Bruce Gyngell
Bruce Gyngell (b.
July 8,
1929, d.
September 7 2000), born in
Melbourne,
Australia was a leading Australian
television executive. He was the head of many television networks in Australia, including the
Nine Network, the
Seven Network during the
1970s and also as deputy chairman of the
ATV Network in the
United Kingdom. He was also the first
Chief Executive of the
Special Broadcasting Service (SBS) in Australia during the
1980s. Gyngell also created the
Australian Broadcasting Tribunal, the forerunner of the
Australian Broadcasting Authority, and was its first Chairman in
1977.
Gyngell's media career began in the record industry, in the mid-1950s, when he was hired by Australian label
Festival Records. He was soon poached by
Sir Frank Packer, who hired him to assist in the establishment of
TCN-9, Australia's first commercial television station, in 1956. Gyngell is known for being the first person to ever appear on
Australian television on
September 16,
1956 when he spoke the words, 'Good evening ladies and gentlemen, and welcome to television'. (He would do the same thing when
cable television arrived in Australia, thirty-nine years later, in 1995, with (
Optus Television)). He was the founder of the Nine Network's most popular music-variety program, the long-running
Bandstand, which Gyngell had adapted from the American program of the same name.
Gyngell died at the age of 71, on
September 7,
2000 in
Chelsea, London from a cancer-related illness. Upon Gyngell's death, Australian
Prime Minister John Howard paid tribute to Gyngell saying, 'It's a big loss to the Australian television industry. In a way, he probably contributed more to the industry than just about any other Australian.' [
1].
He is the father of popular Australian comedian
Kym Gyngell.
Name That Tune - (
1956)
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Bruce Gyngell: the life of a media legend
