Melbourne’s ATV-0 remained the leading production house for Australian rock TV shows in the late 60s and early 70s with Uptight (which was ultimately renamed Happening ’70 and Happening ’71).
Uptight aired on Saturday mornings between 8.00 am and noon and was hosted by Ross D. Wyllie, who was plucked from virtual obscurity in Brisbane for $60 a week after being “discovered” by Normie Rowe‘s manager, David Joseph, during a concert tour of New South Wales.
Wyllie had two hits of his own – Funnyman and The Star – but faded from Aussie TV screens in 1972.
Despite the overall amateurism and rather shoddy production, the kids and the music industry loved Uptight.
A new “heavier” pop era had begun, and unlike the more staid and precise Bandstand, Uptight gave the new generation a voice.
Four hours a week of live television was an enormous amount of programme content to fill, and apart from the music content, they talked about everything, from contraception to cosmetics, from hairstyles to haemorrhoids.
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Uptight aired on Saturday mornings between 8.00 am and noon and was hosted by Ross D. Wyllie, who was plucked from virtual obscurity in Brisbane for $60 a week after being “discovered” by Normie Rowe‘s manager, David Joseph, during a concert tour of New South Wales.
