Countdown (music show)

:For other meanings of the term countdown, see Countdown (disambiguation).

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Countdown was a long-running popular weekly Australian music television show broadcast by the Australian Broadcasting Corporation from late 1974 until 1987.

Related Topics:
Australia - Television show - Australian Broadcasting Corporation

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Countdown gained a huge audience and soon exerted a strong influence on radio programmers, because it was broadcast nationwide on Australia's government-owned broadcaster, the Australian Broadcasting Corporation (ABC). Countdown was the most popular music program in Australian TV history, and it had a marked effect on radio because of its loyal national audience -- and the amount of Australian content it featured. It also gained double exposure throughout the country by screening a new episode each Sunday evening, and then repeating it the following Saturday evening. It followed this format for most of the time it was on air.

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The program's talent co-ordinator Ian "Molly" Meldrum began appearing on-air in 1975, presenting the Humdrum music news segment and conducting interviews. He soon became the face of Countdown. He appeared regularly on-air until 1986.

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