SAS (TV Station)

SAS (TV Station)

SAS is a television station in Adelaide, South Australia. It is part of the Australian Seven Network.

SAS-7 was originally known as SAS-10, commencing broadcasting on 26 July 1965. On 27 December 1987, SAS-10 and ADS-7 switched broadcast channels, ADS moving to channel 10, SAS moving to channel 7. As the television industry was consolidating in Australia, these channels had each become associated by ownership with interstate stations bearing the opposite channel numbers, so to simplify network interaction, they agreed to swap channel assignments and network affiliations in Adelaide. ADS was owned by Kerry Stokes who also owned NEW-10 and Capital Television. SAS was owned by TVW-7.

The station celebrated 40 years in 2005 with a special television program "Made in Adelaide 40 Years of Television".

Television shows made during the SAS-10 era include children’s shows Fat Cat and Friends, The Early Birds, Crackerjack and Romper Room. Music shows included In Time, Trax and Simulrock. Variety talent shows included Adelaide’s New Faces and Pot Luck. There was also the long running daytime show Touch of Elegance. SAS 10 employed actor Hedley Cullen as horror host Deadly Earnest, who was also seen in WA. From 1973 to 1989 the Christmas Appeal telethon was held each year.

The game show Wheel of Fortune originally commenced recordings in ADS-7 studios in July 1981 on the Seven Network and after the changeover to SAS-7 continued until July 1996 when the show moved to ATN-7 Sydney where it lasted to its cancellation in 2006.

Other shows after the change over included Fat Cat and Friends until 1992 and Trax until 1990.

Currently the station produces Discover, Seven News and local editions of Today Tonight, which outrates the national A Current Affair.

The last edition of Seven News and Today Tonight was broadcast from the Gilberton studios in North Adelaide on 14 December 2007. The station then moved to new premises at Hindmarsh on the corner of Port Road and Adam Street, from where Adelaide versions of Seven News and Today Tonight are produced