ABC1 is a national
public television channel in
Australia.
Launched on 5 November 1956, it is the
responsibility of the ABC
's television
division, and is available nationally. As of August
2009, ABC1 has a 19.1% audience share.
History
Origins
The history of ABC1 can be traced back to 1953, when the federal
Television Act was passed, providing the initial
regulatory framework for both
ABC
Television and commercial television networks.
Over the next three
years, planning for the introduction of a national television
service was put in place – land for studios and transmitters in
Sydney
and Melbourne
was acquired, and overseas tutors were brought to
Australia to assist with training.
Commercial
station TCN-9
Sydney was
the first to broadcast in Australia, soon followed by the ABC's own
ABN-2
Sydney and
later ABV-2
in
Melbourne. Six stations, three in Melbourne and three in
Sydney, were in operation in time to cover the
1956 Summer Olympics in Melbourne.
The
channel's first television broadcast was inaugurated by Prime
Minister Robert Menzies on 5 November
at the Gore
Hill
studios in Sydney, followed
two weeks later by transmission in Melbourne.
Although radio programmes could be broadcast nationally by
landline, television relay facilities were not put
in place until the early 1960s. This meant that news bulletins had
to be sent to each capital city by
teleprinter, to be prepared and presented
separately in each city, with filmed materials copied manually and
sent to each state.
A purpose-built
television studio
was built in Sydney, and opened on 29 January 1958 – replacing
temporary sound studios used since ABC TV's inception. In the same
year, technical equipment was also moved to permanent locations,
while main transmitters were introduced to Melbourne and Sydney in
1957 and 1958, respectively.
1960s to the 1990s
Weekly current affairs programme
Four Corners began in 1961,
followed in the same year by
Profiles of Power, a series
of interviews with prominent Australians.
Direct relays between
Sydney, Melbourne and Canberra
were also
established in 1961, replacing temporary microwave relays as a
means of simultaneously airing programmes across multiple
stations. Videotape equipment, allowing the sharing of
footage with much greater ease and speed, was installed in each
state capital by 1962.
ABC TV was one of the first
television networks in
Australia to embrace the rock'n'roll revolution of the late
1950s, most notably with
Six
O'Clock Rock, hosted by
Johnny
O'Keefe. During the 1960s and early 1970s the channel continued
to broadcast programmes on popular music, including the pop show
Hitscene, performance specials by groups such as Tully and
Max Merritt & The Meteors, as well as the magazine-style
programme
GTK, which
premiered in 1969 and screened for 10 minutes, four nights per week
at 6:30 pm, immediately prior to
Bellbird and the 7:00 pm news
bulletin. In 1967, the weeknightly television current affairs
programme,
This Day
Tonight, was launched on ABC TV.
Teletext services were introduced to ABC TV in 1983 to allow
hearing impaired viewers access to
closed captions.
Nationwide,
successor to
This Day Tonight, was replaced in turn by a
new, hour-long, national news programme called
The
National. Having proved unsuccessful, it reverted to a state
ABC News bulletin at
7:00 pm, with a state-based edition of
The 7.30 Report following afterwards.
Lateline and
Media Watch also launched in
the 1980s.
2000s
The year 2001 saw the launch of a new logo to celebrate the
introduction of
digital terrestrial
television in Australia. The logo was modified to a
three-dimensional metallic design. Coinciding with this,
digital
television was introduced to most of the network's coverage
area on 1 January 2001 - this was soon followed by the gradual
introduction of
widescreen and
high definition
programming.
In 2002, to celebrate seventy years of the Australian Broadcasting
Corporation, ABC TV's logo reverted to the "over and under" design
seen in the previous decades, however it retained the
three-dimensional metallic design. The channel's idents featured
elements - fire, leaf and ice, and the slogan was updated to
Everyone's ABC. This however did not last, as later in the
same year, the channel's idents were modified to feature everyday
Australians. On 19 December 2005 the channels idents were revamped
featuring glass televisions. These idents were also carried onto
ABC2.
At midday on 8 February 2008 ABC TV was rebranded as ABC1, with the
standard-definition redirect channel moved from LCN22 to LCN21,
complementing the existing ABC2 digital-only channel launched on 7
March 2005. Further cementing the change in identity was the change
from the slogan
There's more to television to
It
begins with 1. After concerns in some sections of the media
that the 43-year-old
Lissajous curve
brand was to disappear completely, ABC management reaffirmed that
it would remain in use by the corporation.
As of 2009, ABC announced an upgrade to Digital transmission,
there's a High and Standard Definition programmes, provide a
seven-day Electronic Programme Guide and give new logical channel
numbers for all of ABC’s television services. The new ABC logical
channel numbers are below.
2009 Channel Numbers and names
| LCN |
Service |
Resolution |
| 02 |
ABC1 |
720x576i |
| 20 |
ABC HD |
1280x720p |
| 21 |
ABC1 |
720x576i |
| 22 |
ABC2 |
720x576i |
| 23 |
ABC3 (currently broadcasts simulcast of ABC
1) |
720x576i |
| 24 |
ABC4 (currently broadcasts simulcast of ABC
2) |
720x576i |
| 200 |
ABC DiG Radio |
N/A |
| 201 |
ABC DiG Jazz |
N/A |
Programming
ABC1 is required by charter to meet certain programming
obligations. Although it has a strong focus on news and current
affairs, it also presents documentaries and educational programmes,
children's shows, drama, comedy and variety, and sports.
ABC1's drama line-up consists almost entirely of imported content
including
The West Wing,
The Bill,
Doctor Who,
Life on Mars,
Spooks and
United States of Tara . Recent
locally-produced programmes have included
Rain Shadow as well as
mini-series such as
Answered by
Fire and
Bastard
Boys. It also shows repeats of past successful series
including
SeaChange,
Something in the Air
and
Head
Start.
Comedy on ABC1 is primarily locally-produced but also includes
foreign series such as
Little
Britain,
Extras,
The Catherine Tate Show, and
The IT Crowd. The network has
launched the careers of a number of comedians including
Magda Szubanski,
Gina
Riley,
Wil Anderson,
Dave Hughes and
Chris Lilley. ABC1's present
flagship comedy shows include
Spicks and Specks and
The Chaser's War on
Everything. Former successful shows include
Frontline,
The Micallef
Programme,
The
D-Generation,
Mother and
Son,
Kath & Kim
(now broadcast on the
Seven Network),
BackBerner,
Good News Week (now broadcast on
Network Ten),
The Glass House,
Summer Heights High,
and
The Aunty Jack
Show.
The remainder of ABC1's schedule consists of lifestyle, music, game
and talk shows. Lifestyle programmes include
cooking shows such as
The Cook and the
Chef or travel related programs, such as
Pilot Guides, but also include programmes
such as
Gardening
Australia,
Compass and
Message
Stick. The network's music shows include
rage and
jtv while previous music-oriented shows include
Countdown
and
Recovery.
Game shows include
quiz
shows The Einstein
Factor and
Head 2
Head, and competition based programs
Strictly Dancing and
The New Inventors. ABC1 presents
three
talk shows, the locally produced
Enough Rope and
Talking Heads, as well as
ITV1's
Parkinson. In addition to this,
ABC1 also broadcasts arts discussion shows
At the Movies and
Sunday Arts.
News and current affairs
ABC News,
broadcast on ABC1, is a national news service produced by the
News and Current
Affairs division of the Australian
Broadcasting Corporation. A number of bulletins and updates are shown
throughout the day, which include the flagship state-based evening
bulletins of
ABC News
at 7.00pm, focused on local, national and international news
relevant to their entire respective state or territory.
In
addition, The
Midday Report, a national weekdaily edition of ABC News,
is broadcast at noon live from the Australian Broadcasting
Corporation's studios in Ultimo, Sydney
. News updates for ABC1 are presented
nationally throughout the day, however evening updates are shown in
most states by their respective presenters.
Other flagship programs, which include
Four Corners,
Australian Story,
Foreign
Correspondent,
Lateline
and
The 7.30 Report, are
broadcast in primetime and are widely-regarded for their
agenda-setting journalism. Similarly, each state-based
station produces and broadcasts
their respective edition of
Stateline in primetime, which
includes one for every
state and territory of
Australia. In addition,
Landline,
Insiders and
Media Watch cover rural,
political and business, and media affairs respectively.
Sport
ABC Sport currently holds the broadcast rights to a range of
sports, which are broadcast on ABC1, these include the
Women's Australian Open,
Netball World
Championships,
Women's National Basketball
League, as well as state football league competitions which
include
Australian rules
football and
rugby league. In
addition to this, The ABC also holds the rights to the
Paralympic Games,
Australian Rugby Championship
and the
Hopman Cup tennis
tournament.
ABC Sport currently broadcasts a
Grandstand Sport which
included the state football league such as
New South Wales Rugby Union,
Queensland Rugby League,
Victorian Football League,
Tasmanian Football League,
South Australian
Football League,
West Australian Football
League, and
Northern Territory Football
League. in addition to
Tiwi Islands Football League
and
Australian Rugby
Championship.
Children
ABC1's children's programming is more extensive than any other
channel in Australia, apart from ABC 2. Children's programming are
broadcast in two blocks, mornings, 6:00 am to 10:00 am,
and afternoons, 3:00 pm to 6:00 pm. In addition to this,
ABC Rollercoaster is shown from
4:00 pm to 5:00 pm, and is aimed at a slightly older
demographic than ABC For Kids' three to six year olds.
ABC Kids consists of a mixture of both in-house and out-sourced
children's television programs. Due to their longevity, programmes
such as
Play
School and
Bananas in
Pyjamas are iconic within Australia.
Children's programming also includes educational programs.
Behind the News is a
long-running series which provides background information to
current affairs. The program has come to be incorporated into many
school curricula. Schools TV is a segment between and that consists
of documentaries and specials relevant to school study.
Availability
ABC1 varies depending on state and territory in terms of what
7:00 pm news bulletin, edition of
Stateline, and in some stations
promotions, are shown. National programming is often interrupted in
order to show state election coverage. Each state and territory's
individual station is based on that of its capital city, meaning
that in the state of Victoria, all programmes originate from either
Melbourne or Sydney, where the remainder of programs are broadcast
from. ABC1 is broadcast nationally via
ABC Television transmitters, in an
analogue and
standard definition format,
in addition to
ABC HD, a national
high definition broadcast
of ABC1 with state-based content omitted.
Logos
ABC TV idents used from 2005 to
2008.
In the early years, ABC TV had been using
Lissajous curves with its initials, ABC TV,
inside it as fillers in-between programs.A staff competition was
conducted in 1963 to create a new logo for use on television,
stationery, publications, microphone badges and ABC vehicles.
Graphic designer, Bill Kennard, who had been experimenting with
telerecording of the
Cathode Ray
Oscillograph displays, submitted a design in 1965 which was
part of the
waveform of an
oscilloscope. The letters A-B-C were added to the wavelength design
and it was adopted as the ABC's official logo. Bill Kennard was
paid £25 for his design. This logo has been modified from two
dimensions, to colour, to three dimensions, over time and it is now
one of the most well-known logos in Australia.
In 1975, the ABC logo was modified to a thickened version. The logo
was also changed to an "over and under" design. To celebrate the
Australian Bicentenary, on
Australia Day in 1988, the idents were
updated. The original set of idents were titled "Natural Textures
of Australia", with a following called "Man Made Textures of
Australia". The ABC logo featured on idents and promos was modified
in 1995 to a similar design to that seen in 1963 on the first
design. The logo was hand drawn by persons featured in the promos
and idents.
To celebrate the introduction of
digital terrestrial
television in Australia in 2001, ABC TV's logo was again
modified, but this time to a three-dimensional metallic design. The
logo was also radically modified to lose the "over and under"
design.
In
2002, to celebrate seventy years of the Australian
Broadcasting Corporation, ABC TV's logo changed back to the "over and under"
design, however it still kept the 3D Metallic design. The
channels idents featured elements - fire, leaf and ice, and the
slogan was modified to "Everyone's ABC". Later in 2002, the
channels idents were modified to feature everyday Australians. On
19 December 2005 the channels idents were revamped featuring glass
televisions. The ident's were also carried on ABC2 for the "ABC New
& Digital Media" promo.
On 8 February 2008 the channel was renamed as
ABC1 with
its logo updated concurrently with
ABC2,
although a blue version. In addition to this, the slogan
There's more to Television was rebadged to
It begins
with 1. After concerns in some sections of the media that the
43-year-old
Lissajous curve brand
was to disappear completely, ABC management reaffirmed that it
would remain in use by the corporation. Aside this, the idents were
revamped to feature a version of that of later 2002, but with
cartoons.
Identities
- 1956: Different Lissajous curves on an oval base wave with the
initials ABC TV inside. We zoom out to see it is on a
television.
- 1970: Australian Broadcasting Commission, National
Television Service.
- 1971: This is National Television ABC. (based
on "A Shade of Brass")
- 1972: This is ABC Television, The Good Looking
Australian. (based on "A Shade of
Brass")
- 1972-73: Around Australia, You’re in Tune with the National
Network - ABC Television.
- 1975: Come to Colour on ABC National Television.
- 1977: You're at Home with ABC.
- 1980: The ABC logo is a white ribbon on a blue background, we
zoom in on it and when we zoom out, there is a Western plain and
the then ABC logo. ABC TV fades above it.
- 1981: A blue ribbon goes down, then an orange outlined ABC logo
zooms forward and has "ABC TV" above it.
- 1982-83: ABC - Your National Network.
- 1985-87: Red squares are made on the ground, we zoom through
them to a yellow sun with an ABC logo which turns away. This
identity was re-made for the "ABC By Satellite" program.
- 1988-89: Natural Textures of Australia.
- 1990-95: Man-Made Textures.
- 1995-2000: A different person hand-draws the ABC logo.
- 2001-02: A circle is seen on a texture and morphs into the ABC
logo.
- Feb 2002 - 18 Dec 2005: An everyday situaton is seen with the
slogan Everyone's ABC.
- 19 Dec 2005 - 8 Feb 2008: The ABC logo turns into a television
with a different picture in it for each identity. The slogan
There's More to Television or a variation of it is
seen.
- 8 Feb 2008-: A single person is seen along with animations and
the slogan It Begins with 1, which means that things begin
with one person.
References
- http://www.abc.net.au/reception/digital/
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