It launched on Thursday, May 13, 1976, a banner on the front page of The Age announcing “the bigger lift-out TV-radio green guide gives you news, reviews, record notes and an easy-to-read guide to ALL TV and radio programmes.” It was a slender 16-page section, heavy with ads for hi-fi equipment.

One of the cover stories reported on protests to the ABC’s Sydney management about proposed changes to the popular local drama, Bellbird . And, back then, “ALL” the TV programs meant daily listings for the four free-to-air channels – SBS TV didn’t appear until 1980 – which all shut down for the night before or soon after midnight.

In those days, households customarily gathered around a single TV set in a loungeroom, debating over whether they’d watch shows such as Countdown , M*A*S*H, and Starsky and Hutch.…