On This Day

[TelevisionAU]

20 January 1980: Melbourne’s ATV0 is relaunched as ATV10 with an on-air introduction by Graham Kennedy. The change to the Melbourne station triggers the 0-10 Network to become known as Network Ten. The evening marks the debut of the network’s new big budget serial Arcade. We’ll Put You In The Picture – Television.AU

20 January 1986: Neighbours debuts on Network Ten after being axed by the Seven Network in 1985. It is the first time an Australian drama series has changed networks.

Neighbours Season 2 Episode 171 (1986)

YouTube: Neighbours Classics

20 January 1992: Bert Newton returns to TV as host of The Morning Show, presenting 90 minutes of entertainment and infomercials. The show changes its name to Good Morning Australia the following year. Ten Eyewitness News makes the shift from 6.00pm to 5.00pm, and launches Hinch following Derryn Hinch‘s move from Seven. Meanwhile, Seven debuts Hinch’s replacement current affairs program Real Life at 6.30pm

[TVHead]

How long until GMA extended to 2-21/2 hours ?

[TelevisionAU]

@TVHead

How long until GMA extended to 2-21/2 hours ?

Probably after it became GMA and moved to start at 9am. But I seem to recall it changed its duration a number of times over its 14 years.

[TVHead]

What time did it start originally? I know it floated between ending at 11 or 11:30 depending on the year and Huey often occupied 11am.

[TelevisionAU]

@TVHead

What time did it start originally?

It was 8.30-10am

[BigVic]

@TelevisionAU

20 January 1992: Bert Newton returns to TV as host of The Morning Show, presenting 90 minutes of entertainment and infomercials. The show changes its name to Good Morning Australia the following year. Ten Eyewitness News makes the shift from 6.00pm to 5.00pm, and launches Hinch following Derryn Hinch‘s move from Seven. Meanwhile, Seven debuts Hinch’s replacement current affairs program Real Life at 6.30pm

The Morning Show was reused 15 years later on Seven with the same format which is still going on as of today

[oz1235]

Except for having Moira flogging you stuff all the time

[TelevisionAU]

21 January 1973: ABC premieres weekly interview series With Gerald Stone, fronted by the former This Day Tonight reporter. The first program covers the topic of wealth distribution, with Stone interviewing mining magnate Lang Hangcock and a minimum-wage railway worker from Western Australia, Gary Walton.

21 January 1977: New TV Station — GTW11, Geraldton, Western Australia.

21 January 1985: The XIX Superbowl is broadcast on Nine, live from California with a repeat screening at night.

21 January 1991: Business Today, Today, Good Morning Australia, Til Ten and A Country Practice all return for another year. With official ratings still on summer break for a few more weeks, Nine has repeat episodes of Sale Of The Century under the title Sale Of The Century Classics, and a re-run of the original The Flying Doctors mini-series from 1985, ahead of the regular series return later in the week.

21 January 1993: The premiere episode of RFDS, the new-look The Flying Doctors, with new cast members including Simone Buchanan and Peter Phelps.

21 January 2009: Foxtel comedy series Chandon Pictures makes its free-to-air debut on ABC.

[TelevisionAU]

22 January 1991: The debut of Nine’s new comedy series All Together Now, starring Jon English and Rebecca Gibney with Steven Jacobs, Jane Hall, Garry Who and Bruno Lucia.

[T-Mac]

Was that when Lang made his “dope the water” comment?

[TelevisionAU]

23 January 1998: Homegrown Shorts, the ABC series featuring Australian short films, debuts with the musical comedy Titsiana Booberini, starring Tania Lacy, Sophie Lee and Roz Hammond.

23 January 1998: Neighbours reaches its 3000th episode.

23 January 2009: The final episode of Nine‘s quiz show Temptation, hosted by Ed Phillips and Livinia Nixon.

[TelevisionAU]

24 January 1959: GTV9 presents Sorrento By The Sea, a live three-hour outside broadcast from Sorrento Beach, south of Melbourne. Featuring station personalities including Graham Kennedy, Joff Ellen, Geoff Corke, Hal Todd, Bob Horsfall, Joy Fountain, Wendy Marshall and Evie Hayes.

24 January 1974: The Opening Ceremony of the X Commonwealth Games, live from Christchurch, New Zealand, on ABC. ABC’s daily coverage of the Games comprised only of highlight segments totalling around 50 minutes each day, and two hours of live coverage on Saturdays.

24 January 1977: Graham Kennedy returns to television as host of 0-10’s evening game show Blankety Blanks, which became a ratings winner. The show, based on the American series The Match Game, continued for two years.

24 January 1988: Ten launches its new network logo, based on the roman numeral X.

Network Ten (TEN-10 Sydney) ID - 1988 Australian TV Ident

YouTube: @mubd

24 January 1990: Nine’s coverage of the XIV Commonwealth Games begins with the Opening Ceremony from Mount Smart Stadium, Auckland, New Zealand.

24 January 1992: In the lead up to Australia Day, ABC presents the first of two nights of The Aussie Picture Show, a collection of films representing Australian life over the past 80 years. Tonight’s line-up of films include Leisure, the 1977 Academy Award-winning animation depicting the world of work and leisure through history; Bingo, Bridesmaids And Braces, tracing the lives of three working-class women as they grow up over a 12-year period; This Is The ABC, a 20-minute review of the operations of the ABC in the 1950s; and the 1979 telemovie A Good Thing Going, starring Chris Haywood and Veronica Lang.

24 January 1994: The debut of Ten‘s new lifestyle program Level 23, hosted by Melissa Thomas, Nathan Harvey, Anja Coleby, Nick Testoni and Brent Meyer. Ray Martin takes over as host on Nine’s A Current Affair.

24 January 1995: Lifestyle show Better Homes And Gardens (Seven) makes its debut, hosted by Noni Hazlehurst and John Jarratt with presenters Fiona Connelly, Belinda Jeffrey, Colm O’Leary and Tony Fragar.

[S882]

After Level 23, Nick Testoni would join Home and Away, in the role of Travis Nash, which he would appear from 1995 until 1999.

[ConnarO]

January 25 of 2001: The AFL announces that Seven has lost the TV Rights to the sport for the second time (To date) in 45 Years. The rights are handed to a consortium of Nine, 10 and Fox from 2002-2006.

[TelevisionAU]

25 January 1963: GTV9, Melbourne, in partnership with ABC carries the first television link from Adelaide for coverage of the Fourth Test cricket. The link was achieved by means of a “satellite” transmitter, located on the base of a DC-3 aircraft circling over the town of Serviceton, which will receive the television signal from Mt Lofty in Adelaide and then relay to a receiver on Mount Ben Nevis, near Ararat, then to Mount Buninyong, near Ballarat, and then to GTV9’s transmission tower on Mount Dandenong.

25 January 1976: Nine previews its new season of programming with a half-hour special, 1976: Have We Got A Year For You!, hosted by Bert Newton. Among the new shows being launched by Nine are Starsky And Hutch, Baretta, SWAT, Joe Forrester, Chopper One, The Invisible Man, Little House On The Prairie and Swiss Family Robinson.

25 January 1977: The end of an era as Homicide signs off after 12 years and 510 episodes — making it the longest running weekly drama series on Australian TV, a record it maintained until it was equalled by Blue Heelers‘ 510th episode in 2006. The final episode, titled The Last Task, featured guest appearances by Jacki Weaver, Cheryl Rixon, Jill Perryman and former cast member Leonard Teale.

25 January 1989: Network Ten launches its new soap, E Street, starring Penny Cook, Tony Martin, Vic Rooney, Cecily Polson, Warren Jones, Noel Hodda, Brooke ‘Mikey’ Anderson, Katrina Sedgwick, Paul Kelman, Alyssa-Jane Cook and Melanie Salomon.

25 January 1993: Mike Willesee takes over as host of A Current Affair, a role he held when the show first launched in 1971.

25 January 1998: Jade Gatt hosts Ten’s one-hour special, Loud Film Festival, as part of the Loud Media Festival of Youth Culture and Arts.

25 January 2000: Stan Grant hosts The Australian Of The Year Concert on Seven, from the Hordern Pavilion at Fox Studios. Performers include Vanessa Amorosi, Christine Anu, Belinda Emmett, The Seekers, Todd McKenney, Troy Cassar-Daly, Adam Brand and The Three Tenors, with Prime Minister John Howard announcing the Australian Of The Year.

25 January 2004: Sandra Sully and Bill Woods host The Australian Of The Year Awards on Ten. Later in the evening Celebrate! Australia Day Live features performances by Guy Sebastian, Shannon Noll, Bob Downe, Tripod and Marcia Hines from Parliament House, Canberra.

25 January 2007: Gretel Killeen hosts Australia Day Live ’07 from the lawns of Federation Mall, Canberra. Performers include The Whitlams, Guy Sebastian, Bobby Flynn and TV Rock.

25 January 2008: The Australia Day Concert (Nine) from the front of Parliament House, Canberra, includes performances from Ben Lee, Richard Clapton, Ricki Lee, Gotye and The Veronicas.

25 January 2010: Prime Minister Kevin Rudd joins Today hosts Karl Stefanovic and Lisa Wilkinson to announce the 50th Australian Of The Year award, telecast on Nine.

[Tane04]

@TelevisionAU

25 January 1977: The end of an era as Homicide signs off after 12 years and 510 episodes — making it the longest running weekly drama series on Australian TV, a record it maintained until it was equalled by Blue Heelers‘ 510th episode in 2006. The final episode, titled The Last Task, featured guest appearances by Jacki Weaver, Cheryl Rixon, Jill Perryman and former cast member Leonard Teale.

Homicide would come back into relevance thanks to the D-Generation’s 1988 special Degenocide.

[ElCapitanCranky]

@TelevisionAU

25 January 1963: GTV9, Melbourne, in partnership with ABC carries the first television link from Adelaide for coverage of the Fourth Test cricket. The link was achieved by means of a “satellite” transmitter, located on the base of a DC-3 aircraft circling over the town of Serviceton, which will receive the television signal from Mt Lofty in Adelaide and then relay to a receiver on Mount Ben Nevis, near Ararat, then to Mount Buninyong, near Ballarat, and then to GTV9’s transmission tower on Mount Dandenong.

That would’ve been fun for the people of Serviceton - wondering what the hell was that plane doing going round and round and round for hours.

[TelevisionAU]

@ElCapitanCranky

That would’ve been fun for the people of Serviceton - wondering what the hell was that plane doing going round and round and round for hours

they probably knew all about it and set up deck chairs on their verandahs to watch the plane circling around them for hours on end

[ElCapitanCranky]

@TelevisionAU

they probably knew all about it and set up deck chairs on their verandahs to watch the plane circling around them for hours on end

You’d hope they were told about it. Imagine if it happened today - all the conspiracy theorists would be having a field day.

[TelevisionAU]

26 January 1976: The premiere of the two-part ABC drama Arena, starring John Meillon, Ray Barrett, Julie Hamilton, Chelsea Brown, Vincent Ball and Brian Blain. Arena told the story of a Sydney lawyer who works for an advertising agency and becomes disillusioned after seeing the exploitation of his sporting hero in making a television commercial. He sets up his own agency to represent the interests of sporting celebrities.

26 January 1980: The premiere of Lawson’s Mates (ABC), a series of plays based on the stories of Henry Lawson and adapted for television by Cliff Green. Each of the six episodes contain between three and eight of Lawson’s stories. Featured in the series are George Mallaby, Frank Wilson, Sigrid Thornton, John Wood, Sean Myers, Frank Gallacher, Robbie McGregor, Caroline Gillmer, Maggie Millar, Monica Maughan, Tony Bonner and Charles ‘Bud’ Tingwell.

26 January 1981: ABC’s prime time line-up for Australia Day includes The Governor-General’s Australia Day Message, the Australia Day Live concert from Melbourne and the premiere of the six-part comedy And Here Comes Bucknuckle, starring Peter Curtin, Noni Hazlehurst, John Bluthal and Reg Evans. The series screens over six consecutive nights. Later, there is a repeat of the three-part 1980 drama Players To The Gallery, starring Peter Sumner, Kate Fitzpatrick and Richard Moir.

26 January 1982: Channel 0/28‘s special programs to commemorate Australia Day include Aussies From All Over, taking a look at Australians from various cultural backgrounds who are combining their traditional cultures to the Australian way of life; and the 1938 comedy, Tall Timbers.

26 January 1985: Australia Day 1985 includes the opening ceremony of the inaugural (and only) Australia Games, formed as part of Victoria’s 150th anniversary celebration. Over the next ten days the Australia Games included over 2000 competitors from 25 countries in 23 sports. Other Australian programming on the day includes the Australia Day Concert from Melbourne, The Governor-General’s Address To The Nation and movies The FJ Holden, On Our Selection and All At Sea.

26 January 1988: The ABC, Seven, Nine and Ten networks all present special coverage throughout the day of events and activities from across Australia as Australia Day commemorates the bicentennial of European settlement. SBS‘ coverage of the day includes a half-hour highlights program, The Twenty Sixth Of January 1988, a re-run of the 1982 series Women Of The Sun, and the 1940 movie 40,000 Horsemen.

26 January 1990: Today is broadcast live from Admiralty House, Sydney, for the presentation of the Australia Day Awards, including the announcement of Australian of the Year by Prime Minister Bob Hawke.

26 January 1991: ABC‘s Australia Day program line-up includes The Governor-General’s Australia Day Message followed by The Very Best Of Aunty Jack, the mockumentary Barbakiueria and the 1940 Australian movie classic Dad Rudd MP.

26 January 1995: The second stage in the launch of pay-TV provider Galaxy includes the expansion of Premier Sports Network to a 24-hour channel and the addition of international news channel ANBC.

26 January 1996: Tim Ferguson hosts the Australia Day Concert (Nine) from Sydney’s Domain, including performances by Christine Anu, Diesel, Past To Present, Kulcha and DIG.

26 January 1997: Andrew Daddo and Samantha Riley host Australia Day Live: A Gift To The Nation, from Darling Harbour on Seven. The 2-hour concert includes performances by the Sydney Symphony Orchestra, James Reyne, Richard Clapton, Ian Moss, The Seekers, Glenn Shorrock and CDB.

26 January 1998: Eddie McGuire, Simon O’Donnell and Darren Bennett host Nine‘s live coverage of the Superbowl XXXII from San Diego. The event is also covered live on pay-TV channel ESPN with an evening replay on Fox Sports.

26 January 2002: SBS debuts four-part Australian comedy series DIY TV, with each episode featuring a parody of different TV genre. The first episode, Video Dare, is a mock reality show where members of the public are encouraged to air their grievances against a neighbour, an ex or even the pizza delivery man. Once they do, a crew of workers go about avenging the wronged in “the most entertaining way possible,”