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ABC Television in the ACT comprises national and local programming on the
ABC television network The American Broadcasting Company (ABC) is an American commercial broadcast television network. It is the flagship property of the ABC Entertainment Group division of The Walt Disney Company. The network is headquartered in Burbank, Califor ...
in the
Australian Capital Territory The Australian Capital Territory (commonly abbreviated as ACT), known as the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) until 1938, is a landlocked federal territory of Australia containing the national capital Canberra and some surrounding townships. ...
, which includes the capital city of Australia,
Canberra Canberra ( ) is the capital city of Australia. Founded following the federation of the colonies of Australia as the seat of government for the new nation, it is Australia's largest inland city and the eighth-largest city overall. The ci ...
, and broadcasts on a number of channels under the ABC
call sign In broadcasting and radio communications, a call sign (also known as a call name or call letters—and historically as a call signal—or abbreviated as a call) is a unique identifier for a transmitter station. A call sign can be formally assigne ...
. There is some local programming from the Canberra studio. ABC was the historic name of the
Australian Broadcasting Corporation The Australian Broadcasting Corporation (ABC) is the national broadcaster of Australia. It is principally funded by direct grants from the Australian Government and is administered by a government-appointed board. The ABC is a publicly-own ...
's television station in Canberra which launched in 1962, with the "C" in the
call sign In broadcasting and radio communications, a call sign (also known as a call name or call letters—and historically as a call signal—or abbreviated as a call) is a unique identifier for a transmitter station. A call sign can be formally assigne ...
standing for Canberra. It was also referred to as ABC 3 (not to be confused with the
ABC Me ABC Me (stylised as ABC ME) is an Australian English language children's free-to-air television channel owned by the Australian Broadcasting Corporation. It was officially launched by Prime Minister Kevin Rudd on 4 December 2009 as ABC3. Hist ...
children's channel launched in 2009).


History

The station began broadcasting as ABC-3 on 18 December 1962, soon before prime minister
Robert Menzies The name Robert is an ancient Germanic given name, from Proto-Germanic "fame" and "bright" (''Hrōþiberhtaz''). Compare Old Dutch ''Robrecht'' and Old High German ''Hrodebert'' (a compound of ''Hrōþ, Hruod'' ( non, Hróðr) "fame, glory ...
officially opened the new station at a special reception at Hotel Canberra. The "C" in the call sign stands for Canberra. Unusually, the station commenced transmission before a local television studio was able to be constructed, with initial transmission of ABC-3 being a direct relay of
ABN-2 ABN is the Australian Broadcasting Corporation's television station in Sydney. The station began broadcasting on 5 November 1956. Its original studios were located in Gore Hill and were in use up until March 2004, when they were co-located wit ...
in Sydney. The station opened at 3pm on 18 December 1962 with a
test card A test card, also known as a test pattern or start-up/closedown test, is a television test signal, typically broadcast at times when the transmitter is active but no program is being broadcast (often at sign-on and sign-off). Used since the ear ...
and music, followed by ''Kindergarten Playtime'' at 4:45pm. ABC-3's main transmitter was constructed at Black Mountain. ABC-3 began broadcasting local programs on 3 June 1963 from a temporary studio in the existing 2CN/ 2CY building in
Civic Civic is something related to a city or municipality. It also can refer to multiple other things: General *Civics, the science of comparative government *Civic engagement, the connection one feels with their larger community *Civic center, a comm ...
. Mervyn Edie was the first person to read the local news on ABC-3. New ABC studios were constructed in Northbourne Avenue in Dickson. Local ABC radio services commenced broadcasting from the new facility on 3 August 1964. ABC-3 commenced television programs from the new studios on 8 October 1964 when the local news became the first program to be broadcast. The new studios were officially opened by Postmaster General
Alan Hulme Sir Alan Shallcross Hulme KBE (14 February 19079 October 1989) was an Australian politician, accountant and cattle breeder. He was born in the Sydney suburb of Mosman and was educated at North Sydney Boys High School. He moved to Queensland be ...
on 22 October 1964. ABC chairman
James Ralph Darling Sir James Ralph Darling, CMG, OBE (18 June 1899 – 1 November 1995) was the English-born Australian headmaster of Geelong Grammar School (1930–1961), and Chairman of the Australian Broadcasting Commission (1961–1967). Early life Darli ...
and senator
John Gorton Sir John Grey Gorton (9 September 1911 – 19 May 2002) was an Australian politician who served as the nineteenth Prime Minister of Australia, in office from 1968 to 1971. He led the Liberal Party during that time, having previously been a l ...
also spoke at the event. Local television programs to be broadcast from the ABC-3 studios in the station's early years included ''Southern Gardener'', ''Canberra Week'', ''Studio 11'', ''Canberra Camera'' along with local news, sport and weather. For 22 years, ABC-3's local news was a brief five minute bulletin which went to air each night at 6:55pm. This ended on 15 February 1985 as the station prepared to produce a new 10-minute bulletin which was expected to go to air at approximately 7:20pm each night towards the end of the ABC's new national news program ''The National'' hosted by
Richard Morecroft Richard Morecroft (born 20 January 1956) is an English-born Australian radio announcer, TV newsreader and presenter, and conservationist. He presented the Adelaide News bulletin, before becoming the long-running host of the nightly bulletin of ...
and
Geraldine Doogue Geraldine Frances Doogue (born 29 April 1952) is an Australian journalist and radio and television presenter. Career After graduating from the University of Western Australia with a Bachelor of Arts degree, Doogue intended to train as a scho ...
. When ''The National'' ended and state based news bulletins were reinstated on 9 December 1985, local news continued to be provided in a brief segment during the New South Wales edition of ''ABC News'' until a dedicated 30 minute local news bulletin commenced in Canberra in February 1989, read by Janet Wilson. When Wilson left in late 1989, she was replaced with Claudia Emery. Emery continued to present the bulletin until August 1991 when local news production was entirely axed amid the Hawke Government's funding cut to the ABC totaling $15 million. The local ''ABC News'' bulletin was replaced with the New South Wales edition presented by Richard Morecroft from Sydney. Emery and weather presenter Peter Leonard were among the attendees of a "wake" which had been organised following the airing of the final local ''ABC News'' bulletin in Canberra. A local ACT edition of ''ABC News'' was re-introduced in 2001, presented by
Virginia Haussegger Virginia Haussegger, (born 21 March 1964), is an Australian journalist, academic advocate for gender equity, media commentator and television presenter. Haussegger presented ''ABC News (Australia), ABC News'' on ABC Canberra (TV station), ABC ...
. This was the same year that
Southern Cross Broadcasting Southern Cross Broadcasting (Australia) Limited was a diversified Australian media company, that owned and operated a variety of media businesses, primarily in radio and television. History Tony Bell was managing director of the business betwe ...
axed ''
Ten Capital News CTC is a television station in Canberra, Australia. The station was the tenth to begin transmission in regional Australia, and the 26th station in Australia as a whole. CTC has an affiliation agreement to show content from Network 10. Just as i ...
'', leaving the ABC and
WIN Television WIN Television is an Australian television network owned by WIN Corporation that is based in Wollongong, New South Wales. WIN commenced transmissions on 18 March 1962 as a single television station covering the Wollongong region. The WIN Netwo ...
as being the only stations to have a locally presented news bulletin from studios in Canberra. When WIN Television closed their Canberra studio in 2013 and relocated the production of their local ''
WIN News ''WIN News'' is a local television news service in parts of regional Australia, produced by WIN Television. 12 regional bulletins and news update services are presented from WIN's headquarters in Wollongong, and until 2021 included production ...
'' bulletin to
Wollongong, New South Wales Wollongong ( ), colloquially referred to as The Gong, is a city located in the Illawarra region of New South Wales, Australia. The name is believed to originate from the Dharawal language, meaning either 'five islands/clouds', 'ground near wate ...
, the ABC was left as the only remaining station to have a locally presented news bulletin produced in Canberra for ACT viewers. Canberra was the first city in Australia in which
analogue television Analog television is the original television technology that uses analog signals to transmit video and audio. In an analog television broadcast, the brightness, colors and sound are represented by amplitude, phase and frequency of an analog s ...
was switched off, in 2012, meaning that only
digital television Digital television (DTV) is the transmission of television signals using digital encoding, in contrast to the earlier analog television technology which used analog signals. At the time of its development it was considered an innovative advanc ...
services are transmitted. In November 2014, it was announced the long-running weekly local current affairs program '' 7.30 ACT'' (previously known as '' Stateline'') would be axed due to the Abbott Government's funding cuts to the ABC. The final edition went to air on 5 December 2014. After 15 year of reading ''ABC News Canberra'', Virginia Haussegger resigned and read her final bulletin in October 2016. Haussegger was succeeded by Dan Bourchier who started presenting ''ABC News Canberra'' in January 2017. In 2019, the ABC in Canberra introduced an
Acknowledgement of Country A Welcome to Country is a ritual or formal ceremony performed as a land acknowledgement at many events held in Australia. It is intended to highlight the cultural significance of the surrounding area to the descendants of a particular Aborigina ...
during ''ABC News Canberra''.
Ngunnawal The Ngunnawal people, also spelt Ngunawal, are an Aboriginal people of southern New South Wales and the Australian Capital Territory in Australia. Language Ngunnawal and Gundungurra are Australian Aboriginal languages from the Pama-Nyungan ...
elders were present in the television studio to witness the first edition of ''ABC News Canberra'' to include the Acknowledgement of Country go to air which saw Dan Bourchier sign off by saying: "And that's the latest from the Canberra newsroom, proudly broadcasting from the land of the Ngunnawal people. As part of our ongoing commitment to Indigenous recognition, the ABC is partnering with the United Ngunnawal Elders Council and pays respect to them — the first people of this land. I'm Dan Bourchier, Yarra, Goodnight". Bourchier had opened the bulletin by saying "Yuma", the traditional greeting with graphics behind him including the words "Ngunnawal Country".


ABC Television in ACT today

there are four transmitters broadcasting ABC channels 8, 36 and 41, with one still situated on Black Mountain.


Local programming

''ABC News Canberra'' is presented by Dan Bourchier from Sunday to Thursday and Craig Allen on Friday and Saturday. The weeknight bulletins incorporate a national finance section presented by
Alan Kohler Alan Robert Kohler (born 26 April 1952) is an Australian financial journalist and newspaper editor. He currently writes for his own online financial publication, ''The Constant Investor''. Career In 1969, Kohler began as a cadet on ''The Aust ...
in
Melbourne Melbourne ( ; Boonwurrung/Woiwurrung: ''Narrm'' or ''Naarm'') is the capital and most populous city of the Australian state of Victoria, and the second-most populous city in both Australia and Oceania. Its name generally refers to a met ...
. A new studio set was introduced in mid-2014 to match the rest of the ABC News network. The weekly current affairs program, ''
7.30 ''7.30'' is an Australian nightly television current affairs program which broadcasts on ABC and ABC News at on Monday to Thursday nights. The program is currently hosted by Sarah Ferguson. History The program first aired on 7 March 2011, re ...
ACT'' was presented by Chris Kimball until its cancellation in 2014 in a round of severe cuts to the ABC.


References

Australian Broadcasting Corporation television stations Television stations in Canberra Television channels and stations established in 1962 {{Australia-tv-stub