Peter Croft worked in Engineering and Operations at TVW from 1966 to 1999, during which time he participated in the pioneering black and white era of valves, right through the technologic transition of transistors, integrated circuits, colour television, stereo sound, automation to centralised networked programming.

During this time he both operated and maintained the equipment, and was involved in many station rebuilds as Peter’s remarkable collection of photographs document. A number of the photos were also contributed by colleague Peter Partridge.

Jeff Newman

Jeff Newman and his brother Peter grew up in the Perth suburbs of South Perth, Wembley and Tuart Hill. They were raised by their war widow mother Margaret, who was a strong influence on both boys.

Jeff started his broadcasting career in radio, and was an announcer with 6GE Geraldton and 6PM in Perth, before joining STW Channel 9 in 1965, where he presented the Jeff Newman Show on Thursday nights.

Jeff also presented a teenage show called ‘Pad 9′ on Saturday afternoons, featuring local live bands.

Jeff Newman with Lloyd Lawson prior to Jeff joining TVW

In the early years, he participated in christmas pantomimes with his good friend and colleague Peter Harries, and appeared on Lloyd Lawson’s ‘Roundabout’ afternoon program.

Jeff first joined TVW Channel Seven in 1967 and has worked in various roles within the media industry since that time.

One of Perth ‘s most popular and experienced television personalities, Jeff admits to having done just about everything on television. During the 60’s and 70’s he successfully combined a managerial role with that of an on camera presenter. Newman was Production Manager of TVW7 during the period that saw many local and Australian wide programmes produced in Perth.

He was instrumental in creating the program “What In The World”, shown in many countries around the world.

One of the earliest memories viewers would have of Jeff Newman is his role as host of “It’s Academic”, the popular school quiz program that ran for ten years from 1969 – 1979. He also hosted and produced Perth’s New Faces, a series of Letterbox, Reach for the Stars and many national beauty pageant shows.

An early It’s Academic episode

“It’s Academic” was revived in 2001, once again with Newman as Executive Producer and compere. It was warmly embraced by the viewers and the show ran for four years.

Reach for the Stars

His extensive experience in television has won him five Logies as the State’s most popular male television personality.

Newman has been actively involved in community projects including Telethon, which he has anchored for 37 years. He is now a Trustee on the Board of Telethon.

Newman was awarded the Order of Australia Medal in 1994 for his contribution to Telethon and the Variety Club of Western Australia, which he founded 28 years ago.

He is also a Paul Harris Fellow and in 2002 he was awarded The Centenary Medal for his services to the community.

Jeff researches the weather conditions

Jeff has been with SEVEN NEWS since 1982 as a newsreader and during the last eight as the weather presenter. This is a task he is most comfortable with as it gives him the opportunity to inject some of his own anecdotal snippets to the viewers.

As the public face of the Channel 7 Telethon, none is as closely associated with the local charity as Jeff Newman, being one of the few remaining who participated in the first Telethon in 1968 , and the anchor person for most of them.

Jeff announces the opening of the 2008 TVW Telethon

He believes that Telethon’s continued success comes down to community involvement and the fact that Channel 7 has been producing the show for so long it’s now a part of our local culture.

Gary Carvolth

Gary Carvolth commenced his career in radio and television whilst still in his early teens.

Gary, along with David Farr and Audrey Barnaby, were part of Lloyd Lawson’s team presenting the TVW ‘Today’ show, which ran from the 14th of March 1960 to 9th of November 1965. They were later joined by Carolyn Noble.

In 1963 and 1964, Gary won the Logie for most popular personality on WA television.

Gary was also contracted to present Channel 7’s popular Club Seventeen program from 1963 to 1964, then presented the popular evening variety show ‘In Perth Tonight’ between 1965 and 1966. He maintained a production role when the show was presented by Garry Meadows and Joan Bruce.

The first of the Annual TVW Telethons was in 1968 and starred Graham Kennedy, Johnny O’Keefe and Stuart Wagstaff, along with a volunteer cast and crew of hundreds. It ran for 20 hours and was produced by a production team head by Max Bostock, in which both Garry Meadows and Gary Carvolth played important roles, in this historic charity program directed by Keith Mackenzie.

In 1976, Gary was the host and Ann Sanders the hostess of one series of $50,000 Letterbox, with contestants coming from both SAS in South Australia and TVW in Western Australia.

Gary has spent the last 50 years either in front of television cameras or behind a radio microphone.

During the early nineties Gary became known as the voice of sport through his long running sports program, Sports Connection, on Radio 6PR, and for a number of years co-hosted 6PR’s daily afternoon program with Jenny Seaton.

Gary also has a background in high level sales, marketing, promotions and spent a number of years as Marketing Manager for the W.A. based bottler, Weaver & Lock, before they were taken over by the New Zealand brewer, Lion Nathan.

In 1990 Gary was one of three people involved in successfully bringing together the Western Australian Football League, the West Coast Eagles and Pepsi Cola in an historic 5 year $1.5m contract.

Gary is one of Perth’s most experienced masters of ceremonies and an excellent motivational speaker, regularly hosting various prestigious functions including the official welcome home for Australia’s Olympic and Paralympic teams for the Atlanta and Barcelona games as well as the official welcome home for the West Coast Eagles following their AFL premiership victories in 1992 and 1994.

The Subiaco Football Club along with East Perth Football Club, the football industry at large together with his many friends and business associates came together to organise a Tribute Luncheon in 2008. Celebrity guests included Sam Newman, Mal Brown, John Todd, Paul Murray, John K Watts, Bob Maumill and Gary’s on air partner for many years, Jenny Seaton. The celebrity MC was Jeff Newman.

Audrey Long (nee Barnaby)

Audrey Barnaby appeared in Coralie Condon’s 1958 stage production of The Good Oil at the Playhouse theatre. Coralie was also aware of Audrey’s considerable experience in the cosmetics field, so encouraged her involvement with TV make-up. Then following an impromptu audition, after which Audrey gained a position as an on-air presenter with TVW.

In 1960, all on-camera staff were asked to come up with program ideas, of which Audrey devised Shopping Guide, which proved to be an excellent introduction for new clients to television advertising.

It was most affordable at only 15 pounds per minute.

The essential element was for Audrey to use a personal approach in presenting each item, rather than the usual hard sell.

The segment was first broadcast in August 1960 as Shopping Hound, but the name was changed to Shopping Guide for incorporation in the Today show, at the beginning of 1961.

Audrey, along with David Farr and Gary Carvolth, were part of Lloyd Lawson’s team presenting the TVW ‘Today’ show, which ran from 1961 to 1965. They were later joined by Carolyn Noble.

Shopping Guide was also a segment in Televisit, where ten shopping items were the norm. Televisit was originally presented by Joan Wilson and produced by Coralie Condon. When Joan left the show, Coralie took over both roles, and the program gained considerable popularity due to her natural style.

Televisit was on Wednesday afternoons and had no live audience and no live music during the early years, whilst ‘Today’ was on Tuesdays after lunch and consisted of interviews, music and a live audience.

Shopping Guide also appeared as a stand alone program on Thursdays.

Television advertisements were presented live from 1959 to 1962, until videotape replays became popular.

TVW charged the clients a 10 pound talent fee per advertisement, of which the talent received 2 pounds. Though this may seem a small amount, it proved rewarding in the long run, owing to the great volume of adverts being generated each week.

Audrey joined STW in 1965, and Lloyd Lawson moved to STW in 1966, starting ‘Roundabout’ on that station. Audrey joined Lloyd on the program at the beginning of 1966, co-hosting with Veronica Overton.

Stephanie Quinlan joined TVW in 1965 and took over the TVW Shopping Guide role, and later became the presenter of Televisit.

The late Neville Wynne was a set designer and builder for TVW Channel 7 in Perth, Western Australia.

Fortunately, Neville was also quality photographer who captured many of the television sets, shows and early personalities for posterity.

Carolyn Tannock (nee Noble) Photo Collection

Carolyn Noble followed Rolf Harris and Judy Lee in hosting Children’s Channel 7.

In the early years of TVW, Carolyn hosted the Mickey Mouse Club for young Western Australian viewers, then hosted many programs including Children’s Channel 7, Humphrey B. Bear in Sunny West Land and the Logie award winning Stars of the Future.

Photo gallery showing the building and demolition of the once TVW owned Cinema City in Perth.

Sir James Cruthers

Sir James Cruthers was responsible for the Cinema City movie theatre complex being built by TVW Enterprises, but sadly after TVW changed hands, the theatres were sold to Hoyts.

The architect was Bob Day, who also designed the TVW studios building.

At the time, it was the largest multi-cinema complex in WA, containing four cinemas with provisioning for a fifth in the future.

Cinema City served the community for 27 years from 6th November 1980 to 17th October 2007

It’s ironic that the cinemas were demolished at a time when people started moving back into the city.One of the former TVW staff to lament the loss of Cinema City was Phil Salinger (TVW 1959-1969) whose son Grant worked in the Videotape area.

TVW Veteran Phil Salinger in the Cinema City Projection Box

The cinema complex will now be replaced by an office, apartment and retail tower.

Equus Project

The development known as Equus, will rise 27 storeys above the site with 150 apartments, above 7 floors of commercial office space and an arcade of retail shops and restaurants.

Sir James addresses the gathering

At the Cinema City Wake, Sir James Cruthers addressed the guests, before the special screening that day. He pointed out that the Perth Entertainment Centre ended up with the construction being two years late and four million dollars over budget, which very nearly sent TVW broke. In comparison, Cinema City construction was achieved on time and on budget.The opening night of Cinema City was all show biz with a giant parade from the Perth Entertainment Centre, through Perth streets packed with hundreds of thousands of people, bands, floats, plenty of children marching along, dancing girls, with important guests welcomed at the door by the then Premier Sir Charles Court. It was a night to remember.

Headley Sims

Veteran projectionist Headley Sims spoke on the technicalities involved in running a cinema complex. He described the many innovations that were incorporated, such as automation, power and projector back-up, mono-rail for cleaning the vast window frontage, and plumbing to facilitate vacuum cleaning of the extensive floor carpeting.

Allan Stiles

Allan Stiles spoke on his family involvement in cinemas, the building of the Grand Theatre, operating the Gaiety Theatre in South Perth, buying the Royal and Princess Theatres (Fremantle), and leasing the Piccadilly, (the company also expanded their suburban circuit with two more venues in the South Perth area, the Hurlingham and the Como), then just prior to the introduction of television, cinema companies started building drive-in cinemas. Finally TVW bought out the City Theatres consortium, and was visionary in retaining Arthur Stiles to run it and research the establishment of a ground breaking cinema for Perth, to be known as Cinema City. Hoyts then sold them the Skyline drive-in and Oriana Cinema in Fremantle, and they then built the Starline in Hilton Park, the Parkline at Forrestfield, the Riverline at Riverton, and the Beechline at Beechboro.The TVW owned City Theatres Company soon became an institution in Perth.

Cinema City Photo Gallery