TVW

:"This article is about the television station in Perth, Western Australia. For other channels known as TVW, see TVW (disambiguation)."Infobox_Broadcast
call_letters = TVW
city =
station_
station_slogan = GOTTALOVEIT
station_branding = Seven
analog = 7 (VHF)
digital = 6 (VHF)
other_chs =
affiliations = Seven (O&O)
network = Seven
founded =
airdate = October 16, 1959
location = Perth, Western Australia
callsign_meaning = nowrap|TeleVision Western Australia
former_callsigns =
former_channel_numbers =
owner = nowrap|Seven Media Group Pty Ltd
licensee = Channel Seven Perth Pty Ltd
sister_stations =
former_affiliations = independent (1959-1988)
effective_radiated_power = 200 kW (analog)
50 kW (digital)
HAAT = 282 m (analogue)
280 m (digital) [HAAT estimated from http://www.itu.int/SRTM3/ using EHAAT.]
class =
facility_id =
coordinates = coord|32|0|30|S|116|5|3|E|type:landmark_scale:2000
homepage = [http://www.7perth.com.au/ www.7perth.com.au]

TVW is a television station broadcasting in Perth, Western Australia, wholly owned by the Seven Network. It was the first television station in Western Australia, commencing service on October 16, 1959. It broadcasts analogue on VHF 7 and digital on VHF 6 from Bickley located in the Perth Hills. The TVW callsign stands for Television Western Australia.

It is a member of the Seven Network, whose principal shareholder is Perth-born Kerry Stokes.

History

On October 13 1958 the first commercial television license in Perth was granted by the Minister for Posts and Telegraphs to TVW Limited, and they commenced broadcasting a little over a year later. The then Governor of Western Australia, Sir Charles Gairdner opened the station at 7.30pm October 16, 1959. Some of the first programs included "Leave It to Beaver", "Sea Hunt", "Father Knows Best", "Gunsmoke", "Perry Mason", "The Epilogue" and a local show called "Spotlight" which featured Rolf Harris.

The original owner of TVW was West Australian Newspapers (WAN), which publishes the Perth daily newspaper, "The West Australian". Coincidentally, the Seven Network bought a 15% share in WAN in 2006.

TVW-7 did not have a rival commercial television station until 1965 when STW-9 commenced broadcasting. However the presence of a rival did not have a large negative impact on TVW, at least in the early years. In fact a survey by its rival found that more people agreed with a statement that "TVW fulfilled their viewing needs, and it would be a matter of indifference to them if the new station were to cease transmissions" [http://www.mcc.murdoch.edu.au/ReadingRoom/film/image/Fisher.html www.mcc.murdoch.edu.au] . The six years TVW had as sole commercial operator flowed through for many more years to come, some would even argue that it is still present today considering how well Seven performs in the market compared to Nine, which generally wins comfortably nationally.

After STW-9 entered the market, a 'cartel' was formed between the two stations for the duty of buying from both Australian and overseas production sources. The two stations set up a separate company, TV Facilities, (50%/50% partners). This allowed the stations to purchase programs cheaper than if they were two separate entities, which would bid on shows and subsequently raise prices. This partnership was disliked by Eastern States stations who could not increase their charges to the extent which they would have liked. Allocation of programs was decided by a coin toss, which would allow the winner to pick first and then alternate the picking of programs. However TVW would always be in a more dominant position as it had the rights to continuing shows from the previous six years as well as half of the new programs.

In 1971 TVW Enterprises purchased the Adelaide station, SAS-10, now SAS-7. 1982 saw TVW (and SAS) purchased by Perth based businessman Robert Holmes à Court’s Bell Group. In 1988 a third commercial station entered the Perth market; it was aligned with Network Ten so for the first time in its history TVW took up an affiliation, aligning with the other Seven stations in the country. 1988 also saw the station change hands when the Christopher Skase led Qintex group purchased the station. Qintex collapsed a year later, leaving TVW in the hands of receivers. In 1991 the station was combined with the other Seven stations to become the Seven Network, this was floated on the stock exchange and by 1995 Perth-born Kerry Stokes was in charge of both TVW and the rest of the network.

Programming

Seven Perth for the most part follows the programming of the Seven Network.

Locally produced programs, which can also be seen in regional Western Australia on GWN include:
* "Go Racing": News/discussion about the racing scene in both Perth and the Eastern States
* "Have a Go TV": Features segments on travel, finance and investment, sport and recreation, health and wellbeing. Hosted by Tod Johnston.
* "Home In WA": Lifestyle, building and renovation
* "Fishing Western Australia": Explores fishing in WA.
* "Our WA": A long-running series of specials which highlight a specific aspect of WA life

Locally produced programs, which can also be seen around Australia through the Seven Network and affiliates include:
* "": Observational documentary about the Western Australia Police

News and Public Affairs

even News

The Seven News bulletin is fronted by Rick Ardon and Susannah Carr. 2005 saw Rick and Sue celebrate their 20th anniversary as a reading duo. Sport is presented by Basil Zempilas and weather by Jeff Newman. Their dual-presenter format is very successful by all means.

Across the weekend the news is hosted by Paula Voce or Emmy Kubainski with sport by former West Coast Eagles player Adrian Barich. Chris Mainwaring did the weekend sport until his death in October 2007. Reece Whitby frequently filled in as weekend news host before entering politics as a state Labor Party candidate in April 2008.

The current tagline for their news service is 'Nobody Knows News Like Seven' and 'Seven News - The Pulse of Perth'.

Other news programming produced by the network includes the morning news program "Sunrise", "Seven Morning News" and "Seven's 4.30 News". Late news updates are also provided from the Sydney newsroom.

Seven News Perth's reporting staff are:
*Adrian Barich (Sport/weekend sports reader)
*David Cooper (Crime Reporter)
*Bianca Hayley
*Blake Johnson
*Emmy Kubainski (Court Reporter/weekend newsreader)
*Ray Kuka
*Neroli Meadows (Sport)
*Steve Nelkovski (Sport)
*Geoff Parry (Political Reporter)
*Grant Taylor (Crime Reporter)
*Ellie Southwood
*Paula Voce (Special Reports/occasional weekend newsreader)
*Chris Young (Sport)

TVW's current news director is Shaun Menegola.

Today Tonight

The nightly news is followed by locally produced public affairs program "Today Tonight" hosted by Monika Kos. The program uses a mixture of reports from its sister programs on the east coast and in Adelaide as well as reports from locally based reporters. Like "Seven News", the program is very successful ratings wise, consistently beating its Sydney-based rival "A Current Affair". Mario D'Orazio is the programme's producer.

Today Tonight's reporting staff are:
*Graeme Butler
*Natalie Bonjolo
*Andrea Burns
*Belinda Wilkinson
*Alison Fan
*Tina Altieri (Special Reports/Summer presenter)

Mascot

Seven Perth has long been the home of Fat Cat, the name standing for Francis Aloysius Thomas Cat. Fat Cat is "put to bed" every night at 7.30pm signalling the end of programs suitable for children. Fat Cat, along with GWN's Doopa Dog, are the last WA television mascots to survive. Long time rival STW-9 used a large elephant, Flapper, as its mascot and NEW-10 used "Kenny Kidna" from the Kangaroo Creek Gang as its mascot.

Fat Cat is also used for Telethon; Fat Cat dolls and cds are sold to raise money for sick children.

Telethon

TVW also produces an annual telethon for the Princess Margaret Hospital for Children, the Telethon Institute for Child Health Research and the "Telethon Speech and Hearing Centre". In 2007, the event raised more than $6.5 million (AUD), double the previous record amount of $3 million.

Christmas Pageant

The station organises an annual Christmas parade through the streets of the Perth CBD. It is claimed to be the largest Christmas parade in the southern hemisphere. More than 600 floats and 60,000 participants have taken part in the procession in the history of the parade, which commenced in 1972.

Broadcasting details

Analogue frequency: VHF 7
Digital frequency: VHF 6

tation Slogans

*1980: "21 Years of Television"
*1982: "We're With You, 7"
*1983: "Just Watch Us Now!"
*1984: "You Can See It All on 7"
*1985-88: "Love You Perth"
*1986: "Say Hello!"
*1986: "Sail On"
*Summer 1986/87: "The Heat Is On!"
*1999: "Perth - 40 Years"

ee also

* Seven Network
* STW
* NEW (TV station)
*Television broadcasting in Australia

ources

* [http://wwwmcc.murdoch.edu.au/ReadingRoom/film/image/Hiltula.html Perth Commercial Television After 1965 by Tom O'Regan & Ulla Hiltula]
* [http://wwwmcc.murdoch.edu.au/ReadingRoom/film/image/Fisher.html The Introduction of Television into Western Australia by Eric Fisher]

References

External links

* [http://www.7perth.com.au/ Official Seven Perth Website]
* [http://telethon.7perth.com.au/ Telethon Website]
* [http://www.homeinwa.com.au/ Home in WA Website]