I just can’t imagine Mr. Copperart Pete Smith reading the news.
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Me neither but apparently he was deputy newsreader at Nine until some unknown from Queensland, someone called Peter Hitchener came along… I wonder whatever became of him… 
Source: Sunday Observer TV
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I was reading the other day about how he ended up in Melbourne from Queensland via Sydney where he’d been hosting a daytime game show and how GTV had conducted a national search to find the the right person. Apparently GTV had lost several newsmen to The Age / ATV0 during one of 0’s attempts to beef up their news around that time.
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I hadn’t heard that one, but it doesn’t surprise me. I know ATV0 splurged around 1974 to get Mike Willesee as director of news and current affairs, and he was revamping the news service, so maybe that included poaching some of his former Nine colleagues?
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“Today there was a Saaaale of the Century!”
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An article from July 1974 on Peter Hitchener and the game show Gambit that was on GTV 9 at 6pm in February 1974.
And some other articles in the same edition referring to ATV 0’s revamped news and current affairs.
And some adverts in it.
Source: Sunday Observer TV
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Today’s TV: 1.2.1993, Melbourne
Source: TV Week
I’ve also posted 1.2.2003 and 2013 to Twitter https://twitter.com/TelevisionAU/status/1356144196910870528?s=20
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Only missing 1963. Well done.
Yeah I would probably have TV Times for that date but not TV Week that I could find
Hitchener hosted a music program on ABC Radio The Pop Scene with Peter Hitchener, that ran from July 1969 to December 1971. It was on 3LO Melbourne and 9PA Port Moresby. Whether he hosted the same program that was on 2BL Sydney is not clear, but I’m guessing he did, and that the show was networked. Others hosted the show before Hitchener took over.
Source: SMH, Age, PNG Post-Courier - NLA Trove.
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Today’s TV: 2.2.1982, Melbourne
Plus the week of regional programs from the back pages
Source: Woman’s Day / TV Day
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So which Beauty and the Beast would you have watched? Hinch or Lawsie? 
Robertson was the best, then Zemanek.
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Never saw Robertson as the Beast, but I can see why you’d make that observation. Cranky old coot.
Zemanek was good.
YouTube: FreedominsuranceClive (ripped it from another YT channel!?)
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OK, not cranky so much, but a smart arse. But a funny smart arse.
One of the shows I used to love watching when I was home sick from primary school. Mike Walsh on Nine then I’d flick over to Ten to watch It Could Be You and Beauty and the Beast. I didn’t like the Seven version for some reason.
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What is “National Nine News: Home Edition”, anyway?
Just a daytime news update.
It was discussed here not that long ago…
https://twitter.com/phitchener9/status/1315478565920546817?s=20
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