''Eric Welch's Sports Album'' was an Australian television series which aired from 24 January to 1 August 1957. The series aired at 8:30PM on Thursdays on Melbourne station

GTV-9 GTV is a commercial television station in Melbourne, Australia, owned by the Nine Network. The station is currently based at studios at 717 Bourke Street, Docklands. GTV-9 is the home of the Australian Open tennis coverage. History GTV-9 was ...

, and featured a mix of live and filmed material. Eric Welch was a sports commentator (particularly commenting on

horse racing Horse racing is an equestrian performance activity, typically involving two or more horses ridden by jockeys (or sometimes driven without riders) over a set distance for competition. It is one of the most ancient of all sports, as its bas ...

and

boxing Boxing is a combat sport and martial art. Taking place in a boxing ring, it involves two people – usually wearing protective equipment, such as boxing glove, protective gloves, hand wraps, and mouthguards – throwing Punch (combat), punch ...

) and announcer on radio from the 1920s to 1970s, working at

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. The other ABC Local Radio stations in Vict ...

, 3DB and 3AK. He was well-known and respected for his annual commentary of the

Anzac Day Anzac Day is a national day of remembrance in Australia, New Zealand and Tonga that broadly commemorates all Australians and New Zealanders "who served and died in all wars, conflicts, and peacekeeping operations" and "the contribution and ...

march in

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 ...

. On 3DB he was a panelist on the Australian version of the popular program ''

Information Please ''Information Please'' is an American radio quiz show, created by Dan Golenpaul, which aired on NBC from May 17, 1938, to April 22, 1951. The title was the contemporary phrase used to request from telephone operators what was then called "inf ...

''. He was part of

's 1956 Olympics coverage team. ''Sports Album'' utilized the Movietone library of vintage newsreel footage of Australian sporting events such as the

Melbourne Cup The Melbourne Cup is an annual Group 1 Thoroughbred horse race held in Melbourne, Australia, at the Flemington Racecourse. It is a 3200-metre race for three-year-olds and older, conducted by the Victoria Racing Club that forms part of the ...

, combined with live interviews of Australian sports figures. The series was both an early example of sports-related programming on Australian television, as well as one of GTV's earliest locally produced series.

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*{{IMDb title Nine Network original programming 1957 Australian television series debuts 1957 Australian television series endings Australian English-language television shows Black-and-white Australian television shows Australian sports television series

See also

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External links