''Australia's Amateur Hour'' was a talent quest, broadcast on Australian AM radio from 1940 to 1958, and a television spinoff, which ran for less than a year, 1957–1958. The radio program began on Sydney's 2UW, compered by

Harry Dearth Harry Dearth (12 August 1908 – 7 July 1964) was an Australian actor and producer best known for his career in radio. He was one of the leading radio producers in Australia in the 1940s and 1950s. He also worked in television. Select credits *Whi ...

, followed by Dick Fair, who developed it into Australia's most popular Sunday program, each week selecting ten contestants from around 100 hopefuls. From 24 August 1930 the show was broadcast on 2GB, produced and compered by Terry Dear. It was a popular, long-running, program on which many performers appeared. The television version was also compered by Terry Dear, running from August 1957 to February 1958 on Sydney's

TCN-9 TCN is the flagship television station of the Nine Network in Australia. The station is currently located at 1 Denison Street, North Sydney. The licence, issued to a company named Television Corporation Ltd headed by Frank Packer, was one of the ...

and Melbourne's

HSV-7 HSV is a television station in Melbourne, Australia. It is part of the Seven Network, one of the three main commercial television networks in Australia, its first and oldest station. It launched in time for the 1956 Summer Olympic Games in Melbou ...

. The success of the radio version didn't translate to its television cousin, which closed after only seven months, the radio version following shortly after.

Episode status

Some episodes of the radio version are held by the

National Film & Sound Archive The National Film and Sound Archive of Australia (NFSA), known as ScreenSound Australia from 1999 to 2004, is Australia's audiovisual archive, responsible for developing, preserving, maintaining, promoting, and providing access to a national c ...

. Although the television version was

kinescope Kinescope , shortened to kine , also known as telerecording in Britain, is a recording of a television program on motion picture film directly through a lens focused on the screen of a video monitor. The process was pioneered during the 1940s ...

d so it could be shown in both

Sydney Sydney is the capital city of the States and territories of Australia, state of New South Wales and the List of cities in Australia by population, most populous city in Australia. Located on Australia's east coast, the metropolis surrounds Syd ...

and

Melbourne Melbourne ( , ; Boonwurrung language, Boonwurrung/ or ) is the List of Australian capital cities, capital and List of cities in Australia by population, most populous city of the States and territories of Australia, Australian state of Victori ...

, no copies are known to exist.

References

External links

* Seven Network original programming Nine Network original programming Australian radio game shows 1957 Australian television series debuts 1958 Australian television series endings Black-and-white Australian television shows Australian English-language television shows Australian variety television shows Television series based on radio series 1940s Australian radio programs 1950s Australian radio programs {{Australia-radio-show-stub

Episode status

See also

References

External links