Weather on Commercial Television in Melbourne

Station GTV 9 had attempted to overcome the difficulty by showing a copy of a weather chart from the Bureau on the screen while the duty meteorologist, looking at the chart on a television set at the Bureau, gave a two to three minute commentary by landline. This system was found to be unsatisfactory and abandoned.

Recently, after about a year without any weather commentaries, GTV 9 requested two new services. One is a three to four minute talk on weather topics during the children's session on Friday evenings. These talks are prepared in the Training Section and are directed to children of an age group of about twelve years. It is intended to circulate the scripts later to Divisional Offices in case similar requests are made in other cities. The talks are currently being given by Mr. F. A. Powell, Senior Meteorologist of the Victorian Divisional Office.

The second request from GTV 9 was for a daily forecast for use in the breakfast session. The compere's assistant rings the Bureau while "on camera" and then relays the forecast given her to the compere who writes on a blackboard the metropolitan forecast and expected maximum temperature. During the course of the session, this written forecast, together with other information considered appropriate to that part of the day, such as the time or train arrivals, is flashed on the screen a number of times.

Bureau of Meteorology