Countdown (ABC Australia)

Countdown was a long-running popular weekly Australian music television show broadcast by the Australian Broadcasting Corporation from 8 November 1974 until 19 July 1987. It was created by Executive Producer Michael Shrimpton, producer/director Robbie Weekes and record producer and music journalist Ian "Molly" Meldrum. Countdown was produced at the studios of the ABC in the Melbourne suburb of Ripponlea. Countdown was the most popular music program in Australian TV history. It was broadcast nationwide and the first half-hour episode went to air at 6.30pm on Friday, 8 November 1974, but for most of the time it was on air, it also gained double exposure throughout the country by screening a new episode each Sunday evening, and then repeating it the following Saturday evening. The majority of performances on the show were lip synched. Molly Meldrum, the program's talent co-ordinator, began appearing on-air in 1975, presenting the "Humdrum" music news segment and conducting interviews. He appeared regularly on-air until 1986. Local and international acts would host episodes and the show finished each episode with a top ten Countdown. Many acts consider Countdown critical to their success including Madonna, Blondie, ABBA, John Mellencamp, Meat Loaf, Boz Scaggs and Cyndi Lauper. Countdown was crucial to the success of many leading Australian acts, including AC/DC, Olivia Newton-John, INXS, Dragon, Hush, Kylie Minogue, I'm Talking, John Paul Young, Sherbet, Skyhooks, Jimmy and the boys, Marcia Hines, Mark Holden, The Angels, Mondo Rock, Men at Work, Icehouse, Australian Crawl, Mental As Anything, Little River Band, William Shakespeare, The Choirboys, Renée Geyer, Wa Wa Nee and Jon English. The final episode of Countdown aired on 19 July 1987.