AMV (TV station)

Infobox_Broadcast
call_letters = AMV
city =
station_
station_slogan = Bringing It Home
station_branding = Prime
analog = see table below
digital = see table below
other_chs =
affiliations = Seven
network = Prime
founded =
airdate = September 7, 1964
location = regional Victoria
callsign_meaning = Albury
Murray
Victoria
former_callsigns =
former_channel_numbers =
owner = Prime Television Ltd
licensee = Prime Television (Victoria) Pty Ltd
sister_stations =
former_affiliations = independent (1964-1989)
effective_radiated_power = see table below
HAAT = see table below
class =
facility_id =
coordinates = see table below
homepage = [http://www.primetv.com.au/ www.primetv.com.au]

AMV is an Australian television station licensed to, and serving the regions surrounding Wagga Wagga and Albury-Wodonga in south western New South Wales and north eastern Victoria. The station was, for many years, merged with RVN-2 as "the Riverina and North East Victoria Television Service".

History

Origins

AMV-4 commenced broadcasting on September 7, 1964. [http://www.austvhistory.com/prime/preaggregation.htm#vic www.austvhistory.com] It showed programming from the three major metropolitan television networks, in addition to local programming such as the Albury Gold Cup, the Ovens and Murray Grand Final and the 1988 Miss Australia pageant.Fact|date=September 2007 The station also produced a half-hour news program, known today as Prime News.Fact|date=September 2007

Meanwhile, when the commercial television license for the Riverina area was being determined, a number of local groups submitted proposals. Young-based radio station 2LF, along with local councils and businesses in the Young-Cootamundra area, Wagga Wagga newspaper "The Daily Advertiser" and radio station 2WG, together with local Wagga Wagga businessmen, as well as a group of smaller newspapers and some licensed clubs.Fact|date=September 2007

2LF's proposal later joined forces with the Advertiser/2WG bid - 2LF would get 10% of the shares, 2WG got 20% and The Advertiser got 15%, with the remaining shares to be offered to local people.Fact|date=September 2007 After issues at the ABCB enquiry for the license, the 2LF/2WG/Advertiser group (trading as Riverina Television) won the license.Fact|date=September 2007

The initial board was made up representavies from 2WG, 2LF, The Advertiser, and two local councils. A few days after the license was announced, the chairman and station manager had a disagreement, resulting in the resignation of both.Fact|date=September 2007 They were replaced by Wal Hucker, who ran a film animation and sound company in Sydney, and was also the former chairman's brother-in-law.Fact|date=September 2007 The former chairman's wife also joined the board, as the Control Board made it clear that 2WG had to remain involved in the station. Bill Marsden, of 2LF, became the station manager.Fact|date=September 2007

A disagreement with Wagga Wagga council over the location of a potential studio site, which would have provided direct line of sight transmission to the Mt. Ulandra transmitter, saw a new site rezoned from residential areas.Fact|date=September 2007

As with most stations launching at that time, the mast would be shared with the local transmitter of the ABC, but not the transmitting facilities, as chief engineer Stuart McDonald wanted to operate the facilities remotely. RVN would be first station to operate their transmitters in this way.Fact|date=September 2007

The building was finished in early 1964, with the station going to air on June 19 at 5pm. The opening night's programs including an announcement from the local Federal Member for the area at the time, film of the station's construction, an episode of "I Love Lucy" and the film "The Dambusters".Fact|date=September 2007 The station closed down for the night at 10pm.Fact|date=September 2007

As with most stations at the time, news was done by announcing over slides, or read to the camera, combined with the previous night's news film from ATN-7 Sydney. Local programming, including commercials, was broadcast live.Fact|date=September 2007 RVN was the only station to have made a profit, albeit a small one, in its first year of operation.Fact|date=September 2007

RVN-AMV

By the early 1970s, many regional stations faced financial difficulties, and as a result RVN and AMV merted, forming the Riverina and North East Victoria Television Service Pty. Ltd., in 1971.Fact|date=September 2007 The stations were known on-air as "RVN-AMV". Both stations were programmed separately, until 1976 when transmission for both stations was centralized in Wagga.Fact|date=September 2007

In 1983, the stations faced a unique situation when New South Wales and Victoria ended daylight saving periods at different times. For three weeks, RVN's output was shown on AMV on a one hour delay.Fact|date=September 2007 It was also unusual in thatit served audiences in two states, and had to program accordingly. New South Welsh viewers received Sydney news and sports, primarily rugby league, while viewers in Victoria were shown Melbourne news and sports (mainly VFL/AFL).Fact|date=September 2007

By the mid 1980s, 80 people were employed at Wagga, and a further 40 in Albury.Fact|date=September 2007 RVN-AMV was purchased by Paul Ramsay's Ramcorp Ltd. in 1987, and merged with the Midstate Television 6-8-9 network, forming "The Prime Network".Fact|date=September 2007 The two stations split in 1989, when Southern New South Wales was aggregated - RVN joined with CBN, as the Seven Network affiliate in the area in competition with Ten Capital and WIN Television.Fact|date=September 2007 AMV, meanwhile expanded into the rest of Victoria as the state's Seven Network affiliate, in competition with Vic TV and Southern Cross.Fact|date=September 2007

RVN's callsign ceased to exist in 1991, when the Wagga and Orange licenses were merged to become only CBN.Fact|date=September 2007 At the same time, AMV moved from VHF channel 4 to VHF channel 11, in order to allow FM stations to be established without interference from existing television stations (using VHF channels 3, 4, 5 and 5A).Fact|date=September 2007

Main Transmitters

Notes:
*1. HAAT estimated from http://www.itu.int/SRTM3/ using EHAAT.
*2. The Upper Murray station was on VHF channel 4 from its 1964 sign-on until sometime around 1990, moving to its current channel in order to accommodate FM radio.

ee also

*CBN-8/CWN-6
*Prime Television

External links

* [http://www.austvhistory.com/prime/preaggregation.htm Logos and clips of RVN and AMV at AusTVHistory.com]
* [http://austv.hostforweb.com/cgi-bin/cgi2/index.rb?page=RVN2%20Wagga%20Wagga&section=Television%20History%20Reference/TV%20Stations/Other%20Commercial/Defunct/New%20South%20Welsh/Riverina-Murray&mode=0 RVN2 entry at the Australian Television Archive]
* [http://austv.hostforweb.com/cgi-bin/cgi2/index.rb?page=AMV4%20Albury&section=Television%20History%20Reference/TV%20Stations/Other%20Commercial/Defunct/New%20South%20Welsh/Riverina-Murray&mode=0 AMV4 entry at the Australian Television Archive]
* [http://www.xroyvision.com.au/ecv/rvn/index.html A history of RVN-2]