Today, 1956: it all began…
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Just looking through the September 16, 1956 edition of the Sun-Herald and I can’t find mention of the first day of television at all. It appears to be a case of old media completely ignoring new media.
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TCN9 being a Packer enterprise probably had more to do with it. The Daily Telegraph, a Packer paper, had loads of coverage about TCN9.
Same in Melbourne. The Age gave little mention of HSV7 opening, as it was owned by the rival newspaper group, but well covered GTV9 - which was owned in part by David Syme Ltd, publisher of The Age.
Similar happened in Brisbane, where QTQ9’s launch only got a token mention in The Courier Mail. But same newspaper devoted huge amounts of page space to BTQ7’s debut. BTQ7 was owned by Queensland Newspapers, publisher of the Courier Mail.
And same happened in Adelaide…
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ATN 7, a subsidiary of Fairfax, gets plenty of coverage for the opening night and a ten page supplement in Fairfax’s Sun-Herald detailing programming on the new channel.
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We should have put out some bunting to celebrate
Notwithstanding the various vested interests that @TelevisionAU points out - I wonder if there was a level of skepticism that the format was also going to be successful being it was expensive and limited in service
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Mal Walden, I think it was, once mentioned that the Herald and Weekly Times in the early days of TV would starve HSV7 of funds or resources in favour of boosting resources at its newspapers. Newspapers were still the main product it seems but they got into TV just because. And HSV apparently became the first channel in Melbourne to run repeats, such was the limit on spending by its newspaper parent.
Not sure that the same attitude was felt at GTV9, where The Age was only one of several investors.
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Its not a surprise - I’d imagine that existing players (newspapers / radio) would have seen it better to be able to ‘guide’ television in a direction that suited the desired outcome at the time (like the HSV7 example)
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As posted in the Classic TV Listing thread the Seoul Olympics got underway on this day in 1988.
Looking back, the coverage formed the template for future Australian TV Olympic coverage. We saw dual commentary teams for most events, hosting from a studio at the games, crosses to the Athlete’s village, pool deck and track side interviews with athletes immediately post events and of course the intense concentration on Australians who were competing including multiple replays and celebration of Australian achievements. It set the pattern of coverage for many years along with the promotion of the network’s upcoming line-up.
(BTW that’s Stephen Quartermain)
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Yeah it aired on Fridays which ruined my Friday 6pm Simpsons fix.
Amazing, someone actually recorded it and uploaded episode 1 to youtube. As bad as I remember it. 14:9 lol
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You poor, deprived child. And yet, you somehow managed to survive. 
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23 September 2005 – David Johnston presented his last bulletin at Seven News at 4:30. He thanked colleagues for his hard work thanks to the Iraqi Invasion in 2003. Johnston was replaced by Rebecca Maddern.
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Not quite sure that’s what happened 
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The 4.30pm bulletin started in March 2003 before becoming a standalone bulletin
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In 2003, Channel 7 introduced an afternoon bulletin as Target Iraq during extended coverage being presented by David Johnston.
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24 September 2005–3.4 million metropolitan viewers watched the 2005 AFL Grand Final on TEN between Sydney Swans and West Coast Eagles. Sydney had 1 million viewers watching the match live while Perth had 511k viewers watching the match on TV. This grand final was described as an epic match between these two sides.
24 September 2012–Network TEN launched a datacasting channel, TVSN on Channel 14.
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This was the highest rating program in the official ratings period and The 2nd highest rating program in 2005 behind Australian open men’s Final on Channel 7.
I liked these graphics. It is a one step better than the 2002-04 Graphics for 10’s AFL. The game was an epic. Stephen Quartermain, Tim Lane And Huddo called the match.
Andy Maher was in Ireland during the 2005 AFL GF. What was he doing?
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Covering the game from an Irish perspective because Sydney Swans player Tadhg Kennelly was playing in it. He became the first Irishman (to my knowledge) to win an AFL premiership medal.
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During the final moments of the match, 5 minute warning was applied with Sydney Swans leading West Coast 57-53. This was anyone’s match for the two sides. I could hear Stephen Quartermain’s classic quote as ‘Leo Barry, you star!’ As the Swans sealed an epic win overnight West Coast by 4 point in a nail biter. I sat on the couch watching the match.
Will 5-min warning come back in future?