Television launched in South Australia on 5 September 1959 from the Tynte Street North Adelaide studios of NWS Channel Nine. Television sets in homes were not yet commonplace and many people gathered at shop windows to watch.
Television had arrived in Australia three years earlier on 16 September 1956 in New South Wales with Nine Network station TCN-9-Sydney. Bruce Gyngell greeted viewers for the first time with the now famous words ‘Good evening, and welcome to television’.
Videotape technology was still a very new technology in the 1959s and video recorders were not widely available to Australian TV stations until well into the 1960s. For the first few years of television in Australia, the only available method for capturing TV programs was via a fixed movie camera filming broadcasts screened on a specially adjusted TV monitor. The playback of pre-recorded programs to air was only possible at this stage vua a process in which films or kinescoped TV recordings were played back on a movie screen which was monitored by a TV camera.
As a result of these limitations, it was relatively difficult and expensive to record and distribute local programming and so the majority of locally produced content was broadcast live-to-air. Very little local programming from these first few years of Australian TV broadcasting was recorded and in the intervening years the majority of that material has since been lost or destroyed.
Most programs in this early period were based on popular radio formats with musical variety and quiz formats the most popular.
The North Adelaide studios hosted many programs for Nine not just for Adelaide but for national audiences: Adelaide Tonight, The Country And Western Hour, The Jackpot Game, The Channel Niners, Here’s Humphrey, The Curiosity Show, C’mon Kids, Postcards, Christmas pantomimes, 30 years of telethons and over 50 years of news broadcasts.
A host of celebrities emerged from Nine’s Tynte Street studios: Anne Wills, Lionel Williams, Ernie Sigley, Kevin Crease. And who can forget Winky Dink or Humphrey B Bear?
In September 2015, Channel Nine Adelaide relocated from Tynte Street to new premises in Pirie Street Adelaide. The doors were closed on 56 years of history and memories at Tynte Street.
I highly recommend “Miracle On Tynte Street” by Rex Heading and Trevor Jones for a comprehensive history of the Tynte Street studios.
Demolition works are advanced and the site will soon be replaced with apartments and retail.
Thankyou for the memories Nine Adelaide
AUTOPSY OF ADELAIDE 
Thanks for sharing those images Macca.
I only ventured into Tynte St. studios once as a kid and that was to sit in the audience while they hosted an episode of ‘The Channel Niners’; I was especially chuffed when Joanna Moore complimented the kangaroo jumper Mum had knitted while the cast handed out bags of lollies on the way out.
I remember even then it had that atmosphere reminiscent of one’s granny’s house; a bit dark, a bit cluttered, a bit dusty and musty and a bit long in the tooth so I understand why NWS upped stumps and moved. Although I’m unsure what is still filmed in Adelaide these days?
Sad to see Tynte St. studios turning into yet more swanky shoe-box appartments and poncy retail space all the same. Just as it would be sad to see one’s granny’s house suffering the fate.
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Thanks for this great collection. I “worked” at Nine for 25 years and this bought back so many memories. The corridors a sometimes ran down – news story in my hands. The videotape department and the vision mixer I used for many years.
Steve Turner
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Happy memories when I worked at 5DN at times we had to go over the road to Nine and record promo announcement..we also were invited to take part in the Telethons…I had a good face for radio . Many drinks arround the corner at the Welly. A great crew who worked there set up by Bill Davies and Rex Heading along with John Doherty….sad to see the old place coming down.
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Many happy years spent at NWS 9….still have friends from that time. Farewell. Helen Woods😔😔😔😔😔
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Does anybody know if one can get a hold of old Adelaide Tonight episodes? Is there an archive somewhere at NINE or somewhere else?
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There is only two eps of Adelaide Tonight complete as videotape was so expensive. 1. Adelaide tonight at the festival theatre. 2. The final Adelaide tonight from studio 1 at nine’s tynte st studios. 3. There are bits and pieces in nines archives but no complete shows. The complete shows are available on YouTube.
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Thank you so much for the memories. I worked at Nine in the mid 80’s. Such a fantastic place to work.
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Thanks for the memories. I worked at 9 from the first broadcast up until the 60’s. Many good memories there.
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Hello to all. I worked in Audio and other areas at NWS-9 form 1978 to 1998. So sad to see my memories scattered,dumped and forgotten. All I hope is that all the items of historical significance found a new home and just didn’t end up in a skip!
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So sad to see it all disappear and mostly dumped. Spend 26 years as part of the Engineering team from 1971 onwards building, installing and maintaining all the technical equipment, Studio, MT Lofty, OB and News trucks.. Started off with black & white TV, then changed to colour and stereo and finally to digital TV before retiring. Great memories.
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Good old channel nine. I remember as a 7 year old in 1967 (on the channel niners) a large upright wooden crate, where the competition was to guess what was in the crate. It turned out to be the big blue robbie the robot (not that we knew the colour on B&W tv), who then was on the channel niners program. I got to see it close up when I was in the stage for recording of a channel niners episode, and years later I was fortunate enough to get given some professionally done slides of the robot in its heyday from 9 management in the late 80’s.
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