Long before the internet was invented, when you could purchase an Aussie family home for just over $50,000, and the average price of petrol was 59 cents a litre, came the launch of what is now Australia’s longest running breakfast news program, the TODAY Show.
It was lights, camera, action back in 1982 on June 28, when the show was broadcast for the first time. To celebrate the marvellous milestone of 40 years on air, TODAY will have a huge week of celebrations from Monday.
Next week we look back on 40 years of TODAY, from the show’s first hosts, Steve Liebmann and Sue Kellaway, to the present day. The team will be revisiting four decades of major news events, the biggest celebrity guests, the great road shows around Australia and the world, the wild viral moments, the great Aussie characters we’ve met along the way – and of course, those doozy host bloopers.
On Friday, July 1, there will be a special broadcast featuring guest appearances from the program’s former hosts, with viewers invited to Channel 9’s North Sydney studio to celebrate the landmark anniversary LIVE with the TODAY team.
Karl Stefanovic said: “I’m very much looking forward to celebrating 40 years of the TODAY Show. It’s a great honour and privilege to host this program, which has been part of Australians’ lives for four decades now. It’s an incredible achievement, and right from the beginning it set the pace for the national agenda.
“We can’t wait to bring you some of the great highlights, reintroduce you to some of the remarkable people we have had on the show, and bring the hosts back to see what they look like now. It’s going to be absolutely terrific, with a big bunch of surprises along the way.”
Allison Langdon said: “Yes, it’s an absolute privilege to be part of the 40th anniversary celebrations. Having been with the show for three years, I have so much respect for all the amazing people who have sat in this chair before me over the years.
“It’s an honour to be able to look back and acknowledge the incredible, rich history of the show, the stories and the guests who have told them, and to reminisce in a walk down that memory lane of fashions and hairstyles that have come and gone over the years. Here’s to another 40 years of TODAY!”
