The article is divided into the following sections:

History Programming Entertainment Sports News References

History

Beginnings

Two Melbourne newspaper companies, The Argus and The Age, won the license for GTV9 (General Television Corporation). Other shareholders were Hoyts, Greater Union Theatres, Electronic Industries (Sir Arthur Warner was chairman of both GTV and E.I.), J.C. Williamson?s Theatres, 3XY, 3UZ, 3KZ and Cinesound Productions.

GTV9 began test transmissions on 27 September 1956 with a one hour broadcast of programmes and from Monday October 1 the station commenced daily test pattern transmissions - one of their earliest test transmissions was coverage of the swimming at the Olympic Games being held in Melbourne.

Former 3DB radio announcer Geoff Corke (later known as "King Of The Kids") introduced GTV9's first test transmission originating from the transmitter site at Mount Dandenong with the slogan "The viewings fine on GTV Channel 9"

GTV's signal from Mount Dandenong could be picked up in Tasmania and many parts of regional Victoria - in particular Ballarat, Bendigo, the Gippsland and even the south-western districts of the state. In the late 50s, before the commencement of regional television services, people would erect large arrays of antennae to pick up the GTV9 signal.

GTV9 was opened by the then Victorian Govenor Sir Dallas Brooks from studios at 22 Bendigo Street in Richmond where the building had been converted from an abandoned Heinz soup factory (which in turn was converted from a piano factory). The studio was fitted out with production equipment convieniently provided by shareholder Electronics Industries, which had to be rebuilt in GTV's studios in order to bring picture quality up to the standard of Melbourne's other two stations (HSV7 and ABV2).

Switching of network affiliations

Initially, GTV9 established a sister-station relationship with ATN7 in Sydney, however, two significant events would cause a change in affiliation (and ownership).

In 1957, The Argus shut down and ownership of its shares (including its GTV9 shares) was transferred to the Herald and Weekly Times, key shareholders in HSV7. However, The Broadcasting and Television Act 1942 forbade the ownership of more than one television station in a capital city and no more than two stations in Australia by any one company, therefore The Herald sold its GTV9 shares to Electronic Industries.

In 1960, Electronic Industries was acquired by the British electronics firm PYE and since laws forbade the foreign ownership of Australian commercial television stations, PYE was forced to sell their shares in GTV9. Instead of selling his shares to Fairfax Newspapers (owners of ATN7) as expected, Sir Arthur Warner sold them to Sir Frank Packer, owner of TCN9 Sydney for £6 ($12) a share, a total of £3.76 million ($7.52 million) - thus the Nine Network was born.

Programme Manager at the time Norm Spencer resigned and went over to HSV7. Colin Bednall lasted until 1965.

Studio 9/Co-axial cable

Studio 9, at the time, the largest TV studio in the Southern Hemisphere, was built specifically for Graham Kennedy's In Melbourne Tonight. It was completed in late 1964. A driving force behind the construction of Studio 9 was competition with the state-of-the-art studios built for ATV0 at Nunawading.

The establishment of a coaxial cable link between Melbourne and Sydney in 1963 allowed the transmission of programmes between capital cities. Although signals were shared between GTV and TCN earlier on in the 1960s (mainly Cricket Test Matches) this involved setting up microwave dishes on several mountains between Melbourne and Sydney. Nine made its inaugural telecast over the coaxial link which was owned and maintained by the PMG) in 1963 when it covered the November federal election, broadcasting simultaneously in Melbourne, Sydney and Canberra. The link was later used in a memorable episode of Don Lane?s Sydney Tonight and Melbourne?s IMT shows. The shows were broadcast simultaneously between the two capitals with split screens so hosts could banter with each other and swap acts. The cable was most used by Nine for show swapping, especially during the afternoon, some programmes originating from Melbourne and others from Sydney. This greatly reduced Nine?s production costs as it was now able to broadcast to an audience comprising Australia?s two largest cities from one studio.

Other key events

In 1969, GTV9's screening of the Apollo II moon landing enters the record books as the longest continous live broadcast on television.

In early 1970, GTV's long running station logo (introduced in 1956) was changed to the now famous 9 dots. With a change of direction, more and more programmes were originating out of Sydney. For many it seemed like GTV would be just a relay of TCN Sydney, however this was not to eventuate.

GTV9 commenced test transmissions in colour in October 1974 with the official full time change over at 12.00am Saturday 1 March 1975. "Living Color" arrived in 1975. In preparation for full-time colour transmission and production, GTV had purchased Bosch Fencseh cameras from Germany.

In 1976, GTV9 became the first commercial station to commence 24-hour transmission. The late 70's saw the We're the One promos begin (copied from ABC America), changing to Still the One. Nine loved using station promos using computer animated maps of Australia.

Digital Television began on 1 January 2001 with GTV broadcasting on VHF channel 8 whilst simulcasting the analogue signal on channel 9.

Programming

Entertainment

GTV has long been regarded by many as the centre of live television variety in Australia.

Bert Newton started at HSV7 on The Late Show in 1957. GTV9 had intended to use the Late Show title for its night time variety show, but HSV beat them to it, launching their programme 4 days before GTV's which was re-titled In Melbourne Tonight. In 1959, Newton left HSV7 for GTV9 and became Graham Kennedy's long standing sidekick on IMT

In 1957, GTV9 in affiliation with Sydney's ATN7 aired Bob Dyer's Pick-a-Box, which had been a radio quiz since 1948, the show ran until 1971.

On May 6 1957, GTV9 launched In Melbourne Tonight (IMT) hosted by the now "King of Television" Mr. Graham Kennedy. Kennedy worked at 3UZ along side radio star Clifford "Nikki" Nicholls (ne Whitta) before being 'discovered' by GTV9 producer Norm Spencer when appearing on a GTV9 telethon. IMT continued for thirteen years and from 1960 packaged highlights screened nationally as The Graham Kennedy Channel Nine Show.

While IMT was Graham's show other presenters were often called on to front the show on certain nights. Over its 13 years on air, IMT had as many as 50 different presenters. Stars that worked on IMT included Rosie Sturgess (famous for the "The Wilsons" sketch with Graham) Joff Ellen, Patti McGrath, Toni Lamond, Philip Brady, Noel Ferrier, Rosmary Margin.

IMT, The Ernie Sigley Show, Don Lane, Daryl Somers Show, Hey Hey It's Saturday are just some of the programmes produced in Studio 9.

Kennedy resigned from IMT in 1969. On the last show he was crowned King of Australian television. IMT continued on in 1970 with four hosts, each with a different show each night of the week - Jimmy Hannan, Dave Gray, Bert Newton and Stuart Wagstaff. This format didnt last long. Graham returned to GTV with the Graham Kennedy Show, but fell foul of the Australian Broadcasting Control Board with his infamous crow call. He was banned from live television.

Ernie Sigley and Don Lane then started their long run on 9, thus continuing GTV's long tradition in night time variety. Ernie teamed up with Denise Drysdale, while Don Lane's sidekick was Bert Newton.

IMT returned in 1996 and remained on the air until 1998 with Frankie J. Holden as host.

In the 1960s/early 70s GTV ran annual telethons for the Yooralla Society. From 1963, Frank Wilson had a weekly talent programme called Kevin Dennis Auditions, originally on Saturday mornings, until in 1968 it moved to Sunday evenings and re-titled New Faces. Bert Newton took over as host in 1976 and continued through until the show was cancelled in 1985 - ending Newton's 26-year association with the station. Jack Little was long time host of World Championship Wrestling - taped at the Richmond studios. Mr B.A. Santamaria also had a long run with his weekly news commentary called Point Of View.

The children were catered for with the Tarax Show, with Uncle Norman (Norman Swain), Joffa Boy (Joff Ellen), along with Professor RatBaggie (Alias Ernis Carroll). However, the Tarax show was axed in the late 60s and replaced with Bozo the Clown.

Tarax, Kevin Dennis Cars, Raoul Merton Shoes Glo-Weave shirts and Malvern Star were early advertisers on GTV. (It is worth noting that Sir Arthur Warner also owned Malvern Star bicycles and Astor Televisions). Glo-Weave's owner, Sol Same, achieved huge national sales of his shirts because he had the courage to advertise with Graham Kennedy and put Graham's photograph on his boxed shirts. Graham could stretch a commercial out for 10 to 20 mins with his comic genius. Often he would "lovingly rubbish" his sponsors' products to get a laugh.

GTV helped pioneer early morning television with The Today Show with Mike Walsh. This didn't last long and was replaced with the Super Flying Fun Show with Marilyn Mayo, being produced out of TCN Sydney.

Early 1970 saw Cartoon Corner begin in the after school time slot with "Skeeter" from TCN hosting the show. In 1971 Daryl Somers took over the show, then was appointed host of Hey Hey It's Saturday.

From humble beginnings, GTV was responsible for the yearly production of the TV Week Logie Awards. Early Logies telecasts were limited to live segments on IMT and it was not until 1968 that GTV produced the first full coverage of the awards. Nine continued to produce the awards every year until 1980, then going into rotation with the other 2 networks until 1996 when Nine has since been the sole Logie Awards broadcaster.

A Melbourne tradition for many years now is the Carols by Candlelight telecast, which takes place every Christmas Eve. GTV9 has produced the telecast since 1979. Brian Naylor hosted Carols By Candlelight from the Myer Music Bowl for 10 years, with Ray Martin taking over in the 1980s.

Long running quiz show Sale of the Century was produced out of GTV. The original hosts were Tony Barber and Victoria Nicholls. In 1991, Tony Barber left and was replaced by Glenn Ridge who had done work in regional television. Over the years the hostesses have been Delvene Delaney (1983-85), Alyce Platt (1986-91), Jo Bailey (1991-94), Nicky Buckley (1994-99) and Karina Brown (2000-01). In 2000, the show was re-named Sale of the New Century before reverting back to its original title in 2001. At the end of 2001 the show was rested with plans to bring it back better than ever. On 30 May 2005, Sale of the Century returned with two new hosts (Ed Phillips and Livinia Nixon) and a new name: Temptation - The New Sale of the Century.

Sports

In 1993, Network 10 sports presenter Eddie McGuire joined Nine, hosting the AFL version of The Footy Show which began on Thursday nights and later expanded to a Sunday afternoon edition as well. McGuire also hosts Who Wants To Be A Millionaire which began in 1999, and countless other special events on the Nine Network, as well as heading Nine's AFL coverage since 2002.

News

Sir Eric Pearce began his long TV career on 4 November 1956 at HSV7, moving across later to Channel 9, where he continued to read the news until he retired in the early 70s. Rosemary Margan was GTV's weather girl. Kevin Saunders provided political comment. Sir Eric was a Melbourne icon for years after his retirement. He stayed working with GTV in a community service role up until his death.

Around 1974 Gerald Stone had been appointed News Director by the new boss of the network Kerry Packer. Kerry took control of Nine on the death of his father, Sir Frank Packer. This was the start of the ill fated News Centre Nine concept with Peter Hitchener in Melbourne and Brian Henderson in Sydney. Rivalry between the Melbourne and Sydney newsrooms along with various technical breakdowns saw it sink in the ratings. (Shades of ABC TV's The National which started and died ten years later.)

This experiment lasted 18 months before News Centre Nine was axed. GTV started from scratch to rebuild its nightly news service, which was being beaten by HSV's Seven National News with Brian Naylor. GTV brought Sir Eric out of retirement, along with Peter Hitchener to start National Nine News. This continued for several years.

Nine had an idea - "If you cant beat them, poach them". and switched to GTV Channel 9 at the instigation of Nine's news director, John Sorell. Brian Naylor took over National Nine News and in 1979 and the ratings started to turn around.

Naylor's broadcasting career spanned 42 years, beginning in 1956 at 3DB as an announcer and host of a children's talent programme, Swallows Juniors. In 1958, he moved to HSV Channel 7, transferring Swallows Juniors to television, which became Brian and the Juniors. Brian and the Juniors lasted 12 years and was telecast nationally on more than 20 stations. In 1970, Naylor became HSV7's chief newsreader. Brian retired from his role as chief newsreader of National Nine News on November 27, 1998 Peter Hitchener, Naylor's loyal deputy took over.

In the 1960s with the station being know as Television City, what better than to have your news service called Television City News (by the way the letters stand for TCN!)

On 22 November 1971, Nine launched A Current Affair, then hosted by Mike Willesee. Over the years the hosts have included Jana Wendt, Ray Martin, and Mike Munro.

References

Koce, Matthew (1998), "An Overview of the Nine Network", 40 Years of Television Conference (December 1998), http://www.arts.monash.edu.au/ncas/resources/conferences/40years/Koce.html

Cahill, Shane "A Very Hard Crowd to Have Dealings With - International And Australian Television Networks' resistance to the demands of the 1956 Melbourne Olympics Organising Committee for a fee for television coverage 1955-56", http://www.arts.monash.edu.au/ncas/resources/conferences/40years/Cahill.shtml

Stone, Gerald (2000) Compulsive Viewing: The Inside Story of Packer's Nine Network, Ringwood, Victoria, Australia: Viking (ISBN: 0670886904)