Random TV History

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People won’t find out the ABC is running programming just from seeing the TV Guide in a newspaper - it makes sense for them to promote their product - and like Cinemas in the 90s or online today - you have to go to where the eyeballs are.

If you make programming and then don’t let the potential audience for it know it exists - you’ve wasted money on that programming.

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I think the amount of external advertising the ABC does nowadays, whether it be through google or whoever, is still a small amount compared to what it used to do. Back in the '80s and '90s there’d be regular ads in the major capital city newspapers, ads in TV Week program guides, advertising ABC TV programs on commercial radio, and advertising ABC radio stations on commercial TV. Plus any other external media like cinema ads, billboards, etc. The cost must have been immense. It would have amounted surely to more than the equivalent of $2m it’s spending on online advertising these days.

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Managed to find this episode of the short-lived Seven game show The Master from 2006.

From the commentary I read about this video this was a slower version of The Chase and that this show was somewhat of an indirect prequel to it. The final round was also a slower version of the final round as seen on The Weakest Link.

After the show was yanked from Seven’s schedule in August 2006, the remaining episodes were shown on Monday nights at 7:30pm during the 2006-07 non-ratings season.

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… well all I can say is that I was in senior management at the ABC during that period and saw the actual spend … it was not “immense” …

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Please don’t take this the wrong way, but it would appear through your valuable anecdotes you’ve been through many television and a few radio stations. How long on average would you stay in one role for before moving on?

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… longest time five and a half years … shortest time four months (but admittedly that was between two other longer gigs to fill in the time :grin:) … I guess the average comes down to around three years …

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Pulled from the airways after just a single episode!

The header which the 7 News Vault channel probably brings back plenty of memories for some members here:

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Is that a legit channel or just some random?

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I’m 99% sure it’s an official Seven Network channel. As far as I can tell, it was previously used for Today Tonight.

Some random wouldn’t go as far as linking to the Seven News/7Plus websites or insert their own watermark/endtag on the clips. Besides, the few clips that are up do appear to be footage from broadcast tapes (probably BetacamSP?) rather than off-air recordings.

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Wouldn’t they? It wouldn’t be the first time someone has tried to imitate an official media outlet online and these days anyone has the tools (and the patience) to insert endtags, watermarks, etc.

You’re probably right but I think it’s fair to be sceptical, too.

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Something is confusing me about the image at the 0:35 mark. Was the ABC’s 7 p.m. news really known as Channel 2 News back then? Or was that a change that was planned and then abandoned? Or did the creators of this promo just have a vivid imagination?

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I think it was just for the purpose of the ad, identifying it with what most people were probably calling it, anyway. I don’t recall the bulletin ever being properly known as Channel 2 News.

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Port Arthur Massacre Coverage from 1996. Featuring one of the earliest footage of Sunrise as an Early News Bulletin. Hosted by Peter Ford and Chris Bath.

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I think that’s the earliest “do you remember where you were when you heard the news” event that I can recall. I was loading the trailer with my Dad getting ready to go to the tip and there was a news report on the ABC radio about “reports of gunfire occurring south of Hobart at Port Arthur historic site” and then there wasn’t much more said and the AFL was back on. Later in the afternoon it was all over the news and for weeks afterwards in the Tasmanian news.
I’ve only been to Port Arthur once in my life and it’s hard to go to now, it’s become synonomous with that event rather than the 200 years of history prior.

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Ugh, please don’t read the comments. Anything with ‘Port Arthur’ in the title always draws in the nutters or NRA bots who seem to immediately jump on the comments section of Port Arthur videos as soon as they’re uploaded.

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I’ve found a tape with one hour of TVSN goodness from 1999

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Nice find!

Was that recorded from FOXTEL, as I don’t recall TV shopping being on free to air back then (except on Prime, who “pioneered” overnight TV shopping on FTA).

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I think the Prime overnight shopping was actually a relay of TVSN. I had the (mis)fortune of stumbling on Prime one late night in Canberra many years ago and found myself watching the TVSN People’s Choice Awards, awarding the various presenters and products from TVSN! It was a very niche awards!

IIRC, one of the regional Ten affiliates (Ten Qld comes to mind) also relayed TVSN on weekday mornings instead of relaying Good Morning Australia from Ten.

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