With tonight being the Origin decider, it was exactly 46 years ago today that the very first Origin game was played (Tuesday 8 July 1980).
Only Sydney and Brisbane got TV coverage of the match (even then only as late night replays)
Sydney (SMH)
Brisbane (from the “Sunday Mail”)
And also below are all (I think) QLD regionals for that week (6-12 July)
Amazed it was only a late night replay.
Yes, it took a few years to gain traction.
I think I’ve posted before that even in 1986, NBN were still only showing it as a late night replay.
Which is insane for a Rugby League town like Newcastle
Knowing the gimmick and how a lot of people did not take it seriously at the time, I assume that in Brisbane the episode of Supertrain being shown at the same time would had gotten higher ratings than Origin.
And to be fair it took until 1982 before the old residents format was finally put out to pasture and state games were all Origin
In NBNs defence, it was probably a programming strategy to entice viewers to watch the station all night.
I think the first year State Of Origin was live into both NSW and QLD I believe was in 1990 when Channel 10 very briefly had the rights
Illawarra TV Guide, April 5th - 10th 1989
Lake Times Wednesday 5/4/1989, scanned at Shellharbour City Library
What area had Capital on UHF-44?
Basically much of Wollongong & its surrounding inner suburbs, as well as its northern suburbs. They transmitted from Brokers Nose, which is located 7km north-west of Wollongong CBD.
And WIN had channels 3 and 41 from Brokers Nose. Was there an intention to clear Channel 3 at some point? I don’t think they ever did, though? Well, not until the analogue shutdown…?
Wollongong
WIN3 Commercial 86.260 H DA 8k -34 22 4 150 52 30 1384791
Brokers Nose
SBS32 National 555.224 H DA 5k -34 22 4 150 52 30 1150660
Brokers Nose
ABWN35 National 576.224 H DA 5k -34 22 4 150 52 30 1150647
Brokers Nose
WIN41 Commercial 618.224 H DA 5k -34 22 4 150 52 30 1384800
Brokers Nose
CTC44 Commercial 639.198 H DA 5k -34 22 4 150 52 30 1384173
Brokers Nose
CBN47 Commercial 660.198 H DA 5k -34 22 4 150 52 30 1384135
I believe at around the time when WIN switched on its UHF-59 service from its main Knights Hill transmitter in May 1988, there was a proposal for the same to occur for its Brokers Nose translator, in which they were allocated a UHF frequency that never went to air. WIN kept broadcasting on VHF-3 until the analogue switch-off in June 2012.
Here’s the aggregation supplement from the Illawarra Mercury from March 1989, which listed the frequencies:
On the above Lake Times TV guide, there was no mention of ABC’s UHF frequencies from both Knights Hill (56) & Brokers Nose (35). SBS wasn’t listed there either, even though it had been available locally since 1985.
thank you
Very rare we get something from the 1950s.
HSV7 didn’t start broadcasting until after 5.00pm.
GTV9 from the schedule above seemed to be the dominant player in the market 2 years into broadcasting.
I always wondered where brokers nose was - now i know!!! i have been watching old episodes of hey hey its saturday from 1982/83 and in the end credits they had a list of Stations that took the show and brokers nose was one of them
GTV9 came into the market aggressively as it was seen as the underdog when TV started, as it didn’t have the resources of the Herald and Weekly Times or the ABC behind it and it was the last of the three Melbourne channels to launch, with HSV7 and ABV2 both getting a couple of months’ head start. (Although all 3 channels went head to head during the Olympic Games)
But while GTV9 went aggressively into launch, as it turned out, HWT surprisingly did the opposite with HSV7. In fact, it was commented that it was run very conservatively. Like a corner shop. No lavish expenses, salaries or expansion. It had to make money to spend it. And it was probably held back to avoid taking too much attention (and advertising) from its sister radio and newspaper assets. And it was the first Melbourne TV station to start going into re-runs within its first 12 months on-air.
And with the success of IMT in prime time, GTV could charge peak advertising rates right through to sign-off late at night, whereas HSV was cutting its ad rates after 9.30pm as its viewing numbers were dropping off. That gave GTV a financial boost and helped expand its schedule through the day and ultimately assert its dominance in Melbourne.
