so did I, but I think one of the reasons the Broadcasting Authority at the time (ABA?) deemed it unworthy was because the character did not have a defined gender. These days that would probably be seen as a plus but in 1992 it, and other concerns, were enough to get it de-classified from the “P” rating. Instead of fixing the show, Seven just axed it entirely and replaced it with The Book Place, also produced at SAS.
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In this day and age, if this mascot was being created today, it would be called Fun Cat and have a slimmer figure given the presence of social media and bullying over “fat” kids and the awareness of childhood obesity.
I don’t know about that. We’ve almost done a full 360 on the issue. Now fat is to be embraced and redesigning the fat out of characters could be deemed as a form of fat shaming. He may well survive through this period of change!
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Still confused! Not the best attempt at explaining it all, I feel.
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Fat Cat is fine as long as they embrace it, and “they” celebrate their obesity.
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Growing up in Melbourne I was familiar with “Brian Told Me” and knew Sydney also had a Brian and it was used there. I never realised there was also a “Nine Told Me” for other markets
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In Perth, we had
Terry (Willesee) told me
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and Russell Told Me…
YouTube: MRGTV
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I don’t think regional networks ran a variation on that…
I know NBN didn’t - though I think “Ray (Dinneen) told me” would have worked well for them since he was similarly revered in Newcastle as Hendo was in Sydney.
WIN maybe, as they also ran a variation on the “Who’s Who Of News” that Nine also ran,
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Mary told me? I only knew of the Brian and Nine versions. I should be noted WIN rebroadcast Nine’s bulletins after their local ones so it is not strange that WIN rebroadcast many of Nine’s campaigns in tandem with their own.
That was my Q, whether WIN did or not…
Here is a video which shows Who’s Who promos for Tas TV, Vic TV plus WIN in NSW (Plus Vic & Tas after the takeover)
Win Whos Who Of News Promos - YouTube
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Some interesting vision of Prime Television just prior to launching across Victoria, taken from test transmissions from AMV43 Goulburn Valley (Shepparton) and AMV32 Bendigo in February 1992.
And the intro from the first edition of Southern Cross Eyewitness News, 20 January 1992, which aired across the aggregated market as “national news” at 6.30pm. Southern Cross still produced 6.00pm regional news in Bendigo and Gippsland, and aired alternative programming at 6.00pm in other markets.
YouTube: RichoBCV
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I had no idea Prime conducted such test transmissions. I had the TV tuned to Prime and Capital often in the lead up to aggregation in southern NSW and don’t recall seeing anything like that.
Nice cover up on the Eyewitness News opener. Better than what WIN ever managed.
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That’s my favourite Channel 10 news theme and the very cheap looking Ten logo cover up . There is a video online of the final bulletin before the news was axed and quite an informative report on aggregation. The format of the bulletin was different compared to that of most bulletins in regional areas as it had a magazine style but maybe I am getting confused with a similar program or maybe it was a weekly program I didn’t live in Victoria at the time.
Southern Cross changed their local news a number of times. I believe that by the time it ended in May 1994 it was a statewide “regional” bulletin at 6.00, airing after the relay of the 5.00 news hour from Ten. And yes it had detailed report on aggregation and the future of regional television, or lack thereof.
YouTube: Regional TV Australia Web Project
You may also be potentially thinking of Weeknights that ran on Southern Cross Ten from 2011 to 2015 as a local news program aired in the Shepparton region. It was presented on location around the local area and was probably more of a magazine format than a regular news bulletin.
I was checking Southern Cross in Shepparton leading up to the launch there on 1 January 1992 and all I remember was them having the BCV-GLV test pattern with a banner text “Welcome to Southern Cross. Shepparton UHF 46”. Interesting to see that Prime was letting through some programming as “test programming”.
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All I remember seeing in Newcastle on Prime and NRTV were the test patterns, nothing else.
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Prime Shepparton had a relay of its AMV4 Albury service (they were still on channel 4 there then!) on its test transmissions complete with Albury ads, community service announcements and local news. They commenced test transmission in Shepparton on February 14, 1992.
I remember a few days before hand a basic swipe test pattern appeared.
It was a very basic test pattern
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It was the end of the local news there but that set certainly had a long life on the other side of Bass Strait in the Tas bulletins - years as blue and then a change to red during one of the many refreshes.
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