A weather-themed entry for this week, fitting in with summer. Below is a feature from The Daily Telegraph from December 31 1956.
On December 30 1956, temperatures peaked at 97.3 degrees Fahrenheit in Sydney (36.2 degrees Celsius).
An estimated 320,000 people converged on beaches in Sydney, Newcastle, and the Central Coast to keep cool.
Sydney's hottest day this summer to date (2024/2025) is December 27, 2024, when temperatures peaked at 37.4 degrees at Observatory Hill. I've enlarged the table from the article below to show the temperatures recorded at various times on the day.
Source: Anon. 1957. "Hottest day in city for 2 years". The Daily Telegraph, December 31: 5.
ADC House (189 Kent Street) is a fifteen-storey office tower and was amongst the first of the modern post war highrise office towers to be built in central Sydney. It was completed in 1957.
An earlier proposal called for the tower to be twenty levels or around 200 feet tall and was a different design. Davey and Brindley were the architects. Below is a newspaper clipping from 1956.
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Source: Anon. 1956. "Harborviews, Mod. Cons.". The Daily Telegraph, January 17:17.
The current building rises to fifteen levels above Kent Street, five floors less than originally envisaged. to ensure compliance with the 150-foot height limit at the time.
Above: 189 Kent Street in 2023. Photo taken by the author.
This Friday (December 2), Channel Seven will celebrate 60 years of broadcasting in Sydney, under the callsign ATN7.
It was the third TV station to commence operations in Sydney following the opening of TCN9 in September 1956, and ABN2 (ABC) just a month before. The studios were located at Mobbs Lane, Epping, with the TV transmitter based at Gore Hill. ATN7 would remain at Epping until 2010 when they moved production facilities to the Australian Technology Park at Eveleigh. The original studios is now a housing estate. Several years before in 2004, its news department relocated to purpose-built studios at Martin Place. Local and national news bulletins and programs are produced there.
Source: Anon. 1956. Untitled (photograph). The Sun Herald, December 2:39.
ATN7 was owned by Amalgamated Television Services comprising of a consortium of various radio, electrical and media interests including The Sydney Morning Herald and The Sun. It was a subsidiary of Fairfax. The channel would eventually become the flagship of the Seven Network, even though HSV7 in Melbourne was the first channel in the network to go to air in November 1956. ATN7 and HSV7 formed the Australian Television Network (Seven Network) in 1963. It would eventually be joined by BTQ7 (Brisbane), SAS7 (Adelaide) & TVW7 (Perth).
Fairfax would have ownership of ATN7 until 1987 when Quintex owned by Christopher Skase bought out the Seven Network. This was due to changes in Commonwealth media laws which stipulated that Fairfax could only own either print publications or television stations. Fairfax opted for print publications. Today, the Seven Network is currently part of Seven West Media, owned by Kerry Stokes.
Source: Anon. 1956. "Television Station ATN Channel 7 Opened by P. M. G.". The Sydney Morning Herald, December 3:1.
The transmission on opening night (December 2 ) commenced at 7:30pm with the official opening of the channel by the Postmaster General - Mr. C. W. Davidson. This was followed by A Shower of Stars, which was a live studio program at 7:45pm. The first feature film - It's Folly To Be Wise screened at 9pm. A news bulletin at 10:30pm would close the first night's transmission, closing at 10:45pm.
Source: ATN7. 1956. Untitled (advertisement). The Sun Herald, December 2, 39.
A special supplement was provided in the December 3 edition of The Sydney Morning Herald to mark its opening. Selected extracts feature below.
Initially, TV broadcasts on ATN7 commenced at 4:30pm with transmission closing at around 10:30pm. On weekends, broadcast times were shorter.
Early shows included:
Your Home featuring Del Cartwright
At Seven on 7 with Howard Craven
This I Believe with Eric Baume
Sydney Tonight with Keith Walshe
Caltex Theatre (Sunday Evening)
Below is a feature on its mobile broadcast unit (Click to enlarge).
Over the past sixty years, ATN7 has contributed significantly to the success of the Seven Network and bred stars of the small and eventually for some the big screen. Writing its achievements would need to be an essay. It has also been noted for pioneering programming formats on Australian television. For instance, Sydney Tonight was the first "tonight" show in Australia. Where would Graham Kennedy, Bert Newton and Don Lane be if it were not for this? At Seven on 7 was also the first current affairs show in Australia. ATN7 has also been an innovator. They were first with videotape equipment at Epping in the 1950s but also working with GTV9 in Melbourne to broadcast programs between Sydney and Melbourne with microwave links.
Seven Network Headquarters at Pyrmont. Photo was taken by the Author (2011).
This week, television in Australia will turn 60 and this entry will focus on the channel which began it all - TCN9, which is part of the Nine Network.
In 1955, Television Corporation (owned by Sir Frank Packer) was one of two consortiums that were successfully awarded television licenses for Sydney. The other licencee Almagated Television Services would form ATN7 which began broadcasting in December 1956. The Packer family would own TCN9 until 2006 when as part of the Nine Network, it was sold to private equity firm CVC Asia.
After test transmissions from July 1956, TCN9 commenced regular programming on September 16, 1956. The first show "Welcome to Television" screened at 7pm and was hosted by Bruce Gyngell who uttered the lines "Good evening ladies and Gentlemen. Welcome to television." It is believed that only 2000 homes had a television set at the time. Thousands, however, had to watch proceedings through shop windows that had TV Sets on display.
Reception stretched as far north as Newcastle and Cessnock, south to Wollongong and west to Katoomba. These days you would need a booster aerial in Newcastle to receive Sydney television stations.
During this early period, TV Broadcasts were generally in the evening. On opening night, transmission closed at around 9:15 pm. Here is a clipping from Page 8 of The Sunday Telegraph on September 16, 1956.
Below are some clippings from The Daily Telegraph dating to September 17 and 18 1956 which was also owned by Sir Frank Packer and took advantage to show off his new toy.
