''Radio Times'', originally known as ''Radioprogram'', was a weekly Melbourne radio program guide established 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 ...

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a Sovereign state, sovereign country comprising the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous List of islands of Australia, sma ...

in 1934. In the late 1930s it changed its name to ''Radio Times''.

''Radioprogram''

The first edition of ''Radioprogram'' was issued in July 1934. It covered the weekly programs for Melbourne's six major radio stations ( 3AR,

3LO ABC Radio Melbourne (official callsign: 3LO) is an ABC Local Radio station in Melbourne, Australia. It began transmission on 13 October 1924, and was Melbourne's second licensed radio station after 3AR. Most Local Radio stations in Victoria s ...

, 3UZ, 3DB, 3KZ and

3AW 3AW is a talkback radio station based in Melbourne. It broadcasts on 693 kHz AM. It began transmission on 22 February 1932 as Melbourne's fifth commercial radio station. The station is owned and operated by Nine Entertainment Co. Hist ...

) for the week 14–20 July. The programs for ''Cinderella'' station 3AK, which mainly broadcast in the early hours of the morning when other Melbourne stations were closed, were not included in early editions. ''Radioprogram'' displayed a dark brown cover with details of the magazine in white print. The first edition did not have any front-cover illustration, but later editions did. Issue No.1 was 122 x 184 mm; it soon evolved into 134 x 215 mm. By at least the beginning of 1936, the program guide had been expanded to include 3AK's schedules, as well as summaries of some interstate programs, along with an abbreviated list of some

shortwave radio Shortwave radio is radio transmission using shortwave (SW) radio frequencies. There is no official definition of the band, but the range always includes all of the high frequency band (HF), which extends from 3 to 30 MHz (100 to 10 me ...

station's programs. It also included the programs for 3XY which had opened in 1935. The editor was Henry Drysdale Bett who was assisted by his brother, John Gordon Bett, and by Tam William Mappin, the assistant editor. ''Radioprogram'' was a competitor to ''The Listener-In'' a radio program guide published by the ''

Herald and Weekly Times The Herald and Weekly Times Pty Ltd (HWT) is a newspaper publishing company based in Melbourne, Australia. It is owned and operated by News Pty Ltd, which as News Ltd, purchased the HWT in 1987. Newspapers The HWT's newspaper interests date b ...

''.

''Radio Times''

By the late 1930s, ''Radioprogram'' had evolved into a tabloid. It was renamed ''Radio Times''. After a short period in which ''Radio Times'' was printed in conventional black ink on white paper, it adopted a distinctive black ink on green paper format. After a few years, the ''Herald and Weekly Times'' decided that ''Radio Times'' was affecting the sales figures for the Listener-In and therefore told newsagents that if they continued to sell ''Radio Times'', all HWT publications would be withdrawn. In this era, HWT publications, including ''The Herald'' and ''

The Sun News-Pictorial ''The Sun News-Pictorial'' (known as ''The Sun'') was a morning daily Tabloid (newspaper format), tabloid newspaper published in Melbourne, Victoria (Australia), Victoria, from 1922 until its merger in 1990 with ''The Herald (Melbourne), The H ...

'', would have accounted for a large percentage of all newsagents' sales. The

Victorian Railways The Victorian Railways (VR), trading from 1974 as VicRail, was the state-owned operator of most rail transport in the Australian state of Victoria from 1859 to 1983. The first railways in Victoria were private companies, but when these companie ...

' bookstalls were the only newsagent chain large enough to stand up to the HWT and continue to stock ''Radio Times''. With this one exception, ''Radio Times'' could only be obtained from

milk bar In Australia, a milk bar is a suburban local general store. Similar, but not identical, establishments include tuck shops, delicatessens or "delis", and corner shops or corner stores. Milk bars are traditionally a place where people buy new ...

s. The details of the feud with HWT were reported in a number of editions of ''Radio Times''. In the late 1940s Editor H. Drysdale Bett and John Bett had a falling-out which led John Bett to make an offer to ''The Age''. In 1949, John Bett founded and edited "The Age Radio Supplement" which was a supplement published every Thursday. Like ''Radio Times'', it was printed on green paper. "The Age Radio Supplement" evolved into "The Age Green Guide" which is still published every Thursday as a supplement to ''The Age''.

References

{{Reflist Magazines published in Australia Broadcasting in Australia