A History Of Regional Commercial Television In Australia

'Monumental and elegantly constructed ... an extraordinary tale of opportunities won and lost.' - Sue Turnbull, University of Wollongong, Australia 'An impeccably researched, wide-ranging study of one of Australia's most overlooked but dynamic media sectors.' - Bridget Griffen-Foley, Macquarie University, Australia 'A major contribution to the field of media and television history.' - Jamie Medhurst, Aberystwyth University, UK This book is the first history of commercial television in regional Australia, where diverse communities are spread across vast distances and multiple time zones. The first station, GLV Latrobe Valley, began broadcasting in December 1961. By the late 1970s, there were 35 independent commercial stations throughout regional Australia, from Cairns in the far north-east to Bunbury in the far south-west. Based on fine-grained archival research and extensive interviews, the book examines the key political, regulatory, economic, technological, industrial, and social developments which have shaped the industry over the past 60 years. Regional television is often dismissed as a mere extension of - or footnote to - the development of Australia's three metropolitan commercial television networks. Michael Thurlow's study reveals an industry which, at its peak, was at the economic and social heart of regional communities, employing thousands of people and providing vital programming for viewers in provincial cities and small towns across Australia. Michael Thurlow is a media scholar and historian with a PhD from Macquarie University, Australia. He is a former regional commercial television journalist, presenter, and producer. .

This book is the first history of commercial television in regional Australia, where diverse communities are spread across vast distances and multiple time zones. The first station, GLV Latrobe Valley, began broadcasting in December 1961. By the late 1970s, there were 35 independent commercial stations throughout regional Australia, from Cairns in the far north-east to Bunbury in the far south-west. Based on fine-grained archival research and extensive interviews, the book examines the key political, regulatory, economic, technological, industrial, and social developments which have shaped the industry over the past 60 years. Regional television is often dismissed as a mere extension of – or footnote to – the development of Australia’s three metropolitan commercial television networks. Michael Thurlow’s study reveals an industry which, at its peak, was at the economic and social heart of regional communities, employing thousands of people and providing vital programming for viewers in provincial cities and small towns across Australia.

I hope this thing will not come to Australia in my term of office, said Prime Minister Menzies in 1952. But it did. In 1956 Australia opened its first channel and began the long road to building the industry that changed our way of life. Nick Herd has written the first comprehensive history of our commercial television, a brilliantly researched, independent account of the rise of the networks, the deals, the protests, the tribunals, the government regulation, the programs that won and lost fortunes. In Nick Herds hands our television emerges as a social force, one which has brought us together in the lounge room, carried us out into the streets, told our stories, transformed our sports culture and captured our history, our politics and the world around us. Good and bad, says Herd, its the television we had to have.

Australian television has been transformed over the past decade. Cross-media ownership and audience-reach regulations redrew the map and business culture of television; leading business entrepreneurs acquired television stations and then sold them in the bust of the late 1980s; and new television services were developed for non-English speaking and Aboriginal viewers. Australian Television Culture is the first book to offer a comprehensive analysis of the fundamental changes of this period. It is also the first to offer a substantial treatment of the significance of multiculturalism and Aboriginal initiatives in television. Tracing the links between local, regional, national and international television services, Tom O'Regan builds a picture of Australian television. He argues that we are not just an outpost of the US networks, and that we have a distinct television culture of our own. '.a truly innovative book. The author ambitiously strives for a large-scale synthesis of policy, program analysis, history, politics, international influences and the Australian television system's place in the world.' - Associate Professor Stuart Cunningham, Queensland University of Technology

This lively and accessible book charts how Australian audiences have engaged with radio and television since the 1920s. Ranging across both the commercial and public service broadcasting sectors, it recovers and explores the lived experiences of a wide cross-section of Australian listeners and viewers. Offering new perspectives on how audiences have responded to broadcast content, and how radio and television stations have been part of the lives of Australians, over the past one hundred years, this book invites us into the dynamic world created for children by the radio industry, traces the operations of radio and television clubs across Australia, and uncovers the workings of the Australian Broadcasting Commission’s viewers’ advisory committees. It also opens up the fan mail received by Australian broadcasting stations and personalities, delves into the complaints files of regulators, and teases out the role of participants and studio audiences in popular matchmaking programs.