Studio NiNE
LIVE TO AIR PRODUCTION STUDIO R.I.P.
Pages Created from the Camera / Fm Reunion 2014
GTV Nine
22 Bendigo St Richmond
From Piano factory to
Heinz - Baked Beans factory to Live Television factory
Known Australia wide as "Television City"
September 27 1956: GTV9 Melbourne conducts its first test transmission with a one-hour broadcast of programs at 4.30pm hosted by Geoff Corke. Later that year, GTV9 also broadcasts the Melbourne Olympics.
Between 1956 and 2001 GTV9 continued expanding the site by purchasing adjoining properties along Khartoum Street. ( click image on the left )
Iconic Australian television shows such as 'In Melbourne Tonight', 'The Graham Kennedy Show', 'The Ernie Sigley Show', 'The Don Lane Show', 'The Bert Newton Show', 'New Faces', 'Hey Hey It's Saturday', " The Paul Hogan Show", "All Together Now", 'The Footy Show', 'Sale of the Century', 'It Could be You' and 'Family Feud' were among the programs produced in the Richmond studios, which was also known as Television City
Aerial picture taken from "Google Earth" 2011. The entire site has now been levelled and has town houses built on it. Although the front façade has been kept.
In 1875, Hugo Wertheim came to Melbourne looking to expand his family's sewing machine business.
Having identified the strong demand for pianos, then a symbol of middle class success, Hugo sent his son Herbert to America and Europe to study piano manufacturing.
Melbourne architect Nahum Barnet was then commissioned to design a factory in Richmond that would compare with the best in the world. Built at a cost of ₤75,000 by R McDonald, it had manufacturing facilities on the ground floor and offices on the first floor.
Prime Minister Alfred Deakin laid the foundation stone at a ceremony attended by the most prominent of Victoria's politicians and business people.
The Wertheim piano factory was a first for Victoria and was considered to be an important demonstration of the Commonwealth Government's 'New Protection' policies designed to encourage local manufacturing.
The factory employed three hundred workers and could produce up to two thousand pianos annually. By 1935, the increasing popularity of the wireless for family entertainment had caused the factory to close.
The Australian branch of the American H J Heinz Company was established in 1935, producing beverages, canned foods, cereals, mayonnaise, pasta and other foods.
Heinz first product in Australia was bottled horseradish. The first canned product was baked beans in tomato sauce which was soon followed by canned spaghetti and a range of soups.
After originally leasing the former piano factory, Heinz purchased the site in 1942.
In 1951 Heinz constructed a large factory in Dandenong, selling the Bendigo Street site in 1955 to GTV9 for use as television production studios and offices.
Below : Ron Davis and Bill Beams
Piano Factory
Heinz Baked Beans
GTV Studio 9
Original Cameramen in the 50's
image from reunion 20/8/2014