General Manager Channel 7 Sydney. Member of the Council of the Australian Film and Television School (AFTS) 1976 ff.
Ted Thomas was a commercial radio and television man with a deep and knowledgeable love of the arts.
As a Council member of the fledgling Australian Film and Television School, he conferred an imprimatur of support on the institution from the Australian commercial radio and television industry. At the same time gave unwavering support at the Council table to the School’s creative and artistic strategies.
In 1977, Ted leapt at the opportunity to televise the finals of the inaugural Australian International Piano Competition for a commercial audience. He chose Bill Fitzwater * who was the Head of Television at AFTS to direct it for Channel 7 and gave him full rein. He arranged for AFTS students to be attached to the production. What followed was one of the most wildly innovative and exciting coverages of a major musical event Australia had ever seen.
The production rated well, and he later engaged Bill Fitzwater to televise Bellini’s opera Norma for the Channel 7 audience. Bill directed it with the same unconventional brio as before. Dame Joan Sutherland remarked that he seemed to be covering the opera like a football match. Which wasn’t far from the truth, because Ted allowed him to choose Channel 7’s sports crew to shoot it as they were so attuned to the adventure.
Ted was a precious contributor to the creative ethos of the School and played a significant role in introducing commercial audiences to the arts.
SW
* See also our tribute to Bill Fitzwater on this website under Oral Histories by Storry Walton.
Australian Media Oral History Group 