ABW (TV station)
ABC Television in Western Australia comprises national and local programming on the ABC television network in the Australian state of Western Australia, on a number of channels under the ABC call sign. There is some local programming from the Perth studio.
| Channels | |
|---|---|
| Programming | |
| Affiliations | ABC Television |
| Ownership | |
| Owner | Australian Broadcasting Corporation |
| History | |
First air date | 7 May 1960 |
Former channel number(s) | Analog: 2 (VHF) (1960–2013) |
Call sign meaning | ABC Western Australia |
| Technical information | |
Licensing authority | Australian Communications and Media Authority |
| ERP | 200 kW (analog) 50 kW (digital) |
| HAAT | 262 m (analog) 284 m (digital)[1] |
| Transmitter coordinates | 32°0′38″S 116°5′4″E / 32.01056°S 116.08444°E |
| Links | |
| Website | www.abc.net.au/tv |
ABW or ABW-2 was the historic call sign of the Australian Broadcasting Corporation's television station in Perth, with the "W" standing for the name of the state.
History edit
The station began broadcasting on 7 May 1960 from studios on Adelaide Terrace in downtown Perth and its transmitter at Bickley. The station was relayed throughout the state by a number of transmitters, and in the 2000s on the Optus Aurora free-to-view satellite television platform, replaced by Viewer Access Satellite Television (VAST) in 2010.[citation needed]
ABW commenced digital television transmission in January 2001, broadcasting on VHF Channel 12 while maintaining analogue television transmission on VHF Channel 2.[citation needed]
In 2005 the station moved to a new digital broadcast centre in East Perth.[citation needed]
In February 2013 ABC Perth was the first TV station in Western Australia to start producing a national news bulletin at 5.30pm. [citation needed]
The analogue signal for ABW was shut off on 16 April 2013.[2]
The Western Australian edition of 7.30 was presented by Andrew O'Connor each Friday night but was cancelled in 2014 to broadcast a national edition only, in a round of severe cuts to the ABC.[3]
The channel used to carry live coverage of West Australian Football League matches every Saturday afternoon throughout the season until 2014.
ABC Television in WA today edit
As of 2021[update] there is a large number of transmitters broadcasting a number of ABC channels.[4]
Programming edit
ABC News Western Australia is presented by Pamela Medlen Monday-Thursday, Charlotte Hamlyn Friday-Sunday, and Herlyn Kaur for weather on weeknights. Tom Wildie presents local sport bulletins on weekends. The weeknight bulletins also incorporates a national finance segment presented by Alan Kohler in Melbourne.
Due to different time zones in Australia, the 5:30 news bulletin goes live to air on the east coast at 5.30pm and a separate local edition is produced for the west coast. Perth also receives a local version of ABC News at Noon produced from the ABC's Sydney studios, which is also simulcast live nationally on the ABC News channel.[citation needed]
Presenters edit
On 6 April 2018, weeknight weather presenter Rebecca Dollery stepped down from the ABC due to family reasons. From 9 April, Dollery was replaced by Irena Ceranic as weather presenter. In January 2021, Tyne Logan took over from Ceranic as weather presenter on weeknights.[citation needed] As at March 2023, Herlyn Kaur or Tabarak Al Jrood currently present the weeknight weather, replacing Tyne Logan.
In late June 2018, Tom Wildie replaced Trevor Jenkins as the weekend sport presenter.
James McHale formerly presented the news on weekdays, until 11 September 2020.
Briana Shepherd formerly presented the news on weekends, between August 2021 and June 2022, while Charlotte Hamlyn is on maternity leave.
Relay stations edit
The following stations relayed ABW throughout Western Australia:
| Call | Region served | City | Channels (analog/ digital) | First air date | 3rd letter's meaning | ERP (analog/ digital) | HAAT (analog/ digital)[a] | Transmitter coordinates | Transmitter location |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| ABAW | Southern Agricultural Area | Albany | 2 (VHF) 11 (VHF) | 6 June 1966 | Albany | 200 kW 50 kW | 321 m 375 m | 34°39′21″S 117°38′49″E / 34.65583°S 117.64694°E | Mount Barker |
| ABCW | Central Agricultural Area | Northam | 5A (VHF)[b] 45 (UHF) | 28 March 1966 | Central Agricultural area | 160 kW 300 kW | 251 m 270 m | 31°59′4″S 117°11′24″E / 31.98444°S 117.19000°E | Mawson Trig |
| ABCMW | Morawa | Morawa | 8 (VHF) 7 (VHF) | 8 March 1975 | ABC Morawa | 13 kW 3.2 kW | 137 m 137 m | 29°19′6″S 115°52′53″E / 29.31833°S 115.88139°E | Mount Campbell |
| ABCNW | Carnarvon | Carnarvon | 7 (VHF) 6 (VHF) | 30 June 1972 | CarnarvoN | 0.5 kW 0.125 kW | 112 m 112 m | 24°54′20″S 113°43′13″E / 24.90556°S 113.72028°E | Brown Range |
| ABDW | Dampier | Dampier | 29 (UHF)[c] 28 (UHF) | 17 December 1973 | Dampier | 0.08 kW 0.02 kW | 79 m 79 m | 20°39′19″S 116°43′42″E / 20.65528°S 116.72833°E | Kangaroo Hill |
| ABEW | Esperance | Esperance | 10 (VHF) 9A (VHF) | 21 October 1974 | Esperance | 2 kW 0.5 kW | 128 m 130 m | 33°52′30″S 121°53′41″E / 33.87500°S 121.89472°E | Wireless Hill |
| ABGW | Geraldton | Geraldton | 6 (VHF) 41 (UHF) | 8 December 1969 | Geraldton | 32 kW 150 kW | 257 m 273 m | 28°40′55″S 114°40′37″E / 28.68194°S 114.67694°E | Moresby Range |
| ABKW | Kalgoorlie | Kalgoorlie | 6 (VHF) 9A (VHF) | 27 January 1970 | Kalgoorlie | 8 kW 4 kW | 110 m 110 m | 30°43′2″S 121°26′25″E / 30.71722°S 121.44028°E | Peters Hill |
| ABKAW | Karratha | Karratha | 54 (UHF)[d] 53 (UHF) | 17 December 1973 | KarrathA | 0.8 kW 0.25 kW | 114 m 114 m | 20°44′8″S 116°51′33″E / 20.73556°S 116.85917°E | Karratha |
| ABMW | Moora | Moora | 60 (UHF)[e] 52 (UHF) | 30 September 1974 | Moora | 120 kW 30 kW | 142 m 142 m | 30°38′7″S 116°9′35″E / 30.63528°S 116.15972°E | Quarrel Range |
| ABNW | Norseman | Norseman | 7 (VHF) 6 (VHF) | 14 April 1971 | Norseman | 0.08 kW 0.02 kW | 69 m 70 m | 32°8′34″S 121°43′40″E / 32.14278°S 121.72778°E | Norseman |
| ABPHW | Port Hedland | Port Hedland | 7 (VHF) 8 (VHF) | 3 October 1973 | Port Hedland | 3 kW 0.75 kW | 52 m 52 m | 20°22′2″S 118°33′32″E / 20.36722°S 118.55889°E | Finucane Island |
| ABRBW | Roebourne | Roebourne | 9 (VHF) 9A (VHF) | 17 December 1973 | RoeBourne | 2 kW 0.5 kW | 71 m 73 m | 20°46′19″S 117°8′32″E / 20.77194°S 117.14222°E | Mount Welcome |
| ABSW | Bunbury | Bunbury | 5 (VHF)[f] 36 (UHF) | 10 May 1965 | South West | 300 kW 300 kW | 308 m 332 m | 33°23′48″S 115°54′53″E / 33.39667°S 115.91472°E | Mount Lennard |
| ABSBW | Southern Cross/Bullfinch | Southern Cross | 9 (VHF) 7 (VHF) | 16 July 1973 | Southern Cross/Bullfinch | 2 kW 0.5 kW | 117 m 118 m | 31°16′34″S 119°30′33″E / 31.27611°S 119.50917°E | Ghooli |
| ABW | Broome | Broome | 8 (VHF) 9 (VHF) | Western Australia | 2 kW 0.5 kW | 75 m 75 m | 17°53′19″S 122°15′48″E / 17.88861°S 122.26333°E | Broome |
- ^ HAAT estimated from http://www.itu.int/SRTM3/ using EHAAT.
- ^ ABCW was on VHF channel 4 from its 1966 sign-on until the late 1970s, moving to its current channel to accommodate FM radio.
- ^ ABDW originally broadcast on VHF channel 10.
- ^ ABKAW originally broadcast on VHF channel 7.
- ^ ABMW was on VHF channel 10 from its 1974 sign-on until 1987, moving to its current channel to accommodate a new TV station in Perth on channel 10 (NEW).
- ^ ABSW is the only station in Australia to use channel 5.
See also edit
- Television broadcasting in Australia
- 720 ABC Perth – radio station located in the same building
References edit
- ^ HAAT estimated from http://www.itu.int/SRTM3/ using EHAAT.
- ^ "Analogue TV gets an official switch-off date". Lifehacker Australia. 25 June 2012. Retrieved 18 June 2021.
- ^ Kidd, Jessica (24 November 2014). "Nearly 1 in 10 ABC staff facing redundancy as cuts bite". ABC News. Retrieved 18 June 2021.
- ^ "Section 7: Television Callsign order (by state)" (PDF). Radio and television broadcasting stations: Internet edition (PDF). Australian Communications and Media Authority. April 2021. pp. 211–213. Retrieved 18 June 2021. Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0) licence.