Australian Broadcasting Corporation

World War II

During the Second World War, the ABC continued to recruit staff, including a greater proportion of women to replace men who had joined the armed forces. The organisation established reporting and recording facilities in numerous overseas locations, including the Middle East, Greece and the Asia-Pacific region. An early challenge to its independence came in June 1940 when wartime censorship was imposed, and the Department of Information (headed by Sir Keith Murdoch) took control of the ABC?s 7pm nightly national news. However this lasted only until September, when control of the news was returned to the ABC after listeners expressed a preference for independent news presented by the Commission.

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During the war, the ABC's news bulletins attained a reputation for authority and independence, and from 1942 onwards, were broadcast three times daily through all national and most commercial transmitters. The ABC's ability to speak to all Australians across a huge, sparsely populated country, was now recognised as an essential part of the nation's infrastructure. During and after the war, the ABC was given statutory powers that reinforced its independence from the government and enhanced its news gathering role. From 1946, the ABC was required to broadcast selected parliamentary sessions live, despite the disruption this caused to regular programming.

Related Topics:
News bulletins - Transmitters

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On January 7 1941 the ABC?s revived the Children's Session as a national program, including the "Argonauts Club", which was first broadcast in 1933-34 in Melbourne. The Argonauts Club proved hugely popular with young Australians -- by 1950 there were over 50,000 members, with 10,000 new members joining each year in the 1950s. The Club encouraged children's contributions of writing, music, poetry and art and became one of the ABC's most popular programs, running six days a week for 28 years. One of the earliest members of the club was future science broadcaster and ABC staffer David Ellyard.

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The Argonauts Club was co-hosted for its entire 31-year run by Atholl Fleming, known to generations of Australians by his on-air names "Mac" and "Jason". Many notable Australians worked pseudonymously as presenters on the show, including poet A.D. Hope ("Antony Inkwell"), future ABC General Manager Talbot Duckmanton ("Tal") who hosted a weekly sports segment, actors Leonard Teale ("Chris") and John Ewart ("Jimmy") and future "Mr Sqiggle" host and film producer Patricia Lovell. Painter Jeffrey Smart ("Phidias") commented on art, and popular children's author Ruth Park contributed dramatised stories. Her main character, which began life as a bunyip, eventually evolved into her beloved "Muddle Headed Wombat" charatcer, voiced inimitably by Johnny Ewart. Its popularity on The Argonauts led Park to write her popular series of Muddle-headed Wombat books in the 1960s.

Related Topics:
Atholl Fleming - A.D. Hope - Talbot Duckmanton - Leonard Teale - John Ewart - Patricia Lovell - Jeffrey Smart - Ruth Park - Muddle Headed Wombat

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In 1942 The Australian Broadcasting Act was passed, giving the ABC the power to decide when, and in what circumstances, political speeches should be broadcast. Directions from the Minister to broadcast or refrain from broadcasting any matter now had to be made in writing, and any exercise of the power had to be mentioned in the Commission's Annual Report. It was used only once, in 1963.

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Also in 1942, "Kindergarten of the Air" began on ABC Radio in Perth; it was later broadcast nationally and became one of the ABC?s most popular programs.

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Post-war years

In December 1945, just after the end of the war, the rural affairs program "The Country Hour" premiered. In 1946 legislation was passed requiring the ABC to broadcast Parliament when in session. The Parliamentary broadcasts were put onto the interstate network, and, in subsequent Annual Reports, the Commission commented on the disruption caused to its programming by those broadcasts. Another ladmark came on June 1 1947, when the ABC's independent national news service was inaugurated.

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During the 1950s, the variety and quantity of programming increased significantly, including light entertainment, sports coverage, talk programs, and features?early forms of what became know as documentaries. The ABC's coverage of rural affairs was significantly enhanced by the deployment of journalists and broadcasters in major country areas. The increasing availability of landlines and teleprinters allowed the organisation to gather and broadcast news and other program material with much greater efficiency than in the previous two decades. By the 1950s, as many as 13 national news bulletins were broadcast daily. By 1956 the Commission had begun to establish an international presence with offices opening in London, New Yorkand Port Moresby

Related Topics:
Documentaries - Landline - Teleprinter - London - New York - Port Moresby

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In 1953, the federal Television Act was passed, providing the initial regulatory framework for both ABC and commercial television networks. In late 1956, the ABC started regular television broadcasts from Sydney and Melbourne, just in time to cover the Summer Olympic Games in Melbourne. On November 5 the ABC made its first TV broadcast from its Sydney studios, imaugurated by Prime Minister Robert Menzies, and on November 19 the first TV broadcast beamed out from the ABC's Melbourne's studios

Related Topics:
Television - Robert Menzies

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Within a year, ABC-TV was broadcasting from each of the six state capitals. Over its first decade, the network developed a wide range of programming that included news bulletins, light entertainment, children's and educational programs, and the performing arts.

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By the mid-1960s, videotape equipment had been installed in all of the ABC's major centres, and during that decade, direct television relays were laid, first from Melbourne and Sydney, and Canberra and Sydney, then between all major centres except for Perth and Hobart; by 1972, all State capitals were linked, allowing simultaneous viewing and national programming. In 1975, colour television was introduced in Australia.

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The 1960s and 70s: growing social and intellectual influence

The authority and influence of the ABC have been most strongly felt in news and current affairs, in which the organisation's innovations have set the standard for Australian broadcasting. In 1961, ABC-TV started a weekly current affairs program Four Corners, which was characterised by a new, vigorous investigative reporting style of political and social issues that were occasionally ahead of public opinion.

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The ABC was one of the first TV networks to embrace the rock'n'roll revolution of the late 1950s, most notably with its pioneering show Six O'Clock Rock, hosted by Johnny O'Keefe. During the Sixties and early Seventies the ABC continued to produce important programs on popular music, including the pop show Hitscene, innovative performance specials by groups such as Tully and Max Merritt & The Meteors, and the landmark magazine-style program GTK, which premiered in 1969 and screened for 10 minutes, four nights per week, Monday-Thursday, just before the 7pm news bulletin.

Related Topics:
Six O'Clock Rock - Johnny O'Keefe - Tully - Max Merritt & The Meteors - GTK

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As well as news, special reports, film clips and interview segments, GTK was especially notable -- and of great historical value -- for the inclusion of a nightly segment of specially recorded live-in-the-studio performances by Australian bands. Each week a different band was featured, and they recorded four songs, and in the case of the more popular bands, the producers chose numbers other than their hits to show off different aspects of their music. Although it was long thought that most of this priceless material had been erased -- like the BBC, an ill-advised "economy drive" in the late 1970s led to the wholesale erasure of large amounts of videtaped material, including most of the first two years of Countdown. However, extensive archival research within the ABC following the recent closure of the old Gore Hill studios in Sydney has revealed that, although some early videotape-only content was erased, much of the primary footage had (fortunately) been shot on film and most of this was retained. It is believed that approximately 80% of GTK has survived.

Related Topics:
Countdown - Gore Hill

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In 1967 the weeknight television current affairs program, This Day Tonight (TDT), and its counterpart on radio, PM, were introduced. Many people regard these programs, and others like them, to be essential parts of Australian public life, in which politicians and other public figures and organisations are subject to rigorous interviewing and reportage that aims to be balanced. The ABC also focused on producing radio and television talk programs that explore a wide range of national and international issues. Prominent among these is The Science Show, which started in 1975 on ABC Radio and has been hosted by Robyn Williams throughout. In 1975, colour television was introduced in Australia, and within a decade, the ABC had moved into satellite broadcasting, greatly enhancing its ability to serve as a national broadcaster.

Related Topics:
This Day Tonight - The Science Show - Robyn Williams - Satellite

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In 1975, the ABC introduced a 24 hour-a-day AM rock station in Sydney, 2JJ (Double Jay), which was eventually expanded into the national Triple J FM network. A year later, a national classical music network was established on the FM band, broadcasting from Adelaide. Radio Australia continued to thrive as a voice of authority in the Asia-Pacific region. In 1983, the name of the organisation was changed from 'Commission' to 'Corporation' with the passing of a new ABC Act by federal parliament. The ABC underwent significant restructuring during the 1980s,

Related Topics:
Rock - Double Jay - Triple J - Classical music - FM - Radio Australia

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The ABC also focused on producing radio and television documentaries that explore a wide range of social and political issues. Prominent among these were the weekly radio programs The Science Show and Coming out ready or not (later known simply as The Coming Out Show), dealing with women's issues; both started in 1975.

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During the 1980s, program production in indigeous affairs, comedy, social history and current affairs was significantly expanded. During the 1980s, there was considerable pressure on the organisation to increase its production of Australian drama, which trebled from 1986–91 with the assistance of coproduction, cofinancing, and pre-sales arrangements. Since this time, ABC dramas have explored numerous themes related to the unique aspects of the Australian experience; these themes have not been covered by commercial and foreign producers to the same extent, and thus the ABC has played an important role in the evolution of Australia's national identity.

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The ABC continued to be active in Australia's music world, chiefly through its six state-based symphony orchestras. The organisation managed an active concert schedule, both orchestral concerts and recitals, in the six state capitals, and coordinated the deployment of the world's prominent soloists in these schedules. However, during the 1980s, there was increasing pressure for the orchestras to be divested; this occurred in ?1990 with the formation of Symphony Australia, an umbrella organisation that coordinates the now independent state-based orchestras.

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The late 20th century to the present

During the 1980s, the ABC set in motion plans to consolidate its disorganised arrangement of property and buildings in Sydney and Melbourne into single sites in each city. In Sydney, the radio and orchestral operations moved to a single site in Sydney's inner-city suburb of Ultimo in 1991, joined by ABC-TV operations in ?2002. In Melbourne, the ABC Southbank Centre was finished in 1994, and now houses the radio division in Victoria and the Melbourne Symphony Orchestra. The 1990s saw the expansion of the ABC's network of ABC shops, which sell a wide range of program-related merchandise, including books, CDs and DVDs. During the same decade, ABC online was established as a valuable adjunct to the organisation's broadcasting endeavours. It is now possible for anyone in the world to access a huge amount of information, including transcripts and audio and video streams of many programs, on the net. By the early 1990s, all major ABC broadcasting outlets moved to 24 hour-a-day operation, and regional radio coverage in Australia was extended with 80 new transmitters. Live television broadcasts of selected parliamentary sessions started in ?1995, and ABC NewsRadio, a continuous news network when parliament is not sitting, was launched in ?1996. Australia Television International was established as an authoritative, popular, non-commercial resource in east Asia, and Radio Australia increased its international reach. In 1995, D-Cart digital technology developed by ABC Radio, excited worldwide interest and was sold to European, North American and Asian markets. The ABC used D-Radio, the first fully digital audio system for the first time, broadcasting on Triple J. In the first decade of the new century, the ABC has continued its process of computerising and digitising production, post-production and transmission. In 2005, ABC2, a digital television channel, was launched.

Related Topics:
Ultimo - CD - DVD - ABC NewsRadio - Digitising - ABC2

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