9 January 1959: Sydney and Melbourne are linked for television for the first time via “Operation Kangaroo”, a series of mountain top microwave links carrying signal from Sydney to Melbourne. The operation, over a year in planning between GTV9 and ATN7, allowed Melbourne viewers to watch the Sydney cricket test live for the first time. Some unstable weather near Sydney interfered with clarify of the signal on the first day but picture quality later improved to the point that players could be easily recognised on screen and the ball could be viewed comfortably.
ATN7 executive Brian Wright as pictured on screen at GTV9 on the evening of 9 January, launching the link between the two cities during In Melbourne Tonight
Crazy to think its been 11 years since it launched. At the time it was probably the best of the multi-channels and it helped 10 was putting effort into it back then. But over the years its clearly become less of a priority and it just sort of exists with a very stale lineup of shows that run on never-ending loops.
in 2012, NBC did a special edition of Today for its 60th, including a guest line-up of many of the show’s former presenters, I wonder if they will do the same again for 70 although maybe COVID has thrown a spanner in the works
Maybe, although the legacy TV industry seems loathe to draw attention to longevity these days. It’s probably seen as making them seem “old” which might be counter-productive when they are competing with newer and fresher options and upstarts. Similar to Australian TV virtually ignoring its 60th anniversary in 2016 apart from a notable tribute from, of all outlets, Studio 10.
Although it is interesting that the ABC is making an effort to draw attention to its “90 Years” and the BBC is doing similar for its upcoming centenary, but it’s probably yet to be seen the extent to which these milestones will be commemorated.
EDIT: Looks like Today will be putting on a special edition for its 70th anniversary
The Gulf War - waged by coalition forces from 35 nations led by the United States against Iraq in response to Iraq’s invasion and annexation of Kuwait arising from oil pricing and production disputes - commenced on this day (17 January) in 1991.
Most television programmes, across Australia and New Zealand, were preempted by full coverage of the war. In Australia, for instance, Network 10’s regular programming was suspended and replaced by 24-hour coverage of the war as the events occurred.
Back in my home country, TV3 (now Three) extended its main evening news bulletin, 3 National News (now Newshub), to an hour long and moved the start time for the news to 6pm. Once the war was over, the network continued to screen the hour-long news bulletin.
The hour-long edition of 3 National News was used as a selling point over TVNZ’s One Network News (now 1 NEWS), which was still a half hour bulletin followed by Holmes at 6.30pm. TVNZ did not extend its news to an hour long until February 1995.
On weekends and during the Christmas and New Year holiday period, 3 National News was usually reduced to a half hour bulletin.
I remember watching the Ten/CNN coverage at work, we were crowded into a room to watch one of the few TVs in the building and which had an antenna connection.
Pretty sure Nine, Seven and ABC also mounted continuous coverage although I think Seven might have been hampered to some extent having to work around tennis commitments? Ironically I think most people were probably watching Ten’s CNN feed even though Ten had just a few days earlier relaunched itself as “the entertainment network”
Seven’s news service is overhauled. Seven National News replaced by Seven Nightly News in a half hour format. In Sydney Ann Sanders was Brough across from TEN-10 and paired with 11AM host Richard Zachariah.
On rival station Channel 9, A Current Affair is revived.
