On This Day

[TelevisionAU]

13 March 1972: Forever branded as ‘the night Australian television lost its virginity’ as Number 96 makes its debut.

13 March 1992: The Seven Network presents the 34th annual TV Week Logie Awards, live from the Radisson President Hotel, Melbourne. Special international guests include John Stamos, Dennis Waterman and Diana Ross joining local stars including Steve Vizard, Jana Wendt, Ray Martin, Daryl Somers, Jo Bailey, Mary Coustas, Nicolle Dickson, Nick Giannopoulos, Rebecca Gibney, Elizabeth Hayes, Sophie Lee, Gina Riley, Bruce Samazan, Jennifer Keyte, Magda Szubanski and Kym Wilson.

13 March 1993: The evening is dominated by coverage of the Federal Election results. Andrew Olle and Kerry O’Brien host The Verdict (ABC) with analysis by Andrew Peacock, Gareth Evans, Bob McMullin, Peter Costello and Andrew Denton. ABC’s coverage is followed by Call Of The Board, providing a seat-by-seat analysis of the election. Judgement Day (Nine) is hosted by Ray Martin with commentators Laurie Oakes, Senator Graham Richardson, Michael Kroger and Bob Hawke. Network Ten has five-minute election updates throughout the evening with a one-hour report, Election ’93, at 10.30pm. With live coverage of the semi-final match in the Foster’s Cup, Seven’s election coverage is limited to a half-hour report, Poll ’93, from 11.00pm.

13 March 2000: The debut of Seven‘s new morning show The Morning Shift, with Lisa Wilkinson.

13 March 2000: To commemorate the anniversary of the debut of Number 96 (as above), Foxtel channel TV1 begins a three- week season of selected episodes from the hit series of the ’70s, introduced by Andrew Mercado.

13 March 2010: ABC begins its daily coverage of the X Paralympic Winter Games, from Vancouver, Canada. Coverage consists of a half-hour package of highlights at 6.30pm each night, repeated at around 11.30pm.

[TelevisionAU]

Champagne Comedy (@tlschampagne.bsky.social)

Source: TV Week

[Tane04]

We postponed our graduation…

[TelevisionAU]

14 March 1980: Bert Newton hosts the 22nd annual TV Week Logie Awards from the Hilton Hotel, Melbourne. Daytime TV host Mike Walsh won the Gold Logie for Most Popular Personality On Australian Television.

14 March 1992: ABC debuts current affairs program Foreign Correspondent, hosted by George Negus, taking a look at the news behind some of the week’s major world events, including reports from correspondents around the world.

14 March 2004: Pay TV operator Foxtel launches its digital service, offering over 100 channels including near video-on-demand and improved picture quality including many programs in widescreen.

[IanG]

I was down there for it. Got to go onto the field after the match for the Katy Perry performance.

[TelevisionAU]

15 March 1979: ABC debuts ten-part documentary series Marque: A Hundred Years Of Motoring, presented by Peter Wherrett and produced by Andrew Lloyd James.

15 March 1981: The debut of the ABC period drama Outbreak Of Love, starring Rowena Wallace, Tony Bonner, Sigrid Thornton, Jackie Woodburne, Larry Held, Ilona Rodgers, Cornelia Frances, Susannah Fowle, Lewis FitzGerald, Val Lehman, Brendon Lunney and Frank Thring. The series, set in Melbourne in 1913, is based on the novel by Martin Boyd.

15 March 1991: Daryl Somers hosts the 33rd annual TV Week Logie Awards from Melbourne’s World Congress Centre and broadcast nationally through the Nine Network.

15 March 1994: Former ABC host Andrew Denton makes his long-awaited debut on Seven with his new late night show, Denton.

15 March 2003: Eddie McGuire, Dennis Cometti, Garry Lyon and Dermott Brereton host Nine‘s coverage of the AFL Wizard Cup Grand Final from Telstra Dome, Melbourne.

15 March 2006: Ray Martin and Liz Hayes host Nine’s coverage of the Opening Ceremony of the XVIII Commonwealth Games from Melbourne. Daily coverage of Games competition begins the following day on Nine and seven dedicated channels via Fox Sports.

15 March 2009: ABC debuts two-part docu-drama Rogue Nation, covering the stories from the early years of Australian colonialism. Historian Michael Cathcart is joined by a cast including John Wood, John Gregg, Simon Chilvers, Tony Llewellyn-Jones, Geoff Morrell, Abe Forsythe, Les Hill, Heather Mitchell, Peter O’Brien and Wayne Pygram.

[JohnsonTV]

@TelevisionAU

15 March 2006: Ray Martin and Liz Hayes host Nine’s coverage of the Opening Ceremony of the XVIII Commonwealth Games from Melbourne.

Delta Goodrem mentioned the anniversary on her Instagram today, as she performed Together We Are One at the opening ceremony.

https://www.instagram.com/p/DV5RgEyjh_R/

[BigVic]

@TelevisionAU

15 March 2006: Ray Martin and Liz Hayes host Nine’s coverage of the Opening Ceremony of the XVIII Commonwealth Games from Melbourne. Daily coverage of Games competition begins the following day on Nine and seven dedicated channels via Fox Sports.

15

Nine won the rights in 1997 but offloaded the Manchester 2002 Games to Seven so they can air the AFL

[JohnsonTV]

^ that’s the first time I read that Nine initially won the TV rights to the 2002 Commonwealth Games.

[BigVic]

@JohnsonTV

that’s the first time I read that Nine initially won the TV rights to the 2002 Commonwealth Games

They had a 3 Games package which was cut to 2 out of 3 Games to pay for their AFL rights. 7 aired the Manchester 2002 Games and 9 instead aired the 1998 Commonwealth Games in Malaysia and 2006 Commonwealth Games in Melbourne

[TelevisionAU]

16 March 1979: Bert Newton hosts the 21st annual TV Week Logie Awards, telecast on the Nine Network from the Hilton Hotel in Melbourne. Special overseas guests include Robin Williams (Mork And Mindy), Susan Seaforth and Bill Hayes (Days Of Our Lives), Lauren Tewes (The Love Boat), Yootha Joyce and Brian Murphy (George And Mildred) and championship boxer Muhammad Ali.

16 March 1986: SBS begins transmission in Perth and Hobart — completing the broadcaster’s roll-out into every state capital city.

16 March 1991: Seven covers the Grand Final of the AFL pre-season Foster’s Cup, live from AFL Park, Waverley.

16 March 1996: The 90-minute special The Crawford Story (Nine) presents a nostalgic look at the shows to come from Crawford Productions, led by Hector and Dorothy Crawford.

16 March 1998: Elle McFeast (Libbi Gorr) launches her new chat show McFeast Live on ABC. The debut episode sparked controversy with the guest appearance by notorious underworld figure and convicted criminal Mark ‘Chopper’ Read, whose graphic retelling of his real-life crimes as “comedy” sparked condemnation from both inside and out of the ABC.

16 March 2003: Network Ten airs Blackjack, the first in a series of telemovies, co-written by Shaun Micallef and Gary McCaffrie and starring Colin Friels.

[ElCapitanCranky]

@TelevisionAU

16 March 1996: The 90-minute special The Crawford Story (Nine) presents a nostalgic look at the shows to come from Crawford Productions, led by Hector and Dorothy Crawford.

A nod no doubt to WIN, the owners of Crawfords?

[TelevisionAU]

@ElCapitanCranky

A nod no doubt to WIN, the owners of Crawfords?

It could have been a WIN production?? It was a fairly basic production, not too many bells and whistles, and it was buried to air on a Saturday night. I have a VHS recording of the show somewhere, just nothing to play it on.

[IanG]

17 March 1996: Sri Lanka defeat Australia in the 1996 Cricket World Cup Final in Lahore Pakistan. Telecast on Channel 9.
End if a controversial season

[TelevisionAU]

17 March 1962: New TV Station — CBN8, Orange, New South Wales.

17 March 1974: ABC debuts Marion, a four-part series of self-contained dramas centred around Marion Richards (Helen Morse), a 21-year-old teacher facing her first posting, in a country Victorian town, during World War II. The series also features John Frawley, Kerry Armstrong, Jacqui Gordon, Elspeth Ballantyne, Patsy King, John Clayton, Ian Smith, Maurie Fields, Marty Fields, Sally Conabere, Kerry Dwyer, Gus Mercurio and Tony Bonner.

17 March 1989: Bert Newton hosts the 31st annual TV Week Logie Awards, held at Melbourne’s Hyatt On Collins. The awards are being broadcast on the Seven Network for the first time, and marks Newton’s return to hosting the awards after five years and to Seven after 30 years.

17 March 1991: ABC debuts Sunday morning children’s program, Couch Potato With Grant Piro.

17 March 1993: ABC debuts the new youth-oriented current affairs program Attitude, hosted by Samantha Butler.

17 March 2003: Seven launches its new panel show The Chat Room, featuring Matt Tilley, Amanda Keller, Peter Berner, Greg Fleet and Tracy Bartram. On the same night, ABC debuts interview series Enough Rope With Andrew Denton.

17 March 2010: ABC2 Live Presents Bliss — a live broadcast of the new Australian opera and adaptation of Peter Carey’s award-winning first novel. Includes backstage coverage with Jennifer Byrne and Chris Taylor.

[MossPickle]

18 March 1985 - The first episode of iconic Aussie soap Neighbours airs on the Seven Network. It would be axed six months later before the modern revival by Network Ten

[craigj77]

@TelevisionAU

17 March 2003: Seven launches its new panel show The Chat Room, featuring Matt Tilley, Amanda Keller, Peter Berner, Greg Fleet and Tracy Bartram. On the same night, ABC debuts interview series Enough Rope With Andrew Denton.

One of a slew of awful panel shows 7 tried in the early 2000’s.

[JohnsonTV]

@TelevisionAU

17 March 1993: ABC debuts the new youth-oriented current affairs program Attitude, hosted by Samantha Butler.

Could Attitude be considered a teenage version of Behind the News?

[Tane04]

[TelevisionAU]

20 March 1970: Bert Newton hosts the TV Week Logie Awards, telecast live from the Southern Cross Hotel, Melbourne. Overseas guests include British actor Peter Wyngarde and American actors Peter Graves and Robert Young. Barry Crocker (Barry Crocker’s The Sound Of Music) and Maggie Tabberer (Maggie) won the Gold Logies for Most Popular Male and Female Personality, and a special Gold Logie was awarded to the Apollo 11 team for “providing TV’s greatest moment” with the moon landing.

20 March 1972: Brisbane BTQ7’s The Big News expands to a one-hour format — with the station claiming it to be Australia’s first one-hour newscast.

20 March 1978: Melbourne’s ATV0 expands its News At Six to become a one-hour bulletin. Newsreader is Bruce Mansfield, with sports presenters Clem Dimsey and Rob Astbury and football reports by Ron Barassi.

20 March 1989: The Seven Network launches its new early afternoon line-up — The Bert Newton Show and soapie The Power, The Passion.

20 March 1993: The AFL pre-season Foster’s Cup comes to a close with the Grand Final on Seven, and SBS has live coverage of the Grand Final of the World Youth Championships for the FIFA/Coca-Cola Cup. The World Youth Championships Grand Final is also replayed on ABC later in the evening.

YouTube: spikeyroberto

20 March 1995: The two-hour special Neighbours 10th Anniversary (Ten) celebrates Australia’s most successful drama series, featuring original cast members Anne Haddy and Stefan Dennis and fellow castmates including Anne Charleston and Melissa Bell.