Landline

A special edition of Landline, exploring 70 years of the ABC in the bush. On December 3rd, 1945, the very first episode of The Country Hour went to air on ABC Radio and so began a fine tradition of specialist ABC rural reporting. The launch of television in 1956 gave rise to a host of ABC programs such as Market to Market, A Big Country, Countrywide, and of course, a relative newcomer, Landline. Our entire program today is dedicated to examining this extraordinary archive of ABC programming as well as looking at the relevance of rural reporting in the 21st Century. Tim Lee reports.