Hamish and Andy dig deep for Channel 31, kind of. Crikey’s story yesterday highlighting struggling Melbourne community TV station Channel 31’s desperate plight produced instant results, with Austereo comedy duo Hamish Blake and Andy Lee kicking in $1,000 for their alma mater shortly after our story went live. But that’s where it ended — sadly, no response has been received from C31’s other glittering graduates, including Rove McManus, Peter Helliar and Corinne Grant. McManus’ manager Kevin Whyte told Crikey that an email received yesterday morning was “the first we’d heard” of the subscriberthon and that he was happy to take out a basic subscription for himself, pending a response from Rove.

Channel 31 has been hit hard by the Federal Government’s mandated switch to digital television and the need to upgrade its studio facilities. Without an immediate cash injection the station could be forced to stick with its second-rate analogue signal, which is being switched off around Australia.

For years, Channel 31 has served as an incubator for talent that has then been poached by commercial networks keen to exploit the youth advertising market, with megastars Rove McManus, Corinne Grant and Peter Helliar all making the jump to the big league.

The question is should the past stars be expected to finanically help the station? Feel free to leave your comments below.

Also an interesting tid-bid from the Crikey story…

Speculation has been swirling for months that Rove will soon stitch up a lucrative Los Angeles-based chat show deal following high-profile appearances last year on the Jay Leno Show.

HAMISH Blake and Andy Lee look set to become TV stars after signing a lucrative deal with Channel 10.

The hottest duo on radio signed during the week to produce a number of specials for Ten.

One insider said the Fox FM pair would fill the gap left by Rove McManus when he quit his decade-long show last year.

At this stage the deal is for Blake and Lee to produce specials for the network, but a weekly show is not out of the question.

Ten programming chief David Mott said the signing was a coup.

“It’s no secret Hamish and Andy are the most keenly sought after television talent around,” he said.

“It’s great news for us and we can’t wait to see what they have planned.”

The deal will make the pair one of Australia’s best paid acts.

Next Sunday the 8th November, Rove will be joined by Benji and Joel Madden (Good Charlotte), Hamish & Andy and Gossip will perform ‘Love Long Distance’.

Dennis Hopper was originally scheduled to appear but has revealed he is battling prostate cancer and has canceled his Australian tour.

Then on 15th November, the final episode of 2009 will feature Sam Worthington, Hamish & Andy and Powderfinger will perform ‘All of the Dreamers’.

Still no word on whether or not Rove intends on returning early 2010 or midway through the year as rumoured.

In comparison, Rove usually rates between 800,000 and 1.2 million viewers. Some very good exposure for the boys.

Watch their segment here on RoveFeed.

[edit: video has been deleted by NBC Universal - do a search on YouTube for 'Hamish & Andy on The Jay Leno Show]

Watch The Jay Leno Show Weeknights at 7.30pm on The Comedy Channel.

You can catch their appearance on The Jay Leno Show in Australia on The Comedy Channel, Thursday at 7.30pm.

Hamish and Andy are taking their Caravan of Courage to the home of the road trip, the USA. The special will showcase all the highlights of their journey which saw the boys travel 5000 kilometres from Miami to Los Angeles in their trusty RV.

Thursday September 17 at 7.30pm on TV3

H/T: RoveOnline

Pt. 1 airs this Thursday at 7.30pm on Network Ten.