SAS10 brings breakfast television to Adelaide; 'Touch of Elegance', long running, with Deadly Earnest on Friday night

Noel O'Connor (top left) was host of SAS10's pioneering breakfast show, succeeded by morning show Touch of Elegance, later hosted by Margaret Glazbrook (with guest Jimmy Hannan), with Deadly Earnest's Awful Movies a Friday night fixture.

SAS Channel 10 pioneered Adelaide morning television within its first year, producing a six-day-a-week breakfast show, The Today Show, while its older rival stations didn’t start their days’ programming until lunchtime. 

The Today Show, with presenters including Noel O’Connor and Warwick Prime, continued for five years. For the show’s 1000th episode in 1969, presenters from rival channels ABC, Seven and Nine were invited to appear as special guests. Channel’s 10’s morning shows were continued with the long-running Touch of Elegance.

Initially hosted by Jaye Walton, the weekday program continued for more than 20 years with Walton later making way for Margaret Glazbrook and Pam Ellis. The 1980s saw Adelaide’s lasting favourite Anne Wills join SAS10 as host of Movie Scene that ran for 17 years.

“Willsy” later became a weather presenter, continued her winning streak of Logies for popularity. with local viewers, would present the weather for over a decade. She became the host, with Steve Whitham, of the station’s morning show AM Adelaide that replaced Touch of Elegance.

Warwick Prime also hosted SAS10’s local talent quest, New Faces, and Noel O’Connor was at the helm of  pop music programme In Time and later The Saturday Tonight Show.

A concept borrowed from interstate was Deadly Ernest’s Awful Movies, with marathons of horror films. In Adelaide, Deadly Earnest was played by actor Hedley Cullen with his skull Yorrik.