On This Day

TV History
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6 July 1973: ABC crosses to Wimbledon for live via satellite coverage of the Women’s Singles Final, followed the next night by the Men’s Singles Final.

6 July 1993: Game show Wheel Of Fortune clocks up its 2500th episode. Blood Brothers, a four-part series of Indigenous stories, debuts on SBS.

6 July 1997: SBS begins its coverage of the Tour de France, with a nightly half-hour highlights package at 7.30pm. The Nine Network premieres Kids, a factual series taking viewers behind the scenes at the Westmead Children’s Hospital in Sydney.

6 July 1999: Australia’s Funniest Home Video Show presents a 10th anniversary special, with host Kim Kilbey joined by two former hosts, Lisa Patrick and Jacki MacDonald, and a performance by guest star Raymond J Bartholomew (Brian Nankervis)

6 July 2003: SBS begins its coverage of the Tour de France, with a nightly half-hour highlights package at 6.00pm, repeated late at night.

6 July 2010: The Seven Network premieres Australia Versus with Tim Ross. Game show featuring comedians from the US, England and Ireland battling it out with Australian comedians.

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1993 Episode 2,500 (6-7-93)
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Was this a first?

Do we know when the first live sports broadcast was made direct (from Europe or US) to Australian television?

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I’d have to check but i think 1970 was the first Wimbledon live via satellite, but for many years it was just the finals that got shown live. IIRC it was the early 1980s before Nine started showing the whole two weeks.

Not sure what was first. ABC had live satellite coverage of the Indianapolis 500 in 1968, which would have been one of the first sport live via satellite.

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A rare wide shot of the SAS7 studio. Love it

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7 July 1982: The Mike Walsh Show celebrates its 2000th episode with a prime-time special featuring highlights of the program which began in 1973. Special guests include David Frost and Toni Lamond.

7 July 1983: The mini-series Women Of The Sun, broadcast on SBS in Sydney and Melbourne a year earlier, is re-run on ABC to a national audience. The four-part series is broadcast as two double-episodes over two Thursday nights.

7 July 1993: The Seven Network news program Eleven AM reaches its 4000th episode.

7 July 1998: Good Morning Australia with Bert Newton celebrates its 1500th episode. The show began as The Morning Show in 1992 and took on the Good Morning Australia name the following year. Network Ten screens the Kylie Minogue concert special Kylie — Intimate And Live, including behind-the-scenes footage of two months of preparation, planning and rehearsal for Minogue’s Australian tour.

7 July 2002: Seven premieres Quizmaster with Simon Reeve, where contestants compete for the title of Australia’s Ultimate Master of Quiz and a total prize pool of $1 million. SBS begins its coverage of the Tour de France, with a nightly half-hour highlights package, repeated late at night.

7 July 2004: The Nine Network presents coverage of Game Three of the Rugby League State Of Origin — NSW versus Queensland — from Telstra Stadium, Sydney.

7 July 2006: Network Ten premieres children’s drama series H2O: Just Add Water.

7 July 2007: SBS begins its coverage of the Tour de France, with live coverage each late night and a half-hour highlights package the following evening.

7 July 2010: The Nine Network presents coverage of Game Three of the Rugby League State Of Origin — NSW versus Queensland — from ANZ Stadium, Sydney.

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8 July 1982: Network Ten premieres weekly current affairs program The Reporters with host Steve Cosser and reporters Ken Burslem, Mary Delahunty, Scott Chisolm and Chris Hawkins.

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8 July 1992: ABC premieres mini-series The Leaving Of Liverpool, starring Kevin Jones, Christine Tremarco, John Hargreaves, Bill Hunter, Pamela Rabe and Colin Moody. SBS interview series Face The Press presents its 100th episode as three former Prime Ministers — Gough Whitlam, Malcolm Fraser and Bob Hawke — face questions about Australia in the 21st Century.

8 July 1997: Blue Heelers reaches its 150th episode.

8 July 2000: Richard Wilkins hosts the premiere of weekly half-hour series Before They Were Stars (Nine), featuring early work of famous Australians before they were stars, including Mel Gibson, Russell Crowe, Nicole Kidman and Elle Macpherson.

8 July 2001: Do Or Die, a two-part mini-series set in London and Sydney, premieres on the Seven Network. Starring Martin Sacks, William McInnes and Tom Long. SBS begins its coverage of the Tour de France, with a nightly half-hour highlights package at 6.00pm, repeated late at night.

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9 July 1970: ABC presents Project Australia, marking the launch of the microwave link between the east and west coasts of Australia, allowing the transmission of program material across the country.

9 July 1974: ABC in Melbourne premieres the six-part comedy series And The Big Men Fly, based on the stage play about a fictional Australian rules football team and its search for a star player. The series made its debut in Sydney on 28 July, and later in other states.

9 July 1979: The debut of the Seven Network‘s airport drama Skyways, starring Tony Bonner, Bruce Barry, Ken James, Tina Bursill, Brian James, Joanne Samuel, Deborah Coulls, Judy Morris and Bartholomew John. Screening back-to-back with Cop Shop two nights a week, it was axed after two years.

9 July 1997: SBS premieres four-part series An Australian Odyssey. British presenter Oz Clarke explores the history of Australian wine, visits famous wine areas and the influence of immigrants on Australia’s wine culture.

9 July 2001: The Nine Network premieres children’s drama series Outriders, starring Kate Raison, Abbie Cornish, Luise Helm, Oliver Ackland and Mark Furze.

9 July 2007: The Seven Network premieres factual series Surf Patrol, following the work of volunteer surf lifesavers.

9 July 2017: The Nine Network premieres Australian Ninja Warrior with hosts Rebecca Maddern and Ben Fordham.

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Enjoy Skyways, wow made back in 1979

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I remember reading about the East West microwave link well over 10 years ago. From all accounts on the ground, it was very hard going out on the Nullabor to get the towers built, the dish equipment installed and working, and to have the huts survive the summer heat, plus the dishes on the towers survive the strong winds. For the time it was a technical marvel to have it go most of the way across the country, up until it was all made redundant by fibre optic cable.

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10 July 1991: Bruce Spence, Hugo Weaving and American actress Rosanna Arquette star in the Australian-made telemovie Wendy Cracked A Walnut (ABC), telling the story of a housewife who yearns for the romance and passion she finds in pulp novels.

10 July 1992: ABC premieres a four-part documentary series, Track Record, tracing the history of Australian railways.

10 July 1997: The Nine Network premieres Moment Of Truth, a ten-part series following ordinary Australians at critical moments in their lives. Hosted by Jennifer Keyte.

10 July 1998: In Melbourne, Seven‘s coverage of the AFL State Of Origin — Allies versus Victoria — from Brisbane, is up against Nine‘s coverage of the EJ Whitten Legends Game — a charity match featuring retired football stars in honour of the late Ted Whitten.

10 July 1999: The Nine Network premieres The Mick Molloy Show, a comedy-variety show with Mick Molloy and regulars including Bob Franklin, Judith Lucy, Tony Martin and Pete Smith. The show was cancelled after eight episodes.

10 July 2003: ABC premieres comedy series Fat Cow Motel, starring Brendan Cowell and Kate Atkinson.

10 July 2004: ABC premieres nostalgia series The Way We Were, hosted by Mark Trevorrow. The first episode looks at how children’s television has changed over the years and features guest appearances by Nancy Cato (The Magic Circle Club, Adventure Island), Rob Morrison and Deane Hutton (The Curiosity Show) and Pat Lovell (Mr Squiggle).

YouTube: ticket2 malibu

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11 July 1992: ABC is the Australian broadcaster for the global television presentation of Puccini’s opera Tosca from the Church of Sant’Andrea della Valle, Rome — starting with Act One at 8.30pm, Act Two at 4.15am (interrupting Rage), with Act Three shown during the following day. The event is broadcast to 53 countries to an estimated audience of 1.5 billion.

11 July 1994: The Nine Network premieres game show Strike It Lucky with Ronnie Burns.

11 July 1995: The Derryn Hinch special No Means No (Nine) looks at rape and the legal system.

11 July 1997: SBS presents a Front Up special, Inside Out. The subject is Bobby Veen, who has been imprisoned for 22 of his 42 years. Interviewed from Parramatta Correctional Centre, he gives an insight into his childhood and adolescent years.

11 July 1998: The Nine Network presents the special Tina Arena: In Deep Live, featuring interviews and performances with Tina Arena while on tour in Australia and on the eve of the launch of her album in the US.

11 July 2000: The Nine Network presents Somebody’s Mother, a documentary about ovarian cancer as seen through the eyes of a recently diagnosed patient and presented by Tracey Curro, whose mother died of the disease.

11 July 2006: The Nine Network premieres reality series Torvill And Dean Dancing On Ice, featuring contestants Lara Bingle, Jules Lund, Giaan Rooney, Michael Slater, Karl Stefanovic, Jake Wall, Trisha Broadbridge, Annalise Braakensiek, Dermott Brereton and Jackie Kelly. Hosted by Jamie Durie and Sami Lukis.

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12 July 1965: Adelaide’s third commercial channel SAS10 was due to open on this day, but a last minute change to the station’s programming policy saw the launch postponed by two weeks.

12 July 1995: The debut of the Film Australia documentary series Celluloid Heroes (ABC) looks at Australia’s fledgling film industry at the turn of the 20th century, concluding with the 1927 Royal Commission into the Australian Film Industry and the introduction of sound.

12 July 2006: The Nine Network premieres documentary series Suspicious Minds, looking at real-life forensic cases. Narrated by Colin Friels. SBS premieres six-part factual series Help, following the work of ambulance officers and paramedics, and documentary series Two Of Us, based on the Sydney Morning Herald/The Age magazine feature of the same name. The first episode of Two Of Us featured former TV presenter Donnie Sutherland and friend, greyhound trainer Don McMillan.

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13 July 1962: New TV Station — DDQ10, Toowoomba, Queensland

13 July 1977: The premiere episode of the 0-10 Network drama Hotel Story. The series had controversially been axed prior to any episodes going to air and with only seven episodes completed. With the premature cancellation of the show generating media coverage, Melbourne’s ATV0 proceeded to rush the completed handful of episodes to air, leaving viewers to see for themselves what all the fuss was about.

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YouTube: 965886

13 July 1985: ABC presents Oz For Africa, the Australian component of the worldwide Live Aid concerts. The ABC telecast is in co-operation with the Seven Network, Telecom Australia and the Overseas Telecommunications Commission.

13 July 1992: ABC premieres sketch comedy series Kittson, Fahey featuring comedians Jean Kittson (The Big Gig, Let The Blood Run Free) and Maryanne Fahey (The Comedy Company).

13 July 1994: The Seven Network premieres two-part mini-series The Battlers, starring Gary Sweet, Jacqueline McKenzie, Marcus Graham and Peter Stonham. World Series Debating (ABC) covers the topic ‘That Beauty Is Better Than Brains’, featuring Wendy Harmer, Tim Ferguson, Margaret Scott, Jean Kittson, Ita Buttrose and Lex Marinos.

13 July 2003: The Seven Network debuts game show Deal Or No Deal. Hosted by Andrew O’Keefe, the show begins as a weekly program before later being adapted to a weeknight format.

13 July 2007: National Indigenous Television (NITV) begins transmission via the Optus satellite platform, covering remote and central Australia.

13 July 2009: Network Ten presents the Melbourne International Comedy Festival Debate — ‘That Money is The Root Of All Evil’ — featuring Paul McDermott, Arj Barker, Stephen K Amos, Rich Hall, Janeane Garofalo and Jason Byrne.

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So much for Seven promoting the top prize of $2,000,000, that figure actually ended up being the first one ever knocked out in the show’s history.

Though in the second episode, a contestant named Nathan Cochrane took home $515,000 - the highest prize ever won on the show and which would not have been possible to break after the top prize was downgraded to $200,000 for the 2004 reformat of the show.

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YouTube: Petarkco’s Media Archive

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14 July 1980: Sale Of The Century, a remake of the 1970s Great Temptation hosted by Tony Barber and Victoria Nicolls, starts on Nine. A huge ratings success, the show continued through to 2001.

14 July 1991: Ten in Melbourne presents daytime coverage of its annual Deafness Appeal Telethon, with live crosses during Video Hits and two-hour presentation in the afternoon, featuring personalities from Network Ten programs and Melbourne radio station 3AW.

14 July 1993: Wendy Harmer, Robyn Archer, Andrew Denton, Hugh Lunn, Ruth Ostrow and Ignatius Jones feature in World Series Debating — “That Men Deserve More Respect”.

14 July 1996: ABC premieres children’s series Sun On The Stubble, the story of a youth from a German immigrant family growing up in a small wheat farming community in South Australia during the 1930s. Starring Jamie Croft.

14 July 2002: Network Ten airs the special Perfect Match: Was There Any Romance?, paying tribute to the popular dating game show that ran from 1984 to 1989 and revisiting some of the show’s former contestants. Hosted by Amanda Keller with former Perfect Match presenters Greg Evans, Debbie Newsome, Tiffany Lamb and Kerrie Friend and their robotic matchmaker, Dexter.

14 July 2009: The Seven Network premieres Air Ways, a factual series about the day-to-day running of Tiger Airways.

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15 July 1990: Network Ten’s The Comedy Company returns after a half-year break. The revamped show features a number of new cast members but is not renewed at the end of the year.

15 July 1991: Seven launches a new afternoon quiz show, Blockbusters, hosted by Michael Pope. The Doug Anthony All Stars make their return to TV in a new comedy series, DAAS Kapital.

15 July 1992: The Nine Network presents the special Ray Martin With Paul Hogan, featuring footage from Paul Hogan’s early career including his commentaries on the original A Current Affair in the 1970s and his later comedy specials.

15 July 2001: ABC premieres Sunday morning current affairs discussion program Insiders, hosted by Barrie Cassidy.

15 July 2008: ABC premieres four-part documentary series Family Fortunes. The series looks at how reversals in fortune have affected Australian families. The first episode focuses on the family of the late Peter Brock and how his death not only affected their daily lives but also how his disorganised financial affairs are making it difficult for them to move forward.

15 July 2009: The Nine Network presents coverage of Game Three of the Rugby League State Of Origin — Queensland versus NSW — from Suncorp Stadium, Brisbane.

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About to celebrate 25 years on air.

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16 July 1956: Melbourne’s HSV7 commences its first test transmissions ahead of its official launch in November. The test transmissions, which include test patterns and short documentary films, are set for 3.00-5.00pm Mondays, Wednesdays, Fridays; 7.00-9.00pm Tuesdays and Thursdays, and 10.00am-12.00pm on Saturdays.

16 July 1976: Bluey, the police drama starring Lucky Grills as Detective Sargeant ‘Bluey’ Hills, debuts on ATN7, Sydney. Brisbane followed on 20 July and Melbourne, where it was filmed, on 2 August. The series was not renewed beyond its first season but gained a cult following almost 20 years later when episodes were comically re-dubbed as Bargearse for The Late Show.

16 July 1990: Sale Of The Century presents the first in the week-long Celebrity Challenge, commemorating the show’s tenth anniversary. Taking part in the challenge include Bert Newton, Andrew Gaze, Simon O’Donnell, Peta Toppano, Gough Whitlam, Lisa Curry, Cameron Daddo, George Negus and Jennifer Byrne.

16 July 2001: The debut of Melbourne-based apartment drama The Secret Life Of Us, beginning as a two-hour double episode, follows the finale of the first series of Big Brother Australia.

16 July 2003: The Nine Network presents coverage of Game Three of the Rugby League State Of Origin — Queensland versus NSW — from Suncorp Stadium, Brisbane.

16 July 2008: SBS premieres mY Generation, a six-part series which puts Australian youth under the microscope to reveal what they really think and feel about the big issues: religion, politics, adulthood, housing and community engagement.

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