effect was never used again.

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Paul Huxham with that “guilty” look (oops)

042-Paul Huxham’s Johnny Walker Golf FX Hut 2003.jpg

Paul Huxham’s Johnny Walker Golf FX Hut 2003


With Audio it was always a case of having “plan B” in case of a disaster. I remember one disaster when I was involved with the car racing OB’s at Wanneroo.


Each year we would spend a number of days running approx. 5 kilometers of cables through out the bush, mainly in the infield for stereo FX microphones.


The Kangaroos and Rabbits were always a problem eating through or partly through the cables and we would arrive early on the Saturday mornings in the dark ready to hook up to the OB Van with no time to spare as the 1st race was around 9am, to find some microphones not working due to cables being chewed. We always managed to fix things before the race, but what if we couldn’t?


I got the idea one year if I record the race on reel to reel and have it as a backup, I could always use it to play and fill in any microphones that may not be working whilst repairs were being carried out. Eventually a major disaster did happen where I had to use “plan B”.


A lot of the public would camp on site overnight and in a group stupor the Friday night before the start of racing they tied all of the cables to the back of a car where the cables came to one point and crossed the track and took off down the main straight dragging all of our cables out of the bush. The Producer was in a panic and considered the race coverage over before it started.


I said I would have it sorted out before the race started and not to worry. His words “impossible!”…then came plan B.


Whilst the crew was out relaying cables, we went to air with my stereo FX from a previous year filling in areas of missing microphone FX and it synced almost perfectly. The Producer thought we had fixed the cables…”well done…how did you fix those cables so quickly?” was his remark “just a hard working crew” I told him at the time.


I didn’t let on until later at the barbeque what I had done and he just couldn’t believe the perfect sync of FX. But when you think about the speed of the cars there isn’t much difference in times from one year to another (start to finish of race) and the camera switching is almost the same, so we got away with some stereo FX of a previous year.


So the moral of the story in audio is to always have “plan B”

Below are a number of photos I’ve managed to find and ad to the collection.


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TVK-OS show pilot – Vic Jones (in costume) “a real boom swinger”

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Hopman Cup Crew with Cliff Richard (about 1989)


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Hopman Cup Crew & Vans – inside Burswood Dome

046-Vic on location with “Sing me a Rainbow” talent.jpg

Kununurra – “Sing me a Rainbow” Vic & Marianne with Guest


047-Broome - Sing me a Rainbow.jpg

Broome – “Sing me a Rainbow”

Steve Gilks, Gary O’Keefe, Gerard Swift, Guest, Marianne, Vic Jones, Trevor

048-Broome – Sing me a Rainbow -Vic Jones, Steve Gilks, Gar.jpg

Broome – “Sing me a Rainbow”

Vic Jones, Steve Gilks, Garry O’Keefe, Gerard Swift

049-Albany - Sing me a Rainbow.jpg

Albany – “Sing me a Rainbow”

Brad Bergersen, Vic Jones, Steve Gilks, Gerard Swift

050 - Telethon Band Mix 1991.jpg

Telethon 1991 band mix facilities

051 - Telethon Band Mix 1991.jpg

Telethon 1991 band mix facilities

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Telethon 1992 studio foldback – a “Foss” domain

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Telethon 1992 band mix facilities – assistant Norbert Roth (deceased) – a brilliant assistant…sadly missed.

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1992 Telethon band mix facilities

055-Leeuwin – Diana Ross Concert 1992 TV Band Mix facilitie.jpg

Leeuwin – Diana Ross Concert 1992 TV band mix facilities

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Leeuwin – Diana Ross Concert 1992 OB Crew

Steve Gilks, Keith Martin, Bill Sadden (obscured) , John Katavatis,(obscured) Tim Thunder, John Maker, Tim O’Dea, Les Hounsell, Frank Gradisen

057-Leeuwin – Diana Ross Concert 1992 OB Van Band Mix.jpg

Leeuwin – Diana Ross Concert 1992 OB Van Band Mix

058-Leeuwin Concert 1992 -Billy Snadden, Keith Martin, Fran.jpg

Leeuwin Concert 1992 – Billy Snadden, Keith Martin, Frank Gradisen, Steve Gilks, John Katavatis, John Maker – setting up accommodation

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Leeuwin – Diana Ross Concert 1992 -Steve Gilks, Keith Martin

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Leeuwin – Diana Ross Concert 1992 – Tim Thunder, Tim O’Dea

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Leeuwin Concert 1992-Tim Thunder

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Leeuwin – Diana Ross Concert 1992 – Billy Snadden, Keith Martin

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Leeuwin – Diana Ross Concert 1992

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Leeuwin – Diana Ross Concert 1992 – Shane Street

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Barcelona 1992 – Seven Network crew shot

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Barcelona 1992 – Marshall Taylor, Jennie Gaunt, Steve Pecnik, Chris Hetherington, Gary O’Keefe, Shane Street, Steve Quartly

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Barcelona 1992 – Steve Quartly, Garry O’Keefe, Shane Street

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Barcelona 1992 – Marshall Taylor & Spanish guide



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Barcelona 1992 – Vic Jones, Audio Director

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Barcelona 1992 – VMU

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Barcelona 1992 – robotic cameras (who needs cameramen)

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Barcelona 1992 – Steve Quartly, Tape Editor

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Barcelona 1992 – Chris Young, Research

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Barcelona 1992 – Karen Letica, Producer

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Barcelona 1992 – Steve Pecnik, Tape Editor

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Barcelona 1992 – Chris Young, Steve Quartly, Marshall Taylor, Dennis Commetti, Gary O’Keefe, Neil Brooks, Shane Street, Vic Jones

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Barcelona 1992 – John Crilly & Steve Quartly

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Barcelona 1992 – “now that’s real food”

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Barcelona 1992 – Traffic Chaos

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Barcelona 1992 – Vic Jones “just give me five”

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Barcelona 1992 – Vic Jones, Stephen Scobie, Glenn Steer

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Barcelona 1992 – John Maker (just can’t decide)


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Barcelona 1992 Vic Jones

“sounds good to me”

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Telethon Band Mix 1993 – Vic Jones “damn kick drum”

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1993 – “the old geezer” as was affectionally called

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AMU 1 1994

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AMU1 “outboard gear” 1994

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AMU3 1994

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VMU-AMU3 – 1994

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Telethon 1994 band mix facilities

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Hopman Cup 1994 – Vic Jones in OB Van (photo courtesy Paul Huxham)

Harrison Mixer

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Studio 3 News 2004 (photo courtesy Paul Huxham)

Paul Huxham

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AMU 2 1995

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AMU 2 – Euphonix 1995 (Soundcraft replacement)

(photo courtesy Paul Huxham)

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AMU 2 – Euphonix & Outboard 1995 (Soundcraft replacement)

(photo courtesy Paul Huxham)

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Tim Thunder “Mr Fix” (photo courtesy Paul Huxham)

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Vines Heinekin Golf 1995 (photo courtesy Paul Huxham)

Tim Thunder

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Bush Patrol 1996

Tim Thunder

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Bush Patrol 1996

Tom Creamer, Tim Thunder

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Time Masters 1997 (photo courtesy Paul Huxham)

Tim Thunder

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Post Production 1997 (photo courtesy Paul Huxham)

Tim Thunder

Tim would be the most respected man in Audio and much loved everywhere he went. Nothing was ever too much trouble…knew his stuff and just loved people.


Just a great guy to work with …he is sadly missed by all of those who knew him


Rest in peace Tim (mate)…you will never be forgotten.

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Tim & Paul

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Vic & Tim


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Telethon 2005 (photo courtesy Paul Huxham)

Phil Youd, Glyn Jones, Paul Huxham

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Telethon, 22nd October 2006 (photo courtesy Paul Huxham)

Phil Lentz, Richard Glover, Phil Youd, Graham Chadwick, Paul Huxham

Three Decades of WA Local TV – Photo Essay

Posted by ken On September - 26 - 2009

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Peter Harries shows Gordon McColl his vast collection of images contained in the Photo Appendix to his PhD Thesis


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Above: Producer/Writer/Presenter Coralie Condon and dear friend Lloyd Lawson, TVW’s first Production Manager and presenter, together were the first people to appear live on television in WA, during the test transmissions period before opening night on Friday October 16th, 1959.

“Spotlight” was the opening night variety show, featuring a cast of Phillip Edgley, Brian Card, Dianne Briggs, Dorothy & Bert Shaw and Reg Whiteman.


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Above: Country singer Slim Dusty came to the Perth Royal Show in 1960 to show off his gold record memento of his song “The Pub With No Beer.

Rolf Harris was Perth’s first TV star, seen here dining with his wife, the Welsh sculptress and jeweller Alwen Hughes.

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Above: Garry Meadows took time off from his radio duties with his wife Rhonda to attend the Mad Hatter’s Cabaret in 1960.

Col Joye and the Joye Boys were big in the 1960s.

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Above: Winifred Atwell visited Perth in 1960. She was a pianist who enjoyed great popularity with a series of boogie woogie and ragtime hits.

Vivien Leigh arrived for the 1962 Festival of Perth. She was the English actress who won two Best Actress Academy Awards for playing Scarlett O’Hara in Gone with the Wind (1939) and Blanche DuBois in A Streetcar Named Desire (1951).

Diana Dors, the blonde bombshell English actress, gets a close inspection from the ladies of the pipe band on a Perth visit in 1963.


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Peter Harries, Chas Broughton (STW9 Floor Manager and Graphic Artist) and Buddy Clarke in 1965 with a Western Australian Wildflower Model preparing for All My Eye and Betty Martin Too.

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Above: Peter Harries and friends. The blonde boy (centre) is Michael Holmes, the first Australian CNN News Presenter.

Veronica Overton and Peter Harries in a Christmas pantomime on STW9 in 1966.

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Above: Peter Harries and Nancy Cato from the Magic Circle Club in 1965. The Magic Circle Club was an award winning Australian children’s television show, produced at ATV Channel 0 in Melbourne (now ATV-10).

Peter Harries with John Barnett, former ABW2 and NEW10 Weatherman, who became the STW9 Postcards presenter.

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Channel Niners Club 1966

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Peter Harries reminisces with Gordon McColl


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Above: The Channel Niners Club Team in June 1966. Peter Piccini, Veronica Overton, Peter Harries, Ron Blaskett and Gerry Gee.


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Above: The Channel Niners Club Team in September 1966. Peter Piccini, Veronica Overton, Peter Harries, Useless Eustance (Alan Graham the station Newsreader), Ron Blaskett and Gerry Gee.

The Channel Niners Club Team for 1967-68. Peter Piccini, Peter Harries, Veronica Overton, Gerry Gee with Ron Blaskett and Chuckles O’Hara (Bon Maguire).

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Above: In September 1966, 7,500 children attended a special Channel Niners Club day at South Perth Zoo. Peter Harries, Peter Piccini and Useless Eustance (Alan Graham the station Newsreader).

STW9 Christmas Pantomime The Golden Hind cast Alan Graham, Peter Piccini, Pixie Hale, Gerry Gee, Ron Blaskett, Jeff Newman, Veronica Overton, Peter Harries and Lloyd Lawson.


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A serial production of Alice in Wonderland on the Channel Niners Club during Christmas 1966. Mad Hatter (Alan Graham), Dormouse (Peter Piccini) March Hare (Peter Harries) and Alice (Pixie Hale).

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Below: The Channel Niners Club.

Peter Harries and guests from the Bullen’s Circus.

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Below: Space Day on the Channel Niners Club with Peter Harries and George Liddle, STW9 Graphic Artist and Set Designer.

Pooh Bear and friends on the Channel Niners Club.
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Above: Lloyd Lawson presents the Today Show on TVW7.

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Above: Children’s Channel 7 compere Carolyn Noble talks with the children.

Below: TVW7 Hootenanny Show from Studio 1. The Hootenanny is an informal gathering with folk music and sometimes dancing. Traditionally held as a rockabilly music festival, which was made popular in the 1960s and became a series of musical variety television shows both locally and in the United States.

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Below: In 1962 a man named Brian William Robinson shot and killed a young couple in a car in Belmont, before murdering a policeman named Noel Iles. Robinson commandeered a taxi to take him north to the Gnangara pine plantation. Bob Cribb was dispatched with technician Colin Gorey (seen sitting on the bonnet of the small Ford International Outside Broadcast Van) to cover the story. This photo shows the News team and technical crew preparing for such an assignment.

Lloyd Lawson interviews Art Linkletter, a Canadian-American radio and television personality who hosted People Are Funny and Kids Say the Darndest Things. He first became known locally when he established a large farm in Esperance, 450 miles south-east of Perth, Western Australia. Art Linkletter demonstrated how, by the addition of trace elements, the sand plain around Esperance can be turned into productive land capable of carrying sheep and cattle and of growing a wide variety of crops. The coastal sand plain of Esperance was not successful until the establishment of the Esperance Downs Research Station in 1948. The introduction of trace elements into the soil allowed the successful establishment of subterranean clover which provided nutritious stock feed but also improved the fertility of the soil. Farming people and others, moved then to Esperance from the Eastern States and overseas.

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Below: British film, theatre and TV actress Googie Withers and Australian born actor Keith Mitchell talk with Hew Roberts. In 1964 Williamson’s marked the 400th anniversary of Shakespeare’s birth with The First Four Hundred Years, ‘a program of Shakespeare’s infinite variety’. The distinguished cast included Googie Withers and Keith Michell. (Later in 1971, Googie played a Western Australian country publican in the film comedy The Nickel Queen. Also in the cast were her daughter Joanna, the former Western Australian premier Charles Court and radio personality John Laws. There was also a young Terry Willesee playing himself as a junior reporter. The camera operator was John Seale, now a leading international cinematographer, with the movie directed by Googie’s husband John McCallum. TVW7 had an interest in the production.)

Captain Jim aboard his ship during Children’s Channel Seven, whilst Carolyn Noble talks with the children. Jim Akinson joined TVW in 1960, when Rolf Harris returned to the UK. Jim and Colm O’Doherty teamed up as Captain Jim and Seaman O’Doherty, continuing in those roles when Trina Brown took over from Carolyn. The Children’s cast were later joined by Taffy the Lion (John Cousins), till eventually being replaced by Trina and Percy Penguin alone. Fat Cat and Sandy Palmer brought colour to the children’s shows.

Pam Leuba was Perth first female Newsreader.

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Below: Actress Maggie Dence arrived in Perth playing the character Mavis Bramston, from the popular satirical sketch comedy TV series The Mavis Bramston Show, which premiered in 1964 and was broadcast by TVW7.
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Below: The 1964 TV version of The Good Oil, starring Jill Perryman, was produced and written by Coralie Condon and directed by Max Bostock, with the choreography and male lead performed by Jill’s husband Kevan Johnston. Coralie originally wrote this musical comedy for the stage production in 1958 at the Playhouse.

Rolf Harris was back in Perth for a holiday and appeared on TVW7.

At a dinner in TVW’s Studio 1, Eric McKenzie talks with his son, 1964 WA Sportsman Of The Year Graham McKenzie (Cricket), in the West Indies, whilst the state Premier David Brand holds the trophy.

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Below: Michael Gale presents the Viewpoint program with Eartha Kitt in TVW’s Studio 1, Bonanza star Lorne Greene visits TVW and Brian Treasure’s novelty commercial link Uncle Otto.

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Below: Famous crickters appear on TVW. From left: Michael Smith (English cricketer), Billy Griffiths (was an English cricketer and cricket administrator), Richie Benaud (former captain of the Australian cricket team who become a highly regarded commentator on the game) and Sir Donald Bradman (an Australian cricketer, widely acknowledged as the greatest batsman of all time).

Gary Carvolth shows national quiz personalities through TVW studios.

Champion Swan Districts footballer Billy Walker who won the Sandover Medal for 1965, 1966 and 1967 and was presented with the TVW7 Footballer of the Year awards in 1966 and 1968.

Billy Walker played for both Swan Districts and WA State side.

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Below: TV host, magician, actor, comedian and circus ringmaster Tommy Hanlon Jr takes part in TVW’s “Seven is Seven” seventh anniversary program.

Miss Claire, compere of TVW’s kindergarten program Romper Room (directed by Gordon McColl) with young guest.

Beauty And The Beast panellist Maggie Tabberer receives a warm welcome at Perth Airport. Maggie became well known as an Australian fashion, publishing and television personality.

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Below: The Stock Exchange of Perth conducts a dummy decimal call at TVW’s studios. Decimal currency was first introduced in Australia on 14 February 1966. The new Australian dollar replaced the Australian pound. The Prime Minister of the day, Sir Robert Menzies, proposed the ‘royal’. The ‘dollar’ was eventually chosen as the name.

TVW acquired a small Ford International truck for use as an outside broadcast van. It often towed a power generator and the News Department took advantage of his facility to quickly cover some fast breaking news events. One of the original black and white studio cameras was mounted on the top, and a microwave disk was used to beam the signal to the Bickley transmitting tower, for relay to the Tuart Hill studios. Later the van was equipped with a videotape recorder and was regularly used to record commercials and cover the speedway and football, before live broadcasts became common. It was also taken around the local beaches to record the popular Miss West Coast heats.

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Below: Taffy the Lion (John Cousins) and Humphrey B. Bear visit the South Perth Zoo.

During her 1968 Perth visit, Ena Sharples calls at another Coronation Street. British actress Violet Carson played the role of Ena Sharples, a role she portrayed from 1960 to 1980. Ena was one of the original characters of the long-running British soap opera, Coronation Street and her name became a byword for a “battle axe” woman.

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Below: TVW’s first full-scale Telethon was held in November 1968. It raised more than $100,000 for charity. The top picture shows part of the bank of telephones used to take the donation pledges. The lower picture shows the Premier, Sir David Brand who was Patron of Telethon, as he appears on-camera with international guests Johnny O’Keefe, Graham Kennedy, Bobby Limb and Stuart Wagstaff, joined by local personality Garry Meadows. There was a furry of activity shortly before, as the half naked personalities dressed for the occasion.

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Johnny O’Keefe, Graham Kennedy, Bobby Limb and Stuart Wagstaff stripped down for TVW’s first Telethon in 1968.

Below: In 1968, Jack Nicklaus (United States) won the TVW sponsored Australian Open Golf Championship at the Lake Karrinyup Country Club. It was a time when the station expanded the building, to consolidate the videotape, telecine, master control, on-air presentation, Newsroom and News studio in the one central ground floor area, at a cost of $550,000. TVW also began recording their prime time schedule for replay in the mining community of Mt. Goldsworthy. Meanwhile, Jeff Newman began hosting “It’s Academic”, the popular school quiz program he fronted for more than a decade.


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Below: STW9 Sales Seminar in 1969 -Sir Charles Court, Bob Mercer (General Manager), Peter Conroy (Station/Sales Manager).

Milton Francis (Melbourne Representative), Harvey Bean (Managing Director Bean-Birrell Advertising), Peter Conroy (Station/Sales Manager) and Ron Guyot (Sydney Representative).

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Dr Peter Harries shows Gordon McColl his PhD degree



School of Social Sciences

FROM PRODUCTION HOUSES TO RELAY STATIONS

A SOCIAL HISTORY OF

COMMERCIAL TELEVISION IN PERTH

WESTERN AUSTRALIA

With special reference to the years 1958 –1990

PETER HARRIES


March 2004


This thesis is presented as part of the requirements for

the award of the Degree Doctor of Philosophy

of the Curtin University of Technology


ii


I hereby declare that this thesis has not already been accepted in substance for any

Degree. It is the result of my own independent research, and all sources that have

been consulted are acknowledged in the bibliography.


……………………………..

iii


ABSTRACT


The thesis examines the continuing interaction of local ‘live’ production, audience ratings, financial returns and managerial attitudes to community responsibility during the first thirty-two years of commercial television in Western Australia. It is argued that during this nperiod the nature of commercial Western Australian television companies changed dramatically. From being creative production houses, developing their own local ‘live’ content programs, they have become mere relay houses relying almost entirely on programs developed in other parts of Australia and overseas. The local ‘live’ part of television was born of the necessity to provide program content at little cost, grew as part of a perceived community responsibility by the television stations and was fostered by their competition. Its demise was due to misplaced Federal Government regulation, technological changes, networking and a diminution in community responsibility engendered by corporate greed.


The following diagram represents the relationship and interdependency of the various factors that shaped the early history of commercial television in Western Australia.



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iv

Table of Contents Page


Declaration………………………………………………………………………………………………………..ii

Abstract…………………………………………………………………………………iii

Table of Contents………………………………………… ………………………….. iv

Preface………………………………………………………………………………………………………………v

Acknowledgements…………………………………………………………………. .vii



Introduction…………………………………………………………………………………1

Chapter One: In The Beginning: The circumstances surrounding

the granting of the first two Commercial TV Licences in Western

Australia to TVW7 Limited -1958 and Swan Television Limited -1964…………………7

Chapter Two: Local Television Production, an Industry within an Industry

versus the Ratings and Advertising Systems………………………………………… 27


Chapter Three: The duty of Commercial Television Stations in

regard to fostering Social Capital and Community Responsibility………………….. ..51


Chapter Four: Examination of the Growth and Decline of

Local ‘Live’ Television in Western Australia ………….. …………………………….75


Chapter Five: The Role of Women in Commercial Television

in Western Australia:….…………………………………………………………………………………….93

Chapter Six: ‘This is The News!’ An analysis of the statement,

‘News has long been considered the flagship of any TV Station…………………………….131


Chapter Seven: The Main Event – Round One – 1958-1970:

The contest for supremacy in Western Australian Commercial

Television : TVW7 versus STW9.……………………………………………………157


Chapter Eight: The Main Event – Round Two -1971-1980:……………………………207


Chapter Nine: The Main Event – Round Three -1981-1990……………………….265


Conclusion: ………………………………………………………………………… 317


Bibliography…………………………………………………………………………324



v

PREFACE:

Television in Australia could have been implemented many years earlier than 1956 but its introduction was delayed by the irresolute attitudes of successive governments. In 1953 a 12 inch, 78 r.p.m. record entitled ‘Here’s Hooey’ was issued in Australia by Regal Zonophone. Described as a humorous sketch it was a spoof on the radio formats of the day. In a simulated quiz program the question is asked, ‘Give me an answer between yes and no?’, to which a doltish voice replies, ‘Television!’. Although meant as a joke, this extract was incisively close to the then prevailing Australian situation.


Whilst the new medium had become ensconced in America and Great Britain, there had been a wait and see policy in Australia. As early as the 1920s experiments in television had been conducted in Australia, and in 1942 a Parliamentary Standing Committee was instituted to examine the viability of providing transmissions in the capital cities. At that time the country was governed by the Labor Party under Prime Minister John Curtin and the prevailing notion that television should be controlled by the state persisted until 1948 when the Chifley Labor Government amended the Broadcasting Act, endowing the Australian Broadcasting Commission with sole responsibility for establishing television under the direction of the Broadcasting Control Board. With the election of the Menzies/McEwen Liberal/Country Party Government in 1949, this policy was reversed to fall in line with the situation pertaining to radio stations. There would be a national telecaster and commercial television would be allowed under government guidelines. The following year members of the Television Advisory Committee traveled overseas to examine the state of the industry in various countries. Their recommendations for early establishment were shelved due to the economic downturn in 1951.


In 1953 a Royal Commission under the leadership of the Vice-Chancellor of Melbourne University, Professor George Paton advocated the early introduction of the television system with an ABC channel and two commercial channels in both Sydney and Melbourne. The selection of the licence holders was to be under the auspices of the Broadcasting Control Board and the applicants were to be considered at sittings to be


vi

held in January and February of 1955. These hearings resulted in the issue of licences to applicants closely allied to the newspaper industry, in line with the recommendations of 1953. The first telecasts would go to air in 1956 with Channels 2, 7 and 9 operating in Sydney and Melbourne. From the start, the main issues revolved around matters of economics, whilst the wishes of those who viewed the new medium from an artistic viewpoint in regard to televised content and its production were relegated to second place. A 1956 comment said that commercial television was, ‘…seeking out the lowest common denominator in order to secure the largest possible audience…’ This policy has prevailed and along with ‘net-working’ and technological advances has been the main reason for the decline in local production in the less populated cities of Australia. This tendency was noted and commented upon in the 1970s and according to some observers, the main centres of production in Sydney and Melbourne are destined towards the same end.



vii


Acknowledgements:

For many years from 1965 I was involved in commercial television as both an on-air presenter and producer. I have remained in close association with the people of both commercial television stations since, the greatest number of whom are still friends or acquaintances of mine. Without exception, both women and men have all been most helpful, by way of taped interviews, written communication, photographs, Annual Returns and personal memorabilia. Special thanks are extended to Sir James Cruthers, the ‘father’ of Western Australian television. My appreciation to A.C. Neilsen and Associates in Sydney is recorded, for their help in providing an office in which to work for two weeks in 2000 and retrieving the early Audience Survey Ratings books from the N.S.W. Government Archives.


Professor Eamon Murphy, my mentor, co-supervisor and friend who made it possible for me to enter Curtin University of Technology in 1995, has been of the utmost value to me in my academic quest. Particularly in finally making me see that a ‘thesis’ is an argument and not a ‘book’. For providing invaluable assistance from the point of view of Australian Studies and editing, my other co-supervisor and new friend, Professor Richard Nile is gratefully recognised for his personalised contribution and constant availability during 2003, the final year of my work. Assistance from Dr. Geoffrey Reeves in the preparation of my Candidacy and encouragement in the early part of my research is acknowledged. I also thank every one of the administration, staff and student body of the School of Social Sciences at Curtin University of Technology for the great experience of being a ‘uni’ student since 1995.


viii


To the best of my knowledge, this is the first time that the history of the first thirty-two years of commercial television in Western Australia has been the topic of academic research. The fact that apparently no other scholar has attempted this task before, has had both advantages and disadvantages, but from the point of view of satisfaction, the five years that I have spent on this thesis have been the most enjoyable of my life. The contact with so many from the past has been exceptionally gratifying. In a few short year’s time, the contributors to these pages (including myself) will be no more. It is pleasant to contemplate that their involvement and memories will endure.


I thank my Mum and Dad (who did so much for others) for my life and like to think that my achievements would give them a rewarding satisfaction with their work in creating me! Finally to my whole family and especially my wife of 44 years Patricia May, you are the greatest! I promise that you will not have to call me Doctor should my efforts in that direction be of acceptable standard to those in whose hands I place this tome and my trust.


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Chapter 1 – A History of Commercial Television in Perth, WA

Posted by ken On September - 25 - 2009

This page forms part of Dr Peter Harries’ first PhD thesis submission entitled: “From Local ‘Live’ Production Houses to Relay Stations: A History of Commercial Television in Perth, Western Australia 1958-1990″. This contained much additional material.


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Chapter One:

In the beginning. The circumstances surrounding the granting of the first two Commercial TV Licences in Western Australia to TVW Limited In 1958 and Swan Television Limited in 1964:

Introduction:

More than thirty years ago Tunstall said, ‘A continuous theme has been opposition to the goals of media proprietors – for instance the political goals of newspaper owners, or the commercial goals adopted in television programming.’ The first part of that statement was clearly illustrated in the contest to possess the first commercial television licence in Western Australia. Whilst one of the adversaries, West Australian Newspapers Limited, championed the cause of keeping Western Australian television in the hands of Western Australians, the other, headed by now media magnate Rupert Murdoch, based its argument on its belief that too much control would be placed in the same hands, thereby creating a media monopoly reword. The peculiar facet was that in this case it was one media proprietor (Rupert Murdoch, with the same goals), finding an excuse for opposing the intentions of his opposition (strategy for arguing self interest). In both 1958 and 1964 News Limited was twice defeated by West Australian Newspapers Limited, in its efforts in to obtain the second Western Australian licence. Swan Television was successful in acquiring the second commercial licence in 1964. In short, Rupert Murdoch was twice frustrated and in both cases a major player was the first General Manager of TVW Limited, James Winter Cruthers. Cruthers commenced work as an office-boy in 1939 at W.A. Newspapers as an office- boy before serving in the R.A.A.F. On his return he studied English, History and Economics at night school and in 1947 achieved a position at the Daily News as a journalist. By 1958 when he was editor of the Weekend Mail, he was put in charge of gaining the first Western Australian commercial television licence for his employers. Eventually Managing Director of TVW7, he ‘retired’ in 1981 and then worked in New York for ten years for Rupert Murdoch. He still does so, in an advisory capacity at the Perth Sunday Times.


This chapter examines the circumstances surrounding the contest for the first Commercial Television Licence in Western Australia. The contenders were those who controlled West Australian Newspapers Ltd., and those who supported their opposition, the Adelaide based News Limited (through their local subsidiary Western Press Limited, the publishers of the Sunday Times). The chapter looks at the difficulty experienced in trying to interest local investors in the project; the subsequent inquiry conducted by Australian Broadcasting Control Board and the granting of the licence to TVW Limited. It shows that there was a demonstrated undertaking to foster local ‘live’ production with anticipated program content from that source proposed at 41%. The chapter then analyses the granting of the second commercial licence to STW9. This time the opponents were Western Television Services representing ‘the Establishment’ (once again sponsored by Rupert Murdoch through Adelaide’s News Limited) and Swan Television Limited, in the main a group of independent Perth businessmen.


In an attempt to gauge public reaction to a share-market float and to provide the necessary capital for the establishment of a television station, in November 1957, the Board of Directors of West Australian Newspapers Limited ran the following advertisement on a daily basis for two weeks in both the The West Australian and the Daily News.


TELEVISION

IN WESTERN AUSTRALIA


West Australian Newspapers Ltd. is considering participation in commercial television

in Western Australia. Applications for licences will close on June 30 next.

The Company wishes to make an application in conjunction with other parties and

would appreciate information from anyone interested on the following points:


1. How much the party could contribute in initial capital.

2. Any capacity to continue to support the station financially during the

first five years of operation, if additional calls needed to be made.

3. Any other conditions of joining in the application.

All information will be treated as confidential.

Applications in writing only will be received.


Applications should be addressed to:

Television Station (Confidential)


The Secretary, West Australian Newspapers Ltd., Newspaper House,

St George’s Terrace, Perth.


On the morning of 28 January 1958, the editor of the Weekend Mail, James Cruthers, was summoned to the office of the chief executive of West Australian Newspapers, James Edward Macartney and given these instructions, ‘Get me the first television license for Western Australia!’.


Working from a small basement office at the side of Newspaper House in St. George’s Terrace, Cruthers set about building the new venture. He co-opted Brian Treasure, a successful advertising salesman from within the newspaper company, an accountant Frank Moss and Judith Copley as his secretary. An astute judge of character and potential, Cruthers was satisfied that he had chosen the best people available.This combination would prove to be a most productive and enduring business association.


Possessing a little knowledge but no practical experience of television, Cruthers used his considerable newspaper background and editing skills to prepare a 67 page document entitled,


TVW LIMITED


INFORMATION IN SUPPORT


OF AN APPLICATION FOR A

LICENCE


for a

COMMERCIAL TELEVISION STATION


At

PERTH, WESTERN AUSTRALIA


The information provided was designed to establish the position of strength which had been attained by the Company since its establishment (as The Perth Gazette) within twelve months of the settlement of Western Australia. An introductory chapter outlined a short history of West Australian Newspapers Ltd., together with the then current position of that company, along with circulation figures of its various publications.


Fig 1.01.jpg


The company had a last audited balance sheet showing assets exceeding liabilities by £2,029,392. The net tangible asset backing for each one pound share was one pound sixteen shillings and three pence. Revenue for the previous fiscal year was £3,352,000 and the then current one pound shares were being quoted on the Stock Exchange at two pounds and nineteen shillings. No argument could be mounted regarding the fiscal solidity of the organisation. Much was made of the fact that the company was 83.5% owned by West Australians, with the largest shareholder, (identified by Cruthers as probably being the Catholic Church ) owning 13,524 shares, being 1.21% of the total issue. The theme of being ‘local’ would subsequently be one of the main policy planks leading to the success of the application and then carried through to the present day by TVW7. Only two other shareholders held more than 5,000 shares. The detail of shareholdings was illustrated thus:


No. of holders % of shares No. of shares % of total

West. Aust.

residents 1839 81.35 934,068 83.5

East. States

residents 386 17.06 163,618 14.64

Overseas

residents 36 1.59 20,852 1.86


An analysis of the Company structure showed that 88.62% of its shares were held in parcels of less than 1000. This is evidence of the broad supporter base of the new television station as represented by the obvious interest of the Western Australian general public. The broad base of the Company reflects upon the amount of control which was vested in the Managing Editor, James Edward Macartney.


In 1928 J.E.Macartney, as a student at the University of Western Australia was suspended as result of unacceptable content in the journal Pelican of which he was Editor. Aged 20 he was employed at West Australian Newspapers Limited by C.P. Smith and subsequently set up the weekly Broadcaster. Four years later he was appointed Editor of the Daily News.


At West Australian Newspapers Macartney was in absolute control and held his position not through personal financial involvement, but rather through recognition of his personal acumen by the Company Directors. At that time such representatives of private enterprise held their positions because of their obvious suitability to their positions and not because of their having acquired control of the particular commercial operation through monetary manipulation. Sir James Cruthers doubted that Macartney ever held any shares in West Australian Newspapers Limited or in TVW Limited.


The following analysis of the shareholders showed that 72.05% of the subscribers held up to 500 shares.


Fig 1.02.jpg


This broad supporter base was doubtless due to the perceived (and real) strength of West Australian Newspapers Limited. It reflected on the stature of James Macartney, which transferred to the persona of James Cruthers in subsequent years. These two men knew that their shareholders were those who would constitute a very good representation of the viewing audience. There was a section outlining the policy of service to the State and its people, the modernity of its production equipment, its independence from out of state influences and the operation of an overseas and interstate agency for the dissemination of information through the Perth News Bureau. Another section outlined the methods employed in overcoming the State’s tyranny of distance and also the promotion of Western Australia’s vast and unused hinterland, particularly the potential [the magnitude of which was not envisaged] of the North -West. The final chapter in this section outlined the work of West Australian Newspapers Limited in assisting charitable organizations. This was both by way of assistance in community fund-raising and straight-out donations of cash. This type of community responsibility would become a continuing theme in the operation of TVW7.


The response was negative to say the least, with four serious proposals put forward. One was from a local electrical goods retailer who suggested that he had ‘liquid capital’ of between £50,000 and £100,000. However, an offer of participation by W.A. News Ltd., to that trader was not taken up. The second was a verbal offer by a Perth businessman, purporting to be acting on behalf of a Trade Union with £100,000 to invest, but nothing more came of this. There was another written offer to invest £25,000, but these funds would not be available until June 1959 following settlement for the sale of an omni-bus business to the Government. The fourth and only other offer came from a private person who had £300 to £500 to invest.


Despite the lack of interest, on 2 May 1958 the Managing Editor James Macartney sent letters over his personal signature to 44 of Western Australia’s acknowledged leading institutions and concerns. These included local retailers and business houses, all local radio stations, all major church organizations, the Labor Party, the Liberal Party, the Country Party, the Chamber of Commerce and Manufacturers, theatre interests, the Farmer’s Union, and the Sunday Times and all country newspapers. It must be a reflection upon the degree of business confidence existing in Western Australia at this time, in that there was little more response to this direct approach by James Macartney than there had been to the public advertisement in The West Australian and the Daily News.. By 10 June 1958 there had been an offer from the Roman Catholic Church to invest £10,000 and £500 from each of two country newspapers.


In light of the acknowledged success of the commercial stations which had been operating in the Eastern States capitals for almost two years, the degree of reticence displayed by the community seems surprising. However, it must be remembered that Western Australia generally was undergoing one of its ‘Cinderella’ periods and there had not been the recovery in facets of primary and secondary industry as had been experienced elsewhere in Australia. Ghosh said ‘…after 1966 the contribution of mining…to total production increased rapidly…thereby reversing the earlier trend of the 1950s and the early 1960s.’

Although the Australian Labor Party held the treasury benches of the Legislative Assembly from 1953 until 1959 if fancy number-plates had been available for motor cars, they might have read ‘The Conservative State’. In September 1956 I resigned from my job as wages clerk, counter-jumper, mail and bank runner etc., at the Perth Sunday Times and evidence of prevailing economic conditions in Western Australia are apparent in the reason. When I turned twenty-one, the Company Secretary Jack Mitchell told me that as times were so tough, I could only increase my wages from £10 per week to the basic-wage of £11.4.0. The ‘margin’ of £1 per week which I had been promised to me was not available. I clearly remember Mr. Mitchell saying to me, ‘You had better think very clearly about this my boy! Just look in the paper! You won’t find a single clerical job for a bloke your age!’ To illustrate the point, I went to Sydney where clerical work was in abundance and within six months I was working at the Sydney Morning Herald, earning £18 per week. Journalist/Author Robert Drewe reported a similar circumstance when in 1967 he was ‘head-hunted’ by a Melbourne newspaper. The incentive was a $30 per week more than he was receiving at The West Australian. Ghosh maintains that Western Australia remained a ‘backward’ State until the development of mining in the 1960s.


In spite of the perceived lack of interest by organized community groupings to participate in the formation of a television company, the directors of West Australian Newspapers Ltd., decided to go ahead with access to shares being made available to the public. To this end TVW7 Limited filed a Prospectus with the Registrar of Companies on 30 June 1958. Authorised capital was to be £1,000,000 divided into 2,000,000 ten shilling shares. The paid up capital was £201/10/- . West Australian Newspapers had untaken to subscribe for 600,000 shares, 600,000 were offered for public subscription and the remaining 800,000 shares were to be held in reserve. The estimated £600,000 to £700,000 required would come from a contribution by the directors of West Australian Newspapers Ltd., to be provided by a bank loan. For that purpose the Bank of New South Wales approved an advance of £300,000. Should the application for the licence be successful, the remaining 600,000 to 800,000 shares would be opened to public subscription at the same par figure. There would also be non-secured 10-year notes returning 7% interest p.a., exchangeable for shares after three years.


Application for a Licence for a Commercial Television Station at Perth, Western Australia:

It was noted in the licence application that the interest of TVW Limited to secure a telecasting licence was subject to there being only one commercial licence issued at that time for the Perth area. The reason given for this proviso was the sparse population of the Perth Metropolitan area in comparison to capital cities in the Eastern States. TVW Limited claimed that there would not be enough advertising revenue in Perth to support two commercial stations. In Melbourne, Sydney, Brisbane and Adelaide two licences had been granted for the introduction of transmission.


In regard to technical matters, Television Engineering Pty. Ltd., had been engaged as technical advisers. Following the positive experiences in the Eastern States, Pye equipment would be used or, in lieu, any better product available. It was stated that as TVW Limited were completely independent of any suppliers they could consider all makes of television equipment. If necessary they would use a combination ‘so that the proposed television station will be the best it is possible to build.’ The schedule of technical equipment ran to 39 pages.


Amongst the detail of the proposed television company were listed the directors to be of TVW Limited.


Fig 1.03.jpg


The acting General Manager was James Winter Cruthers and the acting Secretary was Jack Ramsay.


Section (7) of the application required an estimated cost of station establishment. The provided figure totalled £479,370, and technical equipment was costed at £193,470. First year operating costs would be £257,738, second year £269,838 and third year £319,418. Based on information from operational stations in Sydney and Melbourne, it was estimated that advertising income in the first year would be £132,977, the second year £232,537 and the third year £378,976. This provided estimated trading figures of two annual losses of £124,761 and £37,301, followed by a profit in the third year of £59,558. These estimates were in part based on the experience in the Eastern States. GTV9 Melbourne had reported that the station ‘got out of the red’ in less than a year of operation. In May 1956 TCN9 Sydney expected the station to show ‘an overall profit…only in its second year of operation.


A staff of 61 persons was envisaged being Commercial and General (11), Sales (6), Programming and News (19), Film department (7) and Technical (18). Hours of operation were planned at 35 hours in the first year, 42 hours in the second and a minimum of 50 hours in the third year.


The application then addressed intended transmission times and program content. TVW Limited’s commitment to local ‘live’ production was spelt out in the first part of this submission.

Fig 1.04.jpg

Australian Kinescope refers to the only way that programs originating in Eastern States television studios could be shown in Perth. A Kinescope recording was on 16mm black and white film, ‘shot’ directly from a small television picture tube. The process always produced a ‘grainy’ result and the re-televised product was subject to ‘flair’ where the lighter parts of the picture (although on the television ‘grey scale’ never exceeded about 92% of ‘whiteness’) have the appearance of being ‘brighter’ than surrounding areas. It is also interesting to note that there was a commitment to ‘religious’ programs. A simulated programme for a full week showed a usual commencement time of 5.30 p.m., each day. This excepted Tuesdays and Thursdays when there would be one and a half hours of ‘local women’s’ programming starting at 2.30 p.m. In commenting on programme sources, the licence application stressed the importance of local ‘live’ shows and displayed much detail of intended content. In light of this, it is surprising that during the three days during which testimony was given at the Australian Broadcasting Control Board hearing in Perth in July 1958, not one question approached the subject of local production.


On 28 July 1958, under the auspices of The Broadcasting and Television Act 1942-1956, an inquiry was held by the Australian Broadcasting Control Board in Perth. The purpose was to examine applications received for licences for commercial television stations in the Perth area. The Board consisted of Messrs R.G. Osborne (Chairman) R.B. Mair, R.A. Yeo and R.M. White (Members) and J. O’Kelly (Secretary). The inquiry was in respect of applications from TVW Limited and Western Television Services Ltd. Counsel representing the applicants were Messrs. R.I. Ainslie and H.V. Reilly appearing for TVW Limited; Messrs. O. Negus Q.C., and G.W. Gwynne appearing for Western Television Services Limited and Harry Alderman Q.C., and R.J. Clark appearing for Western Press Limited.


The main witness for TVW Limited was West Australian Newspapers boss J. E. Macartney and for Western Television Services Limited (a group headed by Rupert Murdoch) was Sir Alexander Reid. The former argued that they should be granted the licence as they were ‘local’ while the latter claimed that granting the licence to TVW Limited would amalgamate too much power in the hands of W.A. Newspapers Ltd. The licence was granted to TVW Limited to operate as TVW7.


During the Hearings Rupert Murdoch gave evidence and a question regarding potential ‘domination’ by him was answered thus,

I will retire as soon as I possibly can. I only manage as it is to come over here 3 or 4 times a year. I hope I will have even less time to do so in the future. I certainly have not got the power or the inclination. There is no attempt to build an empire or anything like that. It would not interest me.


This must rank as one of the most notable recorded under-estimations of personal ambition and ability in all of Australian history.


Proposal to Grant a Second Perth Commercial Licence:

The Formation of Swan Television Limited:

According to Swan Television’s former Chairman of Directors Dennis Cullity, the idea to form the Company is credited to Bob McKerrow who was the Assistant State Manager of the E.S. and A. Bank Cullity said that McKerrow was a very industrious person who ‘had gone around creating opportunities for clients.’ Amongst those were Dan O’Sullivan of General Agency [which subsequently became Town and Country Bank] and Bernie Prindiville. A meeting between McKerrow, Prindiville and Cullity led to the formation of Swan Television Ltd.


The company was incorporated on 25 July 1963, with an authorized capital of £250,000 which was increased on 8 August 1963, to £300,000 divided into 600,000 shares of 10s. each, of which 540,000 had been issued to sponsors and called to 6d each. If the company was granted the license it was proposed again to increase authorized capital to £1,000,000 and to make a public issue of a further 600,000 shares of 10 shillings each, hereby increasing the issued capital to £600,000.

Shareholdings would then be,


Fig 1.05.jpg


Of these, W.O. Johnston & Sons was a wholesale meat firm headed by Fred Johnston and the wool companies belonged to Bill Hughes. Subsequently Bill Young the owner of Attwood Motors joined them along with David Bell of Bell Brothers [a very large trucking and earth-moving business]. A successful financial adviser in Horrie Stewart was also co-opted for his skill in that capacity and a solicitor named David Speed.

The sponsors had agreed not to dispose or otherwise transfer any beneficial interest in shares taken up by them for a period of five years, without the consent of the directors. Subsequently, when neither Ansett Transport Industries Ltd., Esanda Limited, the A.M.P. Society nor Queensland Insurance Co. Ltd., took up shares in Swan Television Limited, the remaining big investors (sometimes termed The Catholic Mafia because of their religious affiliations) consolidated their control and remained in charge until the Bond Corporation takeover in 1984.


By 1970 the only other large shareholder in Swan Television excepting the local businessmen was Thomson Television who still had 12.5% of the stock. The Board found out that about 8-10% of the shares had been bought by a South Australian Stockbroker secretly acting for Rupert Murdoch. Fearing a potential controlling vote if Murdoch got hold of the Thomson holding, Cullity convinced the other members of the Board that they should offer a premium of 20-25% to buy the Thomson shares. The older members of the Board were aghast at this outlay and claimed that if someone went to London to negotiate they could get the holding for a lot less. Cullity prevailed, as he considered time to be the essence and the risk of losing too great.


The original ninety page Application for the Grant of a Licence for a Commercial Television Station in the Perth Area contained information regarding the proposed company; its Directors; its association with any other television station; any commitments to net-working; estimated cost of establishment including technical equipment; radiating structure [transmission tower]; land; buildings and pre-operational expenses; estimates of operating cost for three years; capital funds available; proposals for recruiting and training staff; proposed hours of service for first three years; proposed composition of programs; details of technical facilities and location of transmitter and studios.


Schedule 8 of the Application dealt with estimate proposals for recruiting and training staff.


Fig 1-06.jpg


In actuality, when STW9 went to air in June 1965 there were about 120 people employed in the various departments. Most of the extra numbers were in the Production area and were the first to ‘go’ when the station sailed into stormy financial seas after a couple of months’ operation. These matters are dealt with in subsequent chapters.


As a requirement for inclusion in the application, the proposed times during which content would be transmitted were recorded as,


Fig 1-07.jpg


It was estimated that of the 43 hours in the first year, 21 hours or 48.8% would be dedicated to Australian programs. Of those, 13 hours (including News) would be locally produced. Total expenditure on programs per annum would be £260,000. Of this £117,000 would be Australian (£56,680 for local “live” and £60,320 for other). On a costing basis, local “live’ was estimated at £114 per hour; other Australian at £145 and ‘imported’ programs at £125 per hour.


A ‘live’ Junior Club was planned for each weekday in the 5.30 timeslot, ‘devoted mainly to the entertainment of children, the broader educative possibilities …will not be overlooked…the aim being to present children with challenging ideas and thoughts…’ There would be a “Pets Corner”; topics of current interest; accounts of outstanding features in Australia’s history, including achievements in music, literature, painting and other classic arts. A stated intention was to ‘bring to our young viewers, through film clips, graphics and possibly live interviews. Those aspects of Australian life that depict the courage, initiative and ingenuity of its people.’ The program would steer away from competitions featuring ‘large or easily-won prizes which tend to give children a false sense of values’. [I am pleased to be able to record that those intentions were carried through to a large degree by my associates and me in the first four years of the operation of STW9. A description of these actual programs is contained in Chapter Four regarding Local ‘Live’ Television.]


A 6.30 News program promised to cover ‘…international and national scenes…local news, community information…emphasis will be placed upon the local scene and opportunities taken to elucidate the news as it applies to Perth…’ It was the intention of Swan Television to have a current affairs program called Here and Now from 8.30 to 9 p.m. Monday, Wednesday and Friday ‘…deliberately placed at a peak viewing hour…’ with ‘…opportunities for the expression of the views of minority groups.’ This did not happen as those in charge of program placement rightly decided that the majority of viewers would choose watch the usual fare served at that time of night on commercial television, being American situation comedies like I Love Lucy, detective series such as 77 Sunset Strip and ‘bang-gotchas’ like Bonanza or Gunsmoke. The Girls Will Tell You was to be an earlier version of Beauty and The Beast with ‘four prominent Perth women…’ and a male compere, ‘…frivolous or serious, but always they will have the quality of topicality.’ This type of program did not eventuate either. Stars in Your Eyes was to be a thirty-minute talent quest at 10 p.m. on Tuesdays. It was expected to be‘…fast moving, entertaining variety programme that will offer great scope for local talent of all descriptions…’ This proposal was pure speculation and four years passed before STW9 attempted such a program. Another show was to be a Thursday night Quiz Program alternating between schools and ‘adults’ with great emphasis on ‘West Australian and Australian topics and on general current affairs…’ so that it would be generally informative. The type of program was never produced on STW9 although TVW7 have had ongoing success with It’s Academic instigated in 1968 and revived in 2001. [In the area of children’s television, between 1965 and 1969 I did conduct regular programs which included quiz competitions between schools and children’s talent quests.] Studio Downbeat promised a half hour of music and dance for ‘…the younger sections of the community…’ to be aired at 10 p.m. on Fridays. In actuality, the first such program on STW9 was Pad Nine on Saturday afternoons, but it was withdrawn after a short ‘run’ due to economic strictures. You and The Law was to be shown at 10 p.m. on Friday nights to explain ‘…the law and would be of interest to the lay-man.’ It would alternate with Insight, an ABC type program designed to ‘…broaden our viewer’s horizons of knowledge…sculpture, painting, music appreciation, amateur radio, shipbuilding, deep sea fishing, career guidance…bird recognition, sea-shore life…’ Neither program was ever produced as such. The reason for including such proposals was to impress the Broadcasting Tribunal with the depth and scope of the applicant’s intentions. In later reality, the Program Directors again correctly concluded that such programs were best left to the National Public Carrier. On Saturday nights from 7-8 p.m. there was to be Sports Round-Up. This became a short program when first the station went to air but did not last for very long. One program which was initiated was a religious program called Seek The Truth which ran for about ten years.


In the second year of operation, it was intended that there be a twice weekly Woman’s Hour. This would include news, advice and information about the family and home; a home nursing series with a qualified ‘sister’; short films of interest to women; light entertainment in the form of games, quizzes and competitions. In the third year, this would be on a daily basis. In 1966, such a program was instituted and continued for many years in different guises. Civic Forum, to be aired on Sundays at 2 p.m. was to be a thirty minute showcase for the Government, Perth City and Suburban Councils and various public bodies to report to the public on their activities. Some viewers would consider it a good thing that this idea did not come to fruition. The balance of the application concerned itself with technical matters and equipment.


Western Television Services Ltd., was incorporated on 13 June 1958, with an authorized capital of £1,000,000 divided into 4,000,000 shares of 5 shillings each. The company, in 1958, was an unsuccessful applicant for the first commercial television license to be granted for the Perth area.


At the date of this application only ten fully paid shares had been issued. If the company were granted the license, it was proposed to issue a total of 2,000,000 shares to be held as follows:-



Screen shot 2009-09-25 at 9.35.13 PM.png


A condition of the allotment to sponsors, none of whom it was proposed would hold more than 5 per cent of the capital, was that the shares would not be sold for three years from the date of allotment without the approval of the directors. Comparison of the proposed shareholders in the two companies seeking the second commercial television licence for Western Australia provides evidence that two different social groups were represented. Swan Television Limited was an amalgamation of in-the-main newly self-made men, while Western Television Services represented The Establishment of older businesses.


In an interview, Sir James Cruthers told me that his boss J.E. Macartney came to him and said that he thought that the people behind Swan Television were ‘…pretty good people…’ and that they should be helped with their application. It was pointed out to Cruthers that the other application was from a group headed by Rupert Murdoch. Macartney’s instruction was to contact Bob Mercer (the proposed General Manager of STW9) to assist him. Cruthers does not remember whether that happened but that it was more likely to have been their lawyers (David Speed and Associates). He does remember going to Melbourne to stay at the Southern Cross Hotel and that after each session the STW9 lawyers would come to his room with Hearing transcripts and then ask his advice. He wrote a lot of questions for them to use at the Hearing. Cruthers concluded with, ‘Really, to put it in a nutshell, I helped them to prepare the application and then advised them when the inquiry was being held, very substantially, and…they got the licence of course. So we, poor old Rupe, [Murdoch] we beat him twice. [chuckles].’ Dennis Cullity has no memory of this having happened, so apparently it was a clandestine arrangement. To a very large degree, James Winter Cruthers was the instrument of Murdoch’s defeat on two occasions. Cruthers told me that he had never discussed the matter with Murdoch although he has worked closely with him for almost twenty years.


The Broadcasting Control Board reported on the two applications, making mention of the fact that they were both assisted by companies and enterprises from outside the State. In the case of Swan Television the assistance came from Ansett Transport Industries, the parent company of Austarama Television Pty. Ltd., who had gained the license to operate Channel 0 in Melbourne and Thomson Television (International) Ltd. which operated television stations in Scotland and other parts of the British Commonwealth. Western Television Services was assisted by News Ltd., Adelaide which at that time held 52.2% of the shares in Southern Television Ltd. The General Manager of NWS helped prepare the application and gave evidence on their behalf at the hearing. A representative of Harris Scarfe and Sandovers which was owned by Electronic Industries Ltd., of Melbourne gave technical evidence for WTS Limited. The Board concluded that the application by Swan Television Ltd., was the more satisfactory and in general their evidence better supported their proposal. It was noted,

The Chairman Mr. D.M. Cullity and the proposed General Manager [R.J. Mercer] both had a good grasp of the issues and a satisfactory understanding of the financial, technical and program aspects of the conduct of a television station in Perth.’


Cullity was high in his praise for the three ‘silks’ who had presented both Company’s cases, but qualified the reason for the success of Swan Television Limited by saying, ‘I think it was the integrity of our position that got us there.’


The era of the monopoly was past. TVW7 would now face the prospect of competition in the form of STW Channel 9. It will always be a matter of conjecture as to whether there would have been a different result without the input of Sir James Cruthers.


Conclusion:

In conclusion, it can be reasonably maintained that the contest for the first commercial television licence in Western Australia was really between the two major press companies, West Australian Newspapers Limited and News Limited through their Perth subsidiary Western Press Limited. The former company’s interest was represented by TVW Limited which was much better prepared and used the concept of being ‘local’ as their biggest argument to defeat the latter’s Western Television Services Limited. The representatives of TVW Limited had studied the basics of running a television station and the financial structure was carefully worked out. They had detailed projections of staffing needs, intended hours of operation and types of programming to be offered. In light of the fact that there ‘…were no Australian content rules until 1960 when the Australian Broadcasting Control Board introduced the extremely modest requirement that overall content was to be 40 per cent with four hours a day in peak time.’ TVW7s projection was forward thinking. On the other hand, those speaking for WTS Limited had obviously not done their homework properly and just how their project would be financed was unclear.


Rupert Murdoch’s statement that, ‘I will retire as soon as I possibly can…There is no attempt to build an empire or anything like that. It would not interest me.’, was in the light of subsequent events an astounding under-valuation of his own capacity and propensity.


TVW Channel 7 went on-air in October 1959 and in the first seven years of operating as the sole commercial station in the local market, had established an entrenched position. They had established a policy of a high percentage program-content by way of local ‘live’ production, thereby setting a model which the management of the new STW9 would be forced to follow, both from necessity and perceived community responsibility.


It appears that Murdoch’s second attempt to secure a commercial television licence for Western Australia primarily failed because of lack of preparation. In June 1965 TVW7 would face the prospect of competition in the form of STW Channel 9, who had acquired the right to become Western Australia’s second commercial television station. It is a most interesting point that the management of TVW7 played a substantial part in the choice of their commercial competition for the following 23 years.


Peter Harries March 2004


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Chapter 2 – A History of Commercial Television in Perth, WA

Posted by ken On September - 25 - 2009

This page forms part of Dr Peter Harries’ first PhD thesis submission entitled: “From Local ‘Live’ Production Houses to Relay Stations: A History of Commercial Television in Perth, Western Australia 1958-1990″. This contained much additional material.

PH30.jpg

Chapter Two:

Local Television Production, an Industry within an Industry

Versus the Ratings System and Financial Constraints as Directed by Advertising Income:-

A Blueprint for Economic Rationalism, The Natural Enemy of Social Capital and Community Responsibility:

Introduction:

This chapter examines how Local Television Production, (an Industry within an Industry) fought the constraints of the Ratings System and Advertising Revenue. The eventual loss by the local ‘live’ component provides a Blueprint for Economic Rationalism, the natural enemy of what can be termed Social Capital and Community Responsibility.

This chapter firstly provides an overview of local ‘live’ production in Western Australia, the effect on that area by Television Audience Rating Surveys and that function’s further control of Station advertising income. The correlation between these three major components directed the course of commercial television in Western Australia, and therein lays the history of its progress. An in-depth analysis of this tri-partite influence constitutes the final three chapters of this thesis.

The theory and function of the Television Audience Ratings System is investigated and then to better understand this process; the beginnings of television advertising in the local setting are described. This includes the reasons behind the decision of those in charge of the first Western Australian commercial television station TVW7 to adopt a different method of advertising to their Eastern States’ counterparts. This was the British method of ‘spot’ advertising, as opposed to the American system which favoured individually sponsored programs. A difference between ‘production’ and ‘sales’ people was demonstrated by an observed reticence by the latter to participate in providing information for this thesis. The difference can be nominated as that which occurs between art and commerce. It is the basic concept of creating as against that of accumulating.


The Importance of Local ‘Live’ Production:

In the early years of its existence, television in Australia was seen as ‘largely local in structure and character’ Therefore, a little more investigation would have been useful, before Hartley wrote concerning Western Australian television in 1990, ‘If local production has a future – it certainly has no past – then it must look to the long term organization of broadcast TV.’ The second phrase of this statement would certainly come as a surprise to the hundreds, if not thousands, who were party to the medium of commercial television and most particularly local production during the first thirty years of its existence in Western Australia. There has been a marked tendency for the medium of television to be regarded in a derogatory manner by those who have written about the ‘arts’. In farewell cinderella Shoesmith and Edmonds, limit their examination of television in Western Australia to six pages, (in comparison to twenty-nine pages on radio) and reference to local production, to just one line.


When television came to Western Australia on 16 October 1959 three years after its inception on the East Coast of Australia, only 3,300 television sets were operating although it was estimated that 70,000 were watching on the first night. Part of the presentation was a ‘live’ studio-based variety show. In Western Australia, for approximately the first thirty years of this period, local live production was seen as an integral part of the industry, providing employment, opportunity for personal artistic portrayal and a positive ‘link’ between disparate sections of the general community. From the start the main issues revolved around matters of economics, whilst the wishes of those who viewed the new medium from an artistic viewpoint in regard to televised content and its production were relegated to second place. This policy has prevailed and along with ‘net-working’ and technological advances has been the main reason for the decline in local production in the less populated cities of Australia. This tendency was noted and commented upon in the 1970s, and according to some observers, the main centres of production in Sydney and Melbourne are destined towards the same end. In commenting upon the absence of change in Australian productions, Jones and Bednall were using the term ‘local’ as meaning Australian.


As Australian television looked forward to its 20th anniversary, it was sometimes unkindly stated that we would not have had 20 years of television, but one year 20 times… On the other hand, the very demands of the medium for material, and the desire of the audience for a degree of variety, have ensured that there has been development over the years, in particular, in local production.


At its inception Western Australian TV exhibited a deep commitment to the community in general and thereby to the contemporary arts. In its first year of operation TVW Limited Perth submitted that the live local production factor would be dominant at 41%. This was because of the fact that it was economically viable to maintain such a high level. It was not until the advent of satellite communication and networking that the cost factor really decimated local production. The ‘ratings’ factor doomed specific programs but they were usually replaced with another local product. In Perth the local productions which survived due to good ‘ratings’ fell victim to the pressures of the corporate entity. Windschuttle was one of the first to refer to “economic ‘rationalism’ ” in those exact terms. It became cheaper to produce programs in Sydney and Melbourne for immediate dissemination throughout the rest of the country. A large contributing factor was the Federal Government’s television agency’s insistence on minimum local (meaning Australian) broadcast content. This worked in reverse for ‘local’ (meaning Western Australian) enterprise and together with later networking, technological advance and corporate greed brought about an almost total cessation of ‘in studio’ television production in that State.


As observed by Windschuttle, citing Fiske and Hartley, the concept of community responsibility bordered on the obligatory.

In their book ‘Reading Television’ (1978) John Fiske and John Hartley have argued for a functional approach that has similarities to the case I made earlier, in that television has a bardic function. They write. ‘Just as the traditional bard or balladeer rendered his community’s values and interests in verse, ‘television renders our own everyday perceptions into an equally specialized, but less formal, language system’


Live local production had its ‘golden’ era in the late 70s and early 80s when both TVW7 and STW9 competed in producing local output. Some series were sold to the Eastern States and internationally. However, that era came to an end when the Holmes a’ Court interests took over Channel 7, and the Bond Corporation swallowed up Channel 9. Despite contemporary pressures, Channel 7 management locally has fought to keep some fragments of its past involvement by way of occasional ‘specials’, the annual ‘Telethon’ and a weekly football ‘variety’ program. In 2002, the successful It’s Academic has been resurrected. Channel 9 still telecasts an ‘advertorial’ type program in ‘Post Cards’. Two other similar programs involving the motor trade and real estate are financed by those sources and produced by an independent company. There are still private production houses such as ‘Elephant’ who are fully engaged in making TV commercials, special projects and training films but no scope is seen for the production of ‘series’. Contracted production houses cover any involvement with ‘outside broadcasts’.


It is difficult to argue with the premise of Chris Barker, who wrote in 1997,

Television is globalized because it is an institution of capitalist modernity while at the same time contributing to the globalization of modernity through the world-wide circulation of images and discourses. [and]

The globalization of television is an aspect of the dynamism of modernity inflected with the logic of capitalism. Capitalism is a system of commodity production premised upon the private ownership and control of the means of production whereby the owners of the means of production employ wage labour to produce commodities, which have exchange value, for sale in the market.

Barker quotes Rupert Murdoch, the hallmark of globalization, as having written in the Observer in 1993,

I would see us buying world-wide sporting events that will go right around the world, great musical events, making programmes for a world audience. We will need local programming as well of course but synergies will exist in special events…This is encouraged by the spread of world-wide marketing companies, the toy companies, car companies, food and soft drink companies who can provide a one-stop shop


Total Australian Production in TV is a contracting process and eventually may fall victim to globalization. Information, ‘reality’ TV and sport will rule. ‘In the future ‘quality programs’ will depend less on a nod and a nudge from a regulator and more on funds and organizational structures that grow up alongside and within a more conventional, internationalized, industry structure.’ There are others who do not entirely agree that financial considerations will direct the course of world media. For instance Cunningham and Jacka assert that Globalisation’s main threat is in its ability to shift the basis of communications control from sovereign states’ governments to centralised command centres, who will then have power over the dissemination of information. This could lead to the formation and control of political acceptance amongst the subject nation’s population. In 2003 there has been evidence of just such a process with events connected with the War Against Terrorism. Regardless of whether or not certain actions undertaken by ‘The Coalition of The Willing’ are right or wrong within themselves, the medium of television has been used with great effect to direct the attitudes of people in Australia towards the acceptance of these actions. It will be difficult if not impossible to reverse current trends in communications globalisation because,

Since the sixteenth century at the latest, exploration and colonisation had begun to link points on the entire globe; transport and communications technology had always played a crucial role in this linking and in the consequent spread of the capitalist mode of production and of cultural modernity.


In 1990 Hartley asked the question and provided the answer,

So who does want local production? Why, local producers of course. Unfortunately for them the logic of the TV industry is that there’s no such thing as a local producer. Even the Perth TV stations, both commercial and public, are caught in this logic in the wake

of national networking, never mind the independents. So it’s not much good knocking on their doors, or their access windows, to remedy a situation over which they have little and decreasing control. Have you ever tried arguing with a check-out assistant about company policy?

In 1999 Howson said,

We are now well and truly in Phase 3 in the life of a television station, ‘The Grim Reaper’. Over the last few years as networking has become more prevalent, hundreds of personnel have been sacked in the interests of economy. In the interest of making bigger profits, and technical developments have aided this practice. It doesn’t take as many operatives to run a station as it did, especially when the bulk of the material is coming off videotape, produced by a production house, elsewhere. One central television outlet could serve the whole of Australia, and at times it does. It seems certain that ‘Free To Air’ television is doomed. If you listen carefully you can hear the death rattle now and it is certain that local programming lives or otherwise is a dinosaur, a thing of the past. Well, almost anyway!


Whilst business as such has always had the propensity to cut ‘dead wood’, there are few industries which have had a built-in whipping-boy such as the Production Department has been for television. The other departments of Advertising Sales, News, Engineering and in the early days Film, all required a certain stable number of employees for their operation. This did not apply to Production Departments. When economic stress appeared (and this was instantaneous as the advertisers placed their commercials according to the best areas as denoted by the ratings) the quickest way to save money was to dismiss on-camera persons, camera crews, writers, floor managers, producer/directors and musicians. Although a basic skeleton staff was always necessary, the numbers of people involved in actually producing programs was dependent on the theorem.

Fig 2-03.jpg

The Ratings:

From its inception television has been monitored by a procedure known as ‘ratings’, whereby booklets containing the programs for a specific period were distributed to households, presumably at random. In 1991 this system changed to having electronic recording devices attached to TV sets. As Jock Given says that ‘Audiences are the product that television advertisers buy…’ it is not surprising that a lot of money has always been spent in finding out what the audience is watching. Stockbridge describes the terms and workings thus,

The word ‘rating’ refers variously to:

The percentage of households that are tuned to a particular station at a particular time

Target Audience Rating Points (TARPs), the percentage of the target audience tuned to a particular station at a particular time; and Share, the percentage of households or audience tuned to a particular station at a particular time, when calculated against only the homes that have a television switched on. The statistics used in this chapter refer to shares. For example, a share of 32 for Dawsons Creek means that 32 % of those watching TV in that area are watching Dawson.


In 1985 Beville described ratings in this manner, ‘Just as the human nervous system controls all human functional activity, so do ratings control every functional activity in the broadcast industry.’


When surveys were conducted by the use of issued booklets, the viewer in charge was requested to meticulously record when the television set is operating and which programs were watched. It followed that those allotted the task on a recurring basis (children, Dads for the News, Mums for the later evening shows) did not keep to the instructions to fill out the survey booklets in fifteen minute blocks and the job would inevitably fall to the Mums to do so by memory. Neither the method of recording nor the results were of much interest to anyone outside of the immediate television and advertising worlds, and there was great margin for error. However, the purveyors of saleable commodities accepted the averages. Turnbull said that to the ‘book’ survey conductors (McNair, Anderson and finally their successors AC Neilsen), the viewer was any one person in the same room with a TV set operating. ‘The ‘viewing’ figures thus produced, commonly referred to as the ‘ratings’ constitute the ‘currency’ which networks and advertisers use to sell and buy air time.’ A specific ‘rating’ refers to the number of viewers shown as a percentage of available homes in a given area with a television set. So a particular ‘rating’ indicates how many homes were watching a particular program at a certain time, and constitutes a percentage of the total number of TV equipped homes in a specific coverage area.


It has been said that, ‘It is important to understand that ratings are intended primarily to give information to advertisers. Ratings are not designed to measure the popularity of a particular program, that is, how well it is liked or how happy the public is with it.’, and ‘The ratings are not a measure of the quality of the programs, nor necessarily of the degree of people’s liking for them but purely a quantitative measure of the amount of viewing of particular programs.’, ‘…ratings…do one thing only: they determine the popularity of one particular program relative to another at a given point of time.’ and ‘…ratings are about bums on seats, not minds in gear…’ However, the theory is that if a program ‘rates’ well in terms of viewer numbers, then the advertisers will spend their money to sell their ‘goods’ during the period when the program is ‘going to air’. This ensures that the program will be supported by the television station and have a long ‘run’. An un-named writer for the Department of Transport and Communications said,

The commercial stations in Australia have been at pains to tell us that viewers are satisfied with what they get on television. People watch it, they say, so they must like it. They argue that the ratings prove that the programmes presented are what people want; that the viewing public doesn’t want anything different from what is now being offered; and that existing programmes are satisfactory in quality, type and subject matter.

The ratings establish no such thing. They do one thing only; they determine the popularity of one particular programme relative to another at a given point of time. They provide information about what people do, not what they want.

Ratings periods varied throughout Australia, but in 1981 Sydney and Melbourne were under scrutiny for 32 weeks, Adelaide and Brisbane for 28 weeks and Perth for 24 weeks. In 1990, the ratings survey books were replaced by electronic devices installed in homes and connected to the telephone system. The results were encoded and sent to central computers for analysis on a daily basis. There is also an ‘in-home’ interview to establish the demographics of those who use the television at certain times. In the year 2000 there were 2000 of these people-meters in use in metropolitan centres throughout Australia. The change brought about by technological advancement showed that the ABC may have suffered adversely under the old system. Muir said, Typically, under diaries, the ABC accounted for about 10% of all television viewing. under peoplemeters, this rises to about 15%.


Unfortunately for those concerned, the historical pathway of the medium is littered with the failed aspirations of those who deemed themselves to be ‘local producers’. In the early 1970s, Raymod Williams observed,

[t]he ‘commercial’ character of television has to be seen at several levels: as the making of programs for profit in a known market; as a channel for advertising; and as a cultural and political form directly shaped by and dependent on the norms of a capitalist society, selling both consumer goods and a ‘way of life’ based on them.


In 1997, a retrospective assessment by Papandrea concluded that,


Profit maximisation implies that broadcasters will attempt to maximise the revenue from, and minimise the cost, of their operations. The imposition of binding regulation forces broadcasters to modify their behaviour in a way that prevents unrestrained pursuit of profit maximisation. Compliance with binding regulation may reduce potential revenue (for example, limits on advertising time), increase costs (for example. Transmission standards) or both (for example, program requirements).


In 2003 Frances Bonner held much the same opinion, in saying ‘Scheduling is a practice that is concerned to maximize channel revenues by placing programmes in the ‘right’ spot, and that involves allocating time in terms of persistent perception of the viewers as grouped in households which include children’


In 1999 a former TV executive offered the following,

The ‘god’ the TV stations pay homage to is not that God that’s mentioned in that old book called The Bible, but a ‘god’ called Ratings Surveys and if your station doesn’t rate well, the axe is called for and no-one is immune, not even the General Manager of the station. The Chairman of the Board sees to that! It’s ruthless, it’s cut-throat, in other words it’s like any other business. There’s a saying in the industry, ‘Ahh, don’t bother to bring your lunch mate, you probably won’t be here by lunch-time!’


Once again, reference to the foregoing confirms my theorem from another starting point.

Fig 2-02.jpg


Along with most other areas of contrived consumerism, the television world has had to cope with Economic Rationalism. Centralisation of television business activities has affected all areas of the industry and advertising staff has been down-sized in the local Western Australian setting, but not anywhere near as has been the personnel concerned with local ‘live’ production The advertising ranks have been decimated but the production people have been annihilated.

Early television audience surveys, ‘Ratings’, were developed to give an indication of viewing patterns. They did not necessarily reflect a precise picture of reality. However, the recording by viewers (in booklets provided by ‘Survey’ companies) of programs that were watched, did provide ‘ball-park’ figures. These results were used in the main by television stations to gauge selective popularity of individual transmissions and by advertisers and their agencies in the placement of commercial content. The end of the period examined by this thesis coincided with the introduction of electronic devices which truly recorded information as to which station a particular television set was tuned at any given time. However, there was no way of knowing whether or not there was anybody watching the set.

Television Advertising Methods in Western Australia:

Once again, the ‘round’ is best displayed in my theorem,


Fig 2-03.jpg


In 1980, Williams said that advertising was ‘…the official art of modern capital society’. Kippax and Murray observed that at the same time in Australia, the viewing audience was conceptualising the proposition that not only certain items of consumption were being sold on television, but a ‘life style’ as well. In referring to the statement by Lord Thomson of Fleet that commercial television is a licence to print money Kippax & Murray said, ‘More accurately, a TV licence is a permit to collect money in return for transmitting advertisements.’ Bessen observed, ‘That television stations are frequently seen as sellers of advertising time and purchasers of programming should not obscure the fact that the basic service a station sells is the use of its time.’ Commercial broadcasters combine this air-time with presenters, actors musicians, producers, directors and writers; those who work in the technical area and the particular station’s studio facilities. Management endeavours to present this composite in such an appealing format as to gain viewers who will be the target of the commercial messages. By selling the air-time to advertisers, the finance necessary to perpetuate the process is sourced. ‘…the station actually sells viewer exposure…’ Without doubt, commercial television must have advertising to sustain itself, although in 1971 John Murray thought that there should be a better way when he mused, ‘ “What’s wrong with us?” cry the critics. “Half the world is starving and we spend millions of dollars a year putting on programmes which don’t contain one useful thought in order to sell goods that we don’t really need!”


Jock Given contends that while the overall exercise of a commercial television station is to sell air-time, the actual commodity being traded is ‘…access to the thoughts and emotions of people in the audience’ Therefore the primary product that is sold to the advertisers is the means of accessing audiences. There are not many people distanced from a television set at any one time and so the possibility of contacting a potential buyer or user is always high. This explains the allure of television advertising to ‘…an advertising agency, say, or a political candidate…


Although the sponsorship system was tried and tested and would have brought more speedy monetary gains the TVW7 Directors claimed that their decision not to adopt the method was in part due to the following,

(a)With five new commercial stations coming on the air about the same time it was not un-natural for TVW7 to wonder how far the advertising appropriations would stretch. On past experience it was reasonable to assume that if any city suffered it would be Perth. Also other States would now be sold on a network basis, and unless TVW7 joined them, they would be the losers.

b)Because of distance and high freight charges, a fair number of national advertisers do not merchandise in Western Australia. This would reduce the amount of money spent on television in Perth.


The alternative advertising method that was being used in British Television was the Participating Spots System. Under this, individual advertisements can be placed in specific segments, which were usually periods of one hour. The advertiser has no control of the exact time that the advertisement will go to air, unless they pay a special loading fee. This system therefore allows for a greater number of advertisers to participate in peak hour transmission.


TVW7 claimed that the system had been accepted by almost all advertisers and advertising agencies. Only two advertisers objected to the Spot System. One was a national advertiser who accepted the situation after explanation and the other (a large retailer who had been part of the unsuccessful bid by Western Television Services to gain the first licence) did not place advertising with the new medium when they were refused total sponsorship of Disneyland. After seven months on-air TVW7 was selling half of its available ‘space’ and it was explained that this was due to the fact that the Spot System could not be ‘hard-sold’ in the manner of Sponsorship deals. The Directors of TVW7 believed that eventually the former would replace the latter in Australian commercial television and this has been the case. In May 1960 the number of individual advertisers was incremental at the following rate, February 108; March 117; April 134.


Television advertising in the Eastern States was initially on the American pattern of programme sponsorship, wherein the viewer is led to believe that the advertiser ‘owns’ the programme, as in Caltex Sunday Theatre or The General Motors Hour. There were usually two charges for such an arrangement; one being a time rate for half-hour or one-hour sponsorships and the other a fee to cover royalties and other import costs. In the first instance the sponsor would receive three minutes of air-time during the half-hour plus opening and closing credits. The TVW7 Directors decided not to adopt this system.

Percentages of national and local air-time placement were, National: 72.7%; Local: 27.3%. Fisher provides a different assessment of the introduction of the Spot System in which he says that TVW7 Advertising Manager the late Brian Treasure worked out the advantages and implemented the system.

An advertising budget is finite, and its deployment amongst the geographically diverse market places must be governed by assessments of potential returns.

With nearly all national advertisers headquartered in either Sydney or Melbourne, these markets seemed to be most profitable.


With only 7% of the national audience being available as customers in Western Australia, the allocation of funds for advertising through the Sponsorship System would have been severely restricted to the Eastern seaboard. People with goods or services to sell did so through an Advertising Agency or Media Buyer and less frequently, directly themselves. The ‘life-blood’ of commercial television is advertising revenue, but to the early participants in that area of the industry, they did not see themselves included in what can be termed the ‘glamour’ of the industry. Those few who are still contactable displayed a reticence to be seen as more than integral parts of the money-making arm of television activities. Whilst TVW7 salesmen only had to pick-up orders from agents and direct advertisers and place the advertising for their clients, their STW9 counterparts had to really ‘sell’ the new station to potential customers.


In all capital cities the commercial television transmissions were monitored by independent agencies, set up to ensure that the advertisers did receive that for which they paid. Observers timed each commercial with a stop watch and noted the exact times of transmissions. These records were supplied to and paid for by the participating Advertising Agencies. In Perth (through a good former working association with James Cruthers and Brian Treasure) the retired advertising manager of The West Australian Ron Christian and his wife Yvonne obtained the franchise to conduct this business.


The first Sales Manager at TVW7 was Brian Treasure and at STW9, Peter Conroy, a twenty-four year old radio advertising salesman, who after a stint in the Eastern States was offered employment with Australian Worker’s Union owned station in Perth, 6KY. When the Manager of that station Bob Mercer was appointed General Manager of STW9, he took his Sales Manager Peter Conroy with him. Conroy was of the opinion that generally speaking, STW9 management was sales orientated.


When STW9 first went ‘on-air’ in 1965 there were only three sales representatives, John Foote who eventually became Sales Manager for Western Australia, Eric Fisher who became STW9 General Manager in the 1970s and Milton Francis who represented the company in Melbourne for many years. Foote says that they were given the title of Sales Executive ‘…to give us the feeling of status on the level of Account Executives in an advertising agency.’

Before joining STW Channel 9 I had been a sales representative with Tedco Pty Ltd selling Hoover electrical products to retailers. I was selected from about 500 applicants after an interview with Bob Mercer (General Manager)and Peter Conroy (Sales Manager). The interview was held in a very small office on Great Eastern Highway, Rivervale.

I was 28 years old and was paid 30 pounds a week when we began to contact the Perth advertisers and advertising agencies. It was the end of 1964 and almost 5 years since TVW Channel 7 began transmission. This made our task very difficult as we came up against a lot of loyalty towards the more experienced station and advertisers were hesitant to spend money with us.

By the time I left the company in 1974 we had been successful in changing attitudes towards advertising with us. We still had a long way to go to equal Channel 7’s revenue intake, but we were becoming profitable.

I had no previous experience in television, though I had been a radio actor with the ABC. I continued to be involved with theatrical activities, despite being carpeted by Laurie Kiernan when he discovered that I was in the process of directing a play in my spare time. He said I needed to be married to the station if I was going to be a successful Sales Manager. Had I taken his advice I am sure that I would not have been married to my wife for much longer. I had not been able to take a holiday for 3 years at a time.


Milton Francis was a master printer – letterpress machinist who was appointed to sales representative when STW9 commenced operating. His status as a State and Olympic rower probably influenced management’s decision to employ him. Aged 32, his salary was £33.10.0 per week plus a company car. [By comparison, as a station ‘personality’ I was receiving £25 per week.] Francis was appointed Melbourne representative and remained in that position till he retired in 1987.


Eric Fisher said that his job entailed servicing the Advertising Agencies in quest of business placed through them and contacting by ‘cold canvass’, private clients who would deal directly with the station. An example of these was the proprietor of the large wholesale and retail butchers Tip Top Meats, Ray Williams. Fisher recalls having to talk the client out of using a photograph of a baby lamb, held in the arms of a little girl, to advertise a ‘special’ on lamb chops. Fisher said that it was a difficult but personally rewarding job. He avoided the ‘after-hours’ socializing alluded to by Foote.


At the time many commercials were produced on a shoe-string budget, whereas today ‘…most commercials are now elaborately staged minidramas.’ Murray said that, ‘[commercials]… are the most expensive things appearing on television. In terms of the amount of thought and effort put into them, many are among the most creatively successful things on TV. and ‘As an aside, you might be interested to know that by regulation all advertisements appearing on Australian television must be made by Australian production companies. This was so in 1971 although local producers were worried about changes to the regulations as evidenced by this article in The Age TV-Radio Guide, 21 May 1970

“Australia’s commercial television channels – all 45 of them – are bracing to meet the call from the Broadcasting Control Board to increase local quotas. [of imported commercials] The channels have had an advance notice of the Board’s intentions, and several of them, it is understood are making representations on budgetary grounds…It is well known that the Board is under pressure from political, industrial and art groups to ‘Australianise’ the medium.”

This was so and until 1991 it was a requirement of the Australian Broadcasting Board and later the Tribunal, that all commercial content had to be manufactured within Australia. After that time, relaxation of regulation provided the use of no more than 20 per cent foreign commercial content.


Current (2003) General Manager of STW9 Paul Bowen, who started working at the station as a ‘sales representative’ aged twenty-three said,

Well I think the style of Sales Department which existed then and exists today is markedly different…it is far more sophisticated today in as much as our representatives have access through the PC [personal computer] to the Station inventory. They can look at revenues, we can check about the return that we’re getting on particular programs and so on. In the earlier days, perhaps in the earlier days, yeah there was more socializing. There was a lot of fun, there was a different way of doing business and it was important to be out there all day.


Bowen said that because of the technological advances, today’s staff of about six advertising sales-persons had been reduced from a maximum of nine at any one time. When asked if today’s people would be ‘order-takers’ as opposed to ‘order-makers’ in the past, he replied,

Well, if I raise that matter with the Sales people today they say, “Oh yeah, you come from a different era!’, the people that we had in the seventies and the eighties were the right people for that time and I think the people that we have today are the right people. I think that the Sales people we had then would have been able to adjust to today. They could have done the job as well, but we, we worked and we lived in a completely different trading environment. The environment has changed greatly.


In reply to a question if the Sales Staff would of necessity hold a university degree in Business Management, he replied, ‘No, although of course today every one of those Sales people is computer literate. They’re on top of technology…you have to be.’ Bowen had no training in salesmanship and said that Sales Staff were not interested in the Production side of television.

I think sales people and particularly direct sales people often find if I recall rightly, would find production a chore…we were more concerned with getting the revenue

and then the hard work was, having the resources and personnel to put together the communication…


In answer to a question regarding Station orientation Bowen said,

Very Sales orientated. I can recall that at that time in 1973, whilst I was well down the line in terms of who was who at the station, we at Sales were well aware of the tenuous financial situation that existed at that time. Sure it was a two station make but, we were aware that, that financially things were pretty stretched.


Comparative costs to advertisers favoured STW9 and Paul Bowen said that ‘…there was a substantial rate differential between Channel Seven and Channel Nine… reflected in the fact that there was a substantial difference in the ratings of the two station at that time.’ On being asked ‘Would it have correlated equally…Did you work it out that way, so that the difference in the percentages of your audience would match the difference in the cost to the advertiser?’ Bowen replied, ‘Oh, I believe that may very well be, because today, because buying is far more sophisticated now than what it was then…’


In contrast to Paul Bowen, current (September 2003) NEW10 Chief Executive Officer David Fare, after working in the then Bank of New South Wales, in 1984 was granted one of two cadetships in the Advertising Department at TVW7. Aged 19, his immediate boss was John Wright and Greg Byrne was Sales Manager. In 1987 he joined GWN at Bunbury and then through amalgamation of television interests, later that year was transferred to NEW10 to help to establish their business in Perth. Today, Channel Ten in Perth does not have a Production Department, but the Advertising Department has six representatives and four office staff. Total control is executed from Sydney with the Department Manager answering to his superior in that city. Fare said that with actual equality now existing between the three commercial stations in Perth, the advertising revenue is similarly equally distributed.


In the earlier years of television the regulation of the content of commercials was left to the discretion of the stations’ Advertising Departments. At TVW7 there was a rostered duty at 4.30 each afternoon for Sales Representatives to view all advertising material submitted for telecasting. The moral dictates of the times precluded the use of offensive content, but complaints were taken very seriously and each was answered in writing.


In 1981 the Broadcasting Authority specified that between 7 and 10 p.m. (peak viewing time) there should be no more than 11 minutes of advertising in each hour, rising to 13 minutes an hour at other times. In children’s time zones, the Federation of Australian Broadcasting Stations self-regulated their members to ‘five minutes per half-hour’ which obviously looked better than 11 minutes per hour. The following is minutes in the hour expressed as a percentage of broadcast time over one week and demonstrates that the guidelines were broached.


Fig 2-04.jpg


In 1987 the Federation of Commercial Television Stations published a checklist for affiliated stations, to be followed in the production of advertising commercials. This was a detailed instruction containing guidelines for the use of a wide range of material from the Australian National Flag to Water Safety. Some of the more unusual instruction concerned the proper

handling of Baldness – Treatment; Betting and Gambling; Caricatures; Contraceptives; Defacement of Property; Fortune Telling; Impersonation of Real People; Insecticides; Military Uniforms; Money Lending; Nudity; Personal Products; Self Defence Devices; Swimwear; Underwear and Vaginal Deodorants. Under the sub-heading of personal products it was recommended that,

References to sexual behaviour, intercourse or prowess, overt or covert

should be avoided unless they are an essential part of the message.

If mentioned it must be with care and sensitivity and not in a manner

which might offend. [ABT Standards]


This remains the practice in 2003. The situation is now different, as all commercials are submitted by video-fax to the Federation of Commercial Television Stations – Commercial Acceptance Division for approval before transmission.


Paul Bowen also commented on ‘down-sizing’ in relation to advertising income. He said that compared to about 240 people on staff at STW9 at its peak, in 2001 the number is 150. He said that while a lot of the reduction had to do with technology, there was also the fact that methods of conducting business had changed. There was a time when forty to fifty percent of the advertising business came from the Western Australian market but that changed around 1990. Prior to that time, Perth’s remoteness meant a strong local market, but this was disrupted by computerization which led to centralization. Mergers and acquisitions then brought about a business activity polarization into Melbourne and Sydney. Many companies which conducted an advertising department in Perth, no longer do so. The companies include Toyota, Kentucky Fried Chicken, Jeans West and the Swan Brewery. Bowen went on to say that this was not good for Western Australia as now most of the marketing jobs and creative positions are located in Melbourne and Sydney. Local agencies would now handle only about 25% of STW9’s advertising business. Bowen voiced a plaintive wish ‘…and it’s not only in advertising and in television, because what we don’t want to become, is a translator station.’ O’Regan said in 1993 that the independence of Australian television stations had been a basic strong-point and maintained control of both the advertising community and the threat from networks. Most Australian regional stations are now affiliated with networks, accessing their programs and paying a fee calculated as a percentage of the user’s advertising income. The latter retain the total amount collected from its advertisers. However, a not inconsiderable portion of that advertising is sold to the regional station for network dissemination. The controller of the network retains the screening rights for material acquired from the distributors. By 1991 the shares of the advertising dollar were Newspaper 40.7% Television 35.3% Radio 8.7% Outdoor and Transport 5.8% Magazines 419% Other print 3% Cinema 1.6%.


From my personal experience I know that the main thing that television management resented (and probably still does) is criticism. In 1974, I was one of the judges of Junior Spotlight on STW9. It was a low budget, hastily contrived program and one day while commenting on a good performance by a girl singer, I said ‘One of these days you will be on a properly produced show…’ This throw-away line brought a written rebuke from the Station Manager Bill Bowen, telling me that when the station thought that it was in need of criticism they would do it without my help. Any future such utterances were to be ‘removed by whatever means are necessary’. Barzyk, Davis, O’Grady and Van Dyke appear to be in agreement:

It follows that the “aims” of TV (to inform, educate, entertain) tend to be kept well inside the limits that we find as well in definitions of networks, programs, or even kinds of programs (news, drama, variety shows, game shows, to say nothing of commercials). We can also say, still speaking schematically, that its operation is homeostatic. Internal and external variations do not cast doubt on the system, which tends to perpetuate itself through the ratings…


Conclusion:

This chapter has shown the relationship between the ‘artistic’ and ‘commercial’ arms of television. Local Television Production (Industry within an Industry), essentially depended upon the outcome of ratings surveys for the survival of particular programs. The value of a program was its ability to create advertising revenue as assessed from its ‘rating’.

It has been demonstrated that the method of advertising in Western Australian commercial television was chosen because it gave the greatest financial returns to the station. The wishes of certain Perth advertisers were ignored and in the main, local people accepted the situation. Acceptance by Eastern States interests took some time as they had been used to specific sponsorship deals. The ‘spot’ system now prevails Australia wide. ‘Control’ of advertising content has been a mixture of Government Agency direction and self-imposed standards. It has still to be proved whether these ‘standards’ were created (or changed) by society at large and followed by the forces of television or instigated in the main by the new medium and adopted by the audience.


In the early years of Western Australian the amount of money available for production was not entirely directed by survey results and programs were produced and aired for altruistic reasons to the benefit of the community. However, the Ratings System became a blueprint for economic rationalism, the natural enemy of social capital and community responsibility.



Peter Harries March 2004


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Chapter 3 – A History of Commercial Television in Perth, WA

Posted by ken On September - 25 - 2009

This page forms part of Dr Peter Harries’ first PhD thesis submission entitled: “From Local ‘Live’ Production Houses to Relay Stations: A History of Commercial Television in Perth, Western Australia 1958-1990″. This contained much additional material.

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Chapter Three:

The duty of Commercial Television Stations in regard to fostering Social Capital and Responsibility to the Community and an analysis of what Telethon and Appealathon meant to those who were involved:

Introduction

This chapter examines the relationship of Community Responsibility and the general workings of commercial television stations. While it has been shown that local ‘live’ production was initially a necessity for the provision of program content for the first two stations in Western Australia, there was also an evident intention on the part of management to provide a local service in many areas as part of what can be termed community responsibility. This continued until the ‘family’ stations were subsumed within big corporative structures. The information contained herein has been in the main been gleaned from Annual Reports of the television stations and the collective memory of those who were interviewed or contributed to this thesis in writing. The intention of this chapter is to prove the existence of a real television directed ‘community’ in Western Australia, which in fact differs from the rest of Australia.


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This chapter examines the philosophies of management in relation to providing service to the community beyond the actual physical transmission of a television signal and the changes in attitudes as directed by the passage of time and the Corporate World’s perception of Economic Rationalism. It looks at the disappearance of altruistic expenditure whereby the public benefited without an obvious monetary return to the provider. It looks at Social Capital; what it is and its importance to society at large.


The chapter examines the types of public ‘Open Days’ which were used to showcase the stations and in many cases, recorded for transmission as entertainment programs, coverage of sporting events like the Sandover Medal Count, the institution of on-going events such as the Channel Seven Christmas Pageant, assistance to charitable organisations and of course, references to the 24 Hour fund-raising Telethon and Appealathon, which are dealt with in depth later in this chapter. The loss of many of these events have contributed to the redundancy of facilities to provide television coverage and consequently the effects on employment opportunities for those young people who are at present being university trained in the area of television production.


As with most facets of Western Australian commercial television, little has been written about the place of ‘community’. Perhaps the reason for this lies in the thought that ‘Notions of community are notoriously difficult to pin down, and yet the question of collective identity in the current period is a crucial one for media studies.’ Although in 1989, after a full four years of absorbing local culture, Hartley stated that Western Australia had an ‘imagined community’, unfortunately he added ‘Western Australia, like television itself, remains a marginal place, regarded by rearviewmirrorist observers as hardly worth bothering about’. Hartley later qualified his reference to the ‘imagined community’ [as opposed to an imaginary community] and more correctly described it as ‘…the confidence most people had of belonging to a country, even though they had not met and never would meet more than an infinitesimal proportion of the original inhabitants, their co-citizens.’


The above dismissal of Western Australia’s history is in accord with another statement by Hartley regarding the doubtfulness of any future for local television production as there ‘certainly’ had been no past. If Hartley’s pronouncements are tongue-in-cheek, it is difficult to separate the irony. Hartley also observed [satirically according to Goodall] that ‘…television studies…usually have a marginal status in the academy and are not infrequently staffed by a heterogeneous assortment of people, many of whom are openly hostile to the products of the medium.’ If this is so, it goes a long way in explaining the lack of in-depth empirical study of commercial television in Western Australia. Because of some strange form of reverse cultural cringe, television was (and still is) looked upon (from certain aslant perspectives) as a lesser art-form, hardly worth the trouble of examination. As this thesis will reveal, such is not the case.


In Western Australia where there is a strong (albeit underlying) community bond. It may be that it takes longer than four years to be recognised by those who have not had the advantage of maturing within its warmth. Turner made the point that although television, ‘…the quintessential technology of a modern, commercialised and globalised popular culture…’ is now studied in secondary schools and tertiary institutions, it has not been accorded a place of deserved acknowledgement. Hand in glove with the resentment of the new medium, came those who made it their dedication to bolster that animosity by a harping critique of television’s progress. Goodall framed this cultivated antipathy thus, ‘A common paradigm of the visual media in which film was art and television was popular culture was established early on.’ and suggested that the fault lay with an absence of ‘serious minded criticism…outside of specialist publications’

Donald Horne commented thus:

There is also, among Australian intellectuals, a belief that the idea of talking about a nation is rather passé. This seems to require tunnel vision of the most demanding intensity. If we don’t imagine various versions of an Australian nation-state, then we can’t operate as a nation state. We become an offshore nation of other nations.


There are now many others who have concerned themselves with this phenomenon. Graeme Turner said, ‘While it is now widely studied in schools and universities, television – the


quintessential technology of a modernised, commercialised and globalised world culture – still finds it difficult to command respect.’ He continues by invoking Hartley,

One reason for this, as John Hartley (1992) has suggested, is that television’s populism and immediacy make it an unreflective – even scandalous – medium…it is regarded as so trivial and meretricious that subjecting it to close analysis is to commit a kind of category error. Nevertheless – and while it retains the capacity to generate reactions such as these – television today is increasingly the object of academic study.


Turner concludes by stating, ‘Accompanying, and to some extent complementing, this tradition was an anti-populist critique of television which represented the medium as the nadir of popular culture’s textual forms: the epitome of a trashy culture which was sweeping more valuable forms before it.’ As observed by O’Regan, ‘Television…is an important agency of ‘popular socialisation’ and Esslin concurred by stating ‘Every society has – and is shaped by – its self image. It seems to me beyond doubt that television plays a significant role in shaping that collective self-image.’


The influence of television reinforces the existence of the neme, and is the highest developed and visible example of that force which binds together the collective movements in nature, such as the workings of bee hives and termite nests; the migration of whales and birds; the amalgamation of fish schools, the grouping of animals, including human beings and hundreds of other ‘communal’ understandings to be found in many areas of existence. Television is, ‘…then in the business of fostering a sense of citizenship, social identities and creating and representing a common cultural and political core…of memories, values, customs, myths, symbols, solidarities and significant landscapes shaping ‘Australian’ identity.’ John Langer commented on this in 1998, saying, ‘White(1981) reminds us that…

Most new nations go through the formality of inventing a national identity, but Australia has long supported a whole industry of image makers to tell us what we are. Throughout its white history there have been countless attempts to get Australia down on paper [as well as on celluloid and videotape] and to catch its essence. Their aim is not merely to describe the continent, but to give an individuality, a personality. This they call Australian…


As far back as 1956, although probably referring to higher art forms, even such a conservative thinker as Richard Boyer, then Chairman of the ABC, believed that television would have the power to ‘…unify and raise Australian culture…’ In 1963 a Senate Inquiry called The Vincent Committee reported that the greatest danger to be faced by the new generation of television viewers who had been born to the medium, would be an incorrect understanding of the culture of others, most particularly the inhabitants of the United States of America, with no real appreciation of what it was to be an Australian.


Denigration of television as a medium and its consumers ‘cultural dopes’ was rejected by Fiske who said that ‘The people are not a passive, helpless mass incapable of discrimination…’ and ‘The lowest common denominator may be a useful concept in arithmetic, but in the study of popularity its only possible value is to expose the prejudices of those who use it.’ Fiske also observed that

We need to think rather of the people as a multiple concept, a huge variety of social groups accommodating themselves with, or opposing themselves to, the dominant value system in a variety of ways. In so far as ‘the people’ is a concept with any validity at all, we should be seen as an alliance of formations which are constantly shifting and relatively transient.


According to Rowse, one expression of this grouping is in the fact that the consumers of television form ‘conversational communities’ In this way, the viewing audience becomes a collective; a neme, which in Western Australia also incorporated the considerations of the controllers of the source of television. Hamilton supports this by observing that ‘…popular culture invites identification and the creation of community because this is the central element in its narrative strategies.’


This intangible alliance was not misplaced amongst Western Australians and still exists in reality. The ‘imagined community’ is as real as ‘air’ – difficult to see unless mixed with other gases, but definitely there. Frances Bonner in paraphrasing Benedict Anderson said,

The ‘imagined communities’ that in Benedict Anderson’s famous formulation are now nations are constituted (1991) require evidence from which to be built. Television is a principle provider of this evidence in telling us what other people do in similar and different situations are like, how they live, how they act in public, what they aspire to, what they fear and how they react under unusual conditions.



After thirty-eight years of performing for, mixing with and being one of these co-citizens, perhaps I can claim to be able to vouch for the actuality of a true community spirit. The same ‘spirit’ personally observed as a performer to the 14,000 audience who attended the 1966 ‘Carols by Candlelight’ in the Supreme Court Gardens; the packed Entertainment Centre on a Saturday night in 1984 with an audience willing to hand over their contributions to a televised ‘Cyclone Appeal’; the kids lining up at Sunday morning Telethons to build a wall of cardboard money-boxes; the untold number of charitable events organised by the Service Clubs that I have attended and the Australia Day public concerts supported by TVW7 in the 1980s, with tens of thousands of Western Australians exhibiting a truly ‘real’ and not ‘imaginary’ essence of community. It is paradoxical that Hartley has written, ‘The television live event was developed and used around the world as a secular ritual of community-building…into everyone’s home…’ as in the case of Western Australia this was true, and because of the altruistic attitudes of early television management, remains so in the case of TVW7 and to a lesser extent with STW9. Moores goes so far as to say that communities are ‘fictional realities’ – things that are experienced as real and appear to have an objective existence, but which are actually made by the mind in the workings of an ‘imaginative geography’


One effect of television broadcasting, is to produce ‘programming orientations and imagined communities of viewers’ which engender more parochial than national reactions. A classic example of this is the sports rivalry in the fields of Australian Rules Football and International Rules Basketball played between the different States. While it is true that commercial television is a massive montage of corporate structure, advertising and political strategy, the consumer in Western Australia constitutes a cultural amalgamation, more readily different and identifiable from the Eastern States counterpart. One example of this is the significantly higher ratio of raised funds in the annual TVW7 Telethon. A reason for this may lie in the fact that the largest beneficiary is the Princess Margaret Hospital for Children, which, due to Perth’s physical isolation is a point of central focus for the entire community. Almost every member of local society can feel to be part of this one long-established institution and not even the winds of economic rationalism are likely to blow cold through its corridors. The neme is too ingrained for toleration of removal of that which has become TVW7’s strongest pillar in their structure. This pillar is entitled ‘your local station’.


The management of Perth’s first commercial television station TVW7, did have appreciation of ‘local community’ and set out to provide a focal point for it. TVW7 was successful in establishing links with the viewing audience and continuing to do so until the present day. STW9 had little choice but to follow, but conceded the winner’s title in the early 1990’s.


Economic Rationalism

Cunningham and Jacka said,


Until the late 1980s, there was very little public discussion of the costs of television content regulation and little disturbance to agreement on the cultural benefits of a local industry…However the winds of economic rationalism, which originated in the

Thatcherite-Reaganite politics of the Northern Hemisphere began to blow strongly in Canberra.


Whilst one of the most common catchwords of the nineteen-nineties was Economic Rationalism, this now widespread practice has always been at the very heart of entertainment industries. No matter the medium, if what was being offered did not ‘put bums on seats’, then its future was entirely predictable. Because the product of commercial television viewing is the creation of an intention to purchase the advertisers’ goods, in this medium ‘bums on seats’ have always been judged by ratings surveys, the useful tool by which managers and boards of companies could justify the protection of the shareholders’ dividends which has been examined in a previous chapter. However, given that television is acknowledged as an art form, what responsibilities do the controllers of the medium have to the public at large as opposed to the retention of advertising income? As the result of examination of the many scholarly works on economic rationalism published in Australia since 1990, only one was found to place value on what can be called ‘Social Capital’ as explained by Rob Adams in 1999.

Social capital, on the other hand, is a whole lot of things that are difficult to measure. It is the value of a cohesive and satisfied workforce, working together cooperatively, and silently producing value for the company…It is having a community that is physically and mentally healthy, able to work productively and contribute to society, whether at the workplace or in the bringing up of the next generation.


Social capital is all of these things and more. In television it should be that which is contributed to society gratis, without expectation of monetary return. Due to the paternalistic [not a dirty word] attitudes expressed by the management of W.A. Newspapers Pty. Ltd., certain such values were inherited by TVW Channel 7 through the persona of James Cruthers who was asked to express his ‘thoughts and attitudes and philosophies towards live, local production in 1958.’

Well we started thinking about it in 1958 and we worked out schedules of what we’d have. Children’s programming first and foremost and late, not late, but an evening show; a ‘Tonight’ type show and of course News and documentary type programs. They were planned before the station came on the air and our attitude towards them was, we were just going to do them!


When asked whether monetary considerations were given pre-eminence, Cruthers replied,

Cost factor, while I had to look at it, wasn’t really an important factor because the simple fact was, that’s what we were there for. To provide television and as much as anything else, local television. We covered all spheres and it was planned from the outset and it took place from the outset..


Sir. James stated that,

live production was best in Western Australia, by the simple fact that we only had one commercial station in those early years. And then it wasn’t altogether killed when we got a second station, because we still had two commercial stations here and they had three over there.’ [in the Eastern States]


In answer to questions concerning networking and satellites in regard to the eventual downturn of local production Sir James expressed these thoughts:

It was the death-knell of local programming as we knew it in Western Australia and it was very progressive in Western Australia until Network Ten came along. Very progressive, both TVW and STW with an awful lot of programming and we did many other things like Telethon and Appealathon. The Pageant, the Miss Australia things and all of those we did here, many local things that weren’t done elsewhere. They had to go by the board. The Network owners didn’t want them, so that was that!



Sir James Cruthers’ counterpart at STW9 from 1970 until 1984 was Laurence Kiernan. He too saw responsibility to the community as being contained primarily in the provision of local programming. In particular he mentioned the coverage of Western Australian activities and events as ‘…documents of social significance.’



The first mention of Community Service by either commercial station was from STW9 in their Annual Report 1968 and said,


Your Station assisted many charitable appeals during the year with both effort and air-time. In April this year the Station, in conjunction with the Australian Forces Overseas Fund, organised the first official W.A. concert group to entertain servicemen in South East Asia. A group of nine entertainers led by Mr. Ron Blaskett and including Station personalities Peter Harries and Peter Piccini, gave live performances to Australian and American servicemen in Vietnam and were very well received. Personal messages from families and friends were also communicated to and from our troops in this area.



The reward to STW9 from such involvement came by way of the Press coverage which followed the initial announcement of the proposed involvement. Because of the high profile of the Vietnam War, the Concert Tour could not be ignored by West Australian Newspapers as was the case in most of Channel Nine’s efforts at self-promotion. The West Australian covered the departure of the group, bulletins from Vietnam and an extended article in their weekend production with colour photographs, although these studiously ignored Channel Nine’s on-staff personnel. The Sunday Times covered the return with a story and picture of ‘Peter Harries is welcomed back from the War-Zone by young admirers.’


Telethon Introduced:

In 1969 the TVW7 Annual Report followed with the first time mention of Telethon and the fact that 1968 raised $100,000 for the Princess Margaret Hospital Medical Research Foundation and the provision of Christmas hampers for West Australian serving servicemen overseas. STW9 made no mention of involvement in this year. In 1970 TVW7 said that 22,000 people attended the Ampol Hole-in-One day in March which raised $10,343 for Legacy, Silver Chain and Red Cross. Telethon 69 raised $135,000 and was expected to be an ongoing annual event. The STW9 Annual report of the same year once again ignored this facet of operations. In 1973 TVW7 introduced the first Christmas Pageant which was a great success both as a spectacle and a televised event later in the day. In 1974 the STW9 Annual Report had a special section headed Community Service which stated ‘The policy of the past was carried on this year at an accelerated pace with greater participation by STW9 in community projects and appeals, and these will continue to receive support.’ In the 1975 TVW7 Annual Report it was reported that fund raising ventures in both States [South Australia being the other] raised a total of $830,000 with donations to Telethon rising by $530,000 to $1.6 million. ‘…the TVW Group supports other charitable organisations, not only financially, but with free promotion and by providing staff and facilities…continue to support the arts by encouraging students with the Young Film Makers’ Award and Young Artists’ Award, which are now annual events.’ The Christmas Pageant was reported to have attracted 300,000 people, the biggest number of spectators ever assembled in Perth. In the same year, Community Service continued to be the heading under which the good deeds of STW9 were recorded.


Appealathon Introduced:

In 1975, Appealathon on behalf of the Slow Learning Children’s Group was introduced to counter Telethon and the 24 hour telecast raised $414,000 which exceeded the amount promised over the telephone during the time on-air. There were more pressing worries for TVW7 in 1976 than boasting of their prowess in assisting the community but STW9’s Appealathon raised $583,000 and the Station was involved in other activities such as Bike Hike, Fun Run and Pet’s Day.


In 1977, TVW7 put the record straight from their point of view with,

Channel 7, with its policy of public service and community involvement, is a clear leader in Perth television and support from viewers and advertisers continues to be strong. The most recent audience survey (at the time of the printing of this report) shows that TVW7 had almost 50% of the total audience, with the other two stations [STW9 and ABW2] sharing the remaining 50%.


It was recorded that ‘the directors sincerely believe that this is an unparalleled record of community service by a public company of comparable size in Australia.’ So much so in fact, that more than a full page of text was devoted to this subject. Telethon had now raised $3,079,653 since 1968. The Christmas Pageant was attracting 350,000 spectators and involved 1200 participants including 600 children.


Plans were afoot to host the Miss Universe Pageant during the 150th State Anniversary Celebrations, to be telecast direct by satellite to 500 million viewers worldwide. The participation in The Young Film Makers’ Awards and Young Artists Awards continued with prizes to the value of $2,000. TVW7 conducted the final of Youth Speaks For Australia national debating competition. They also televised the Foundation Day Dinner and Presentation of Citizen of the Year Awards. Charities which received support were Miss Personality, Woman 77, Miss Western Australia Quest, and sponsorship was endorsed for the Channel 7 Brass Band, The Mikado stage presentation, the State Youth Orchestra, the arts publication Artlook, the York Fair, art shows, film festivals amongst others. TVW7 had senior representation on the Drug Advisory Council, Western Australia Week Council, the Queen Elizabeth Silver Jubilee Appeal, The Film and Television School, The 150th Anniversary Celebrations, the W.A. Women’s Fellowship Award, The Whiteman Park Economics and Land Use Working Committee, and others. The investigation of shipwrecks and outback expeditions also drew sponsorship. TVW7 produced 100 half-hour educational programs. ‘The group’s assistance to the community it serves is not without cost, but your directors consider that the company has a responsibility to help where possible.’ STW9 reported in 1977 Appealathon raised $763,000 taking the total to $1,800,000. At TVW7 a full page was devoted the activities in this sphere with Telethon now having amassed $4 million. A Grant of $507,041 was made for the study of children’s diseases. 400,000 spectators turned out for the Christmas Pageant. 16,000 attended the televised Birdman Rally at Yanchep. The prize for a 50 meter man-powered flight was not claimed. The W.A. Fashion Awards was also telecast. Production of historical features to be aired during 1979 was under way. The STW9 Annual Report for 1978 showed that Appealathon raised $865,135 taking the total to $$2,650,000 in four years. It also held an on-air appeal for the victims of Cyclone Alby, only two weeks before Appealathon. The nominal value of airtime provided for various fund-raising activities by numerous charities was estimated to be $5,000,000. Other community directed initiatives during the year included Fun Run, Avon Descent, Trash and Treasure [operated by the Floreat Lions Club and managed by Frank Mansfield] Appealathon Rodeo, World of Craft, and Off-Road Expo. The practice of training six young men each year for the industry was continuing. The first page of the 1979 TVW7 Annual Report highlighted The Objectives of the Company which included,

The company also aims to involve itself with its community and provide services aimed at improving their enjoyment and life-style. For this reason the company assists numerous charitable organisations, conducts appeals for medical research, provides awards for young people in many spheres, and assists in numerous community endeavours.


Telethon raised $887,376 and grants were made to Princess Margaret Hospital Medical Research Foundation, the Asthma Foundation of W.A., and the Muscular Dystrophy Research Foundation. While foregoing activities certainly comprised public relations exercises, the ensuing benefits accruing to society cannot lightly be dismissed. Over these periods there was an enormous amount of social capital invested in the community and the returns, in the main, were retained and enjoyed by the community.



W.A. State 150th Anniversary:

The contributions of TVW7 to the sesquicentenary celebrations of 1979 included the production of the opening concert on the Perth Esplanade; the Royal Visits by Prince Charles and Princess Anne; The Festival of Perth (with sponsorship of the Scots Festival of Perth and a visit by the Scots Guards); Expo 79; the re-enactment of the landing of Captain Stirling; the Air Pageant and WA Week, with a telecast of Citizen of The Year. A figure of 400,000 spectators was given for the 1978 Christmas Pageant. Special telecasts included Miss Western Australia in aid of the Spastic Welfare Association and Miss Personality supporting the Lions Save Sight Campaign. The Birdman Rally was held again to raise funds for Telethon and attracted 16,000 people. On-air programs in support of the United Nations International Year of the Child were produced. Other activities were sponsorship and support of yachting, polo, veteran swimming, football, cricket, the first People’s Marathon, a bathtub and dinghy race to Rottnest, the Channel 7 Brass Band, the WA Fashion Awards, the Gilbert and Sullivan Society and the Playhouse and Hole-in the-Wall Theatres. In particular The Sandover Medal Count, The Channel 7 Australian Derby and The WA Pacing Derby. TVW7 organised a special dental health campaign and in all 55 charitable organizations received on-air support. 100 cash donations were made to separate charities.


During the 150th Anniversary Celebrations, STW9 and Radio 6KY paid for a statue of the first Governor of Western Australia, Sir James Stirling, which was unveiled by Prince Charles on 10 March 1989. Fifty-two one minute segments on the State’s history were produced and aired, one each Sunday night. Assistance was given in the restoration of the ‘Batavia’ and the instigation of the Fremantle Maritime Museum. Captain Clean-Up was an on-going project; W.A. Week, The Festival of Perth, the Great Australian Paintings Appeal, the A.N.Z.A.A.S. Conference, a publication A History of Law in Western Australia was sponsored, World Youth Sailing Championships, National Bands Championships and the National Eisteddfod. The Colonial Ball was televised and other forthcoming events were anticipated.


Value of ‘donated’ air-time:

In 1979, the management at STW9 decided to place a nominal value of $1,021,000 on the airtime granted to charitable purposes and this was recorded in their Annual Report. Appealathon raised another $1,043,739 and 1200 volunteers helped to make this possible. The costs of postage and installation of telephone lines which amounted to $16,785 being part of a total of $29,249 for two years were the only deductions from funds raised. STW9 bore all other costs.


Acknowledgement of their contribution to the community by way of social capital continued in 1980. TVW7 said that to further its awards systems for young artists, dancers, writers and speakers, it had introduced a Young Photographers’ Award in conjunction with the Daily News. Developing from the success of the Channel 7 Young Film-Makers’ Award introduced in 1972, the station combined with the Australian Film Commission, The Western Australian Institute of Technology [as Curtin University was then known], the Perth Institute of Film and Technology to put on the premier major student film festival in Australia. In conjunction with The West Australian the Baron Von Thyssen art exhibition was sponsored and cash donations were given to ‘…cultural, educational, sporting, religious and other activities…’. As well there were 4,350 announcements given free air-time and the value of such was estimated at $1,177,000. Among the highlights of the year was the RSL Remembrance Day Concert at the Perth Entertainment Centre with special guest, the World War II legless pilot, Sir Douglas Bader. Not to be outdone, STW9 claimed that 150-200 minutes of announcements were broadcast each month being a total of 2,400 items for the year. Nominally, these would be worth $750,000. STW9 produced a series of award winning animated educational ‘shorts’ aimed at children, dealing with such things as nutrition, safety in the home, playground, dental care and cleanliness. The catch phrase ‘Who knows? Mum knows!’ became popular. Other areas of juvenile development included The Child Accident Prevention Foundation, the 6KY Brass Band, The Graham Marsh Junior Golf Foundation, The Wanneroo T-Ball, The Channel 9 Soccer Coaching Clinic, The Channel 9 Cricket Coaching Clinic and The Youth Concert of W.A. Week.


Holmes a’ Court’s Commitment:

In its 22nd Annual Report the new Chairman Robert Holmes a’ Court stated that ‘TVW Enterprises has a long and proud history…it has a record of serving the communities in which it has operated…I am committed to continuing this record and to building on it.’ The first indications that the station’s activities might not be as important as before came with a reduction of the text to half a page. Involvement was listed as Fat Cat’s Birthday, The Teddy Bear’s Picnic, Milk Carton Regatta, Celebrity Challenge and Birdman Rally. The Young Ballet Dancers’ Awards was added to the list and help to educational projects was instigated including Math-O-Quest and Science Talent Search. TVW7 staff produced the Concert/Official Opening of the International Year of Disabled Persons and telecast a special concerning employment opportunities for Society’s handicapped persons. Telethon delivered $1,071,829 whilst those supported in previous years were once again helped. A Hole-in-One day for Legacy was supported by 25,000 people in the TVW7 grounds.


In their annual report for 1981 STW9 said that the stations [TV and radio] provided free air-time to the value of $1,000,000 this year. In conjunction with P.B.S., STW9 sponsored the Pompeii AD Exhibition at the W.A. Art Gallery and 90,000 people including school-children attended. This year STW9 organised and telecast Foundation Day Dinner during Western Australia Week and the W.A. Week Youth Concert. City to Surf and Fremantle Fun Runs and the Avon Descent were supported, as well as The Graham Marsh Junior Golf Day, W.A. Basketball Association, the T-Ball Association of W.A., Y.M.C.A. Indoor Soccer and the West Australian Hockey Association and Tennis Coaching Clinics. 76 students were given the opportunity of work-experience in various departments during the school year.


In 1982 the Annual Report page on Community Service was almost a reprint of the previous year with a few extra media campaigns being Keep Australia Beautiful, National Safety Council, The Red Cross and the National Heart Foundation. TVW7 supported 86 projects with a cost of $1.3 million being donated. Apart from a reference to the Today program, no mention was made of local ‘live’ production. For STW9 in 1982 there was direct involvement in a Back to School Day at Channel 9, a Free Christmas Concert at the Concert Hall, The Hyde Park Festival and a free day at the Zoo, Fun Run, the Avon Descent, Garden Week, the Boat Show, the Flower Show, the electronic Exhibition, the Italian SAGRA, Murdoch University Open Day and the Graham Marsh Junior Golf Foundation. Outside telecasts included The Foundation Day Dinner and the W.A. Week Youth Concert. Children from 35 school participated in work experience and groups of people who toured the station numbered in the thousands.Appealathon raised more than a million dollars again taking the total to $7,877,696 for the beneficiaries The Slow Learning Children’s Group of W.A., The Civilian Maimed and Limbless Association of W.A. (Inc.), The Paraplegic Quadriplegic Association of W.A. (Inc.) and The W.A. Society for Crippled Children. $1,529,293 in free air-time was contributed to society at large.


The Channel 7 section of the Bell Group Report of 1983 showed a small picture of the closing of Telethon. At STW9 the company supported more than 320 charities during the year with $1,083,657 worth of air-time. Further to active participation in the same events as last year, there were the Italian Spring Festival, the Kanyana Festival, the Homes Exhibition, the Veteran Car Rally, Tagged Fish Competition, Kings Park School Holidays Activities and the ANZAAS Conference. Appealathon raised $1.5 million and the company contributed to 79 major charitable groups. The Bell Group 62nd Annual Report showed a small picture of Sammy Davis Jnr., with Holmes a Court and mentioned Telethon which ‘…raised the record sum of $1,711,456 for local charities.’ At STW9 The text was almost a duplicate of the previous year with Appealathon starring and another $1 million dollars of free air-time being provided. In 1985 most of the activities of TVW7 were ignored. In 1986 the Bell Group Community Service Report was reduced to,

both stations [TVW7 and SAS10] continued to provide significant benefits to their communities, through promotion of charitable organisations and events and in particular the raising of funds for local charities. The annual “Telethon” fund raising event in Perth raised a record $2.8 million during the year, bringing the combined funds raised for the benefit of charities since Telethon’s inception in 1968 to a total of $17 million.



It was not until 1987 that charitable works were mentioned again as, ‘Channel 9 – Perth continued to be community-oriented, both through its promotional activities and charity support, the latter led by the record-breaking 24-hour Appealathon telecast.’ The Channel 7 report for 1987 contained no mention of community service. The final Bond Corporation report recorded the amount of $2.5 million as being raised by Appealathon. There were four lines of text congratulating themselves once again on their community involvement with the 13 years of Appealathon which had raised $16 million. In 1989 Appealathon had its 15th outing and was supported by National Nine stars Daryl Somers, Ray Martin, George Negus, the Flying Doctors Team, Sale of the Century’s Tony Barber and Alyce Platt, Don Burke and an array of Perth’s top local talent [my italics]. 1990 concluded these community service reports, by saying that the year was highlighted by another successful “Appealathon” which in May 1990 raised over two million dollars. It allowed Perth viewers to see Network personalities in close-up and, most importantly, gave local performers the chance to display their talents.


Telethon and Appealathon were the two most outstanding examples of the Stations making ‘good-fellows’ of themselves. The former was both a good ratings vehicle and a community service [it did not have advertising content for its first fourteen productions] which still goes to air in October while the latter, (which now does not have a televised conclusion), donates air-time to advertise the various activities of fund-raising bodies.


The establishment of Telethon and Appealathon was not entirely the result of altruistic attitudes but part of the ongoing rivalry and one-upmanship that existed between the two commercial stations. This is what long-time on-air presenter Lloyd Lawson had to say on the commencement of Telethon, at TVW7.

…and even before I joined Nine the information they got about what Channel Nine was going to do was absolutely unbelievable. There would be notices on our notice-board under the steps which lead up to the top floor of activities down at, or what was being proposed at Channel Nine and so-forth. Now they had a good leak down there somewhere to such an extent for example – I’m just changing the subject – that when I went down to Nine, Bob talked about ‘Ring and Gives’ as we used to call them on radio. And he decided that we would have a Telethon. Before he could even get anything under way, Treasure had put um, Farr, what’s his name, David Farr into a taxi into town the name Telethon and it shot – they just had to cancel it down at Channel Nine, then of course Channel Seven picked it up and ran with it and that. So this was how the information got around…So this was one of the big faults in the early days at Nine. They wouldn’t keep their mouths shut.


When asked for his thoughts on Telethon Darcy Farrell recalled,


DF:…Although of course you know that Telethon started as a fluke. Did he tell you that? [Sir James Cruthers] I’ll tell you. Once at a staff meeting Jim said to us, “We’ll have to do a Telethon because Channel Nine’s hinted, Bob, not, Bob, Laurie Kiernan’s indicated to someone he’s going to do a Telethon and we’ve got to beat him to it.” And there wasn’t even a cause.

PH: It was Bob Mercer by the way.

DF: Was it Bob?

PH: Yes, because you had the first one in ’68 and Laurie didn’t come till 1970.

DF: O.K. Well it was Bob that was going to do one and Jim said, “We’re got to beat him! And that’s what happened.


While this roughly confirms the comments of Lawson, Gordon Leed remembered,


Four or five weeks after I joined STW9 [early1968] I was sent for by the General Manager, Bob Mercer, and on entering his office found the company Chairman (Mr Cullity) was present.

They asked for any ideas I might have as to why the station’s public image was low while Channel Seven was regarded so highly. (I hasten to say that I might not hve been alone in being asked. Other senior people may also have been consulted). I said I did not feel that we were doing anything – outside our normal programming – to be accepted as part of the community…I suggested we mount a Telethon with the local children’s hospital as the beneficiary.

Bob Mercer would have none of it saying he was approaching the opposition and Perth’s radio stations with the proposition that we jointly run with a programme he had seen in the U.S.A., a Community Charity Chest. A Telethon, he said, would be too costly and time consuming to run. Later that year TVW7 ran its first Telethon. Channel Nine was forced to follow some years later.


Sir James Cruthers did not recall much of the above, saying that being familiar with such fund-raising ventures interstate and overseas, he decided to instigate Telethon of his own volition. However, he did not refute what others said on the subject.


Without doubt, Sir James Cruthers fostered community responsibility and this was in part responsible for TVW7 having a very high profile in the community due to having always used their television platform as a public forum. When asked who it was that instituted Telethon he answered,


Me! I looked at the Telethons from overseas and of course particularly the ones in the Eastern States. Particularly the Melbourne one and I just felt that we ought to do something similar here. I thought about it. I talked about it with my Board. I talked about it with my senior executives including Treasure. Treasure was totally opposed. 100% opposed. He said it was a waste of time, he didn’t want to do it!


Sir James went on to explain how he approached the Directors of Princess Margaret Hospital and gained their ready acceptance to be the main beneficiary. The first Telethon in 1968 raised an amount of approximately ninety thousand dollars and the 24 hour presentation was ‘…a wonderful success.’ Brian Treasure refused to participate in the opening of the Telethon but attended late on the second day. In later years he ‘became very attached to it.’


Former TVW7 Secretary (1958-1979) Frank Moss was asked to comment on the fact that

Channel 7 has always enjoyed a very good reputation as being community minded. He said,

That was uppermost in our minds right from the start. And was one of the reasons we decided to form a Telethon, a Telethon Foundation. At that stage it was our aim to raise about $10million and to use that as – the interest for charity reasons. So we were well on our way to doing that when Robert [Holmes-a-Court] came on the scene and the policy changed.


Gary Carvolth was the first producer of Telethon and particularly remembers the help that he received from such people as Graham Kennedy, Bobby Limb and Johnny O’Keefe.

I was also Publicity and Promotions Manager of Channel 7, so the Telethon really came under that umbrella. Firstly being a Publicity and Promotions type of thing. Straight fund-raiser and then, because it wasn’t as big in those days, I mean we’d only just starting with the variety program and the fund-raising events grew around it. So later on it needed like a twelve months full on Manager and associated staff. But in the early days it was small bickies I suppose, but early days were fun days and that’s really where the whole thing started. But everything that we did was really based on the best in Australia at that time which was Channel Nine’s Telethon in Adelaide.


Kevin Campbell who started at TVW7 as a technician and rose to head the Seven Network was high in his praise of Telethon,

Seven have built on community responsibility and also took the initiatives, things like our forefathers Telethon and subsequently Nine’s sort-of success in building

Appealathon…but Telethon was a very good model. But is was also; you could hold your head up high. Telethon used to be bank-rolled by Seven without taking anything off the top. I question that now; in fact I now; I didn’t; I don’t particularly like that…There answer is that is; we give all the air-time, then we give the space and all that kind of thing. Cruthers and Bostock who were the architects of this, never looked on it in that way. They actually bank-rolled everything in there, and it was when, when it sort of started through Holmes a Court days, when we started screwing them down on bloody budgets and whatever, if you want to keep it going, because it still raises two million bucks.

PH: It’s still a great event.

KC: Great event. It’s a great event. It’s the only showcase for young talent.


Former TVW7 presenter Peter Dean was know as Mr Telethon for many years and in 1989 was honoured by having a Pediatrics Fellowship named for him. However, he recalls that this was soured when he was summarily dismissed after 23 years of service in 1996.


With the success of Telethon, both by way of station self-promotion and ratings success, it is remarkable that STW9 did not conduct a similar enterprise until 1975. Long time STW9 Chief Executive Laurie Kiernan said , ‘I think Channel Nine really arrived when we started

Appealathon.’ He credited then Station Manager Eric Fisher with its introduction. Advertising Executive John Foote’s said that the name Appealathon was his idea.

My most important claim to fame was coining the name “Appealathon”.As Publicity & PR [Public Relations] Manager I was on a committee chaired by Gordon Leed, one of the many wonderful people who were not fully appreciated by top management. We were given the task of coming up with an alternative to “Telethon”. I felt the name should reflect the purpose of the activity rather than its function as a programme type. Everyone agreed that “Appealathon” was perfect. I left the station before the first Appealathon went to air.


As with all other aspects of his association with commercial television, local ‘live’ production and STW9 in particular, Bill Bowen recalled that STW9 was ‘So very keen to do something and to do it on a permanent and fixed basis.’





STW9 General Manager (2003) Paul Bowen had different views on Appealathon,


PB: Very much so…Appealathon now in its thirtieth year or whatever, has raised something in the vicinity of forty-six million dollars. I could be more precise and I

will, I’ll send you the information. That is a considerable amount of money but like everything, everything’s changed. Appealathon has changed. The day of the twenty-four hour telecast is gone. As far as we’re concerned.


Paul Bowen explained that the 24 hour telecast was not economically viable in its latter years and that the amount of money raised on the day did not justify the expenditure. Appealathon had become an all year money raising institution, with functions occurring every week of the year. Although acknowledging that Appealathon was a wonderful showcase for the station, Bowen also stated that the ratings indicated that the viewing public had ‘…started to tire of it.’ He said that in the early years the 24 hour event dominated the ratings but ‘It’s changed, we’ve moved…our market has moved. The world is a lot closer, we see these thing all the time now.’


Currrent (2003) TVW7 and former STW9 Production Manager John Crilly remembers Appealathon best for the relaxed style of television with which it was associated. Former news-reader Peter Waltham said this on the demise of Appealathon.


PW: There was no atmosphere. It became, to me it became apparent that the

bottom line was what mattered. Appealathon went…I was still there and I said

to her, [owner Eva Presser] “You know you are making a mistake”, but there

was no interest in doing anything locally.



Former STW9 Publicity person and later Program Manager June Holmes [formerly Filmer] was present at the start of Appealathon and was posed the question in these terms, ‘The people at Channel Seven have intimated to me that they have always had the interests of the community at heart, right from the start and that some of this still prevails today. What do you think about that, in terms of Channel Nine? As a community entity?’ and she replied, ‘I think they have a very much, a community connection with Appealathon and raising funds for charity. [from the start of Appealathon]…and right through till it finished its on air twenty-four hours telecast.’.


Former TVW7 Executive producer Brian K. Williams was scathing in his comments on how he viewed the changes over the years,

…community responsibility demonstrated by Television stations is a fragile and somewhat hollow window dressing exercise compared to earlier decades. Unless I’m communicating with aliens it seems that Telethon and Appealathon are shadows of their former selves, with stations putting a reducing amount of time, effort and coverage into appeals. From the original TVW Telethon to raise money for the 1962 Commonwealth Games, through 20-odd succeeding years, management, staff and artists freely gave of their time and talent to encourage a very willing public to assist the causes. As with most other areas of community responsibility today we see a series of token gestures. And bandwagons jumped on for long enough to gain kudos – then take off to another near costless charade. I believe that an almost impersonal society has lost the interest that was once stimulated by creative thinking at the stations. With pitifully few exceptions globalisation, cheap overseas material, cost-cutting, creative emasculation – and lack of will, have killed resistance to the fight for local production. We are unfortunately subject to a relentless indoctrination of American thought, word and deed; and the media industry has to carry some heavy responsibility for an Australian society vivaciously apathetic towards what Australia was once. But maybe we are still the Lucky Country. – we could be saluting the Rising Sun – and in the future, perhaps the star and crescent of Islam. At least the BBC holds out a ray of hope and the Yanks still speak a crude form of English. However, this societal submersion into a morass of mediocrity is certainly not being helped by television managements seemingly agog with indifference to anything but the “bottom line”.


Television Newsreader [request for anonymity]

I have to say Channel 7 Perth has always maintained community profile through Telethon, Christmas Pageants etc., and the glory days of Perth TV have mostly been on 7 – the oldest station with the most community feeling. Pleased programs like It’s Academic are back, showcasing local talent in front of and behind the camera – more please!


Former STW9 News Director Terry Spence on Community relationships answered the question,


Yes, particularly moving forward to Laurie Kiernan’s days and I think I might have mentioned to you on the phone, it was very competitive in fact to be involved with the community, to get involved in support facilities for charitable organisations and sporting organisations. To provide a vehicle for people to publicise their community based sort of efforts and I clearly recall Laurie Kiernan whipping us into line now and then and saying ‘Come on you guys, come up with some ideas!’. Leaping well forward to 1979 and the 150th Celebrations, we were flogged to be seen to be helping the community, it reached a peak with things like Appealathon, like Seven’s Telethon. Sadly it’s gone into rapid decline since those days…


Former ATN7 Sydney office boy, equipment duster, copper pipe cleaner, Telecine, Studios as cameraman (snr crew cameraman in Sydney – rode the big camera crane ex Hollywood, very flashy), and lighting assistant. TVW7 floor manager, senior studio cameraman, station co-ordinator, Program Director, New Program Director and Cine-cameraman Gordon McColl

The TV stations at this stage introduced Telethons so they could say ‘Hey we are doing our bit to support the community” and so one day of the years they have a telethon and raise “n” million dollars. It is 1/365th of a year. So a O.25% of the station’s time goes into charity. It could be a larger amount. ,


Original TVW7 Lighting Director Steve Lumsdaine,

The nearest thing to community responsibility by TV stations was the Telethons. We had a couple (in which the staff worked free). Then they proposed one for the Voyager disaster and I was personally responsible for it not happening. I insisted [he was the first and possibly only union representative at TVW7 except for journalist possibly] that the staff should be paid and free to donate that they chose or, we would work for nothing if the station dropped all ads for the duration. They issued a press release saying the staff wouldn’t participate…I don’t think TV stations have much real interest in Community Responsibility unless it improves ratings.


Television Producer Liz Kirkham,

Community responsibility…Apart from Telethon and Appealathon…..all Channels have lost the community spirit. I think this all goes back to the “centralisation” to the East and I don’t think any of them gives a damn about what happens here. The first Telethon was, in fact, in February 1961 to raise money for the victims of the Dwellingup Bushfires. This was organized at about 4.30 in the afternoon. We had 4 phones…..and every personality in Perth turned up … people walked in from off the street to money clothes and food….And wanted nothing in return.


A current male News Presenter who requested anonymity said,

I have to say Channel 7 Perth has always maintained community profile through Telethons, Christmas Pageants etc., and the glory days of Perth TV have mostly been on 7 – the oldest station with the most community feeling…programs like It’s Academic are back, showcasing local talent in front of and behind the cameras – more please!


Current (2003) NEW10 C.E.O. David Fare said that while the station has no local ‘live’ production facilities, it does contribute to the wider community and that the value of free-to-air promotion that is given to various organisations would be between 3-5 million dollars per year. Among the main beneficiaries are the South Perth Zoo, Neighbourhood Watch and Sci-Tec.


However, the diminution of responsibility to the Community in the area of local ‘live’ production by television management is symptomatic of the materialistic changes within our society since the commencement of Western Australian television in1959. Christopher Snell’s comment in 2000 is relevant. ‘Just as the progress of a disease shows the doctor the secret life of a body, so to the historian the progress of a great calamity yields valuable information about the nature of the society so stricken.’


Conclusion:

In conclusion, it has been shown that in the early days of commercial television in Western Australia, investment in Social Capital and Community Responsibility was an accepted and demonstrated part of operations. This can be attributed to the ‘we are your local newspaper’ policy of the Board and Management of West Australian Newspapers Limited, which was recreated at TVW7 through the persona of James W. Cruthers. There were many areas which the stations supported by way of actual finance, provision of personalities to attract crowds, special events on it and advertising for charitable fund-raising organisations. The expenditure on social capital produced a real experience of shared community in Western Australia through the 1960s, 1970s and 1980s which has persisted, arguably to a lesser extent through to 2003.


Fiscal strictures resulting from economic rationalism have curtailed much of these contributions, although TVW7 still puts the annual Telethon to air. Since 1990, STW9 has conducted a year-round Appealathon by way of station sponsored advertising, without conducting a 24 hour telecast. If the collective memories of the respondents are to be believed, the station showcases have suffered badly with the passage of time. That is of course, unless (in the main) the person providing the information is still associated with the medium. This phenomenon is again observable in Appendix 2, which comprises more personal aspect recollections of community responsibility, as provided by the people who were party to the processes of commercial television evolution in Western Australia.


Peter Harries March 2004


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