The money was well spent. The 10 brand is in a lot better position now days.
4 Likes
Also 31 October 2011:
The Project aired in its 6:30PM Timeslot for the first time and extended it to 1 hour. As well with this, Channel 10 dropped the PG Classification for this show.
1 Like
31 October 1959: Brisbane’s second TV station, BTQ7, is making last minute preparations and rehearsals ahead of its official opening on 1 November at 6.00pm. The new ABC station, ABQ2, is to open on 2 November.
Source: The Courier Mail
2 Likes
I’m a huge fan of 10’s current on air look. Funky, modern and fresh with the slogan changing from “Turn on Ten” to “TV with a Twist”
2 Likes
Good Morning by Max Frost was the song used in the relaunch.
1 Like
Happy 60th Birthday, BTQ Channel 7!
Happy 10th birthday 7TWO!
1 Like
November 2, 2007 - Channel Ten newsreader Charmaine Dragun is found dead at the bottom of The Gap in Sydney’s east. It is later revealed that she had committed suicide.
She was just 29.
4 Likes
Yes that was big news. A really sad story.
A few of our younger members might not remember her, but she was a true talent.
2 Likes
I remember surfing the Australian Media forums (one of the predecessors to Media Spy) and reading a post that said “Charmaine Dragun has been found dead 
”
I initially couldn’t believe it and I was too heartbroken to read the papers or watch the news the following day. Later it was revealed that she had been suffering from depression which was linked to the Ten News Perth bulletin being produced from Sydney, hence Dragun’s relocation from west to east.
Dragun’s death was the lead story on Seven News in Brisbane and Perth (there, her death was announced by Rick Ardon at the end of the bulletin) and the first story after the first ad break in Melbourne.
3 November 1978: The final episode of Graham Kennedy’s Blankety Blanks airs at 7pm on TEN-10. ATV-0 had replaced Blankety Blanks in the 7pm slot in early September 1978 with The Daryl and Ossie Show and relegated Kennedy’s show to midday.
Graham Kennedy had shocked the 0-10 Network and Reg Grundy Organisation in
July by signalling he would quit television at the end of 1978. Having experienced huge popularity in 1977, Blankety Blanks had started to suffer in the ratings, particularly in Melbourne, at the hands of stiff competition from The Sullivans and Willesee at Seven. There had been consideration given to continuing the show without Kennedy but it was felt it relied too heavily on the star’s ad-libbing and quips. Ugly Dave Gray had been considered for the host role but turned it down.
The Age described “stormy scenes” at the taping of the final episodes at Ten’s North Ryde studios in October 1978. Station executives had been shocked at the level of “gutter humour” and “excessive crudity” in the final show as Kennedy and his cohorts took the opportunity to let loose and “show off”. The show had to be so heavily edited that it was reduced to 15 minutes after the cuts necessitating compilation material and a farewell message being tacked onto the end.
Source: The Age, 26 October 1978.
4 Likes
In response to the Charmaine Dragun post:
I really liked her presenting style on Ten News and I loved her banter with Michael Webster. So young and was devastated when I heard of her passing. Was one of Tens brightest stars.
3 Likes
You mean Tim Webster? Because Michael Schultz was the weather presenter at Channel 10 Perth for decades. As well with this, he was a meteorologist.
Yes.
For Tim Webster it was a case of double duty doing the sport in Ten News Sydney before taking an hour’s break (two during daylight saving) to present Ten News Perth.
After Dragun’s passing, Webster presented solo for the next six months before Narelda Jacobs was appointed to present the bulletin ahead of its return to Perth. It must be noted that she was flown to Sydney for a few weeks beforehand to test herself against the audience.
I also didn’t know that Dragun was from Perth until I found out of her passing. All this time (probably because I was still young) I thought she was from Sydney.
Also, ATV0 was handing it a cr@p lead in which did it no favours, while 9 and 7 both had stronger ratings with the news going up to 7.00. Kennedy then went public with gems like “appearing on Channel 0 is like not appearing on television at all” and “Channel 0 is not very good for your career”.
But also I suspect he wanted to get out before he was pushed out. Something he also did a decade later at Nine.
1 Like
I don’t recall ever seeing $30,000 Treasure Hunt, the cr@p lead in", on TEN-10 but it turns out they ran it mid afternoon in Sydney.
The programming revamp 0 underwent in early 1978, which included the introduction of one hour news on March 20, didn’t seem to help Blankety Blanks. Interesting that a Kennedy show would be far less popular in his home state than in any other market. Perhaps it was the fact that it was produced in Sydney, along with the lead in, that turned Melbourne viewers off.
Was hosted by Chard Hayward (Dudley from Number 96) and Marie van Maaren (The Early Bird Show) and IIRC recorded at the studios of ATV0. But I never saw it.
I think it was too little, too late. The damage was done.
Mind you, despite his falling out with the channel, a year later he then accepted a big $$$ offer to front ATV’s campaign to get people to switch to 10.
3 Likes