This Is Your Life
This Is Your Life was an American reality documentary series broadcast on NBC radio from 1948 to 1952, on NBC television from 1952 to 1961. It was hosted by its creator and producer Ralph Edwards. In the program, the host would surprise guests and take them through a retrospective of their lives in front of an audience, including appearances by colleagues and family. Edwards revived the show in 1971–1972, Joseph Campanella hosted a version in 1983. Edwards returned for some specials in the late 1980s, before his death in 2005; the idea for This Is Your Life arose while Edwards was working on Consequences. He had been asked by the U. S. Army to "do something" for paraplegic soldiers at Birmingham General Hospital, a California Army rehabilitation hospital in Van Nuys, Los Angeles. Edwards chose a "particularly despondent young soldier and hit on the idea of presenting his life on the air, in order to integrate the wreckage of the present with his happier past and the promise of a hopeful future."
Edwards received such positive public feedback from the "capsule narrative" of the soldier he gave on Truth or Consequences that he developed This Is Your Life as a new radio show. In the show, Edwards would surprise each guest by narrating a biography of the subject; the show "alternated in presenting the life stories of entertainment personalities and'ordinary' people who had contributed in some way to their communities." The host, consulting his "red book", would narrate while presenting the subject with family members and others who had affected his or her life. By the 1950s, the show was aired live before a theater audience; the guests were confronted by the microphone and cameras. Planning for the broadcast meant. For example, Eddie Cantor had a heart condition, so the show's producers made sure that he was not surprised; some celebrities were unpleasantly surprised. Stan Laurel of Laurel and Hardy was angered by being "tricked" into what would be the team's only American television appearance, on December 1, 1954.
Laurel said, "Oliver Hardy and I were always planning to do something on TV. But we never dreamed that we would make our television debut on an unrehearsed network program... I was damned if I was going to put on a free show for them." In 1993, Angie Dickinson refused to appear on a retrospective show. One of the show's subjects was a survivor of the atomic bombing of Hiroshima. During the episode Edwards introduced Tanimoto to Robert A. Lewis, the co-pilot of the Enola Gay, the plane that dropped the bomb on Hiroshima. Hanna Bloch Kohner, a Holocaust survivor, was a subject on May 27, 1953. In February 1953, Lillian Roth, a "topflight torch singer of the Prohibition era" was the subject of the show, "cheerfully admit that she had been a hopeless drunk for 16 years before being rescued by Alcoholics Anonymous." Edwards described Roth's condition as "impending blindness, an inflamed sinus and a form of alcoholic insanity" and brought on a psychiatrist who had treated her, a brother-in-law "who had paid her bills" and several "glamorous foul-weather friends" such as Lita Grey Chaplin and Ruby Keeler.
Roth's story became the basis of her 1954 autobiography and 1955 film adaption, I'll Cry Tomorrow, with Edwards appearing as himself. Kate Newcomb, a doctor who practiced in a "70-mile circle" around Woodruff, was the subject of a 1954 episode, bringing attention to her "million pennies" drive to raise funds for a small community hospital; the New York Times reported on September 1, 1955 that the Sixth United States Army requested a kinescope of the April 27 episode which honored World War II and Korean War General Mark Clark. The request stated, "We believe that showing of such a program would contribute materially toward the objectives of troop information, since it would create appreciation of the career of an outstanding military leader and further better understanding of certain highlights in the recent history of the Army."According to The Complete Directory to Prime Time Network TV Shows, 1946–Present, one celebrity, forbidden was Edwards himself, who threatened to fire every member of his staff if they tried to turn the tables on him and publicly present Edwards' own life.
This Is Your Life was nominated three times for as "Best Audience Participation, Quiz or Panel Program" at the Emmy Awards, losing in 1953 at the 5th Emmy Awards to What's My Line? and sharing the category's award with What's My Line? at the Emmys in 1954 and 1955. It fared well in the ratings during the 1950s, finishing at #11 in 1953–1954, #12 in 1954–1955, #26 in 1955–1956, #19 in 1957–1958 and #29 in 1958–1959. By October 1960, Time magazine was calling This Is Your Life "the most sickeningly sentimental show on the air"; the episode on Hahn was cited as an example of the limited research that the show was doing on its guests. The show had presented Hahn as "devoted to her husband and so dedicated to her children that she had worked as a chambermaid and cook to further their education and keep them off the streets", ignoring details such as that Hahn, on the advice of her rabbi, had brought her daughter into a magistrate's court as a delinquent, that before the episode was broadcast, Hahn's husband had sued her for divorce.
Virginia Graham, in her autobiography, noted that the show had
Mike Munro
Michael Kenneth Munro, is an Australian journalist and television presenter. Munro cites a tough childhood with an abusive and alcoholic mother, as one of the main reasons behind his motivation to succeed. Munro attended Sacred Heart Primary School in Mosman, New South Wales and Marist College North Shore in North Sydney, he began his career at 17 as a copyboy on The Daily Mirror in 1971. He stayed in newspapers before trying television and not liking it. So he returned to newspapers when Rupert Murdoch sent him to New York to work in the NewsCorp bureau writing for newspapers in Great Britain and Australia. In 1982 he returned to Sydney and television, where he started as a senior reporter in the Channel 10 newsroom. In 1984, he joined the Nine Mike Willessee on the "Willessee" current affairs program. Two years he replaced George Negus as the fifth male reporter on 60 Minutes, where he remained for the next seven years, becoming well known for his interviews with celebrities including Madonna, Barbra Streisand, Bette Midler and Katharine Hepburn.
Munro became a reporter and the host of A Current Affair. In 1996, Munro was the reporter at the centre of the infamous Paxton family expose. Munro was replaced as the host of the show in 2003, his boss, Peter Meakin subsequently described Munro's situation/demeanour at that time as "a little on the nose, a little out of favour, a little too brash". Meakin added that he did "really admire his courage and his grace"... "in those last few months at A Current Affair because he did a brilliant job" when he knew he was going to lose the role. Munro said he lost the role because he was continually complaining to management about A Current Affair becoming'A Consumer Affair' and no longer doing serious investigations, instead focusing on consumer and diet stories. For Munro, the final straw came on the night he had to introduce another reporter's story on a toothbrush survey, he is synonymous with the biographical show This Is Your Life, which he hosted from 1995 until 2005 and again in 2008. In 2005 he replaced Georgie Gardner on National Nine News Afternoon Edition.
In 2006 he stepped down from National Nine News Afternoon Edition but continued to present Sydney's National Nine News weekend news, he remained in this position until 2008. In 2006, Munro hosted the television series Missing Persons Unit and What a Year, alongside Megan Gale, which first aired on the Nine Network on 2 October 2006, but in 2007, they were replaced by Bert Newton and Julia Zemiro and since the show had been axed. On 26 October 2008, Munro resigned from the Nine Network after 22 years with the network. On 7 January 2009, he signed a three-year contract with rival Seven Network to become the founding host of a new current affairs program Sunday Night. In addition to this, he substituted for David Koch on the top-rating breakfast show, Sunrise. In January 2014, Network Ten announced. On 9 February 2014, he commenced as the presenter of Ten Eyewitness News Weekend. Munro resigned in protest from Network Ten, after completing his 12 month contract, due to dozens of staff being retrenched from the News department.
In 2014, Munro was made a member of the Order of Australia for his community work and services to journalism. In 2017, Munro hosted and helped to produce a four part science-based documentary series for Foxtel's History Channel on Bushrangers. Lawless - The Real Bushrangers The four episodes featured the crime scenes of Ned Kelly, Ben Hall, Captain Moonlite, the Kenniff brothers. One of the one-hour specials included Munro's great uncles and Jimmy Kenniff, one of whom was hanged in Brisbane jail in 1903 after being convicted of murdering a police constable and a station manager in the Carnarvon Ranges in Queensland. In 2018, Munro hosted Mateship – Australia & USA: A Century Together, a one hour documentary on Foxtel's History channel celebrating 100 years of the close bonds that unite Australia and America. Since 4 July 1918, the United States of America and Australia have never fought a major war without each other, it is one of the longest alliances in modern history. In the 2014 Queen's Birthday Honours List, Munro was appointed as a Member of the Order of Australia, for "significant service to journalism as a television current affairs reporter and presenter, to the community as an ambassador for a range of charitable organisations".
Munro is married to Lea and they have two children. Mike Munro on IMDb
Perth
Perth is the capital and largest city of the Australian state of Western Australia. It is named after the city of Perth, Scotland and is the fourth-most populous city in Australia, with a population of 2.04 million living in Greater Perth. Perth is part of the South West Land Division of Western Australia, with the majority of the metropolitan area located on the Swan Coastal Plain, a narrow strip between the Indian Ocean and the Darling Scarp; the first areas settled were on the Swan River at Guildford, with the city's central business district and port both founded downriver. Perth was founded by Captain James Stirling in 1829 as the administrative centre of the Swan River Colony, it gained city status in 1856 and was promoted to the status of a Lord Mayorality in 1929. The city inherited its name due to the influence of Sir George Murray Member of Parliament for Perthshire and Secretary of State for War and the Colonies; the city's population increased as a result of the Western Australian gold rushes in the late 19th century.
During Australia's involvement in World War II, Fremantle served as a base for submarines operating in the Pacific Theatre, a US Navy Catalina flying boat fleet was based at Matilda Bay. An influx of immigrants after the war, predominantly from Britain, Greece and Yugoslavia, led to rapid population growth; this was followed by a surge in economic activity flowing from several mining booms in the late 20th and early 21st centuries that saw Perth become the regional headquarters for several large mining operations located around the state. As part of Perth's role as the capital of Western Australia, the state's Parliament and Supreme Court are located within the city, as is Government House, the residence of the Governor of Western Australia. Perth came seventh in the Economist Intelligence Unit's August 2016 list of the world's most liveable cities and was classified by the Globalization and World Cities Research Network in 2010 as a Beta world city; the city hosted the 1962 Commonwealth Games.
Perth is divided into 30 local government areas and 250 suburbs, stretching from Two Rocks in the north to Singleton in the south, east inland to The Lakes. Outside of the main CBD, important urban centres within Perth include Joondalup. Most of those were established as separate settlements and retained a distinct identity after being subsumed into the wider metropolitan area. Mandurah, Western Australia's second-largest city, has in recent years formed a conurbation with Perth along the coast, though for most purposes it is still considered a separate city. Indigenous Australians have inhabited the Perth area for at least 38,000 years, as evidenced by archaeological remains at Upper Swan; the Noongar people lived as hunter-gatherers. The wetlands on the Swan Coastal Plain were important to them, both spiritually and as a source of food; the Noongar people know the area. Boorloo formed part of the territory of the Mooro, a Noongar clan, which at the time of British settlement had Yellagonga as their leader.
The Mooro was one of several Noongar Indigenous clans based around the Swan River known collectively as the Whadjuk. The Whadjuk themselves were one of a larger group of fourteen tribes that formed the south-west socio-linguistic block known as the Noongar sometimes called the Bibbulmun. On 19 September 2006, the Federal Court of Australia brought down a judgment recognising Noongar native title over the Perth metropolitan area in the case of Bennell v State of Western Australia FCA 1243; the judgment was overturned on appeal. The first documented sighting of the region was made by the Dutch Captain Willem de Vlamingh and his crew on 10 January 1697. Subsequent sightings between this date and 1829 were made by other Europeans, but as in the case of the sighting and observations made by Vlamingh, the area was considered to be inhospitable and unsuitable for the agriculture that would be needed to sustain a settlement. Although the Colony of New South Wales had established a convict-supported settlement at King George's Sound on the south coast of Western Australia in 1826 in response to rumours that the area would be annexed by France, Perth was the first full-scale settlement by Europeans in the western third of the continent.
The British colony would be designated Western Australia in 1832 but was known informally for many years as the Swan River Colony after the area's major watercourse. On 4 June 1829, newly arriving British colonists had their first view of the mainland, Western Australia's founding has since been recognised by a public holiday on the first Monday in June each year. Captain James Stirling, aboard Parmelia, said that Perth was "as beautiful as anything of this kind I had witnessed". On 12 August that year, Helen Dance, wife of the captain of the second ship, cut down a tree to mark the founding of the town, it is clear that Stirling had selected the name Perth for the capital well before the town was proclaimed, as his proclamation of the colony, read in Fremantle on 18 June 1829, ended "given under my hand and Seal at Perth this 18th Day of June 1829. James Stirling Lieutenant Governor"; the only contemporary information on the source of the name comes from Fremantle's diary entry for 12 August, which records that they "named the town Perth according to the wishes of Sir George Murray".
Murray was born in Perth and was in 1829 Secretary of State for the Colonies and Member for Perthshire in the British House of Commons. The town was named after the Scottish Pert
Leila McKinnon
Leila McKinnon is an Australian journalist. McKinnon is a fill in presenter for Nine News and A Current Affair, she has been co-host of Weekend Today. McKinnon began her career reporting part-time for The Sunday Telegraph in Brisbane, while finishing a journalism degree at Queensland University of Technology. In 1993 she accepted a cadetship at WIN Television in Rockhampton, before moving to WIN's Cairns bureau. In 1995, she began work with the Nine Network and presenting for Nine's Nine Gold Coast News. After three years she became a reporter for A Current Affair in Brisbane. A brief stint on a short-lived consumer affairs programme followed, before she moved to Sydney and returned to the news department, in late 2001. In February 2005, she was appointed news presenter for Today replacing Sharyn Ghidella, she remained news presenter of Today until June. In August, she returned to present National Nine Morning News presenting the morning bulletin. In March 2006, she relocated to Los Angeles with Australian businessman David Gyngell.
In 2007, McKinnon returned to Australia, as her husband David Gyngell was reappointed as the CEO of the Nine Network. Since she has presented the summer edition of A Current Affair. In 2008, she regularly filled in on Nine News Morning Edition and Nine News Afternoon Edition. In January 2009, it was announced that McKinnon will co-host Weekend Today alongside Cameron Williams, with Amber Sherlock and Michael Slater presenting the news and sport; the program began in early February, was introduced to counteract Seven's Weekend Sunrise. The show extended to Saturday mornings as well, she presented the show from Victoria the morning after Black Saturday, Australia's deadly bushfires. In December 2009, She co-hosted the Sydney New Year's Eve telecast alongside Cameron Williams. In 2012 McKinnon co-hosted Nine’s award-winning coverage of the London Olympic Games and conducted the first live interview with Princes William and Harry. In 2011 and 2012 she wrote a weekly rugby league column for NRL.com.
McKinnon is the editor of Australia's Favourite Recipes, a cookbook which raises money for the charity Legacy and features the family recipes of ordinary Australians. In 2014, McKinnon resigned from Weekend Today to focus on other projects on the Nine Network, she was replaced by Deborah Knight. In May 2017, McKinnon and Nine News journalist Neil Breen teamed up to host The Way It Was, a podcast which dissected the weekly news cycle. McKinnon was born in Iran to an English mother and a New Zealand father, while her father was working as service manager to the late Shah of Iran's fleet of vehicles, she grew up in Brisbane. In 2012, McKinnon gave birth to her first child. On the same day her husband got the Nine Network out of a $3 billion debt. McKinnon's second child was born in 2014. Sydney Morning Herald report on wedding to David Gyngell, December 2004
Nine News
Nine News is the national news service of the Nine Network in Australia. Its flagship program is the hour-long 6:00 pm state bulletin, produced by Nine's owned-and-operated stations in Sydney, Brisbane and Perth. National bulletins air on weekday mornings and weekend afternoons. In addition, a supplementary regional news program for the Gold Coast in Queensland and news bulletins for Darwin and Southern Cross Austereo-owned stations in regional Queensland, Southern New South Wales and the ACT air each weeknight. Up until the mid-2000s, Nine News was the highest-rating news service in Australia, but in 2005 it was overtaken by the rival Seven News before it regained the lead on a national basis in 2013; the network's Director of News and Current Affairs is Darren Wick. Nine News: Early Edition is a half-hour bulletin airing at 5:00am on weekdays, presented from the network's Sydney studios by various presenters; the bulletin was pre-recorded and was presented as the "AM Edition" of the Qantas Inflight News, a daily news bulletin for passengers of Qantas airways.
Early morning bulletins were introduced in the early 1990s as Daybreak and National Nine Early News until 2003 when Today was extended to begin at 6am. The Early News resumed for a brief time at 6am in 2005 and was presented by Sharyn Ghidella and Chris Smith before again being cancelled. Amber Sherlock and Alicia Loxley have presented the bulletin. In mid-2014, Julie Snook replaced Belinda Russell to present. After two years in the role, Julie Snook was promoted to the sports department and Lara Vella replaced her. In October 2014, a new era of the bulletin launched with its contract ending with Qantas; the bulletin was renamed Nine News: Early Edition with a dedicated 9news.com.au news feed on the right of screen and weather flipper at the bottom, a look-ahead to Today and the presenter taking up less than three-quarters of the screen. There was a look at the newspaper front pages which showed the front pages of the two Sydney and Melbourne papers, The Australian, The Courier Mail and The Advertiser.
There was a live cross in which the bulletin prior to October was pre-recorded. Nine Morning News airs at 11:30am on weekdays, presented from the network's Sydney studios by Davina Smith. Fill-in presenters include Sophie Walsh and Mark Burrows; the morning bulletin known as National Nine Morning News, has been broadcast since 1981 and was presented by Eric Walters. The bulletin was extended from thirty minutes to a full hour on Monday 4 May 2009. From 2004 to October 2008 the bulletin was known as the Morning Edition, until May 2009, was branded the AM Edition. Local editions were produced for the Perth and Queensland markets – in March 2014, a local Perth edition was launched, accompanying the launch of Today Perth News, but it was axed that year. Between 2014 and 2017, a local edition was provided for the Queensland market, replacing the national bulletin in full; the local edition provided up to date news for the state during daylight saving time on the South East Coast. This edition was axed in October 2017.
Nine News Now is a news magazine program, airing at 3pm on weekdays and presented from the network's Sydney studios by Amber Sherlock and Belinda Russell. The program mixes news coverage with topical discussions. Nine News: First at Five airs at 5pm on Saturdays and Sundays, presented from the network's Melbourne studios by Alicia Loxley and sport is presented by Clint Stanaway; the bulletin was launched in January 2011 in response to Network Ten's decision to move its weekend evening bulletin to 6pm - the network reintroduced a 5pm news two months later. Nine News: First at Five does not air in Sydney and Brisbane on Sundays during the NRL season or when live sport is airing nationally in its timeslot; the bulletin was presented from Sydney by Georgie Gardner and Peter Overton and Ken Sutcliffe, but moved production to Melbourne in 2015. Short localised updates are presented during the afternoons by various state-based reporters or presenters. National evening updates are presented on weeknights from Sydney.
Late updates on weekends are presented from Perth. Nine News' website is named 9news.com.au. According to third-party web analytics providers Alexa and SimilarWeb, it is the 76th and 158th most visited website in Australia as of August 2015. SimilarWeb rates the site as the 19th most visited news website in Australia, attracting 4.8 million visitors per month. Ninemsn newsroom was an online bulletin; the bulletin was available to be downloaded as a vodcast from the Ninemsn newsroom website. The bulletin was cancelled and replaced in 2013 with Nine News Now which airs on the network from 3.00pm. In June 2008, live streaming of the 6pm bulletins in Sydney and Brisbane was introduced to the Nine News website; these bulletins can be viewed regardless of the home market of the viewer. Nine Morning News and Nine Afternoon News are streamed live online; as of 2014, Adelaide and Perth 6pm bulletins can be viewed online. The ability to view live press conferences, live feeds from various Nine News helicopters from around the country during a breaking or developing story was added to the Nine News website.
Nine Newsbreak is an iPhone and iPad app, launched in 2011. The app is updated with videos from Nine's newsrooms around the country and overseas along with specially produced 60-second video reports and full video packages taken from Nine News bulletins. There is a user generated functionality, enabling co
Paul Hogan
Paul Hogan, is an Australian comedian and television presenter. He was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Original Screenplay and won the Golden Globe Award for Best Actor – Motion Picture Musical or Comedy for his performance as outback adventurer Michael "Crocodile" Dundee in Crocodile Dundee, the first in the Crocodile Dundee film series. Paul Hogan was born in New South Wales, Australia, he moved to Granville in Western Sydney at a young age and worked as a rigger on the Sydney Harbour Bridge. Hogan's first public appearance was on Australian television, the Nine Network's amateur talent program New Faces in 1971. Hogan had observed to his Harbour Bridge workmates that the program's entertainment value relied on the judges ridiculing and belittling the performers, suggested the judges deserved similar treatment. Hogan inveigled his way onto the program by claiming to be a "tap-dancing knife-thrower". Hogan appeared on stage in his work boots, holding elaborate prop'knives' and proceeded to make a series of jokes at the judges' expense.
Strong positive response from the viewing public saw Hogan invited back for repeated performances on New Faces. Hogan's natural ability as a comedic performer attracted the attention of Mike Willesee, host of Nine's news magazine program A Current Affair. Willesee offered Hogan regular appearances on the show, during which Hogan would make humorous comment on some issue of the day. During this time Hogan befriended Current Affair producer John Cornell, who became Hogan's manager and business partner. Hogan followed this with his own comedy sketch program The Paul Hogan Show, which he produced and wrote, in which he played characters with Cornell and Delvene Delaney; the series, which ran for 60 episodes between 1973 and 1984, was popular in his native country and South Africa, showcased his trademark lighthearted but laddish ocker humour. Hogan won the 1973 TV Week Logie Award for'Best New Talent'; the early series was on Channel Seven and by 1975, it was screened on Channel Nine where it remained until the end of 1984.
In the 1970s, he advertised Winfield cigarettes in television and billboard advertisements in which he wore a formal dinner suit. These ads always ended with the catchphrase "Anyhow, have a Winfield". During the early 1980s, Hogan filmed a series of television ads promoting the Australian tourism industry, which aired in the United States. An advertisement with the phrase "shrimp on the barbie" which aired from 1984, was successful. In 1985, Hogan starred as an Australian World War I'digger' named Pat Cleary in the critically acclaimed mini-series Anzacs which aired on the Nine Network. Cleary was described as the quintessential Aussie larrikin and series writer John Dixon wrote the part of Cleary with Hogan in mind; the series included a "who's who" of Australian television and film actors of the day including Jon Blake, Andrew Clarke, Megan Williams, Tony Bonner, Bill Kerr, Ilona Rodgers, Vivean Gray and Robert Coleby. Throughout the decade, he appeared on British TV in advertisements for Foster's Lager, in which he played an earthy Australian abroad in London.
The character's most notable line "Struth, there's a bloke down there with no strides on!", followed Hogan for years, the popularity of its "fish out of water" humour was repeated with his next endeavour. In another advertisement from the same Foster's series, Hogan's character is approached in a London Tube station by a Japanese tourist who asks,'Do you know the way to Cockfosters?', to which Hogan replies: "Drink it warm, mate." Hogan's breakout role was that of Mick "Crocodile" Dundee in the 1986 film Crocodile Dundee. Hogan co-wrote the movie, a massive critical and commercial success in many countries, he won the 1987 Golden Globe Award for Best Actor - Motion Picture Musical or Comedy and was nominated for Best Actor at the BAFTAs. The screenplay was nominated for a BAFTA and a Saturn Award. Along with Chevy Chase and Goldie Hawn, Hogan co-hosted the 59th Academy Awards in 1987. Hogan again portrayed Mick Dundee in the sequel Crocodile Dundee II, released in 1988. Hogan was executive producer and co-writer with his son, Brett.
Although less popular than the first Crocodile Dundee film with critics, it was a commercial success. The character made him popular in the United States, with phrases like, "That's not a knife...that's a knife!" Entering the lexicon, though Hogan was troubled that the character was perceived as a cross between Chuck Norris and John Rambo, turned down roles similar to those due to their violent nature, commenting: In the early 1990s, a Paramount executive pitched a concept of a Crocodile Dundee / Beverly Hills Cop crossover movie. Hogan refused the starring role in the hit film Ghost. In 1994 Hogan co-produced and starred in the Western comedy film Lightning Jack. In 1996 Hogan starred in a remake of a family-friendly movie about a dolphin. In 1998 he co-starred in the made-for-TV drama Floating Away, an adaptation of the Tim Sandlin book Sorrow Floats. Hogan played ` a recovering alcoholic. In the late 1990s and early 2000s, he was featured in advertisements for the Subaru Outback. In 2001, Hogan returned to the role.
In 2004, Hogan starred in the Australian-produced comedy film Strange
GTV (Australian TV station)
GTV is a commercial television station in Melbourne, owned by the Nine Network. The station is based at a new high-tech, purpose-built studio at 717 Bourke Street, Docklands. GTV-9 was amongst the first television stations to begin regular transmission in Australia. Test transmissions began on 27 September 1956, introduced by former 3DB radio announcer Geoff Corke, based at the Mt Dandenong transmitter, as the studios in Richmond were not yet ready; the station covered the 1956 Summer Olympics. The 1956 Carols By the Davis Cup tennis as part of its test transmissions; the station was opened on 19 January 1957 by Victorian Governor Sir Dallas Brooks from the studios in Bendigo Street, Richmond. A clip from the ceremony has featured in a number of GTV-9 retrospectives, in which the Governor advises viewers that if they did not like the programs, they could just turn off; the Richmond building, bearing the name Television City, had been converted from a Heinz tinned food factory occupied in the past by the Wertheim Piano Company.
A cornerstone, now visible from the staff canteen courtyard, was laid when construction of the Piano factory began. Eric Pearce was appointed senior newsreader in the late 1960s, after having been the first newsreader at rival station HSV-7, he held that position for twenty years. In 1957, GTV-9's first large-scale production was the nightly variety show In Melbourne Tonight, hosted by Graham Kennedy. Kennedy was a radio announcer at 3UZ in Melbourne before being'discovered' by GTV-9 producer Norm Spencer, when appearing on a GTV-9 telethon. Bert Newton moved from HSV-7 to join Kennedy. IMT continued for thirteen years, it set a precedent for a number of subsequent live variety programmes from the station. Ownership has changed over the decades; the station was first licensed to the General Television Corporation Ltd. a consortium of two newspapers, The Argus and The Age, together with cinema chains Hoyts, Greater Union, Sir Arthur Warner's Electronic Industries, JC William's Theatres, Cinesound Productions, radio stations 3XY, 3UZ, 3KZ.
In early 1957 The Argus was acquired by The Herald and Weekly Times Ltd, the paper was closed on the same day that GTV-9 opened. The Herald in turn sold its interests in the station to Electronic Industries acquired by UK television manufacturer Pye, in 1960; because of the restriction on foreign ownership of television stations, GTV-9 was sold to Frank Packer's Australian Consolidated Press, which owned TCN-9 in Sydney, resulting in the formation of the country's first commercially owned television network. Prior to this GTV-9 was affiliated with ATN-7 in Sydney. Son Clyde Packer ran the network for some time, until a falling out led to a handover to younger son Kerry Packer. In the 1980s the network was sold to Alan Bond, but bought back at a much lower price. Following the death of Kerry Packer, his son James Packer progressively sold down his stake in the network. Along with most Australian TV stations, GTV-9 commenced colour test transmissions in October, 1974; the official changeover took place at 12.00am on Saturday 1 March 1975.
In 1976, GTV-9 became the first Australian television station to commence permanent 24-hour transmission. In 2001 the station commenced digital television broadcasting, in line with most other metropolitan stations. GTV-9 continued broadcasting in analogue on VHF9, with a digital simulcast on VHF8. In 2010 it was announced to public and staff, that after 54 years at Bendigo Street, GTV-9 would move day-to-day operations including News and commercial sales to 717 Bourke Street, Docklands. On 25 October 2010, it was announced that GTV-9 would begin producing larger scale studio productions, such as The Footy Show, Hey Hey its Saturday, Millionaire Hotseat from the new Docklands Studios Melbourne. On 28 February 2011, GTV-9 broadcast its final live program – the 6pm edition of Nine News – from the Richmond Television City studios, the following day began broadcasting news bulletins from 717 Bourke Street. While their new fiber link to their transmission site was being completed, a temporary DVB-S2 link was put up on Optus D1, which ceased at the end of the year.
In 2012, no new programming has been produced out of the new studios. The network opted to move its host Tracy Grimshaw to TCN-9 in Sydney. In May, 2012, a lower powered permanent backup DVB-S2 link for their transmission site was re-established on Optus D1, which requires at least a two-metre solid receiving dish. Locally produced programs with GTV-9 Melbourne. Nine News Melbourne Nine Afternoon News Melbourne Nine News: First at Five Nine's National Newsbreak Nine News Victoria Kids' WB Australia TAC Cup Future Stars The AFL Sunday Footy Show Footy Classified The Footy Show *previously filmed in Studio 9 Millionaire Hot Seat *previously filmed in Studio 9 The Block House Husbands Postcards Carols by Candlelight The Logies 2010s Underbelly A Current Affair This Is Your Life The Million Dollar Drop Between the Lines Ben Elton Live From Planet Earth 2000s 20 to 1 (2005–