Was the 5:30 timeslot because they were doing it live, with the Ballarat news at 6pm live? Or was Vic everywhere at 5:30 at the time rather than delaying Nine to 6:30?
Certainly just after aggregation there was the landrush to see what worked.
Interestingly in that article was that Vic Television had a Canberra bureau, not just relying on Nine - or indeed WIN.
they moved VIC News to 5.30 for everywhere so that they could run National Nine News live at 6.00 (and ACA at 6.30) rather than on delay. It mustn’t have been a hit because IIRC they soon reverted back to local news at 6.00, Nine News at 6.30 and ACA 7.00.
Prime tried something similar in NSW in 1996, but that failed, even in their heritage markets like Tamworth.
It only lasted three months and was moved back to 6pm everywhere except Albury-Wodonga. Apparently the original move was because Seven wanted prime time exposure for Today Tonight in regional areas (IIRC).
I feel like if you’re gonna spend the money to run a local news service you want it at the premium time of 6 rather than possibly getting lost at 5:30. It allowed a nice flow on from those that liked watching Ten News to flick across at the end of the bulletin.
*cough *cough WIN.
Though I think WIN were forced into moving local news to 5.30 under the current affiliation deal in return for getting the Nine programming back. In that Nine wanted it’s programming from 6pm unaltered, so no more All Australian News at late night either.
And similarly that quality has dropped because it’s in a less desirable timeslot.
Coverage from the Newcastle Herald of Prime’s foray into a full local news bulletin.
First aired at 6pm Monday 8 February 1993… prior to then, Prime’s effort was a 5 minute update at 6.25pm update Mon-Sat
This ad below made regular appearances in the paper at the time
But sadly, most of the coverage I came across were about cuts or closures..
Even the axing of the Ten North Coast bulletin got some coverage in the ‘Newcastle Herald’ in May 1995.
Last bulletin was aired Thursday 18 May and the bulletin got cancelled the following day (eerily similar to how Prime cancelled theirs). This article from Saturday 20 May.
And this article from Friday 26 May.
IIRC they were still producing Falcons NBL coverage at the time.
I know television is a business but the then Prime managing director was right about it being a mistake. It might have cost more, but 10 should have retained local news for northern NSW even as a half hour format at 6pm following the then Ten Eyewitness News.
The article claimed the top rating Townsville produced bulletin woulc be retained. This bulletin was dumped some years later. This bulletin could have been dine similarly. I would have led with national stories first segment, local stories second segment, local and national stories together, then weather. To cut costs, one host instead of 2 ( in TNQ territory)
This one was very sad for me.. as I saw the last few minutes of the very last Prime Local News bulletin on Thursday 7 June 2001. Brett Lavaring mistakenly saying “This has been a KOFM News update” amongst his last few words on Newcastle TV. No one here saw this coming even though ratings had struggled for years
Coverage from the ‘Newcastle Herald’ Sat 9 June.
An editorial piece
This ratings report from 1995 showed how Prime and NRTV/Ten struggled to get any real foothold in the Newcastle market, with only the occasional 7 / 10 program making the Top 15 .. these shares didn’t change much at all during the 90s or even the 00s.
Incumbency and a superior VHF signal no doubt helped NBN stay at the top.
And the footy!
Getting the Nine affiliation along with the football was probably the biggest thing for them.. had NBN been saddled with the Ten affiliation, I think they would have gone the same way as Capital at some point.
No doubt it would have been a disaster.
Also when it came to so called local news. From the limited amount of NRTV news i watched back in the day it was basically still Coffs harbour/North Coast centric. But i guess people watching NBN in those areas felt the same way.
It probably would have taken a lot longer for NBN Television to axe local news broadcasts than Ten Northern NSW did.
Why Would Ten Capital News In Canberra Be Axed By Southern Cross Broadcasting In 2001?
money
Anybody Else Know Why?
And ratings, I recall reading WIN News was outrating the Ten Capital News At Six around that time (2000-01).
Edit: Even by 1995, the 6pm news on Capital was losing out to WIN and/or Prime, this report from the Canberra Times (via Trove) 24 July 1995.
As i posted in the On This Day thread that today marked 40 Years since Live Aid and Oz For Africa. I was only 5 at the time so i have no memory of it. I have heard that ABC broadcast it but am curious about the broadcast.
