Archival Television Recordings

Well, this week has been pretty exciting! While searching on Ebay I noticed that a seller was auctioning some rare 45’ records that were recorded for ATN7 (now channel 7) studios in the 1960s. These in-house discs were part of the library collection of channel 7. Finding items like these is very exciting both for my research on Tommy Tycho, and adding to his collection of items. It’s extra special to find these as a lot of the television material was destroyed during a fire at the Epping warehouses.

One of the exciting finds on this collection was the theme from Studio A - a variety style show that was created following the success of Revue ‘61, Revue ‘62, Startime, Startime ‘63 , and Music Time. These large scale productions featured dancers, choirs, the ATN7 orchestra, comedy, singing, and special guests, who were usually international stars touring, and a number of local performers. Studio A ran from 1963 to 1964, and was one of the last large-scale variety programs produced by ATN-7. Hosts of the program included the Le Garde Twins, Stuart Wagstaff, and Terry O’Neill.

On the recording is the very hip theme used for Studio A featuring the ANT orchestra and featuring the Claire Poole Singers. You can hear the influence of Henry Mancini as well as the trends in easy listening music of the day to feature wordless vocalists singing tight harmonies.