History of The Australian Broadcasting Corporation - 1980s

1980s

The 1980s saw a number of major landmarks for the ABC. Sir Talbot Duckmanton resigned as General Manager in 1982, the same year that the Commission was host broadcaster for the Commonwealth Games, held in Brisbane. 1982 was also the Australian Broadcasting Commission's fiftieth anniversary, an event celebrated around the country.

The Australian Broadcasting Corporation Act 1983 changed the name of the organisation from the "Australian Broadcasting Commission" to the "Australian Broadcasting Corporation" effective 1 July 1983. At the same time, the newly formed Corporation underwent significant restructuring - program production in indigenous affairs, comedy, social history and current affairs was significantly expanded, while the Corporation's output of drama was boosted. Local production trebled from 1986 to 1991 with the assistance of co-production, co-financing, and pre-sales arrangements.

The changes also resulted in the split of television and radio operations into two separate divisions, with an overhaul of management, finance, property and engineering undertaken. Geoffrey Whitehead was the initial Managing Director, however following his resignation in 1986, David Hill (at the time chair of the ABC Board) took over his position.

In 1981 ABC Radio began carrying Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander broadcasts in Alice Springs and later Northern Queensland, while at the same time comedy and social history units were set up, and news and current affairs output expanded.

Teletext services were introduced to ABC-TV in 1983 to allow hearing-impaired viewers access to closed captions. Nationwide, the successor to This Day Tonight, was replaced in turn by a new, hour-long, national news program called The National. Having proved unsuccessful, it reverted to a state ABC News bulletin at 7.00 pm, with a state-based edition of The 7.30 Report following afterwards. Lateline and Media Watch also launched in the 1980s.

New guidelines passed by the ABC Board in 1984 led to increased Australian content on ABC-TV, particularly in prime time. New programs such as The Investigators, Quantum, and Bush Tucker Man were launched to large audiences. Other popular programs included The D Generation, Australia You're Standing In It, The Big Gig, and long-running music program Rage.

A new Concert Music department was formed in 1985 to coordinate the corporation's six symphony orchestras, which in turn received a greater level of autonomy in order to better respond to local needs. Open-air free concerts and tours, educational activities, and joint ventures with other music groups were undertaken at the time to expand the orchestras' audience reach.

ABC Radio was restructured significantly in 1985 – Radio One became the Metropolitan network, while Radio 2 became known as Radio National (callsigns, however, were not standardised until 1990). New programs such as The World Today, Australia All Over, and The Coodabeen Champions were introduced, while ABC-FM established an Australian Music Unit in 1989. Radio Australia began to focus on the Asia-Pacific region, with coverage targeted at the south west and central Pacific, south-east Asia, and north Asia. Radio Australia also carried more news coverage, with special broadcasts during the 1987 Fijian coups d'état, the Tiananmen Square protests of 1989, and (in the early 1990s) the Gulf War.

A government initiative undertaken in 1987 known as the Second Regional Radio Network established nineteen new studios in regional areas (with an additional sixteen upgraded), as well as approximately 300 additional transmitters. At the same time, Radio National and ABC-FM were expanded into these areas. A year later, the Parliamentary and News Network was established to carry the ABC's mandatory Parliamentary broadcasts on eight transmitters in each state capital as well as Newcastle, Canberra, and Darwin.