As a member of You Am I, as well as his own endeavours as a solo artist, Tim Rogers is an essential part of the Australian music landscape. Rock frontman, stage personality, captivating singer, and now, music TV host.
Rogers will star as the face of STUDIO at the MEMO, a new music television program gracing screens this July that features cabaret, burlesque, and circus performance as well as a “dream team of Australia’s A-list performers and some of the world’s mot daring acts,” according to TheMusic.
Six episodes of the new series have been commissioned and set to feature local stars, such as Beasts of Bourbon ringleader Tex Perkins, and songbird Kate Miller-Heidke, and Don Walker, as well as international guests, including renowned guitarist Kaki King, and forthcoming DARK MOFO headliner Martha Wainwright. Mojo Juju, Paul Capsis, and VulgarGrad round out the list of performers set to appear on STUDIO at the MEMO.
The new series come courtesy of Renegade Productions and will be filmed at The Memo, the 400 capacity seat St Kilda venue that relaunched in March with a tribute show to local legend Rowland S. Howard. The venue was originally a dance hall and theatre that opened in 1924, through money raised by the community after the First World War, its storied history including tenures as a Hoyts picture theatre from the 1930s to late ’50s, and as the Dog’s Bar Arts Hub in 2010. A new music television program gracing screens this July that features cabaret, burlesque, and circus performance as well as a “dream team of Australia’s A-list performers…”
Its March relaunch saw the Memo’s operators promising a venue that would host “live music, cabaret, comedy, film screenings, storytelling, dancing, and other arts events,” now fulfilling that function as the site of the new Tim Rogers hosted music television show.
STUDIO at the MEMO is part of SBS’ subscription TV arts channel STUDIO – a Foxtel network – and it’s bid to widen their programming portfolio, as TV Tonight reports. Tim Rogers was even on hand to entertain guests at STUDIO’s annual industry dinner, that first announced the station’s planned revamp, which launched earlier this month under the marketing campaign of ‘WTF’.
SBS Subscription TV General Manager Chris Keely noted the phrase was a predicated response to the bold new direction towards edgy, intelligent, provocative programming, as well as being a malleable marketing phrase that could mean Watch The Funny or Watch The Forbidden.
“We’re thrilled to take STUDIO to the next level,” said Mr Keely of the May 1st relaunch. “We’ve considered what it means to be Australia’s arts channel and [we] reveal a rebrand that is more dynamic, diverse and accessible than ever before.”
The Tim Rogers-hosted series premieres on Foxtel’s STUDIO channel on Tuesday 16th July, and is a welcome addition to Australian broadcasting considering the severe lack of performance opportunities on domestic television networks.
The news also follows the announcement of another addition to the music TV roster in The Bump, a televised expansion of Sydney radio station 2Day FM’s program of the same name. The new program channels the spirit of clip shows like Video Hits, reviving the tradition on Saturday morning screenings, from 10am, for a whopping three hours of music.
