I assume the feed from Adelaide was a microwave link, or was it some sort of long-distance/SABRE aerial “repeater”? Evidently dirty, nonetheless, so any live relays or programs recorded up the line would be complete with metro PRGs. That said, some programs appear to have been clean-fed - and I suppose a fair amount arrived on tape?
… nope, simple TV antenna … most of Pirie could receive Adelaide stations …
… in those days mostly film … but yes increasingly on tape … one of the operational skills required was to stop at the end of a lo-band b&w program like Homicide and in 30 seconds stop the heads, take both reels off the machine, switch to hi-band and load and roll a 30 second colour commercial …
Then what was the reasoning not putting in Adelaide repeater stations in Port Pirie? Aside from the Gulf having its own voice yadda yadda yada.
… same as Wollongong and Newcastle in NSW; Gold & Sunshine Coasts in Queensland; Ballarat in Victoria …
Ah…right. Didn’t think of that…
but only east Ballarat can get Melbourne stations
Antenna installations in Port Pirie for Adelaide reception - still a lot around
Now that was true from my viewing.
Parts of Maitland and Raymond Tce still have these installations for ether Sydney or Newcastle.
Which would be useless for anything except 10 Shake and 9Rush.
Does anyone have any information about the history of Seven Local News? I could only find a 1998 Sunshine Coast edition, and nothing else.
you might have to be a bit more specific
I miss that version of the news theme.
Note it has not always been called Seven, it was Sunshine Television until Seven bought the stations out in the ‘90s.
… and it started as WBQ8 in 1965 until it established a translator in Nambour in 1975 at which time it became SEQ … “Sunshine Television” was originally a national marketing campaign in partnership with RTQ7 Rockhampton called “Sunshine Telly” … it was only after that that it became Sunshine Television …
Now that I did a bit more scavenging, I figure that by the time Seven had already bought STQ for a few years, there were bulletins for the Sunshine Coast, Wide Bay and Mackay/Whitsundays regions and the Cairns/Townsville bulletins weren’t introduced until the new millenia
Also, that opener’s identical to the one BTQ7 used back in the 90s for a while before adopting the sunset-Story Bridge shot but it shouldn’t be surprising since before being purchased by 7 they were already broadcasting Ch7 programs
Some advertising from Sunshine Television Network circa 1991
Source: Cairns Post TV Guide
A pamphlet with the month’s program guide, an ad for the news and a list of transmitters across the aggregated market…
I’m not sure why Gympie/Toza Hill required 3 frequencies – Channels 1, 8 and 69?
I’m sure Skase owned the station at one stage in the late ‘80s so their link to Seven definitely was longer than Seven’s ownership.
Correct. Skase took over MVQ6 (“Tropical Television”) Mackay in 1987 and had also owned SEQ8 from sometime in the 1980s (I don’t have the year). At the time he owned TVQ0 in Brisbane.
But when he sold TVQ0 and bought the Seven Network stations, that then gave MVQ/SEQ a link to the Seven Network. When Skase’s Qintex empire collapsed, MVQ/SEQ was then sold off to Gosford Communications before Seven bought it out in 1995.