After almost thirty years of anticipation, Adelaide's long wait for television ended in 1959 when NWS 9 and ADS 7 (operated by News Ltd and Advertiser Newspapers Ltd respectively) were awarded commercial broadcasting licences and commenced full-time transmission.
As with radio at that time, households were required to obtain a licence to receive television broadcasts. This photograph, printed in The Advertiser on April 29, 1959, shows Joan Jackson with the first television licence issued in South Australia, on April 27, for the cost of 5 pounds. Such license fees were abolished by the Whitlam government in 1974.
Mrs Jackson is pictured with a 17 inch Healing black and white television. Victorian company AG Healing started life as a manufacturer of bicycles, entering the electronics market as a maker and retailer of radios in 1933, and then televisions in 1956, which they sold through the store on Flinders Street in Adelaide. Looking to expand their television interests even further, Healing had initially applied for a broadcast license to run one of the Adelaide stations, but withdrew the application.
Further expanding Adelaide's viewing options, state broadcaster ABC 2 launched in 1960, and SAS 10 was awarded the state's third commercial license in 1965. Regional South Australians had a longer wait, with licences issued to SES 8 Mt Gambier in 1966, and GTS 4 Port Pirie in 1968.
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