The end of a analogue era: QTQ-9

Welcome to a updated version, of the 2009 QTQ 50th post, to commemorate the end of analogue television in Brisbane on 28/5/13. It includes a extension to the present day, along with some other updates, to reflect modern events.

20 years of hell at half past five...

Rick Burnett, first host of Brisbane Extra.

"Hello, and welcome to Brisbane Extra. Each weekday at this time, we will be giving you a closer look at life in Brisbane, the things that annoy us, or make us smile."
Rick Burnett intro, on the very first edition of Brisbane Extra in February 1992.

From this small beginning in 1992, this is a tale of Seven's...

I wonder, how people will commemorate the 20th anniversary of the Extra premiere this year. I'm choosing to mark it, with a post, looking at it from a angle one never thought of. The angle, I'm talking about, is from the problems rival channels have had in that slot since 1992: those people who sat stunned, as Extra outrated their news lead-ins (or in the case of one, their news, that had only just moved to 5pm), to the chagrin of interstate news bosses and programmers alike. It's also, a story of how Extra's success, led to the introduction of Gold Coast local news at 5:30 on Nine, and how it survived. It's a flashback, Seven won't bother running on a Sunday night, as it's full of too many bad memories... for this is a tale, of twenty years of Extra, from the other side of Mt Coot-tha, through the eyes of the network, who suffered the most.

Kuttsywood's Couch's 10 defining Queensland TV moments of the 00's

Those who cannot remember the past, are condemned to repeat it.

George Santayana from "The Life of Reason" published in 1905.

As we exit this decade, this blog aims to present the 10 defining moments of the last decade (a first of a series leading to the end of 09... and the beginning of the tenn's), in the Queensland industry, that one way or another is following that saying, possibly many southerners who have moved up here (and some locals too) are to learn from in order for the saying not to become a self-fullfiling prophecy for our industry. I must also inform you of my favorite paraphrase of this saying...

Those who fail to learn from the mistakes of their predecessors, are destined to repeat them.

The highway to hell... 2009 Brisbane ratings.

The title says it all. In a year dominated by axings, sackings, a possible boning, opening of new Gold Coast facilities and the Deal decline, caused by a axing on a completely different channel, it has been literally the highway to hell for Brisbane's TV industry in 2009. From being proud of local content to shunning it in favor of networking the entire schedule from Sydney, from Brian Cahill's return to the newsdesk to Heather Foord's "forced" return to the newsdesk, all while a station abandoned Brisbane, while the traditional home of local content won't pick up the ball and make it theirs. Thus, the "Highway to Hell" reference is apt.

50 years of Brisbane TV: Part 10-The curtain rises: Brisbane TV Variety

Dedicated to the fallen stars of Brisbane TV variety, in particular: George Wallace Jr (1918-1968), Brian Tait (1927-2007) and Paul Sharratt (1933-2009).

Welcome to another great instalment of 50 Years of Brisbane TV. This month, we are focusing, on what was the lifeblood of our local content for nearly forty years, local variety television.

50 years of Brisbane TV: Part 8-Still The One: 50 Years of Brisbane's Channel 9

The wait is over... A golden anniversary is being marked. Welcome to Part 8...

The genesis: TV is coming to Brisbane, a case of when, not if.

When television began in this country nearly fifty-three years ago, it was a purely Sydney-Melbourne medium. Brisbane waited it's turn, until 1958, when the first two licences in Queensland were up for bids (alongside two in Adelaide, what became NWS-9 and ADS-7, later ADS-10 and one in Perth, TVW-7). Of these prized Brisbane commercial TV licences, one was sold to Queensland Television Limited, (what became QTQ-9) and the other to Brisbane TV Limited (which became BTQ-7), and the planning began...