The Age’s TV listings liftout turns 50
It was published on Thursday, May 13, 1976, with a banner on the front page. Age It announces that the “larger, lift-out TV-radio green guide gives you news, reviews, taping notes and an easy-to-read guide to ALL TV and radio shows.” It was a slim 16-page section filled with advertisements for hi-fi equipment.
Here’s one of the cover stories reporting to ABC’s Sydney management about protests over proposed changes to the popular local drama: bell bird. And at that time “ALL” TV schedules meant daily listings of four free-to-air channels (SBS TV didn’t appear until 1980), all of which closed the night before or just after midnight.
In those days, households would gather around a single television in the living room and debate whether to watch the programs below. countdown, PUREE, And Starsky and Hutch. Parents tried to put their children to bed before racy antics Number 96.
The whole thing was “appointment viewing” and had to be watched as it aired: if you missed it, it was gone unless you stumbled upon a rerun. Video recorders began infiltrating homes in the late ’70s, but widespread adoption didn’t occur until the early ’80s. Pay-TV with its liberating recording options did not arrive until 1995; Streaming was such a distant concept that it might have seemed more appropriate for an imaginary scene in a futuristic children’s cartoon. Jetsons. Netflix didn’t lead this revolution until 2015.
of the age The new freestanding section was colored green for easy identification and could easily be removed from the paper to be kept for reference throughout the week. And it has become an institution, a familiar feature on thousands of coffee tables. Whether or not you agreed with its authors’ assessments, it set the viewing and listening agenda for the week. Many did not, and they were not shy about publicly expressing their opinions, as well as countless other opinions on TV and radio. Solid forum that became a letters column.
Full disclosure: My first professional relationship GG It came through my work in the rival camp. In the late ’80s, I edited the Gold Guide, a Monday TV and radio broadcast. Reportera long-defunct afternoon newspaper now published on the other side of Melbourne’s CBD Age. Despite its big name, it was yellow and proved to be a short-lived move to capture some of GG’s fame in terms of readership, industry clout and advertising revenues.
Reaching over 40 pages in its early days, Green Guide was the heavyweight of this arena; It was a force in its field that had gained a loyal following, boosting Thursday’s sales to the paper’s second-strongest week after Saturday.
My trip to the Golden Guide allowed me to see how comprehensively the Green Guide covers the terrain. Then, through the vagaries of my career in media—newspapers starting, merging, and ending, and sections being introduced with great fanfare and only quietly abandoned—I joined Green Guide as an editor and staff writer.
As an avid TV watcher during my student years, this is something I never expected. Ironically, my parents worried that the considerable time their daughter spent in front of the television would not lead to any productivity.
Reading the Green Guide was a weekly ritual. I’d start with TV previews, a compact spread focusing on one program each day, then dutifully mark the notable ones in the daily list so they wouldn’t be missed. The listings also include details of Sunday night movies and noon movies, a weekday treat hosted by Ivan Hutchinson.
Cover stories and articles on TV and radio offered a catalog and a pulse of the times. Profiles of personalities such as Jana Wendt, Bert Newton, Lisa McCune and Ray Martin. Reports on local and imported series body line, Blue Heeelers, Comedy Company And Kath and Kim with The Simpsons, seinfield And Design. Commentary on industry trends and events, like the breakfast war between them Today And sunrise, and the challenges facing children’s television.
Then came the columns. GG Teletopics, Out of View and Networking, covering behind-the-scenes activities and shenanigans in the industry from various times. Reflective reviews of past viewings with titles like Medium Cool and Rewind, forerunners of today’s Hindsight. A report by Ratings explored the controversies in free TV at a time when such contests are a cause for serious concern for the industry and readers. Vinyl and later CD reviews covered pop and rock, as well as jazz, opera and classical releases.
There was a hardware section that at one stage appeared to be a removal of Livewire., is geared toward consumer goods (cameras, record players, and later computers) and includes information on new releases, cool gadgets, and reviews.
Happy birthday Green Guide!
When I first came to Melbourne to make it big on television, my dream was to be on Green Guide. A letter, a review, something. Anything. My first time appearing on Jimeoin’s TV show and Full Front Channel Seven did nothing for me. Then I took the name of my own TV series Micallef P(r)ogram(me) It’s on ABC and I’ve gotten a few reviews. Beautiful ones too. Then a few letters. Many are positive. I later had great success with my own chat show. Micallef Tonighton Channel Nine. I have a cover. I made it. This is it. Big time! Then the series was canceled after 13 episodes and I didn’t work again for two years. Since then I have never trusted the Green Guide. Shaun Micallef
I remember my first “cover” in the Green Book. I was the one sitting on Sam Newman’s shoulders and taking the “cue” at the MCG. What it meant to me was Football Show He had succeeded. Dr Hook might want to be on the cover Rolling stonebut in the Melbourne media it was the cover of Green Guide! Eddie McGuire
I loved reading letters from viewers who didn’t understand what I was doing Difficult Exam. I remember a writer’s landlord complaining about this. Difficult Exam He was constantly rude to the contestants and he should have been replaced by someone nice like Sammy J. I suspect Sammy J wrote the letter. Tom Gleeson
There was also the Letters page phenomenon, reflecting how enthusiastically readers engaged with GG itself, as well as TV and radio. For decades, letters arrived by post, many handwritten and some delivered personally to the newspaper’s ground-floor reception desk.
The letter writers were devoted – some might say blind – to the ABC and SBS. The eagles of grammar and style were ready to pounce on slack language or lazy—or, God forbid, Americanized—pronunciation. A change in hairstyle or an unconventional wardrobe choice by the presenter – especially the female presenter – often cannot escape harsh evaluations.
GG Readers were vocal about the frequency and intrusiveness of ad breaks, the unwanted influx of commercials onto SBS, and the commercial channels’ practice of airing programs later than planned. Another persistent bug is that some valuable imports, e.g. the sopranos And Buffy the Vampire SlayerIt was sporadically scheduled and relegated to late-night slots, only to disappear mid-season with no explanation.
The letters provide a telling account of viewers’ frustration with the network’s practices, the “managed dissatisfaction” that Netflix founder Ted Sarandos described when he saw the potential of his service.
Over the decades radio’s importance diminished, until program listings became short and almost unreadable. Eventually, GG’s listings disappeared altogether as radio stations began promoting their products on their own websites.
It is a cliché to say that times have changed, but clichés become clichés because they contain some truth. Over the past half-century the TV world has expanded dramatically from the four free-to-air channels that stopped broadcasting around midnight. Seismic shifts have occurred in everything from “infotainment” and reality TV streaming to the advent of subscription services and broadcasters.
Times to have It has changed and the Green Guide has changed too, but it lives on and applauds that. Happy 50th anniversary, Green Guide. If this was a wedding anniversary, it would be golden.
thanks to Age We thank librarians Michelle Stillman and Andrew Brooks for their assistance with research on this tour of the archives.
