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40 years of Countdown: set visit

In 1978 a young writer visited the Countdown studios. On the show's 40th Anniversary, get ready to re-open a time capsule.

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Today marks the 40th anniversary of the premiere of Countdown, a landmark pop music show that ran from 1974 – 1987 on the ABC.

In 1978 I made my very first set visit to a television show, writing for the school newspaper. I wasn’t very good.

But there were stars in my eyes and it ignited an interest in how television is made, which has since come full circle for me.

This is a naively-coined piece, but I hope the views of this young teen serve as a time capsule of a skyrocket of a show.

Happy Anniversary Countdown! Thanks for the memories.

Two Sundays ago, Countdown held the Grand Final of an enormous nationwide Saturday Night Fever dancing contest.

Saturday Night Fever is a new disco film starring John Travolta. The film is enjoying incredible success both here and in the States. Major radio stations in each state across Australia have been holding their own contests in discotheques. The best male and female contestants from each state appeared on Countdown to compete for a trip to America to meet the Bee Gees, the recording artists of the film.

I went along to the show to see how it operates.

On arrival I was introduced to producer Michael Shrimpton, a man I estimated to be in his mid-40s -a little older than I had expected. He gave me a tour of the building, seeing the News-TDT room, a tiny one at that!

Countdown have a crew of 47. “I can’t tell you how much production costs ah hour, but it’s expensive,” he said.

The actual Countdown studio, rather large but not large enough for what they want, is used during the week for dramas, and anything Channel 2 produce in Melbourne.

Any sets that are used during the week must be moved by midnight Friday. At 12:01 the night shift crew move in and begin constructing the set in preparation for Saturday’s recording.

The set for this week’s special disco night had been changed from the usual Countdown set. The ceiling was covered with a massive 200 lights which as Shrimpton said, “must be taken down every day.” They then must be replace to suit the next show.

At 3:45 John Paul Young, a co-host for the show, recorded the Top 10. After the first time he was told, “Make it a bit bouncy. A few laughs. Quiet everywhere please. Doors closed. Nice and bouncy.”

The room is lit with blue, red and yellow lights. Ian “Molly” Meldrum, dressed in a shiny satin Countdown jacket, watches. JPY ruins the recording and they begin all over again.

I was escorted to the Control Room up a winding staircase in the corner of the studio by a Publicist -it was hard not to stare at the perfectly placed wart on the tip of his nose.

The Control Room was a bank of small TV monitors with the Director and his crew. Some monitors previewed the shots that he called out to a Vision Switcher. The Lighting Director was at one end and changed the look for each song.

The show was a blur of of colour and disco pop. For this week most of the Live acts were put aside for the Saturday Night Fever dance routines by the interstate contestants. They danced the tango from the movie on a modern perspex floor with the lights pulsating to the sounds of Night Fever, just like the movie.

Alphonse and Mary Louise won the contest and a trip to America.

And JPY even got his lines right by the end.

17 Responses

  1. Wonderful reading this,the reason is I have had a very misty memory at 10 going with my school to ABC studios at Ripponlea, now I know that it really did happen, thank you

  2. I was glued to the tv each week for Countdown but the Saturday Night Fever dance contest was almost too exciting for words. 1974 was the year I turned 14, so I was the perfect age to be obsessed by the show. Can’t wait for the upcoming special.

  3. I was way to young to remember Countdown or the Reboot Countdown Revolution both on ABC. However i am young enough to remember Video Hits and Rage. I remember reading online that Countdown was axed when music videos began to be more cheaper and available thus is was the nail in Countdown coffin. But the show was a symbol of the GenX was a great show. There have been spinnoff with Different names in years gone by such as House of Hits and Ground Zero and Pepsi Live. I think with MusicVideos being more costly Performance based shows could work again.

  4. I watched a preview of episode 1 and loved all the footage of classic moments like JPY being dragged into the crowd – and Molly losing it on the 100th episode. Getting an interview with Bjorn from the second top selling band in music history was also amazingt! A great tribute to Countdown’s role in ABBA’s worldwide success. A must watch next Sunday.

  5. Great piece, David. Loved reading these vivid memories.
    On one of its rare journeys to Sydney in 1977, I visited Countdown when it was filmed at the Gore Hills studios. I was 12 at the time, and my cousin was a producer at the ABC and arranged the visit.
    I remember Marcia Hines and Sherbet were the star acts that night and the whole experience was quite overwhelming.
    I only wished I had taken as much notice as you did. It was wonderful to read this.

  6. When Countdown started there was no Humdrum segment. Halfway through 1975 Mike Shrimpton brought in the segment which was originally called The Countdown Rock Report. After a few weeks host John Paul Young introduced the segment by saying “Here’s boring old Molly and Humdrum” and the name stuck.

  7. That’s so cool.
    As a teenager it was my dream to be one of those screaming, tinsel waving girls in the Countdown audience down there at Ripponlea.
    But living in Sydney,sadly I never got around to it.

  8. While M Meldrum is always linked to Countdown it was Producer Mike Shrimpton and Director Robbie Weekes who were the real brains behind the show. Molly just sort of happened and always seems to take the credit. It is very poor form that he never acknowledges the people who made him famous.

    1. He does in the ABC special. I’m not sure he has denied their contribution (check his book), it’s just that media always focus on him. It wouldn’t surprise me if both of them acknowledged, Meldrum symbolised the show.

  9. Darn it David I’m gonna have the Countdown theme in my head all day. And why not? It was something we watched ritually every week and shaped our record collections

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