As we tend to live in the past a lot, what better way to fill up some more internet than with a new series of remembering things from back in the day, our first installment on the eve of the Australian Grand Prix is about when Channel Nein Used to do the Australian F1 Broadcast.
We do a lot of looking back in this website, and most is certainly with the viewpoint that the past was always better. This is evidence and a warning to ourselves, that the past is not always best.
It might be hard to believe for those born in the new millennium, that serial sporting broadcasting disappointment Channel Nein used to do the Australian F1 Broadcast.
Yes the same Channel that ruined cricket for the last decade before being unceremoniously dumped, with wishes the same would happen for their rugby league, used to be the home of Formula 1 broadcasting in Australia.
Now regular readers of this website will know of the bees directed at Channel Nein sports broadcasting in recent times, but this look back at the Australia F1 Broadcast of Channel Nein won’t be such a nit-picking moan, as much as a be thankful for what you have now as the new F1 season approaches.
With the F1 Winter Testing having been and gone, it was slightly disappointing that Fox Sports in Australia weren’t taking the Sky Sports UK feed for the all important first testing session of the year. But that also reminded us to not be too greedy.
For back in the days before the internet was a standard issue in houses and palms everywhere, the first glimpse of F1 cars one would get is potentially a little snippet in the newspaper in the week leading up to the first race. Which back in the day wasn’t in Australia.
With Brazil kicking off the season regularly kicking off the Channel Nein reign, that meant a very early morning eye opener to start the season. Until Melbourne came along.
And that race was all you got. Well aside from a little banter between Darrell Eastlake and Alan Jones that is. Darrell Eastlake actually doing a superb, more subtle job than one would expect from the great man. Perhaps it was the late/early timeslots, but his work on the Channel Nein Australian F1 Broadcast was great.
Alan Jones was good too, in a slightly snivelling way. Like James Hunt he appeared not to like a few drivers, which made for some entertainingly sharp commentary. Although, as good as the story about a trumpet player blowing Happy Birthday instead of the national anthem when he unexpectedly won his first race was, less was more.
It was low-key, and didn’t need to be much more.
But information was scarce in those pre internet boom days.
There wasn’t even a glimpse of the track until they picked up the BBC vision, which was usually a few minutes before the start, leaving viewers in suspense over the track conditions.
As for the grid, well that had plenty of sizzle, as the pre internet boom days meant you relied on regular media to report on the Saturday time trials.
There certainly wasn’t qualifying coverage to be enthralled by, that was a good few decades away in Australian F1 Broadcast.
The first you found out about the full grid was when Channel flashed it up on the TV screen five minutes before the first race. If you were lucky you may have got a taste throughout the day on the radio or TV. If an Australian had done well.
The race coverage itself was quite good for commercial TV. The important thing was to leave the main parts to the real professionals. If you have someone like the greatest ever sports commentator in Murray Walker, then you don’t need much else.
Of course there were ad breaks, the shit ain’t free without paying for something. But invariably that quick look at whether you were keeping up with a Commodore, learning that you couldn’t buy better than Mrs McGregor margarine, and / or finding out the correct way to make porridge by a Scottish child led to something happening on the track. Murphy’s Law of live sports broadcasting.
The ad breaks usually led out with the distinctive trumpet tone of the Wide World of Sports logo, which back then didn’t provide the same instant dread that it would a few decades of cricket and rugby league viewing later.
Every now and again, the F1 broadcast would be shifted to make way for a bigger Channel Nein sporting event – like Wimbledon. And sometimes the broadcasts were a little delayed to fit around the latest blockbuster movie, when they were the big Sunday night thing on Australian tV instead of the LCD dross that now dominates screens. But it didn’t really matter, and you didn’t know better.
Their wall to wall broadcast of the Australian Grand Prix was excellent too. The best example being the very wet 1989 Australian Grand Prix where Barry Sheene got the interviews that mattered at the right time, and the great Sir Jackie Stewart giving the analysis was insight that was first class.
What Channel Nein did do at the end of the coverage was some really good montages, mostly set to the right amount and type of music. One featuring Led Zeppelin’s Ramble On still sticks in the mind.
Looking back on it, despite not having any of the trimmings of modern F1 viewing, it was a really good effort from a broadcaster who have since done an average
Channel Ten eventually took over the coverage and took it to the next level. Greg Rust being an admirable equivalent of big Darrell, and the other experts were passable if not a little dull. They introduced qualifying coverage, and full live broadcasting for every race. And did a great job. Although they still hold some rights, the Fox Sports option is way to good to say no to for an F1 nerd.
Fox Sports have spoiled F1 fans in Australia, with now the ability to waste a Friday evening watching at least one of the two 90 minute sessions. And then there’s the 90 minute lead in and hours afterwards of analysis. A far cry from the limited offering previously.
But it wasn’t all bad, in fact if you take in what limitations they had the Channel Nein F1 broadcast was quite good.
It certainly helps that for us it stirs up some great childhood memories, of being awake at a ridiculous time for a child under 10, great F1 related chats with the old man usually discussing just how great Alain Prost was and Nigel Mansell’s latest exploits, and also admiring the superb work on the pause button of the remote of the VCR (the one which still had the cord attached to the VCR so you needed to sit within 5 metres).
Whilst in comparison to today it didn’t offer a great deal, for once Channel Nein did the Australian F1 broadcast well. Something they could possibly revisit if they ever wanted to work out why very few like their sporting coverage.
