This Sunday night 10 will screen a special program celebrating the 50th anniversary of Young Talent Time. Hosted by Toni Pearen, whose childhood dream was to join the Young Talent Team, YTT Unmasked will re-live all the highs, the backstage dramas and heartbreak as the special celebrates the moments that turned its young stars into household names.
The highlights will include a special reunion of host Johnny Young with some of the show’s biggest stars including Tina Arena and Dannii Minogue.
Mediaweek’s Andrew Mercado spoke with Johnny Young about living with Barry Gibb, competing with football replays and building a multicultural YTT audience.
Andrew Mercado: So full disclosure, when I was a kid, I was a fan and wanted a Jamie Redfern LP record which I duly got (thanks Santa). Several years later though, I was shocked when my older neighbour gave me a 60s compilation album and you were on it singing a track called Step Back which is still a great track.
Johhny Young: I had a fascinating start because I was involved in rock n’ roll for almost a decade before Young Talent Time. Step Back was my first hit single in 1966, then I hosted The Go Show for the 0-10 Network after Ian Turpie moved to Seven. I moved to London and lived with Barry Gibb and he taught me about songwriting. He told me “There are no rules” so I took that on board and came back to Australia to write five number one singles, including The Real Thing for Russell Morris.
Mercado: And then you started making a family music show – how did that sit with your rock n’ roll mates?
Young: Yeah, well I did get a bit of blowback, some would say ‘Oh come on Youngy, you just wrote The Real Thing!’ But I was lucky, because Kevin Lewis, who was the boss at Festival Records, liked that I was creative and he asked if I wanted to form a production company with him. I did, but I’m hopeless with money, so he ran the business and I got Lewis Young Productions involved in making TV shows like King of Pop. Young Talent Time happened because Ten wanted something to program up against football replays on Seven, Nine and the ABC.
Mercado: Hang on, are you saying the AFL when it was the VFL used to screen on three networks back in the day?
Young: Yes, but there was no live footy, just replays. I was a mad Essendon man myself, but I could see the opportunity, because not everybody wants to watch football.
Johnny Young with one of his TV Week Logie Awards
Mercado: (checking classic issue of TV Week) Oh my God you’re right – Football Today on GTV-9, Big Replay on HSV-7 and Football Replay on the ABC, all at the same time!
Young: Ten had tried all sorts of shows as competition and nothing had worked. Then Young Talent Time, with very little publicity, got a 19 share on its first night which was amazing! Kevin was the boss and I did as I was told but that suited me because I was only 24 and I had to make that transition from being a rock star to building up a well-oiled machine that could be ready for a dress rehearsal at 5pm, then go live to air at 6.30pm.
Mercado: Wait, Young Talent Time went out live at the start?
Young: It sure did, and we only started pre-recording it because publicity asked us to. They couldn’t cut promos or advertise our special guests. We were all on a learning curve. I slowly learnt, and yes, I have always had a good sense for picking talent, like Dannii Minogue and Tina Arena, but the making of the program was very much a team effort. One of the reasons it lasted 18 years on air was because everybody who worked on it loved it. The kids would learn things like choreography and camera use, and several of them left the show and went on to work behind the scenes in showbiz. Greg Mills became the musical director of YTT and Nicky Cooper became a directors assistant at Ten. You can’t buy that kind of experience.
Mercado: Did you miss your songwriting?
Young: Well I never stopped. Every few weeks we would have some special theme, like the circus or an Easter episode, and sometimes it was hard to find the perfect opening song, so I would just write it. We always needed new material because we were on air all year round, 40 weeks of new episodes and then Best of Sumer editions. I also redesigned the sets to be round instead of sharp corners, YTT always had round sets.
Mercado: Before colour TV started in 1975, I remember going to the movies and there was a YTT film shown before the main feature. I remember the ripple of excitement that went through the cinema at seeing everyone in colour for the first time, but when I watch back Caravan Holiday now (it’s on the 2003 YTT Collection DVD), all I see is how skinny the kids were back then. Didn’t you feed them?
Young: Well they all did a lot of dancing and choreography in their spare time! The Caravan Association paid for that film but I had a radio show on 3XY so I could only do cameos in it. I wasn’t even there the day Johnny Farnham filmed his scenes.
Mercado: You were one of the smart guys like Mike Walsh and Daryl Somers because the network didn’t own your show, they just broadcast it. Now you hold all the rights.
Young: Budgets were always tight, but unlike some, I put most of the budget on the screen, because we were always trying to improve the show. The network was never interested in owning the copyright because you have to keep renewing it, so I do all that now. I may not be as rich as Mike Walsh or Daryl Somers, because I wanted YTT to have a proper production budget, but I’ve had a wonderful life and lived in nice houses. The truth is I’m a bit of a socialist. I had the Johnny Young talent schools to help me through the lean days, and I get paid if they use my songs in commercials, so I’m quite happy with what showbiz has done for me.
Mercado: What can we expect from the 50th anniversary special this Sunday on 10?
Young: It comes on straight after The Masked Singer so that’s good programming. Usually I do the interviews, but this time it’s Dannii Minogue and Tina Arena interviewing me for a change. It’s amazing to look back and realise that even from the beginning, we had Vikki Broughton who was half Japanese, we had Jamie and Derek Redfern from Liverpool and many singers with European heritage like Tina Arena. We had a very multicultural audience because YTT transcended language barriers because of its music.
Mercado: There is a lot of footage from YTT on YouTube but you seem OK with that?
Young: I only make money if it’s used commercially, and if the BBC want to use that clip of Dannii and Kylie Minogue singing Sisters are Doing it for Themselves, I make them pay top dollar. But I’m fine with YouTube, all the kids would record it when VHS came out so it’s out there. I am just thrilled that even after 50 years, there is still such a great love for YTT. When I walk down the street, sometimes people can’t think of my name – er-oh this sounds like a John Paul Young song – but they recognise my face and then they start singing All My Loving. There is still a terrific affection for YTT and I am delighted that 10 is doing the special.