Hard News by Russell Brown

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Hard News: Doing anything Thursday?

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  • Sam F,

    Feltex Award?

    The past is a different country, for sure.

    Auckland • Since Nov 2006 • 1611 posts Report Reply

  • Graeme Edgeler,

    provoking ... "test match sized" audiences

    First thought: so stuff-all people watched it? Weren't one-day matches introduced because no-one watched test matches?

    Then: Oh.

    Wellington, New Zealand • Since Nov 2006 • 3215 posts Report Reply

  • dc_red,

    Graeme beat me to it. The anachronism for me wasn't "feltex" but "test match sized" audiences (where the latter is supposedly meant to be a good thing!).

    I do vaguely recall lots of people staying up really late to listen(?) to the Cavaliers games from South Africa.

    Oil Patch, Alberta • Since Nov 2006 • 706 posts Report Reply

  • Emma Hart,

    First thought: so stuff-all people watched it? Weren't one-day matches introduced because no-one watched test matches?

    Then: Oh.

    Graeme: assimilated. Tick.

    Christchurch • Since Nov 2006 • 4651 posts Report Reply

  • Kumara Republic,

    And here's my effort to preserve history:

    Wikipedia - George Grey

    The southernmost capital … • Since Nov 2006 • 5446 posts Report Reply

  • Russell Brown,

    I do vaguely recall lots of people staying up really late to listen(?) to the Cavaliers games from South Africa.

    The first rugby test match to be televised was
    the England-Scotland match at Twickenham in 1938(!) and the first to feature the All Blacks was a match at Murrayfield in 1954.

    I'm not sure when rugby first featured on NZ TV, but I do recall the arrival of live via-satellite TV broadcasts of offshore matches in, I think the early 70s. It was regarded as an amazing development.

    Auckland • Since Nov 2006 • 22850 posts Report Reply

  • Rob Hosking,

    Excellent.

    Hope they also dig out that old Glyn Tucker/Ernie Leonard vehicle from the same era, 'The Club Show'.

    That was beaut.

    South Roseneath • Since Nov 2006 • 830 posts Report Reply

  • LegBreak,

    First test to be televised live was in 72 from Eden Park v the Woeful Wallabies. (Or were they the Awful Aussies?; can’t remember).

    PJ Montgommery did the commentary, Keith Quinn did the pre-match sideline bit. Yup; TVNZ has come a long way alright.


    First live test via satellite was later that year v Wales in the Keith Murdoch match.

    Those satellite matches from the 70s were most memorable for the fact that the feed often dropped out.

    Wellington • Since Nov 2006 • 1162 posts Report Reply

  • Danielle,

    An off-air recording of The Governor is sitting quietly in the University of Auckland's AV library storage as we speak. I should have treated it more reverently!

    Charo World. Cuchi-cuchi!… • Since Nov 2006 • 3828 posts Report Reply

  • Rob Hosking,

    When I started watching AB matches in the mid 70s TV were not allowed to let on whether they were broadcasting the game live.

    This was because the Rugby Union was worried attendance at the games would drop off.

    So the TV schedules in the Listener etc would have something like an old Carry On movie or a re-run of that film about the Titanic where they all sang 'Abide With Me' as the ship went down.

    Then suddenly at 2.30, the teev would go live to Carisbrook (or wherever).

    The odd thing was nobody believed the charade. Everyone knew the games would be televised. It was all kind of bizarre.

    I was at the 1977 AGricultural Field day the day of the first test against the Lions. A couple of stalls had brought in TVs and rigged them up. They were over-run with people at 2.30pm. I managed to squeeze my way to the front of one of them (I was a skinny 12 year old at the time) in time to see Grant Batty's intercept try.

    South Roseneath • Since Nov 2006 • 830 posts Report Reply

  • Graeme Edgeler,

    PJ Montgommery did the commentary, Keith Quinn did the pre-match sideline bit. Yup; TVNZ has come a long way alright.

    Why is it that NZ is ageist in this way?

    I caught the final story on 60 Minutes last night. Not only was it an interesting human interest story (somethin we can rarely manage), but the reporter was Morley Safer.

    On New Zealand TV we'd be wondering why someone that old was still around. As soon as someone passes a certain age, why are we fixated on replacing them with someone cute and bubbly?

    Wellington, New Zealand • Since Nov 2006 • 3215 posts Report Reply

  • Rich Lock,

    There will be optional name-tags on which you may write your screen-name

    Oh, goody. I haven't decided yet if I'm going to come as Whaleoil, Redbaiter, or Dad4Justice.

    back in the mother countr… • Since Feb 2007 • 2728 posts Report Reply

  • Sam F,

    Whaleoil's actually registered here, so there's the delightful possibility that he'll attend as himself.

    Auckland • Since Nov 2006 • 1611 posts Report Reply

  • dc_red,

    I'd go as Craig. Now, where's my top hat and monacle?

    Oil Patch, Alberta • Since Nov 2006 • 706 posts Report Reply

  • Emma Hart,

    I'd go as Craig. Now, where's my top hat and monacle?

    Dude, that's Tom.

    Christchurch • Since Nov 2006 • 4651 posts Report Reply

  • Danielle,

    I say we all wear monocles.

    Charo World. Cuchi-cuchi!… • Since Nov 2006 • 3828 posts Report Reply

  • Geoff Lealand,

    re audiences for test (rugby, that is): when I worked in the BCNZ Audience Research Unit in the early 1980s, there were two parallel ratings systems, and quite possibly more accurate audience measurement than happens now. There was, for example, a weekly turnover of the audience panel, rather than the same old, predictable 500 households who represent the 'official' TV audience these days. I recall writing a report on the NZ television audience in 1984, when the top rating programme for the year was 54% (that is, more than half!!) of the potential viewing audience, for an AB vs Wallabies test match in Auckland.

    I am seriously considering getting to the Thursday do, in advance of the Lucinda Williams concert on Friday. If so, I will bring my own name badge.

    Just In: Phil Spector has been found guilty of murder.

    Screen & Media Studies, U… • Since Oct 2007 • 2562 posts Report Reply

  • Danielle,

    Just In: Phil Spector has been found guilty of murder.

    That dude has been unstable for forty years. I remember reading he made Ronnie drive with a life-size male dummy in the passenger seat of her car so no other guy would try to pick her up. And didn't he threaten practically everyone in the studio with a gun? John Lennon, the Ramones... yeesh.

    Charo World. Cuchi-cuchi!… • Since Nov 2006 • 3828 posts Report Reply

  • LegBreak,

    Geoff; I’m pretty sure I read somewhere that was still a record for NZ viewership...

    And in these days of extra choices, I can’t really see it being beaten.

    BTW, to be pedantic, pretty sure the test in 84 was in Australia. Better viewing time for general public.

    Wellington • Since Nov 2006 • 1162 posts Report Reply

  • Paul Litterick,

    You'll know me by my smoking jacket.

    You'll know Sam by his robe and wizard hat.

    Auckland • Since Nov 2006 • 1000 posts Report Reply

  • Tom Beard,

    Dude, that's Tom.

    I'm afraid to say that I have yet to find a monocle that suits me.

    Wellington • Since Nov 2006 • 1040 posts Report Reply

  • Tom Semmens,

    "... I'd go as Craig. Now, where's my top hat and monacle?

    Dude, that's Tom..."


    Wot, this Tom?

    I wouldn't wear a monacle. Or a monocle. And definitely not any manacles.

    Just trying to remember, was the 1975 water polo test at Eden Park the first test televised in colour in NZ?

    I was very small, but I think I remember seeing it on our colour telly at home.

    Sevilla, Espana • Since Nov 2006 • 2217 posts Report Reply

  • giovanni tiso,

    And didn't he threaten practically everyone in the studio with a gun? John Lennon

    Are you saying we ought to reopen that case?

    (what? too soon?)

    Wellington • Since Jun 2007 • 7473 posts Report Reply

  • Jeremy Eade,

    "I managed to squeeze my way to the front of one of them (I was a skinny 12 year old at the time) in time to see Grant Batty's intercept try."

    That was my first all black memory. What a try that was, you should watch it again some time. Saved a certain Lions try too.

    auckland • Since Mar 2008 • 1112 posts Report Reply

  • LegBreak,

    75 test was the first match in NZ to be televised in colour. Not that it was easy to tell.

    Matches from the UK before that were screened here in colour.

    Wellington • Since Nov 2006 • 1162 posts Report Reply

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