Today’s TV: 8.3.1988, Perth
Source: The Sunday Times TV Extra
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So weird they didn’t have Channel 10.
it was only a few months away at this point.
Surprised to see TVW7 still running Neighbours at 5.30 knowing that Ten would soon be taking it over. It was well behind episodes from the east coast, though.
Looks like Seven had already dumped Good Morning Australia which it had been showing previously.
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Why did it take so long for Perth to obtain a 3rd commercial license?
TVW and STW actively lobbied against a third commercial license in Perth for years, not entirely the reason why but it certainly contributed.
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In 1987, one of ABW2’s relay stations (ABMW-10) had to move to UHF in order to accomodate Ten Perth.
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Smaller population and relative isolation from the east coast. Plus lobbying from 7/9 as mentioned above.
Perth’s population then grew and the Aussat satellite brought WA a lot closer to the east coast in technical terms
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Frasier was also 9pm in Sydney. NRL was 9:30pm that year.
Those were the days. NEW-10 hasn’t launched in Perth yet
Neighbours would have taed better against The Addams Family. Surprised they didn’t show TV-AM in place of GMA?
Originally Ten Perth’s callsign was going to be WCW-10.
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Potentially yes but it might not have, either. Neighbours wasn’t as popular in Perth as it was over east. It struggled when it switched over to Ten a few months later.
TVAM didn’t start until May
That would be why!
Interesting that TVW7 was showing Days of Our Lives and The Young and the Restless in 1988. I thought it had been on Nine all the time!
TVW7 as an independent channel had the “Nine Network” daytime lineup of The Mike Walsh Show, Days Of Our Lives and The Young And The Restless. Apparently there was something of a legal battle when STW9 signed up as a Nine affiliate in 1978 but Seven it seems wasn’t prepared to give up the afternoon shows. STW9 ended up getting The Mike Walsh Show but the soaps stayed with Seven until the late 1980s IIRC.
Also, looking at the program guide for the rest of the week, some of the other shows to be seen on Perth channels on different channels to the east coast:
Who’s The Boss (Nine east coast/Seven Perth)
Entertainment This Week (Ten east coast/Seven Perth)
Family Ties (Seven east coast/Nine Perth)
Prisoner (Ten east coast/Nine Perth)
LA Law (Ten east coast/Seven Perth)
Highway To Heaven (Ten east coast/Seven Perth)
It’s A Knockout (Ten east coast/Seven Perth)
Simon Townsend’s Wonder World (Ten east coast/Nine Perth)
Fat Cat And Friends (Ten east coast/Seven Perth) – this was soon to move to Seven nationally.
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The Addams Family was actually a runaway hit for Nine in 1988. Say G’day, a highly researched audience targeted production, had just been an expensive flop and major embarrassment for them. They threw a cheap old 1960s black and white family oriented sitcom on in late afternoons and it ended up slaughtering the once unshakeable Perfect Match and Seven’s Have A Go talent show. It was credited for boosting Nine’s news ratings into the mid 30s on the east coast. The oldies loved it for the wit and nostalgia and a new generation fell in love with the quirky characters.
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Yes, I certainly recall that but I still had Neighbours bene on at 5.30pm on the east coast it would have beaten the Addams Family. Still like to see what the ratings showed for this battle in Perth?
I don’t have any ratings for when Neighbours was on Seven in Perth, but in Andrew Mercado’s book Super Aussie Soaps, he recalls that when NEW10 launched and Neighbours switched from Seven (5.30pm) to Ten (7.00pm), Neighbours was getting a rating of 3, while new soap Home And Away (also at 7.00pm) was rating high-30s. (at the time, Perth was the only city where the two soaps went head-to-head, and Neighbours was getting ratings in the 30s on the east coast)
NEW10 soon shifted Neighbours to 6.30pm in one-hour episodes to clear the backlog of episodes and to catch up with the east coast, but Home And Away had cemented itself very early on as a favourite with Perth viewers, even more so than in Sydney and Melbourne.
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West Coast Telecasters Western Australia?
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