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[Underlined heading:] TELEVISION IS TELEVISION

by

C.G. Scrimgeour.

[Underlined subheading:] NATURE OF TV:

Television is reality. It’s the window on the world of current events, the news as it happens. It's a ringside seat for sports events and the whole gamut of entertainments delivered conveniently in your sitting room.

But it's much more than all of these. It speaks in a language which does not require any special skill from the hearer. It is said by experts that 86% of the information people absorb is obtained through the eye, and the language of vision is universal.

Television can be the open door to democracy. That is why it should be regarded as something of far greater importance than merely another avenue of entertaining people, or of making a profit from its operation.

Because it is the most potent form of mass communication, it must be handled by people who are capable of appreciating the social responsibilities of such an enterprise, as well as its attractive commercial possibilities.

In handling television on the technical level, the greatest mistake that can be made is to regard it as an extension of sound radio. In actual fact, it has less to do with this medium than any other means of conveying information or entertaining people. It is more truly a blend of Theatre, Cinema, Journalism and Radio. It is the museum, art gallery or sports arena, seen by tens of thousands of people instead of hundreds; it is the school, university and lecture room of the multitude rather than the select few; it is the home training and trade manual by which millions of unskilled hands can learn to do things.

Whoever operates it will have to understand something about all of these ingredients, and be capable of mixing and serving them in a measure which befits a completely new medium, for – TELEVISION is TELEVISION.

[Underlined subheading:] THE DIVORCE OF TELEVISION AND RADIO:

The B.B.C. started a television section in 1936. It took the resignation of two Controllers and many acrimonious battles before it was recognised that television could not be contained within the limited concept of sound radio. Sir George Barnes is now the Director of Television Services, an operation which is completely divorced from radio.

When the Government of Gt. [Great] Britain decided that television should have the right to earn revenue, it made this divorcement complete by setting up the Independent Television Authority. In selecting the personnel for this body, the Government carefully avoided choosing people who might be hampered by the limitations of previous sound broadcasting experience.

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The biting remark of one of the previous Controllers was to the effect that television would be curbed and blighted if an attempt was made to run the medium by the rules of radio, and he went on to say that experience in radio broadcasting was about as much use in television as an ear trumpet would be to a Morse Code operator.

[Underlined subheading:] AMERICAN EXPERIENCE:

In the United States, television grew very quickly, and spread itself over a vast stretch of economic "No Man’s Land" with alarming rapidity. But it was still bounded by the conceptions of radio.

Its programs were cast, scripted and produced, budgeted, criticised and thrown out by sponsors, advertising executives and audience research groups. Something was wrong with the new miracle.

Experts began examining the Balance Sheets of 80 bankrupt TV stations, and the upshot of it all was a complete change of method.

From 1952 in practically every case, entirely new companies were formed to operate television; new people were brought in; new studios were built; the days of adolescence were over. In two years television, as an industry, developed more quickly than radio did in fifteen years.

The television service became efficient, self-supporting and responsible, and with new people, new money and new methods, it also became a national habit.

It is perhaps no accident that the average age of the successful television executive, either in England or America, is just under 30.

[Underlined subheading:] AUSTRALIAN TELEVISION:

Although we are faced with problems which differ in many respects from those encountered in either England or America, it would be extreme folly to believe that we need to learn by experience to understand the nature of those problems, and the pitfalls of inaugurating a completely new community service.

[Underlined subheading:] TECHNICAL EQUIPMENT:

Because we are starting exactly 30 years after John Logie Baird demonstrated his flickering relays in a cellar in Soho, we can be reasonably certain that there are no specific technical problems which have not been solved for us. We must however, be sure that we get the full benefit of technical advances, whether the instruments we choose come from America, England or Europe.

Television is too big an enterprise to be restricted by considerations which might reasonably apply to established industries. To ensure the best possible service for the viewing audiences of Australia, Governmental authorities should allow our own technical experts complete freedom in choosing equipment most suitable for our purposes, regardless of where it is manufactured.

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[Underlined subheading:] PROGRAMMING:

This is undoubtedly the greatest problem of all television operations, and it is one which cannot be solved without a great deal of energetic activity and the expenditure of much money.

In television programming we see the marked contrast to sound broadcasting. When radio services were first commenced they were able to draw on a tremendous reservoir of recorded material. The popularity of the gramophone resolved their difficulties. In TV, no such source of supply exists.

The cinema, which controlled the only method of recording visuals, declared war on television as a potential competitor, and has steadfastly maintained an attitude of enmity to the new medium of mass entertainment.

However, even had its resources been available to those charged with the responsibility of scheduling television programs, their films would have made nothing like the contribution that gramophone records made to radio.

The total output of the cinema industry per year would not be sufficient to maintain television services for four weeks.

The demand was so great that a completely new industry had to be developed, employing multiples of all that had gone before in the cinema and legitimate theatre. The world had to be combed for new talent; new techniques of production had to be evolved; and greater than all of these, stages had to be found on which the artists could present the show which technicians were to record on celluloid for later presentation.

This stage space has constituted the biggest single problem in England and America. Television studios can only operate successfully at ground level for the simple reason that the erection of settings for the performers demands easy access between the machine shops in which they are made, the sound stages on which they are used, and the scene docks in which they are stored.

Australia, having no basic film production facilities outside those existing at Television City, Sydney, is at a grave disadvantage, for it is on film-recorded material, produced locally or imported from overseas, that all stations will depend for their principal programs.

Unless we are to repeat the sad story wherein Australia is the only country in the world not producing a reasonable share of its own cinema films, steps must be taken to see that those responsible for television are required to ensure that major production shall be part of their effort.

In Australia, all programming other than that imported from overseas on film and local broadcasts of a live character, will have to be recorded on film. The distances between centres of population will rule out the economic possibility of network broadcasts using coaxial or micro-wave links.

The problems involved in this type of operation have received scant recognition, and it can only be assumed that those who are prepared to accept the responsibility of operating television stations have not bothered to inform themselves, or are deliberately turning a blind eye to this basic need of Australian television. Neither British nor American operators are confronted with this problem, and therefore their experiences can’t help us.

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In addition to the studio space [folded page obscures text, possibly 'referred to above'] technical equipment, which is in short supply [folded page obscures text, possibly 'throughout the'] world, is a basic necessity. Laboratory processing facilities never having been geared for volume output could quite easily prove to be a bottleneck in local film recorded material.

When these factors are taken into account, it will be seen how inadequate and positively dangerous are conceptions that envisage television as an extension of sound broadcasting. There must be a completely new definition of interests involved in the establishment of what is in reality a new and revolutionary process of disseminating news and information, and providing entertainment for masses of people.

TV systems throughout the world mirror very closely the country in which they originate, and regardless of how difficult it may be to preserve the presentation of Australian talent and this nation’s way of life, we must purse a progressive policy which will enable us to develop a television service of our own, not merely a mechanical device for the purpose of enabling advertisers to sell their goods and operators to make profits by displaying inferior local talent plus huge quantities of imported film stock.

[Underlined subheading:] WORLD PROGRAM POSSIBILITIES:

The world needs of television program material present an unparalleled opportunity of building up an export industry which might well take its place with wool, wheat and uranium, in importance. The neglect of this opportunity would be unpardonable. Ignorance of it could only be attributed to lack of leadership. A question of national prestige is involved.

The Television Voice of Australia can be heard all over the world, and the value of it can never be assessed entirely in terms of currency. Wise decisions by World Councils depend on knowledge, and through this medium we can tell the Australian story in a worthy manner.

This desirable objective will never be reached until there is an alliance between private enterprise and Government intention. It will depend on one as much as the other.

Gt. [Great] Britain recognised the national importance of a cinema film industry, and vast Governmental resources have for many years provided the essential finance for its development. No such consciousness of values has ever been shown by political Parties in Australia, where selfish interests employing high pressure political lobbyists prevented the establishment of a quota system.

It has taken an independent American Producer to demonstrate that this country ranks with California, Italy or Spain for the basic requirements of film production. Scenically, we have more to offer than Hollywood or London, and the films made at Television City, Sydney, for both theatre and TV release will prove beyond doubt that our artists and our technicians are as good, if not better, than those of many other countries.

Television, and television programming, are rapidly becoming global. While we are prepared to welcome the voices of California or Carolina – London or Rome – we must insist that in return, all countries who wish to trade with us, welcome the voice of Australia.