Remember This? ATN7 Newspaper Advertisement (1968)

Below is a newspaper advertisement by ATN7 (Channel 7) to promote the programs to be featured on the TV channel on Wednesday, August 28 1968. This was sourced from The Sun newspaper on that same date.

At the time, Fairfax was the owner of ATN7, and its newspapers, including The Sun, could be used to cross-promote programming on Channel Seven. This is the same approach used by Nine Entertainment to promote the Nine Network and its newspapers, including The Sydney Morning Herald, in 2024. 

Source: ATN7. 1968 "Tonight on ATN 7" (Advertisement). The Sun, August 28: 9. 

Highlights included Roger Climpson (now 92 years of age and happily retired) reading the news at 6:30 pm, Coles $6 000 Question presented by Roland Strong at 7pm, along with The Mavis Bramston Show at 8:30pm followed by Motel at 9:30pm.

Every show on the lineup that evening was produced at the ATN7 studios at Epping, except for Coles $6 000 Question, which was produced in Melbourne at the HSV7 Studios.  

MILESTONE: ATN7 begins Transmission (1956)

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).

MILESTONE: TCN9 - Australia's first television channel (TCN9)

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.

1963: First live major TV News Event Broadcast between Sydney and Melbourne

On Saturday the entire nation is off to the polls. Recently, I came across advertisements from TCN9 which were published in The Daily Telegraph to promote its election coverage for the 1963 Federal Election.

The Coaxial Cable was actually switched on between Sydney and Melbourne in April 1962. This allowed for live transmission of television programs between the two cities and Canberra and could carry telecommunications traffic. In the first year, it generally relayed sporting events between the cities.

In November 1963, Australia went to the polls. The National Television Network (comprising of TCN9 Sydney and GTV9 Melbourne) was owned by Sir Frank Packer. He had entered into a two-year lease of one hundred thousand pounds a year.

Election Day was November 30, 1963, just seven days after the assassination of U.S. President John F. Kennedy (JFK) in Dallas. As part of election coverage, the first major broadcast of a news event across major Australia cities occurred, drawing on the coaxial link. TCN9 published these advertisements to promote the landmark coverage.

1.

2.

Sources:

1.  TCN-9. 1963. "TCN 9 Electoral Telecast Map Viewing Area" (Advertisement). The Daily Telegraph, November 29: 8

2.  TCN-9. 1963. "TCN 9 Electoral Telecast Map Metropolitan Area" (Advertisement). The Daily Telegraph, November 30: 8

Coverage would be anchored from the TCN9 studios at Willoughby with live crosses to the GTV9 studios in Melbourne, Canberra and The Sunday Telegraph Newsroom in Park Street, Sydney. Here is advertising material sourced from The Daily Telegraph in relation to its election broadcast. TCN9's viewing area stretched well beyond the boundaries that it is allowed to transmit into. Those in Newcastle, Wollongong and the Southern Highlands could also receive the broadcast.

It would set a precedent for the way we watched television. Programming could be instantly relayed from city to city. No longer would there be delays in having to wait for shows aired in other capital cities. A show recorded in Sydney could be relayed to Melbourne at the same time and vice versa. Programming in Australia tends to follow a common schedule these days.

Source: Southern Star (Firm) & John Edwards Production & National Nine Network (Australia). 2013. Power games : the Packer-Murdoch story.  

The mini-series Power Games (2013) takes a look at that election coverage from TCN9, though you might not want to take what you see seriously, especially Alan Reid's announcement that Menzies was back in power at 8:35pm, only 35 minutes after the close of polls.  In the film, Sir Frank Packer tells his son Clyde to "Sack the Computer" which had been bought in to predict the result. The computer itself was also a key feature in the promotion broadcast in order to predict the winner.

I also noticed that the front page of The Sunday Telegraph (December 1, 1963) was actually read out by Reid in the film. Need confirmation if Reid did actually say it. I may contact Channel Nine to follow up.

The way we watched news changed as a result because Australians could be informed of events happening across the country in real time and that information could be relayed instantly. It reflected the changing landscape in the relay of news in the 1960s as Satellites placed into orbit around the Earth, allowing events to be transmitted from one part of the world to another. The assassination of JFK one week earlier showed that.

And finally, it is believed (by some) that Sir Frank Packer decided to cause a fault in the coaxial cable in July 1964, so young media baron Rupert Murdoch could not relay the pages for the first edition of The Australian Newspaper from Canberra to Sydney. He had to fly the plates to Sydney for printing, which he managed to do despite heavy fog in Canberra.

For the record, Sir Robert Menzies Liberal/Country Coalition won the election with an increased majority winning 72 seats out of 122 seats. This was 10 seats more than in 1961. There was no Senate election in 1963.

There will be wall to wall coverage this Saturday on Channel Nine along with is competition at ATN7 (Seven Network ), ABC & Sky News. Yours truly won't be watching as he has to count the votes at a booth in southern Sydney and the networks will be dependent on me for the results.

MILESTONE: Channel Ten Sydney Opens (1965)

In August last year, Channel Ten ran a special presentation to celebrate fifty years since the creation of the Ten Network (originally known as 0-10 Network) in Melbourne when ATV0 began broadcasting for the first time.

On Easter Sunday (April 5), it will be fifty years since the Channel Ten  became Sydney's fourth television channel and began broadcasting  in Sydney for the first time under the callsign TEN10,

The origins of Channel Ten date back to 1963 when United Telecasters were awarded the licence for Sydney's third commercial network. The consortium included: AWA, CSR, Email Ltd and the Bank of NSW (Westpac).

Source: Anonymous. 1963. "Channel 10, Sydney, in 18 months: AWA Group Gets TV Licence." The Daily Mirror, April 5: 1-2. 

The studios were built at North Ryde and channel ten remained there until 1990 when they relocated to inner-city Ultimo. In 1997, they moved again to their current location at Pyrmont.

Network Ten Studios at Pyrmont. 

Photo was taken by the Author.

I have managed to collect some promotional material from the Sydney papers relating to its launch in April 1965. The Daily Telegraph was the only paper to promote the new network. Below is a two-page advertisement to promote the opening night of programming including the first night's programs. "TV Spells Magic" involving hundreds of performers was to be the feature program in a 75 minute spectacular.

Source: United Telecasters Sydney Ltd. 1965. "Turn to Ten Tonight (Advertisement). " The Daily Telegraph, April 5: 12.

And here is an advertisement to promote talent. The faces were not so well known because they wanted people that would be the stars of the future. A new channel was to comprise of new faces.

Source: United Telecasters Sydney Ltd. 1965. "Ten's got the talent team (Advertisement). " The Daily Telegraph, April 2:12. 

Source: United Telecasters Sydney Ltd. 1965. "Turn to Ten" (Advertisement).  The Sunday Telegraph, April 4: 100-101.

Only The Sun provided a report on the opening night.

Source: Kessell, N. 1965. "A first night cast of 260." The Sun, April 6: 68.

And Frank Packer made sure that everyone knew that TCN9 was number one. Still, I wonder why he'd be happy to advertise the competition in his papers?

Source: TCN9. 1965. "9 is Still the No. 1 Station (Advertisement). " The Daily Telegraph, April 7: 4.

This was the original ident that screened on channel ten in Sydney. In 1975 it was turned into colour. It remained the same until the mid-1980's.

 

1967: TCN-9 News Advert featuring Brian Henderson & Ian Ross

Legendary newsreader Ian Ross died recently from Pancreatic Cancer at the age of 74. I recently found this advert promoting the return of TCN 9's News anchor Brian Henderson from holiday's in 1967.

   

Source: TCN-9. 1967. "TCN-9 News Advertisement". The Daily Telegraph, January 30: 4. 

Henderson led the team of reporters which included a young Ian Ross with his trademark hair. Other reporters on the team included Brian Bury (I remember him as the weatherman for Channel's 10 and 7 in the 1990s), David Low, Kevin Sanders, Bob Walters and Tony Charlton. Ian Ross had already established himself and was yet to make many more great achievements. We as Sydneysiders will miss him. Rest in Peace