Golden West Network (GWN) is the Seven Network affiliate in Western Australia, servicing all areas except metropolitan Perth. There are two services that GWN operates:
- Normal terrestrial television, and
- A free-to-air satellite service, broadcasting to remote areas that can’t receive television by normal means.
GWN began as several smaller stations:
- BTW3 Bunbury, which started on the 10th of March 1967, with a relay in Mount Barker commencing in August 1968.
- VEW8 Kalgoorlie began on the 18th of June 1971
- GSW9 Albany began on the 29th of August 1974. GSW relayed BTW’s programming.
- GTW11 Geraldton began on the 21st of January 1977.
In the early 1980's, Western Australia media identity Jack Bendat purchased South Western Telecasters (BTW/GSW), and changed the company’s name to Golden West Network.
On 31 October 1984, the Australian Broadcasting Tribunal was asked to starting looking for companies to run a commercial television service serving remote Western Australia via satellite over areas where a television service wasn’t in operation. GWN was granted the Remote Commercial Television License (RCTS) for remote Western Australia in June 1985. The service went to air on 18 October 1986, using call-sign WAW.
In December 1985, GWN acquired VEW8 Kalgoorlie, and in 1987, purchased GTW11 Geraldton. Current Seven Network chairman Kerry Stokes purchased GWN in 1988, and upgraded equipment throughout the network. In April 1990, BTW and GSW stations merged to become SSW.
In December 1996, Prime Television purchased GWN, and three years later, GWN became an affiliate of the Seven Network, following the expansion of WIN Television into Western Australia, who took the Nine Network and Ten Network affiliations.
Since then, GWN has used the same presentation as Prime, only with GWN in place of Prime. This meant that whenever Prime changed their presentation, so did GWN. In 2001, GWN changed their logo in the same style as Prime’s. It also has a news service at 5.30pm, and takes Seven Perth’s 6pm News and the Perth edition of Today Tonight . It also has its own version of the Saturday Club, with GWN’s mascot, Doopa-Dog .
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