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A History of Regional
Commercial Television
in Australia
Michael Thurlow
A History of Regional Commercial Television
in Australia
Fig. i BTV Ballarat, main studio, 1962. Copyright Wolfgang Sievers. Image
courtesy of National Library of Australia (3309233)
 Michael Thurlow

A History of Regional
Commercial Television
in Australia
Michael Thurlow
Sydney, NSW, Australia

ISBN 978-3-031-10943-0    ISBN 978-3-031-10944-7 (eBook)

https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-10944-7

© The Editor(s) (if applicable) and The Author(s), under exclusive licence to Springer
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 Preface

Fig. ii Television development in Australia, Stages 1–6. Copyright Michael

Thurlow
v
vi PREFACE

Key

No. Station (by callsign and locality in commencement order)

Stage 1 commercial television stations (metropolitan)
1 TCN Sydney (NSW)
2 HSV Melbourne (Vic)
3 ATN Sydney (NSW)
4 GTV Melbourne (Vic)
Stage 2 commercial television stations (metropolitan)
5 QTQ Brisbane (Qld)
6 NWS Adelaide (SA)
7 TVW Perth (WA)
8 ADS Adelaide (SA)
9 BTQ Brisbane (Qld)
10 TVT Hobart (Tas)
Stage 3 commercial television stations (regional)
11 GLV Latrobe Valley (Traralgon, Vic)
12 GMV Goulburn Valley (Shepparton, Vic)
13 BCV Bendigo (Vic)
14 NBN Newcastle (NSW)
15 CBN Central Tablelands (Orange, NSW)
16 WIN Illawarra (Wollongong, NSW)
17 BTV Ballarat (Vic)
18 RTN Richmond-Tweed (Lismore, NSW)
19 TNT North-Eastern Tasmania (Launceston, Tas)
20 CTC Canberra (ACT)
21 DDQ Darling Downs (Toowoomba, Qld)
22 TNQ Townsville (Qld)
23 RTQ Rockhampton (Qld)
Stage 4 commercial television stations (regional)
24 RVN South Western Slopes and Eastern Riverina (Wagga, Wagga, NSW)
25 AMV Upper Murray (Albury, NSW)a
26 NRN Grafton-Kempsey (Coffs Harbour, NSW)
27 NEN Upper Namoi (Tamworth, NSW)
28 WBQ Wide Bay (Maryborough, Qld)
29 STV Mildura (Vic)
30 CWN Central Western Slopes (Dubbo, NSW)
31 MTN Murrumbidgee Irrigation Areas (Griffith, NSW)
32 SDQ Southern Downs (Warwick, Qld)
33 SES South East South Australia (Mount Gambier, SA)
34 ECN Manning River (Taree, NSW)
35 FNQ Cairns (Qld)
36 BTW Bunbury (WA)
37 MVQ Mackay (Qld)
38 BKN Broken Hill (NSW)
39 GTS Spencer Gulf North (Port Pirie, SA)
 PREFACE vii

40 GSW Southern Agricultural (Albany, WA)

Stage 5 commercial television stations (metropolitan)
41 ATV Melbourne (Vic)
42 TEN Sydney (NSW)
43 TVQ Brisbane (Qld)
44 SAS Adelaide (SA)
45 STW Perth (WA)
Stage 6 commercial television stations (regional)
46 VEW Kalgoorlie (WA)
47 ITQ Mount Isa (Qld)
48 NTD Darwin (NT)
49 RTS Loxton/Renmark (SA)
50 GTW Geraldton (WA)

a
AMV was assigned a Victoria callsign, as its station (i.e. transmitter) was located in that state. The studio
was located across the border, in Albury, NSW. This was, at that time, unique in Australian television.
AMV was, in early marketing, referred to as the “two-state station”

Note on Australian Callsigns

Television callsigns are comprised of three letters. The first two letters
were chosen by the original licensee and were usually derived from the
name of that company or the station’s geographical location. The third
letter indicates the state or territory in which the station’s transmitter is
located: N (New South Wales), V (Victoria), Q (Queensland), T
(Tasmania), S (South Australia, W (Western Australia), C (Australian
Capital Territory) and D (Northern Territory). For example, in the call-
sign FNQ, “FN” denotes “Far Northern” Television (the founding
licensee), while “Q” denotes Queensland. Similarly, in the callsign CWN,
“CW” denotes the “Central Western” Slopes and Plains region, while “N”
denotes New South Wales.
Radio callsigns feature a numerical prefix indicating the state or terri-
tory in which the station is located: 2 (New South Wales), 3 (Victoria), 4
(Queensland), 5 (South Australia), 6 (Western Australia), 7 (Tasmania)
and 8 (Northern Territory).
Callsigns should not be confused with the abbreviations used in this
book to denote related entities such as licensee companies.
viii PREFACE

Note on Program Sources

“Imported” programs refer to those obtained from overseas sources, usu-
ally located in the United States or Great Britain.
“Australian” programs denote those produced within Australia by
“metropolitan/network” stations, “regional” stations, and “indepen-
dent” producers.
“Metropolitan” or “network” programs refer to those which are pro-
duced by the metropolitan commercial television stations.
“Regional” programs denote those which are originated by regional
commercial television stations in their own studios.
“Independent” programs are those which are produced by indepen-
dent (i.e. third-party) production companies.

Note on National Film and Sound Archive

(NFSA) Links
A unique feature of this work is the inclusion of cross-references to items
held in the NFSA catalogue. These items comprise audio-visual recording
(such as programs, historical and archival footage), oral history interviews,
photographs, documents, and other artefacts and have been included as an
aid to researchers, historians and others who are interested in exploring
the NFSA’s collection.
These items are presented in call-out boxes throughout the chapters. If
using the digital version of this work, click the NFSA reference number
hyperlink provided in the call-out box to access and view the relevant cata-
logue record. If a hyperlink is no longer active, or you are using the print
version of this work, go to nfsa.gov.au and perform a manual search of the
catalogue using the same NFSA reference number.

Sydney, NSW, Australia Michael Thurlow

 Acknowledgments

I am grateful to Palgrave Macmillan and Springer Nature for publishing

this work. I am especially thankful to my commissioning editor, Emily
Russell, who recognised the value of my research and green-lit this project
in mid-2021, and assistant editor Joseph Johnson, both in the United
Kingdom, production coordinators Doerthe Mennecke-Buehler and Birke
Dalia in Germany, and production editor Kishor Kannan Ramesh in India.
I am grateful to Macquarie University for providing the scholarship and
facilities to pursue my academic goals, and am deeply grateful to Professor
Bridget Griffen-Foley and Dr Jeannine Baker for supervising my Masters
and PhD theses on which this work is based. I also wish to thank the State
Libraries of New South Wales, Victoria, South Australia and Western
Australia, the National Library of Australia, the National Archives of
Australia (Pamela Barnetta in Sydney) and the National Film and Sound
Archive (Simon Drake in Sydney) for their assistance. I am extremely
grateful to the Prime, WIN, Southern Cross and Seven television net-
works for providing information and access to archival material, and the
following individuals: John Allott, David Astley, Amber Austin-Wright,
Natalie Barr, Dick and Ursula Barton, Sylvia Bauers, Rhonda Bowen,
Barry Brady, Remi Broadway, Steven Byers, Matt Cable, Shirley Cahill,
Ian Cameron, Brian Carle, Sharon Carleton, Janelle Chapman, Russell
Cheek, Barry Coleman, Jo-Anne Cracknell, Wes Crook, Alex Cullen,
Peter Cummiskey, Lara Dalton, Darrin Davies, Jason Davis, Joanne
Desmond, Melissa Doyle, Nick Duigan, Julie Dunlap, Roger Dunn, Steve
Elcoate, Susie Elelman, Nick Erby, Stephen Fleay, Alistair Frew, William
(Ray) Gamble, Ron Garbutt, John (Jack) Gleeson, Peter Greste, Aaron

ix
x ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

Haberfield, Kellie Hampton, Clarke Hansen, Bob Hardie, Margaret van

Heekeren, Doug Hogan, Christina Holmdahl, Paul Howson, Scott Hunt,
Steven Jacobs, Alistair Kingston, Greg Lederhose, Ian Leslie, Steve
Liebmann, Herb, Lois and Peter Lilburn, Phil Lloyd, Antony Luciano,
Prue Macsween, Steve Marshall, Richard Moran, Errol Morrison, Wendy
Mudge, Wendy Mulry, Greg Murphy, Bruce Paige, Colin Pearce, Jill Ray-­
Black, Francene Reo, Glenn Ridge, Greg Robson, Antony Roth, Valerie
Sarah, Rhonda Sharratt, Hyacinth Smith, Roy Taylor, Justin Thompson,
Peter Twomey, Michael Usher, Geoff Vallance, Jim Waley, Jan Welsman,
Hugh Whitfeld, Shauna Willis, Barry and Trish Wilmot, and Grant Wilson.
Thanks also to Bruce Priddis and anyone who I have omitted. I thank my
parents, Lorraine and Stan Thurlow, twin brother Iain, and other family
and friends for their encouragement and support over many years. A spe-
cial thank you to Robyn MacDougall.
 Contents

1 Introduction  1

Part I Establishment (to 1966)  15

2 Power and Politics 17

3 Monopolies and Manoeuvres 53

Part II Expansion (1966–1976) 105

4 Dualities and Downturns107

5 Colour and Contrasts145

Part III Maturation (1976–1986) 191

6 Prosperity and Promise193

7 Security and Status237

xi
xii CONTENTS

Part IV Equalisation (1986–2000) 289

8 Aggregation and Aggravation291

9 Patronage and Protection325

Part V Disruption (2000–2022) 351

10 Incumbency and Influence353

11 Reform and Rationalisation389

12 Conclusion433

Appendices443

Bibliography447

Index467
 Abbreviations

ABA Australian Broadcasting Act

ABA Australian Broadcasting Authority
ABC Australian Broadcasting Commission/Corporation
ABCB Australian Broadcasting Control Board
ABCL Australian Broadcasting Company Ltd
ABL Australian Broadcasting Co P/L
ABS Associated Broadcasting Services Ltd
ABT Australian Broadcasting Tribunal
ACL Australian Capital Equity P/L
ACMA Australian Communications and Media Authority
ACT Australian Capital Territory
AFR Australian Financial Review
AGL Amalgamated Television Services P/L
ALP Australian Labor Party
AML Albury Upper Murray TV Ltd
APL Aspermont Ltd
ASL Associated Media Investments P/L
ASX Australian Stock Exchange
ATL Australian Capital Television P/L
AUL Austarama Television P/L
AWA Amalgamated Wireless Australasia Ltd
AWL Australasian Wireless Ltd
AWW Australian Women’s Weekly
B&T Broadcasting and Television
BBC British Broadcasting Corporation
BCL Bendigo and Central Victoria Telecasters Ltd
BHL Broken Hill Television Ltd

xiii
xiv ABBREVIATIONS

BML Bond Media Ltd

BOL Broadcast Operations Ltd/P/L
BRL Brisbane TV Ltd
BTA Broadcasting and Television Act
BTL Ballarat and Western Victoria Television Ltd
CAG Commonwealth of Australia Gazette
CBL Country Television Services Ltd
CD Cabinet Decision
CM Cabinet Minute
CP Cairns Post
CPD Commonwealth Parliamentary Debates
CPP Commonwealth Parliamentary Papers
CT Canberra Times
CTL Canberra Television Ltd
CW Canberra Weekly
CWA Country Women’s Association
CWD Central Western Daily, Orange
DA Daily Advertiser, Wagga Wagga
DT Daily Telegraph, Sydney
DTL Darling Downs TV Ltd
ENT Examiner-Northern Television Ltd, later ENT Ltd
ETL East Coast Television Ltd
FACTS Federation of Australian Commercial Television Stations
FARB Federation of Australian Radio Broadcasters
FNL Far Northern Television Ltd
GCL General Television Corporation Ltd
GML Goulburn Murray Television Ltd
GT Gippsland Times, Sale
GTL Geraldton Telecasters Ltd
GVL Gippsland-Latrobe Valley Telecasters Ltd
HOR House of Representatives
HSL Herald-Sun TV Ltd
HWT Herald and Weekly Times Ltd
IM Illawarra Mercury, Wollongong
LGL Linter Group Ltd
LRR Licence renewal report
MB Morning Bulletin, Rockhampton
MIA Media Information/International Australia
MIL Mount Isa Television P/L
MKL Mackay Television Ltd
MNL MTN Television P/L
MTL Murrumbidgee Television Ltd
MWL Mid-Western Television P/L
 ABBREVIATIONS xv

NAA National Archives of Australia

NBL Newcastle Broadcasting and Television Corp. Ltd
NDL Northern Daily Leader, Tamworth
NEC Nine Entertainment Co.
NFSA National Film and Sound Archive
NFU National Farmers’ Union
NHL Network Ten Holdings Ltd
NMHMA Newcastle Morning Herald and Miners’ Advocate
NPR Net profit ratio
NRL Northern Rivers Television Ltd
NS Northern Star, Lismore
NSH Northern Star Holdings Ltd
NSW New South Wales
NT Northern Territory
NTL Northern Television Ltd / Northern Television (TNT9) P/L
P/L Pty Ltd
PBL PBL Media Ltd
PCL Parry Corporation Ltd
PJCWB Parliamentary Joint Committee on Wireless Broadcasting
PMG Postmaster General
PML Prime Media Group Limited
PSCB Parliamentary Standing Committee on Broadcasting
PTL Prime Television Ltd
PUB Publishing and Broadcasting Ltd
QBL Quoiba P/L
Qld Queensland
QTL Queensland Television Ltd
RCOT Royal Commission on Television
RCOW Royal Commission on Wireless, 1927
RGP Reg Grundy Productions
RKL Rockhampton Television Ltd
RLL Riverland Television P/L
RML Ramcorp Ltd
RTL Richmond Tweed TV Ltd
RVL Riverina Television Ltd, later Riverina and North-Eastern Victoria
Television Ltd
SA South Australia
SCA Southern Cross Austereo P/L
SCM Southern Cross Media Group Ltd
SMH Sydney Morning Herald
SR Statutory Rules
STL South East Telecasters Ltd
xvi ABBREVIATIONS

SWL South Western Telecasters Ltd

Tas Tasmania
TQL Telecasters North Queensland Ltd
TVT TV Times
TVW TV Week
UHF ultra-high frequency
VBL VBN P/L
VBN Victorian Broadcasting Network Ltd
VBR Victorian Broadcasting Network (1983) P/L
VCT Victorian Country Telecasters P/L
VHF very high frequency
Vic Victoria
WA Western Australia
WW Wireless Weekly
 List of Figures

Fig. 1.1 Localism marker, 1966–2019. Copyright Michael Thurlow 9

Fig. 1.2 Independence quotient, 1966–2019. Copyright Michael
Thurlow10
Fig. 1.3 Localism-independence index, 1966–2019. Copyright Michael
Thurlow10
Fig. 3.1 BTV Ballarat, studio building exterior, 1962. Copyright
Wolfgang Sievers. Image courtesy of State Library of Victoria,
pictures collection (MP022885) 62
Fig. 3.2 BTV Ballarat, studio reception, 1962. Copyright Wolfgang
Sievers. Image courtesy of National Library of Australia
(3309208)63
Fig. 3.3 BTV Ballarat, master control, 1962. Copyright Wolfgang
Sievers. Image courtesy of State Library of Victoria, pictures
collection (MP022881) 64
Fig. 3.4 BTV Ballarat, studio and gallery area, 1962. Copyright
Wolfgang Sievers. Image courtesy of State Library of Victoria,
pictures collection (MP022883) 65
Fig. 3.5 BTV Ballarat, film room, 1962. Copyright Wolfgang Sievers.
Image courtesy of State Library of Victoria, pictures
collection (MP022882) 66
Fig. 3.6 BTV Ballarat, technical area, 1962. Copyright Wolfgang
Sievers. Image courtesy of National Library of Australia
(4503650)67
Fig. 3.7 GLV Latrobe Valley, studio exterior, c.1961. Image courtesy
of State Library of Victoria, Pictures Collection, Rose
Stenograph Company (RG009387) 72

xvii
xviii List of Figures

Fig. 3.8 Regional commercial television, program sources, 1966.

Copyright Michael Thurlow 84
Fig. 3.9 GLV announcer Don Ewart, c.1961. Copyright Southern
Cross Austereo. Image courtesy of National Film and Sound
Archive (788850) 89
Fig. 4.1 Regional commercial television, program sources, 1971.
Copyright Michael Thurlow 123
Fig. 4.2 The Channel Niners, membership certificate, c. 1967. Image
courtesy of Greg Murphy 130
Fig. 5.1 Regional commercial television, program sources, 1976.
Copyright Michael Thurlow 167
Fig. 5.2 You Say the Word, c.1975. Image courtesy of National
Archives of Australia. NAA: A6135; K16/7/75/92 178
Fig. 6.1 Regional commercial television, program sources, 1981.
Copyright Michael Thurlow 207
Fig. 7.1 Regional commercial television, program sources, 1986.
Copyright Michael Thurlow 254
Fig. 9.1 “TV Wars,” Canberra Weekly, 1993. Copyright Canberra
Weekly336
Fig. 10.1 Recording a voiceover, 2007. Copyright Michael Thurlow 366
Fig. 10.2 Compiling news reports, 2007. Copyright Michael Thurlow 366
Fig. 10.3 Producing a WIN News bulletin, 2007. Copyright Michael
Thurlow367
Fig. 10.4 Cueing and playing out news reports, 2007. Copyright
Michael Thurlow 367
Fig. 10.5 Susie host Susie Elelman with guests Leo Sayer and Rhonda
Birchmore, episode 200, 2007. Copyright Susie Elelman 370
 List of Tables

Table 2.1 Stage 1 commercial television stations 32

Table 2.2 Stage 2 commercial television stations 36
Table 2.3 Stage 5 commercial television stations 40
Table 3.1 Stage 3 commercial television stations 61
Table 4.1 Stage 4 stations 109
Table 5.1 Stage 6 commercial television stations 148
Table 5.2 Colour commencement dates, selected stations, 1975 155
Table 7.1 RCTS stations 246
Table 8.1 Licences eligible for consolidation 302
Table 8.2 Aggregation, 1989–91 305
Table 9.1 Supplementary licences, 1995–98 334
Table 10.1 Supplementary licences, 2002–04 372
Table 10.2 Supplementary licences, 2004–11 373
Table 11.1 VAST licences (s38C) 391

xix
 List of Boxes

Box 2.1 First liminal moment 32

Box 3.1 John (Jack) Gleeson 58
Box 3.2 Second liminal moment 60
Box 3.3 George Barlin 64
Box 3.4 TNQ Townsville, Mount Stuart” 65
Box 3.5 “You and CBN-8” 68
Box 3.6 Crowds watch test transmissions 69
Box 3.7 GLV Latrobe Valley, establishment 71
Box 3.8 NBN Newcastle, establishment 71
Box 3.9 CTC Canberra, establishment 72
Box 3.10 Nancy Cato 78
Box 3.11 Rosemary Eather 78
Box 3.12 Alan Weatherley, BCV news van 78
Box 3.13 Ampol Stamp Quiz85
Box 3.14 Televille, Rosemary Eather 88
Box 3.15 Murray Finlay 90
Box 3.16 Jackpot Quiz92
Box 4.1 Third liminal moment  109
Box 4.2 RVN, official opening 111
Box 4.3 FNQ, establishment and opening 111
Box 4.4 Colour demonstration, Monaro Mall 112
Box 4.5 Clarke Hansen, commercial production 114
Box 4.6 John Worthy 115
Box 4.7 Tom Warne 115
Box 4.8 Jeanette Gatenby (nee Cooper) 116
Box 4.9 Peter Meakin 116
Box 4.10 Steve Liebmann 117

xxi
xxii List of Boxes

Box 4.11 Sue Smith 117

Box 4.12 Ken Sutcliffe 118
Box 4.13 “The Provincial Television Network” 120
Box 4.14 Isabel Angel and Edwin Maher, Apex Walk-a-thon 122
Box 4.15 Denise Lawler 124
Box 4.16 National Roving Eye126
Box 4.17 Wayne Magee and Joey the Clown, Get Set129
Box 4.18 An Evening With… Sandy Scott 132
Box 4.19 Rural Topics and News133
Box 4.20 On Stage (RTN), Fred Kehoe 133
Box 5.1 Herb Lilburn 147
Box 5.2 Fourth liminal moment 155
Box 5.3 Ian Coughlan 158
Box 5.4 Ron Wilson 158
Box 5.5 Number 96168
Box 5.6 The Box169
Box 5.7 Ask the Leyland Brothers170
Box 5.8 Travlin’ Out West171
Box 5.9 Silent Number171
Box 5.10 Woman’s World, Marg Watkins 173
Box 5.11 Big Bloo Roo174
Box 5.12 Six Tonight, Fred Fargher 175
Box 5.13 You Say the Word179
Box 5.14 The Executives179
Box 6.1 Fifth Liminal Moment 197
Box 6.2 North Queensland Television and Radio Centre 203
Box 6.3 Are You Being Served? (Australian Version) 207
Box 6.4 Our Australia208
Box 6.5 National Star Quest208
Box 6.6 A Sunburnt Country209
Box 6.7 The Fabulous Century209
Box 6.8 Young Ramsay210
Box 6.9 The Restless Years211
Box 6.10 Blankety Blanks, Hosted by Graham Kennedy 211
Box 6.11 I’ve Got Gardenitis, Hosted by Laurie Ryan 216
Box 6.12 Network217
Box 6.13 Sounds of Sunday218
Box 6.14 Meeting in the Middle219
Box 6.15 The Owl and The Pussycat219
Box 6.16 Carnival of Flowers Queen Crowning Ceremony220
Box 7.1 Sixth liminal moment 245
Box 7.2 The Prime Ministers255
 List of Boxes  xxiii

Box 7.3 It’s an Odd Country255

Box 7.4 Angelos Frangopoulos 257
Box 7.5 News Centre Six258
Box 7.6 MidState News259
Box 7.7 The Morning Show, Jan Deane 260
Box 7.8 Wednesday Magazine, Denise Drysdale 260
Box 7.9 Round About, Hazel Phillips 260
Box 7.10 Jazzercise, Jan Strom 261
Box 7.11 Trav’l Tips, Paul Sharratt 262
Box 7.12 Kid’s Army263
Box 7.13 Six’s Super Saturday Show, Glenn Ridge 264
Box 7.14 Saturday Morning Live264
Box 7.15 Thursday Night Live265
Box 7.16 Nick Erby’s Country Close-up266
Box 7.17 Must Be Country266
Box 7.18 Police 7267
Box 7.19 Outlook267
Box 7.20 Hellfire Jack: The John Curtin Story268
Box 7.21 Goodbye Blinky Bill268
Box 7.22 This Dawning Land, Parts 1–3 268
Box 7.23 Australia, Naturally, Bob Hardie 269
Box 7.24 Last Chance270
Box 7.25 Rape of the Big Scrub271
Box 7.26 TV8 Newshour271
Box 7.27 Eva Presser 274
Box 8.1 Seventh liminal moment 296
Box 8.2 Prime News Canberra307
Box 8.3 WIN News Canberra307
Box 8.4 Ten News Canberra308
Box 8.5 QTV Eyewitness News Townsville308
Box 8.6 Vic TV News, Shepparton 309
Box 8.7 Dee Dee and Company311
Box 8.8 Milbindi312
Box 8.9 Nganampa Anwernekenhe312
Box 9.1 Eighth liminal moment 328
Box 9.2 Yamba’s Playtime338
Box 9.3 Corroboree Rock338
Box 10.1 Ninth liminal moment 359
Box 10.2 Ten Local News 361
Box 10.3 State Focus, Victoria edition 364
Box 10.4 Susie, hosted by Susie Elelman 370
Box 10.5 Footprints370
xxiv List of Boxes

Box 11.1 Tenth liminal moment 398

Box 11.2 Prime7 Local News / Prime News at 6.30399
Box 11.3 WIN News Mildura401
Box 11.4 WIN News Central West402
Box 11.5 Nightly News 7 Tasmania  404
Box 11.6 Nightly News 7 Spencer Gulf405
Box 11.7 Nine News Central Victoria406
Box 11.8 Possum’s Club / Doopa’s Club408
Box 11.9 CTC studios, final tour 410
Box 11.10 Nine News Local, Victoria edition 418
 CHAPTER 1

Introduction

There’s no question that the market is heading to a level where it can no

longer support three regional commercial television [networks] … So, on
any measure, the uniquely independent regional media voices are under
threat like they’ve never been before.1
—John Hartigan, Prime Media Group chairman, 2019

On 9 December 1961, announcer Don Ewart stepped up to the micro-

phone to welcome viewers to the opening of Australia’s first regional com-
mercial television station, GLV Latrobe Valley, at Traralgon, around 100
miles east of Melbourne, Victoria. But a technical glitch—or first-night
nerves—meant that Ewart’s microphone remained switched off.2 Even so,
it is doubtful that Ewart’s first words would have been recorded since
proceedings were transmitted live-to-air. Unlike the opening of Australia’s
first metropolitan commercial television station, TCN Sydney, five years
earlier—where a malfunctioning kinescope recorder caused the “official”
opening to be re-enacted nine months later—no attempt appears to have
been made to restage GLV’s commencement for posterity.3 In many
respects, such neglect is reflective of Australian television history in gen-
eral, and particularly that of television in regional areas.
Television was introduced to Australia in seven stages. Stages 1, 2, and 5
established national and commercial stations in each of the capital cities.

© The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature 1

Switzerland AG 2022
M. Thurlow, A History of Regional Commercial Television in
Australia, https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-10944-7_1
2 M. THURLOW

Stages 3, 4, and 6 expanded services to regional areas (see Front Matter,

Fig. ii). Stage 7 extended the national broadcaster only to some of the
remotest parts of the continent; these were assessed as economically unfea-
sible for commercial operators. The Australian Broadcasting Commission
(ABC), as the national broadcaster, was tasked with providing a national
service. Commercial stations, on the other hand, were intended to provide
a local service of interest and relevance to viewers in their licence areas. In
this context, the role of commercial television at the economic, cultural, and
social heart of regional communities—particularly in its earlier years—
should not be underestimated. From the early 1960s to late 1970s, 35
mostly independent commercial television stations were put to air across
regional Australia. These stations cherry-picked programs from the Seven,
Nine, and Ten networks. Many produced their own news, current affairs,
children’s, cooking, quiz, variety, women’s, religious, documentary, infor-
mation, and rural affairs programs, in addition to local advertising. Telethons
were held to raise much-needed funds for local charities. A strong local
identity, audience participation and community engagement were arguably
key to their success. In many respects, the impact of commercial television
was far greater and more meaningful in regional communities than in met-
ropolitan areas, given the proximity to their audiences. The ABC, as a
national broadcaster, did operate stand-­alone television stations such as
those at Rockhampton, Townsville, Maryborough, and Darwin; however,
their output was generally limited to news and current affairs.4
By the 1980s, regional commercial stations were operating as highly
lucrative monopolies. Many were more profitable—and offered a much
greater return to investors—than their much larger metropolitan counter-
parts. At their peak, the largest stations each employed more than 100
people, who were engaged in a variety of administrative, sales, program,
and technical roles. Several stations were part of much larger media com-
panies. Others diversified their businesses to include a wide range of inter-
ests including radio, film processing, water filtration systems and even
travel agencies. Some larger stations made their facilities available to out-
side production companies. Many have provided entry-level employment
and training for some of Australia’s best-known and accomplished televi-
sion executives, personalities, newsreaders, journalists, and camera opera-
tors. Among those to have begun their television careers in the regions are
Today host Karl Stefanovic; Sunrise presenters Melissa Doyle, Samantha
Armytage, and Natalie Barr; Morning Show host Kylie Gillies; newsreaders
Mark Ferguson, Michael Usher, and Chris Bath; 60 Minutes journalist
 1 INTRODUCTION 3

Tara Brown; A Current Affair journalist Sue Smith; Logie Award-winning

presenter Rosemary Eather; Q&A host Hamish Macdonald; Today weather
presenter Steve Jacobs; sports presenter Erin Molin; and game show hosts
Grant Denyer and Glenn Ridge. Prominent executives have included Peter
Meakin, Allan Hoy, Gary Rice and former Sky News Australia, now GB
News, executive Angelos Frangopoulos. Camera operators such as Richard
Moran have captured the world through their lenses. Well-known metro-
politan television personalities, including Ernie Sigley, Daryl Somers,
Denise Drysdale, and Hazel Phillips, have also presented programs on
regional television. For many, stations were the local “star factory” which
manufactured home-grown celebrities.5
Technologies such as television have long played a role in modernising,
democratising, and connecting society. Geoffrey Blainey notes the “tyranny
of distance”, with its themes of isolation and remoteness, which has been
central in shaping Australia’s history and identity.6 Brian Shoesmith describes
technologies such as wireless telegraphy, newspapers, film, radio, and televi-
sion as a form of “social glue” which helped to overcome this “tyranny”
through binding regional and remote parts of the country to the “host
culture” of our capital cities.7 Benedict Anderson explores the crucial role
played by the media in creating a national imaginary of common values,
institutions, laws, and symbols. Such “imagined communities” are central
to governmental efforts to propagate a unified sense of nation, nationality,
and nationalism.8 This has certainly been the case with broadcast media
which, according to Paddy Scannell, is capable of creating a “dailiness”
through familiar voices and scheduling patterns which can overcome feel-
ings of alienation and reification and thereby restore the “ordinary magic”
of everyday existence.9 This structuring of time through technology,
observes British historian Edward Thompson, also signalled the arrival of
modernity.10 Media anthropologist Brian Larkin notes that, conversely, any
perception that a technology works effectively elsewhere, but not locally,
can heighten a sense of isolation, even neglect.11 It is important to note that
television, as with most technologies, was introduced in various stages over
several decades. As Stephanie Hanson points out, the coming of television
to regional Australia was neither swift nor consistent.12
The introduction of the first “communicative” and other “connective”
technologies to my home town of Gilgandra, a small agricultural commu-
nity located 500 kilometres west of Sydney in central NSW, was typical of
many in regional Australia: post office (1867); telegraph office (1882);
goods and passenger train services (1902); Castlereagh newspaper (1904);
4 M. THURLOW

telephone exchange (1908); Coronation Hall travelling picture show

(c.1908)13; Castlereagh Liberal (later Gilgandra Weekly) newspaper
(1911); Crystal Palace electricity generator (1916); Western Monarch
Theatre (1934); commercial radio (2DU Dubbo, 1936); ABC radio (2CR
Cumnock, 1937); commercial television (CWN, 1965) ; and ABC televi-
sion (ABQN, 1966).14
Television enabled regional communities to hold a mirror up to them-
selves as well as providing a window on the world. As my mother recalls,
the arrival of television in Gilgandra in late 1965 helped residents to feel
more connected:

We got our local news from the Gilgandra Weekly. Our state, national and
international news came from 2DU and ABC radio and the Sunday newspa-
pers [from Sydney]. The only real glimpses beyond our own district were
the Friday and Saturday night pictures and Movietone newsreels at the
Western Monarch Theatre. [Television] brought the world to our doorstep
for the first time.15

Television presented regional Australians with new perspectives, made

people less parochial and more cosmopolitan, and encouraged a broad-­
based national identity.16 Television, as with radio, was also a modernising
force which enabled the broadcaster and the audience to create, then re-­
create, “each other through space and time”.17 It is no coincidence that
television was introduced post-Second World War, in the great nation-­
building years of the 1950s and 1960s. Local media also plays an impor-
tant role in creating a sense of “place”. Harry Criticos notes that “familiarity
provides us with that sense of attachment, a connection or belonging to
the locale”. He observes that an important facet of the relationship
between identity and belonging is nostalgia. Localism in broadcasting
thus becomes the dialect through which it helps to bind a community to
its location, especially in light of outside social influences.18
It is also important to note the fundamentally different roles of the
national public service broadcaster and commercial stations, particularly in
regional areas. The ABC, whose Reithian approach to radio broadcasting
was subsequently transferred to television, believed it had a responsibility
to “inform, educate and entertain”.19 In contrast, commercial broadcast-
ers regarded their role as to entertain, then to inform, and finally to edu-
cate.20 Regional television, in its earlier years, offered something different
by resisting national frames in favour of the local and the specific. As
American writer and broadcaster Melody Kramer observes, localism in
 1 INTRODUCTION 5

broadcasting “connects you to the place where you live … [it] frames the
conversation in a community”.21
In this context it is useful to consider the meaning of the term “regional”
as it applies to this study. In granting commercial television licences, the
Menzies Liberal-Country Party Coalition government made a clear dis-
tinction between the six “metropolitan” state capital cities of Sydney,
Melbourne, Brisbane, Adelaide, Perth, and Hobart, and all other parts of
Australia. For the purposes of brevity, “regional” is used throughout this
book in place of similarly imprecise terms such as “rural”, “country”, and
“provincial”, which permeate official records pertaining to Australia’s
non-metropolitan areas. This includes the territorial capitals of Canberra
and Darwin which were regarded as “provincial” for the purpose of grant-
ing the first commercial television licences. The primary exception to this
schema is the term “remote”, which is used to reference the sparsely popu-
lated regions of central Australia when discussing the introduction of sat-
ellite broadcasting in the 1980s.22
Today, regional communities across Australia have access to three free-­
to-­air commercial television services and their numerous sub-channels, as
well as the ABC, Special Broadcasting Service (SBS), pay television, and an
ever-increasing array of subscription-based streaming services, including
Amazon Prime, Netflix, and Stan. By late 2022, Australia’s 54 regional
commercial television station licences were controlled by Seven West
Media Ltd (“Seven”; 9 licences), WIN Corporation P/L (“WIN”; 16
licences), Southern Cross Media Group Ltd (“Southern Cross”; 14
licences), Nine Entertainment Co. Ltd (“Nine”; 2 licences), Imparja
Television P/L (“Imparja”; 1 licence), and various joint ventures between
these five entities (12 licences). These regional networks are, in turn, vari-
ously affiliated with each of the three metropolitan networks for program
supply purposes. What remains of “local” production is highly centralised
and mostly confined to the provision of local news.
Examining the factors which have driven this decades-long shift is
important for several reasons. Firstly, it offers a logical starting point for
understanding the political, regulatory, economic, technological, indus-
trial, and social history of a key sector in the Australian media. This history
is undoubtedly linked, in part, to that of the metropolitan networks.
However, as Liz Jacka points out, there is a danger that acceptance of the
(albeit dominant) metropolitan commercial television history as the his-
tory of commercial television can lead to “a generalisation of patterns
6 M. THURLOW

which may be true for one as if they were universal”.23 Similarly, Mark
McKenna explains that while national histories have been prominent, we
need to consider the specificities of place, particularly when telling the
story of regional Australia. Furthermore, McKenna believes we might bet-
ter understand the “national” by focusing on the “local”.24 In this context,
we can view the history of television in Australia—both in terms of what
has been “gained” and what has been “lost”—differently, by adopting a
regional perspective.25
Secondly, it affords an opportunity to record something of life outside
Australia’s capital cities. As Kate Darian-Smith points out, non-urban
Australia has undoubtedly been given less attention than it deserves in
historical scholarship.26 The diminishing status of regional commercial
television has reflected broader declines in the financial and social prosper-
ity of many regional communities amidst increased globalisation of agri-
cultural markets, economic rationalism, metro-centrism, and urban drift.27
The seemingly ever-present themes of isolation, abandonment, and
neglect, while a long-held feature of life in non-urban Australia, have
undoubtedly been amplified in recent times with the withdrawal of gov-
ernment, health, banking, and other services.
Thirdly, it provides a historical backdrop against which to critically
examine the Turnbull government’s 2017 changes to media ownership
rules. These have already triggered significant structural changes in
Australia’s media, including American broadcaster CBS’ acquisition of
Network Ten later that same year and Nine Entertainment’s 2018 pur-
chase of Fairfax Media.28 Further ownership changes are likely in coming
years as regional media companies, in particular, continue to lobby gov-
ernment for additional legislative change, including a relaxation of regula-
tions which prevent a single entity controlling radio, television, and
newspapers, as well as mergers between commercial television companies
operating in the same market. Such highly political developments when,
rather than if, successful would represent the final stage in the absolute
and irrevocable merging of regional and metropolitan commercial televi-
sion interests which, as we will see, began more than six decades earlier.
The story of regional commercial television has, at various times, proven
to be as dramatic, comedic, entertaining, and intriguing as the programs
in its schedules. The aggregation of regional commercial television ser-
vices in the late 1980s was rocked by Bruce Gordon’s last-minute acquisi-
tion of DDQ Darling Downs and his affiliation agreement with the Nine
Network. This manoeuvre was at the detriment of Telecasters North
 1 INTRODUCTION 7

Queensland Ltd which, with Nine as its largest shareholder, had reason-
ably expected to carry that network’s programs. Instead, the company was
forced to sign a program supply deal with the third-rated Ten Network. In
2016, Nine dumped WIN as its primary regional affiliate across regional
Australia after forging an affiliation agreement with Southern Cross; this
was reversed five years later. In 2021, Seven West Media, owner of the
Seven Network, assumed control of its primary regional affiliate after
acquiring the television assets of Prime Media Group. This transaction,
discussed further in Chap. 11, is significant for several reasons, not least
because it achieved, in a way first envisaged by Sir Frank Packer and others
in the 1950s, the absolute and irrevocable merger of metropolitan and
regional commercial television interests.
These changes are but the latest in a long list of developments which
stretch back more than 60 years. Yet paradoxically, for an industry which
frequently trades on telling others’ stories, its own has never been told.
This begs the question of why a history of regional commercial television
has not previously been attempted. One reason, as suggested by Helen
Wheatley, might be that the ephemeral and transient nature of the
medium—evidenced in GLV’s first-night glitch—places it “beyond a his-
torical materiality”.29 Another could be that the nature of the industry—
where practitioners must have one eye on the present and the other on the
future—leaves little or no time for reflection on the past.30 Yet another
could be that those within the industry are simply too close to appreciate
the value of its history. When I contacted a former (and extremely well-­
known) journalist who began her career in regional television, she ques-
tioned, somewhat dismissively, how this topic was sufficiently complex and
significant to have maintained my interest over many years. In contrast,
metropolitan television has attracted somewhat more attention. The mini-
misation and marginalisation of regional history does little to dispel the
long-held perception by country people that metropolitan elites place lit-
tle if any value on anything that happens beyond Sydney and Melbourne.
Australia’s Great Dividing Range has long been as much a cultural phe-
nomenon as it is a geographical feature.
My own interest in the story of regional commercial television has
resulted from direct involvement in the industry. As a schoolboy in the
pre-aggregation years of the 1970s and 1980s, I recall having a choice of
just one commercial television station and the ABC. My local station,
CWN Central Western Slopes (Dubbo, NSW) was, as discussed in Chap.
4, a direct relay of CBN Central Tablelands (Orange, NSW). The latter
8 M. THURLOW

produced a range of news, sport, children’s, women’s, rural, and other

programs of interest and relevance to the communities it serviced. It also
cherry-picked what management considered to be the best national pro-
grams from the three metropolitan networks, as well as imported material
from international distributors and from independent producers. I had the
opportunity, in 1986 and again in 1988, to undertake work experience in
the station’s Orange newsroom, under the tutelage of news editor Peter
Andren. I recall the station was a hive of activity with around 80 employ-
ees working across the company’s television and radio operations.
While my life initially took me in a completely different direction, those
experiences left a positive, permanent impression which ultimately inspired
me to join the industry. Fast-forward almost 20 years, and I was employed
as a journalist, producer, and presenter for WIN Television in Rockhampton.
The RTQ studios, by that time in continuous operation since the early
1960s, functioned as WIN’s main production centre for Queensland. A
second, smaller facility was located at the former DDQ studio in
Toowoomba. The Rockhampton studio produced dedicated WIN News
bulletins each weekday for each of the Cairns, Townsville, and Rockhampton
sub-markets, weather inserts, and news updates for all five regional
Queensland markets in which WIN operated, as well as a state-wide WIN
News Late Edition. In addition to reporting for the Rockhampton bulle-
tin, I produced news bulletins and presented news updates for the other
markets. But the availability of such well-rounded regional news gather-
ing, production, and presentation experiences in regional areas was, by
that time, the exception rather than the rule as such activities had mostly
been centralised to national broadcast centres in far-away places.
Unsurprisingly, many of my younger colleagues knew nothing of the
industry they were inheriting. There was a common belief that the region-
als were simply an extension of the metropolitan networks with local news
and advertising and that this was how it had always been.
My time in the industry unquestionably piqued my interest in its his-
tory. I was keen to understand the reasons behind the changes which had
occurred since visiting CBN’s Orange studio in the 1980s and working for
WIN in the mid-2000s. I was intrigued to find that almost nothing had
been written about the history of regional commercial television. The
most substantial recent effort to address the development of commercial
television in the regions was Nick Herd’s Networking, released in 2012.31
However, this was done solely within the context of the predatory net-
working designs of the metropolitan stations, meaning there was scant
opportunity to convey anything of the character of individual stations or
to depict the people, places and programs which have characterised the
 1 INTRODUCTION 9

industry outside Australia’s state capitals. Peter Andren, who went on to

become the independent member for the Federal seat of Calare, provided
a useful—but brief—glimpse into his time at CBN Central Tablelands
from the 1970s to the 1990s.32
My objective here has been to fill this void. The result is this book, which
is the first dedicated history of regional commercial television in Australia.
This study has been deliberately broad-brush in nature. It is a foundational
history which I hope will provide a springboard for further scholarly inquiry
on this subject. Such activity might involve a more in-­depth exploration of
the hundreds of possible topics suggested herein, for example program
analyses, individual station histories, Indigenous or even regional efforts at
community broadcasting. There is also an opportunity to examine the
industry through other lenses, such as gender or audience reception.
This study incorporates three key measures. The localism marker indi-
cates the proportion of programs that were produced locally by stations in
their own studios (Fig. 1.1) (It is important to note the localism marker is
based on data pertaining to primary channels only, since the proportion of
local programs broadcast on secondary channels is statistically insignifi-
cant.) The independence quotient shows the number of ownership groups
as a percentage of total number of licences in operation (Fig. 1.2). The
localism-independence index, which overlays the previous two measures,
is used to demonstrate a causal relationship between the consolidation in
media ownership and reductions in local program production over a
60-year period (Fig. 1.3).

Fig. 1.1 Localism marker, 1966–2019. Copyright Michael Thurlow

10 M. THURLOW

Fig. 1.2 Independence quotient, 1966–2019. Copyright Michael Thurlow

Fig. 1.3 Localism-independence index, 1966–2019. Copyright Michael Thurlow

 1 INTRODUCTION 11

This history has been organised into five parts and 12 chapters which
represent the key phases in regional commercial television development.
Chapter 1, “Introduction”, outlines the rationale for, and approach to,
writing a history of regional commercial television in Australia. Based on
fine-grained empirical research, each chapter recovers and explores signifi-
cant developments in the sector’s history. Particular attention is given to
the operational, technical, financial, program, production, and ownership
aspects of regional commercial television stations.
Part I: Establishment focuses on the formation of Australia’s radio
broadcasting and television systems to the 1960s. Chapter 2 traces the
power and politics which accompanied the introduction of wireless teleg-
raphy and radio, the public debates and Royal Commission on Television,
and the Menzies Coalition government’s introduction of a dual television
system of public and commercial stations in the early 1950s. Chapter 3
explores the monopolies and manoeuvres associated with establishing the
first 13 regional commercial television stations controlled by local radio
broadcasting and newspaper interests in the early 1960s. This created a
sector which was at its most local and independent during these first years
of operation.
Part II: Expansion details the extension of commercial television to
other parts of regional Australia in the 1960s and 1970s. Chapter 4 probes
the dualities and downturns which shaped the establishment of a further
17 regional commercial stations in the late 1960s. Chapter 5 reviews the
colour and contrasts of commercial television in the years immediately
before and after the introduction of colour television. The extension of
television to a further five areas in the remotest parts of regional Australia
is also discussed. These developments brought the first significant decreases
in both localism and independence.
Part III: Maturation documents the evolution of regional commercial
television between the mid-1970s and mid-1980s. Chapter 6 considers
the prosperity and promise in the years following the introduction of
colour including the effect of the Fraser government’s decision to intro-
duce a domestic communications satellite. Chapter 7 looks at the security
and status which accompanied governmental signals towards localism in
the early 1980s. These years were notable for a slowing of recent declines
in independence as well as the most significant increases in localism since
the early 1960s.
Part IV: Equalisation charts the politically motivated efforts to
increase the number of television services in regional areas between 1986
12 M. THURLOW

and 1999. Chapter 8 investigates the aggregation (sometimes referred to

as aggravation within the industry) of regional commercial television
between 1989 and 1992 which abolished long-held monopolies in the
largest and most profitable markets of eastern Australia. Chapter 9 analy-
ses the patronage and protection which stabilised and returned the sector
to profitability in the 1990s. These conditions saw a return of declines in
both localism and independence which had persisted up to the late 1970s.
Part V: Disruption records the impact of technological convergence in
the 2000s and 2010s. Chapter 10 considers the influence of digital televi-
sion in further entrenching the incumbency of free-to-air operators in the
2000s. The emergence of Prime, WIN, and Southern Cross as the three
dominant regional networks is also discussed. Chapter 11 examines the
Turnbull Coalition government’s media ownership reforms which have
paved the way for rationalising regional and metropolitan television inter-
ests. Localism and independence were at their lowest levels in these years.
We conclude, in Chap. 12, by considering the relationship between the
earlier phases and recent developments, including Seven West Media’s
2021 acquisition of Prime Media Group’s regional commercial television
business, which have brought an absolute and irrevocable merger of met-
ropolitan and regional commercial television interests. The result is a peri-
odised and thematic history which, through case study examples, traces
the foundation, development, maturation, equalisation, and disruption of
a remarkable and unique industry which has contributed much to the
economic, cultural, and social development of regional Australia.

Notes
1. Hartigan, quoted in SMH, 28/10/2019, p. 24.
2. https://www.nfsa.gov.au/latest/television-­c omes-­r egional-­a ustralia,
accessed 1/2/2015.
3. Stone (2014, p. 199).
4. Cryle et al. (2010, pp. 47–57); ABCB, pp. 78–79.
5. Potts (2009).
6. Blainey (1966).
7. Shoesmith (1994, p. 1).
8. Anderson (1983, pp. 1–7).
9. Scannell (1996).
10. Thompson (1967, pp. 56–97).
11. Larkin (2004, pp. 289–314).
12. Hanson (2012, pp. 110–131).
 1 INTRODUCTION 13

13. Walker (2018, pp. 71–83). See The Picture Show Man (1977) for a drama-
tised account of travelling picture shows in regional Australia in the 1920s.
14. Christison (2009).
15. Lorraine Thurlow, telephone conversation with Michael Thurlow,
3/11/2019.
16. Shoesmith and Edmonds (2003, p. 1).
17. Shoesmith and Edmonds (2003, p. 205).
18. https://www.anzca.net/conferences/past-­conferences/2015-­conf/p2.
html, accessed 23/1/2018.
19. Shoesmith and Edmonds (2003, p. 212). John Reith was the first Managing
Director of the British Broadcasting Company (1922) and the first
Director-General of the British Broadcasting Corporation (1927).
20. TQL, 1977.
21. https://www.poynter.org/reporting-­e diting/2015/why-­d oes-­l ocal-­
matter-­lets-­ask-­our-­audience/, accessed 17/7/2015.
22. See Aveyard (2012 and 2015) for a discussion of “regional” within the
context of cinema exhibition and film consumption in Australian and the
United Kingdom.
23. Jacka (2004, p. 31).
24. McKenna (2002, p. 6).
25. McKenna (2016, p. xvi).
26. Darian-Smith (2002, pp. 90–99).
27. Falk (2001, p. 3).
28. Business Insider, 28/8/2017; ABC News, 26/7/2018.
29. Wheatley (2007, p. 3).
30. Bingham (2015, p. 19).
31. Herd (2012).
32. Andren (2003).

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of Nationalism (London: Verso, 1983), pp. 1-7.
Andren, Peter. The Andren Report: An Independent Way in Australian Politics
(Melbourne: Scribe, 2003).
Aveyard, Karina. ‘Rural Cinema: Film Exhibition and Consumption in Australia
and the United Kingdom’, PhD thesis, Griffith University, 2012.
Aveyard, Karina. Lure of the Big Screen (Bristol: Intellect, 2015).
Bingham, Adrian. ‘Media Products as Historical Artefacts’, Martin Conboy and
John Steel (eds.) The Routledge Companion to British Media History (London
and New York: Routledge, 2015), p. 19.
14 M. THURLOW

Blainey, Geoffrey. The Tyranny of Distance: How Distance Shaped Australia’s

History (Melbourne: Sun Books, 1966).
Christison, Ray. Gilgandra Shire Thematic History (Gilgandra, NSW: Gilgandra
Shire Council, 2009).
Cryle, Denis, Christina Hunt and Ross Quinn. ‘Researching ABC Rockhampton
TV, 1963-85: Two Decades of Regional Television Broadcasting’, Queensland
Review, Vol. 7, No. 1 (February 2010), pp. 47-57.
Darian-Smith, Kate. ‘Up The Country: Histories and Communities’, Australian
Historical Studies, Vol. 33, No. 118, 2002, pp. 90-99.
Falk, Ian. Learning to Manage Change: Developing Regional Communities for a
Local-Global Millennium (Leabrook, SA: NCVER, 2001).
Hanson, Stephanie. ‘Chasing a Signal: Memories of Television Across the South-­
Eastern Corner of Australia’, in Kate Darian-Smith and Sue Turnbull (eds.),
Remembering Television (Newcastle-upon-Tyne: Cambridge Scholars: 2012),
pp. 110-131.
Herd, Nick. Networking: Commercial Television in Australia (Sydney: Currency
House, 2012).
Jacka, Liz. ‘Doing the History of Television in Australia: Problems and Challenges’,
Continuum: Journal of Media and Cultural Studies, Vol. 18, No. 1, 2004, p. 31.
Larkin, Brian. ‘Degraded images, distorted sound: Nigerian video and the infra-
structure of piracy’, Public Culture, Vol. 16, No. 2, 2004, pp. 289-314.
McKenna, Mark. Looking for Blackfellas’ Point: An Australian History of Place
(Sydney: UNSW Press, 2002).
McKenna, Mark. From the Edge: Australia’s Lost Histories (Carlton, Vic: Miegunyah
Press, 2016).
Potts, John. A History of Charisma (Basingstoke, UK: Palgrave Macmillan, 2009).
Scannell, Paddy. Radio, Television and Modern Life (Oxford: Blackwell, 1996).
Shoesmith, Brian (ed.). Media, Politics and Identity (Nedlands, WA: Centre for
Western Australia History, University of Western Australia, 1994).
Shoesmith, Brian and Edmonds, Leigh. ‘Making Culture Out of the Air’, in
Geoffrey Bolton, Richard Rossiter and Jan Ryan (eds.), Farewell Cinderella:
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2003), pp. 203-240.
Stone, Gerald. ‘Gyngell, Bruce’, in Bridget Griffen-Foley (ed.), A Companion to
the Australian Media (North Melbourne: Australian Scholarly Publishing,
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Thompson, Edward. ‘Time, Work-Discipline, and Industrial Capitalism’, Past and
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Walker, Dylan. “The Only Fun We Have Once in Three Weeks’: The Travelling
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 PART I

Establishment (to 1966)

 CHAPTER 2

Power and Politics

The two big newspaper dominated sets of interests in Melbourne and

Sydney have made up their minds to carve up the whole [television] empire
in Australia, if they can manage it.1
—Ronald Mendelsohn, Prime Minister’s Department, 1959

Australian governments, like most others, have long sought to regulate

the media because of its potential to influence community attitudes and
political processes.2 The first such efforts can be traced to the earliest years
of British colonial settlement when, in 1803, the Sydney Gazette and New
South Wales Advertiser was published by George Howe under the author-
ity of Governor Philip King.3 Telegraphy, which was partly started by pri-
vate enterprise in the mid-nineteenth century, was quickly controlled by
government.4 Julie James Bailey describes the history of television as one
of “government policy and regulation … action and reaction to the vari-
ous vested interests involved in broadcasting”.5 Liz Jacka and Lesley
Johnson also suggest that such history might be interpreted as:

[A] continuing tension between [centralising] and [regionalising] pressures,

a struggle between large commercial television proprietors who wish to
extend their reach over the entire nation … and those interests which seek
to preserve the local and regional character of television.

This is, they say, “a struggle which has always been biased towards the
former”.6 Ronald Mendelsohn, as cited above, observed this dynamic in

© The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature 17

Switzerland AG 2022
M. Thurlow, A History of Regional Commercial Television in
Australia, https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-10944-7_2
18 M. THURLOW

1959. Any study of regional commercial television must therefore begin

with an examination of the regulatory frameworks, ownership patterns,
industrial structures, and technological arrangements which were estab-
lished for broadcasting and later inherited by television in the first half of
the twentieth century.
Australia’s broadcasting system had its beginnings in official, commer-
cial, and amateur wireless experiments.7 In 1901, Tasmania sought to
break its isolation by establishing direct wireless communication with the
mainland in place of the unreliable cable service. It hoped to establish such
a service using the Marconi system; however, the Commonwealth was
reluctant to commit to one particular system.8 Given the political, eco-
nomic, and social tensions inherent in media, it is unsurprising that, later
that year, Postmaster-General (PMG) James Blake advised that only those
authorised by his department could establish wireless stations.9 In 1905,
Alfred Deakin’s Protectionist Party government passed the Wireless
Telegraphy Act so that “wireless development could be properly regulated
in the public interest”.10
This early consolidation of postal services, telegraph, and wireless under
the PMG’s control was arguably an early mustering of the “protean forces
of convergence” which continue to shape Australian—and global—
media.11 Mark Armstrong notes the Act provided the “ultimate statutory
power” over radiated communication and would continue to do so for
many decades.12 But the Deakin government and its successors faced
ongoing criticism for delays and inaction in developing wireless. The gov-
ernment’s inaction was, for the most part, due to a reluctance to favour
one system over another or risk adopting a rapidly developing technology
that had the potential to become obsolete within a short period of time.
The PMG’s Department would, for many years, regard wireless as a prob-
lematic and loss-making proposition.13 Ross Curnow describes how
Australia’s broadcasting system eventually emerged from a period of pro-
crastination, disputes, scandals, political pressures, and compromise.8
By the early 1920s, there was growing agitation from manufacturers,
distributors, retailers, and amateur experimenters for the introduction of a
regular “radio concert” service.14 Systematic broadcasting commenced in
August 1923. This comprised a “sealed set” scheme, which had been pro-
moted by Amalgamated Wireless Australasia Ltd (AWA), whereby listeners
were required to pay a licence fee under which sets were sealed to prevent
listeners from receiving stations other than those for which they had paid
a licence fee.15 But the scheme—which was later described as violating the
 2 POWER AND POLITICS 19

“freedom of the air”16—proved to be unpopular with broadcasters, retail-

ers, and the public. The surviving defenders of the sealed set system were,
by this stage, AWA and Farmer and Co., which operated 2FC Sydney.17
This was replaced by a bifurcated system of “A”- and “B”-class licences.18
The former were operated by broadcasting companies and funded by rev-
enue from listeners’ licence fees, while the latter were self-supporting
through the sale of advertising. A third category—“C” class—was created
for stations receiving corporate advertising from large sponsors; however,
no such licences were issued.19 But the new system, too, had its weak-
nesses. A-class stations relied on subscriber revenue so there was a natural
tendency to establish stations in more populous cities, thereby neglecting
rural areas.20 The 1927 Royal Commission on Wireless drew attention to
numerous deficiencies in the existing system but did not offer any real
solutions for improving radio broadcasting on a national basis. In July
1928, Prime Minister Stanley Bruce announced the government would
establish a National Broadcasting Service in place of the A-class stations.21
This would operate as a “national” network and broadcast programs, sup-
plied by the Australian Broadcasting Company (ABL), which were of rel-
evance and interest to the whole nation. B-class stations would continue
to obtain their revenue from advertising and broadcast programs of rele-
vance and interest to their “local” communities.22 This hybrid scheme was
similar to that which had been proposed by prominent commercial inter-
ests around the time of the 1924 wireless conference. Significantly, this
distinction between the role of A- and B-class stations appears to be the
first articulation of a government policy on localism in Australian
broadcasting.23
Australia’s first regional B-class station, 3WR Wangaratta (Vic), com-
menced operation on 25 February 1925 but proved to be financially unvi-
able and was closed later that year.24 The first viable regional B-class
station—2HD Newcastle—was established by Harry Douglas and com-
menced operation on 27 January 1925.25 Mobile radio stations 2XT and
3YB sought to extend the pleasures of radio to audiences in outlying areas
in the 1920s and 1930s.26 Mark Armstrong describes the granting of
B-class licences by a simple executive act of the PMG as “the currency of
political and personal patronage”.27 As Ken Inglis points out, B-class sta-
tions became increasingly attractive to advertisers from 1929 as hard times
kept people at home.28 Dozens of regional B-class stations had com-
menced by the mid-1930s. Twelve were established in 1931 alone.29
20 M. THURLOW

Nevertheless, public interest groups remained critical of the A-class ser-

vice, which had largely failed to provide for regional communities.30 They
continued to call for a fully government-funded service which could pro-
vide a reasonable service to all Australians. On 1 July 1932, the Australian
Broadcasting Commission (ABC) was established to take over ABL’s stu-
dios.31 The PMG remained responsible for technical services, including
the provision of transmission lines for program relays.32 The ABC was
established as a public service broadcaster modelled on the British
Broadcasting Corporation (BBC). Its activities were financed by a propor-
tion of the receipts from listeners’ licence fees. Bridget Griffen-Foley notes
the ABC assumed “a special responsibility for rural dwellers”.30
B-class stations were increasingly acquired by regional and metropoli-
tan newspaper interests which regarded broadcasting as a natural exten-
sion of their existing businesses. This is perhaps unsurprising given their
early concerns, first expressed at the 1923 wireless conference, that the
“rip and read” broadcasting of printed material by radio stations would
undermine newspaper sales.33 Other prominent investors included AWA,
Broadcast Associates (a company ultimately controlled by Britain’s Daily
Mirror and Sunday Pictorial newspapers) and metropolitan radio inter-
ests. Enterprising individuals such as 4AY’s Jack Gleeson sought to invest
privately in radio. There would be 82 regional commercial radio stations
in operation by mid-1956, just prior to the commencement of television.34
Significantly, more than half of these would later be associated with appli-
cations for regional commercial television station licences.35
The 1930s also gave rise to the first commercial radio networks.36 In its
purest sense, “networking” referred to the linking of stations for the
simultaneous broadcasting of a specific program. In a more general sense,
network stations included those which were owned and controlled by a
“parent” company; “affiliates”, which held shares in the network company
and were committed to broadcasting certain programs; and “co-­operating”
stations, which accepted network programs on a more casual basis.37 Radio
networks enabled metropolitan stations to deliver larger audiences to
advertisers. It also allowed regional stations to reduce their expenses and
provide higher-quality programs than could often be produced in their
own studios. Such arrangements were arguably the “economic salvation”
for many small regional stations.38
The constantly shifting patterns of ownership and the formation of
radio networks was not without controversy. In January 1934, Truth
described the emerging links between the powerful publishing group the
 2 POWER AND POLITICS 21

Herald and Weekly Times Ltd (HWT) and its radio operations as “an
octopus in the air”.39 On 23 October 1935, partly in response to the
growing influence of the HWT and AWA (reportedly controlling 24 sta-
tions between them),40 the United Australia Party (UAP)-Country Party
coalition government headed by Prime Minister Joseph Lyons introduced
regulations to limit control by a single interest to five radio stations nation-
ally.41 The Federation of Australian Radio Broadcasters (FARB), which
had been formed in 1930 as the main industry body,42 railed against “gov-
ernment by regulation” and claimed the policy would “flat-iron” com-
mercial stations. In November 1935, after strong backbench support for
major commercial interests, the government legislated that a maximum of
eight—rather than five—broadcasting stations could be owned by a single
interest.43 Bridget Griffen-Foley suggests that Keith Murdoch, who had
earlier endorsed Lyons’ defection from Labor and his formation of the
United Australia Party (UAP), had likely used his influence for a more
favourable outcome. The Lyons UAP/Country Party coalition’s regula-
tions were the first to limit media ownership and control. But its decision
to legislate for a limit of eight—rather than five—stations, demonstrates
the ability of powerful commercial interests to find favour at the highest
levels of government.

Early Television Developments

Australian television—as with radio—had its beginnings in official, com-
mercial, and amateur experiments. In country Victoria in 1887, prolific
inventor Henry Sutton had reportedly “designed but not yet constructed”
the “telephane”, a device by which he hoped one day “to see here in
Ballarat, by the aid of electricity, the race for the Melbourne Cup”.44
Sutton proposed that the telephane—an early prototype for “mechanical”
television—would operate using a lens and Nipkow disk to capture and
convert images to electrical signals using a selenium photocell. These
would then be transmitted by telegraph wires to an apparatus for view-
ing.45 Although it would be almost another 80 years before television
reached Ballarat, Sutton’s work establishes an intriguing “spiritual” link
between television and regional Australia.46 Sutton was also arguably one
of the first inventers who sought to address the issues of isolation and lack
of amenity which had long characterised the physical and psychological
divide between metropolitan and regional Australia.47
22 M. THURLOW

The first significant developments came in the 1920s. Television and

Radio Laboratories P/L (TRL) was established in 1928 “to provide coun-
try newspapers with pictures of current events minutes after they
occurred”.48 On 10 January 1929, the company conducted Australia’s
first tests of “Radiovision” using 3UZ’s transmitter.49 These primitive
broadcasts featured simple animated silhouette films alternated with
printed titles and spoken announcements. The first image transmitted was
that of a rotating windmill; other subjects included “a leopard which
[bounded] in, [took] its tail off, put it back on … then [bounded] out
again”.50 Similar tests using John Logie Baird’s rival system were con-
ducted by 3DB the following week.49 The first public demonstration was
held in September 1929.51 TRL also put forward a scheme whereby
regional newspapers might receive images of current events soon after
they occurred. The company was reportedly successful in transmitting still
pictures that were received in Ballarat and Bendigo.52
The “business” of television soon attracted the attention of amateur
technicians and the public, as well as some nefarious commercial interests.
In one instance, TRL received a dubious request to stage bogus clairvoy-
ant séances in which a photograph of a client’s dearly departed would be
transmitted from another room.50 (This example is distinct from legiti-
mate and sincere efforts such as those by AWA’s Ernest Fisk, who had lost
his son in the First World War, to use technology to contact the dead.)
Harry Brown, perhaps in response to such questionable commercial appli-
cations, warned the public against investing in the new medium, which he
thought would likely be restricted to government-run stations.53
Nevertheless, both 3UZ and 3DB continued to undertake sporadic tests.54
The first intercity transmission was reportedly conducted between 2UE
Sydney and the Newcastle Sun in October 1930.55 In Brisbane, persistent
tests were conducted by amateur experimenters Val McDowell and Tom
Elliott.56 By mid-1935, the PMG’s Department had issued seven licences
for experimental television.57 Despite this apparent softening in govern-
ment attitudes, the Great Depression ensured it would be at least another
decade before the government gave serious consideration to the introduc-
tion of “radio with pictures”.
In regional Australia, Blake Horrocks began working on mechanical
television systems at Harvey, around 140 kilometres south of Perth,
Western Australia, in the 1930s. On one occasion, Horrocks was report-
edly visited by two inquisitive nuns from a nearby convent who were
intrigued—and impressed—by his work. On another occasion, he was
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