General TV History

Let’s fired up by some overseas stuff, #myfriends…:

A closedown of a station in Argentina, but the most WTF thangs is when the announcer said that transmissions would began at… 6PM.

And note thats '89, #myfriends.

RIP Canal 8 MDP (1960-2018)

The ATN7 Today appears to have been a mix of news and cartoons. Maybe Nine didn’t regard it as a proper news program, or they just forgot about a program that was on about ten years before.

Or given the Women’s Weekly was a 9 publication they probably conveniently “forgot” about 7’s earlier show :wink:

3 Likes

ABC TV shows on dvd promo

2 Likes

I have a copy of TV Guia, which listed Buenos Aires channels from around the same time period…at that time, BA stations closed down on weekdays between 2:00 and 6:00pm (programs aired roughly noon to midnight, apart from the closedown; programs aired straight through on weekends).

1 Like

I’ve made contact with the guy who designed the New Millennium Television ident and package for Nine in 1999. I’m going to interview him mostly for my own interests because it’s kind of what got me into TV presentation all those years ago.

Does anyone here have any questions they’d like me to ask him?

1 Like

I don’t know if he’d still know/remember this (since we are talking almost 20 years ago now of course), but maybe when the graphics were first used on TV? :slight_smile:

My best guess to date is that the on-air debut was most likely sometime between the 5th and 8th of February 1999.

4 Likes

Is that the ident where the “balls” fly in to form the 9 logo at the end? Always wondered where the balls vanish in the 8 Darwin version :wink:

1 Like

I’ve always wondered that, too!


The balls fly to form the Channel 9 logo. These balls were significant to the network when Kerry Packer was still alive back then

I’d be interested in:

  • What computer system or program was used to generate that at the time
  • How many man hours it took to make
  • Hear his thoughts on why TV stations don’t commission idents like that any more.
6 Likes

8 Mar del Plata (RIP) preempted noon-early afternoon programming, only aired evening programming.

9 and 7 Bahia Blanca (RIP) opted to air those stuff from 4pm.

Interesting Twitter thread on some classic Aussie soaps :blush:

3 Likes

The graphics in this - and particularly I’m talking about the endboard with the Harbour - are absolutely great. It was great in 1993 - very fresh and fun - and better than most I’ve seen since. This was recorded by me, and probably in my top 3 Nine launches…

4 Likes

Caps of National Nine News Perth ‘Summer of Cricket’ Promo December 2000:

Caps of Nine News Perth 20/6/2009

11 Likes

Terrific! Is this Graham Cousens by any chance?

I would love to know:

  • What resolution and framerate did they create the composition in, was it made in 16:9 or wider to give it a cinematic look? Or was it only produce in 4:3 and 576i as it was pre-DTV.

  • What inspired the original concept?

  • Were there variations of this that were not used or put to air?

  • What program did they use to render and compile the footage for the package and idents? And how long did the rendering take? (Would imagine it would have taken forever in 1999)

  • What was the main challenge in this project?

Thanks @WAtvVideos! I have LOVED this package for many so am very excited for your interview and very BEST of luck :slight_smile:

4 Likes

No, it’s Iain Greenway. He headed the the project when he was with TZ (Telezign).

Awesome questions there. Will keep you posted!

1 Like

Nine Perth minus the dots. How things have changed. Dots returned in March 2010

Imagine Bruce Gordon getting his way back then buying the entire Nine Network. Getting NWS and STW from Sunraysia in 2007 was the beginning but his plan failed.

1 Like

This Perth stuff is gold!
If you don’t mind me asking, how many tapes worth of Perth content do you have? Seems like a lot!

1 Like

36 tapes in total.

3 Likes