Kommotion

Kommotion
Genre	Music
Directed by	David Joseph, Al Maricic
Presented by	Ken Sparkes
Country of origin	Australia
Original language(s)	English
No. of seasons	3
No. of episodes	5x 25 minutes, weekly.
Production
Producer(s)	David Joseph
Location(s)	Nunawading, Victoria
Running time	5 x 25 min eps per week (Mon–Fri, 1964–67); 1-hour weekly special (broadcast Sunday) added later
Production company(s)	Willard King Organisation
Release
Original network	ATV-0
Audio format	mono
Original release	August 1964 – 1967
Chronology
Preceded by	The Go!! Show
Followed by	Uptight

Kommotion was a popular Australian "Top 40" pop music TV show of the mid-1960s, which premiered in December 1964. The program was hosted by popular disc jockey Ken Sparkes, who was one of the main presenters at Melbourne pop radio station 3UZ. In 1965, after the end of his previous series, Teen Scene, pop singer Johnny Chester became the associate producer of the program.

It was produced by the Willard King organisation for Melbourne TV station ATV-0 (Channel 0) and was pre-recorded on videotape at the station's Nunawading studio. It was originally seen only in Melbourne, but was later relayed to interstate stations in the newly formed 0-10 Network as they came on line during 1965–66.

The Kommotion format was a fast-paced, teenage Top 40 pop music show. It was originally shown in daily half-hour episodes, Monday–Friday at 5.30 pm; an additional one-hour special on Sundays was added later in the run of the series.

In August 1964 Channel 0 premiered its first pop TV program, The Go!! Show. It proved such a ratings success that its original 13-episode contract was extended to 39 episodes after only seven weeks on air, and this encouraged Channel 0 to capitalise on this success by commissioning a second series that would appeal to younger viewers. Both programs showcased the emerging 'beat' pop trend, and provided an energetic alternative to the mainstream family-oriented variety format of the rival Nine Network program, Bandstand. In combination, Go!! and Kommotion gave the nascent 0-10 Network an unbeatable lead in pop TV programming, with The Go!! Show alone regularly pulling in over 400,000 teenage viewers every week.

Both Kommotion and Go!! featured on the current beat-pop style, and both were strongly influenced by the UK and American pop TV shows created by renowned producer Jack Good. Although many local guest acts appeared on both shows, there were notable stylistic differences between them. The Go!! Show was more closely modelled on the landmark British pop show Ready, Steady, Go! and it was aimed at a slightly older and more sophisticated audience, it featured more local music, and it reportedly cost considerably more to produce.

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