AustLit

Reg Grundy's media career began as a freelance sports commentator for Sydney radio station 2SM in 1947. He hosted the Wheel of Fortune game show on radio in 1957, moving with that show to television in 1959. In 1960 he founded Reg Grundy Enterprises (RGE), a production house that initially bought game and quiz shows under licence from US television networks and which were re-developed specifically for Australian viewers. Among the most notable Australian shows were: Wheel of Fortune, Family Feud, Personality Squares, Blankety Blanks, Great Temptation/Sale of the Century and The Price is Right.

In 1974 RGE also began producing television drama, beginning with Class of 74. This was later followed by soap operas such as Class of '75 (1975), Young Doctors (1976), The Restless Years (1977-81), Case for the Defence (1978-80) and Prisoner (1977). Among the company's other productions, too, were several feature films, beginning with Barry McKenzie Holds His Own (1974) and ABBA: The Movie (1977).

In 1978 Reg Grundy Enterprises became the Reg Grundy Organisation (RGO) and the following year the company opened an office in Los Angeles. Three years later (1982), and the same year that Reg Grundy moved permanently to tax-friendly Bermuda, RGO was producing dramas and game shows in the USA, Brunei and Hong Kong. The American division of RGO was known as Reg Grundy Productions. In the US, for example, the company was responsible for producing a number of highly popular daytime game shows for NBC, including Time Machine, Sale of the Century and Scrabble. Later hits included the ABC's (US) Hot Streak (1986) and NBC's Scattergories (1993).

The 1980s saw RGO produce a number of highly popular game shows and soaps in Australia and overseas. The Australian successes included: Sale of the Century and Neighbours. The company had also expanded its operations into merchandise licensing. Global ambitions were reflected when the company was renamed in the late 1980s - this time as Grundy World Wide (GWW). By then Grundy's company and its various divisions were producing television shows for a diverse range of overseas broadcasters, including the BBC, Portugal's SIC, Spain's Tele5, Germany's Tele 5, the Netherlands' RTL 4, Scandinavia's TV3 and Italy's RAI. In Australia the company also opened the Grundy Entertainment Centre on Queensland's Gold Coat in 1981. Some of the key producers and executives to work for the Grundy organisation during the 1970s and 1980s were Roger Miriams, Ian Holmes, Reg Watson, Peter Pinne and Don Battye (qq.v.).

Grundy World Wide was sold to Pearson PLC in 1995 for an estimated $384. That company has since become known as FremantleMedia and is part of the RTL Group (which in turn is 90 percent owned by Bertelsmann). In 2006 FremantleMedia merged Grundy Television with its other Australian production company Crackerjack Productions to form a single 'super' production company called FremantleMedia Australia.