This is a brief history of the life of CowTV. We are sure many names and contributors have been left out, partly due to the fact that there are so many people who have participated in the making of this glorious television show over the years. Please, if you feel you have been left out of this limited history let us know through our contacts page so we can update our history to include you. It's not because we don't love you, it's just because we don't remember you. So here we go.

CowTV or Campus Otago Weekly, was born in 1999. it started as a half hour a week pre recorded show hosted by Andrew Mulligan (the crowd goes wild) and Marcus Sontagg. The show was produced and invented by Clark Gayford (former C4 presenter) as an extension of a broadcasting school project he had worked on the previous year. The boys took Dunedin televisions by storm in the 10 episode debut season, creating an instant cult following and many of the segments we still use on the show today, including the infamous “Walk of Shame”.

After the debut season many of the original cast and crew of CowTV decided to move on to bigger and better things, as did the show itself. Leaving the pre-recorded format style behind, the show made a complete change of direction in 2000. CowTV had now evolved into a five hour a week live television show shot in the Channel 9 studios daily. Andrew Mulligan was a returning member of the hosting panel and was joined by Claire Gibson in a producing role. The show even deviated into a morning slot for some of the year. However, Cow AM did not prove as successful as it's evening counterpart and it was decided that the PM version of the show continue to be the main stay of Campus Otago Weekly, to the censors’ delight. The show’s future looked very bright and was ready to take on new challenges.

As producer, Claire Gibson was ready to take up these challenges for the shows third season. The gap left by Andrew Mulligan leaving was then filled by Rei (Rebecca) Tapley and Ben Scott. The five night a week one hour a week show format continued through 2001, proving hard work for all involved. However, the intense five night a week schedule continued through to 2002 when Andrew Johnson was appointed as the new producer of the show. With him, he recruited the presenting services of Mark Hathaway and George Taylor.

2003 also saw a number of fresh faces including an all star presenter line up of (crazy) Craig Eason (presenter for ALTTV) and Samantha Hayes (Nightline presenter), accompanied by Jim Bush and Rob Dixon. This stellar presenting line up was headed by the 2003 producer Dylan Galletly (Hometown records).

2004 saw another complete line change with the producer role being held by Cam Williams from February till August and then being taken up by Matt Grant till the show’s completion in November. A number of presenters came through the studios doors that year including Sacha Willets, Anna Hergarty , and Rob Jackson (Studentville). Major highlights for 2004 were the shopping trolley race, which amazingly saw no one get injured, and the introduction of a massive Cow costume which is still utilized today.

In 2005, CowTV had decided to have a restructure, changing from a five night a week format to three nights a week. The show would screen Monday, Wednesday and Friday for the 32 weeks of the academic year, with a short break in June for the crew to take a trip to Queenstown to film a Winter festival special. Sarah Andrew was now in charge of the operation as producer, with long standing field reporter Hamish Colman-Ross (who later went on to producer “Studentville”) as presenter, accompanied by the people's choice presenter poll winners, Jez Brown and Helen O'Leary. Highlights for the year included the Winterfest trip, and the first CowTV Christmas special produced by Jez Brown and Robbie McGregor.

With Sarah Andrew retiring from the role of producer and returned to Balclutha, this gave a chance for the former “ScarfieTV” sports reporter Nic Roland take up the role. With him, he brought the audacious Tim Couch into a presenter’s seat to sit beside the returning Jez Brown. An injection of estrogen was added by the beautiful Caroline Hornibrook, and the queen of Invercargill television, Alice McKinlay. With a revamp of the set by local artist Nigel Roberts and the addition of the “organ zone” CowTV was looking better than ever.

Nic Roland contributed a number of new segments including “Stuff in Reverse” and the “retro ski team” while Jez Brown's brainchildren included “pimp my (mail)box” and the first fort building club on campus. Of course segments like the “Walk of Shame” and “flatraids” continued along with fresh new ideas like a spilt screen toga party treasure hunt and the introduction of our resident stunt genius Extreme Man Sam.

Unfortunately, the illustrious Jez Brown had moved on by 2007, while the charming Alice and Caroline had both finished their respected degrees and decided to enter the real world. Luckily, Tim Couch was far from ready to enter the real world and was now ready to become lead presenter for 2007. 2006 producer Nic Roland had also decided to continue for another season. To fill the void left by Jez, Alice and Clarie, Nic decided to invade another hot bed of talent at the University, the Capping show. Alasdair Johnston, Thom Adams and Jennyfer Jewell (formerly of “The Tribe”) were all invited to make the switch from stage to screen in 2007, although all three still managed to score leading parts in the Capping Show that year. Their chemistry on screen was obvious and with Tim Couch on set to top it off, the result was television gold.

Tim Couch's political ambitions also climaxed in 2007 when he decided to run for role of mayor of Dunedin. Inspired by his narrow loss to Renee Heal for the spot as President of the Otago Students’ Association a year earlier (Tim lost by 17 votes) his dreams were shattered after receiving only 242 votes in the city wide election. Compared to the honorable Peter Chin who received over 20000. His progressive policies of turning Carisbrook into a ninja training facility, starting a porn industry in the Mosgiel, adding two more sides to the Octagon and installing under street heating to stop riots in the student area may have alienated a few conservative voters.

2007 also saw AJ taking a trip to Christchurch to investigate the Erotica Expo in order to make the world's cheapest porno. Jennyfer Jewell took on an alter ego as “Amy” the American travel show host and Thom Adams warped the nightly news to make it far more interesting and funny, with the Aoraki News. 2007 also saw CowTV launch the David Bain Campaign, which single handedly led to his release, led the revival of Skip-it to a nation sick of regular extreme sports and the introduction of “The Amazing Adventures of Commonwealth Kea and Olympic Kiwi” which would eventually lead to their movie deal. Both Kea and Kiwi are currently in rehab and their contracts with the show may not be renewed.

With just over 9 years under it's belt CowTV has no intent in slowing down. We will strive to continue bringing Dunedin hilarious, riveting and informative local television until the world is taken over by apes or the censors decide to take us off of the air.

Thank you everyone who has been involved in the show over the years. All of our guests , musical acts, associates. Very big ups to our sponsors, without you the show could not exist, and all the other companies and organisations that have supported us over the years. Most of all CowTV would like to thank all of the amazing and talented crew that has passed through the studio doors of the Dunedin institution, you are all beautiful people and all deserve the biggest thanks of them all. We hope that the Cow experience has helped you develop the skills and taught you enough to make it in the real world!

Cheers
peace out.