Molly Meldrum calls for permanent return of ABC-TV’s Countdown

The long time debate on whether the legendary Countdown TV show should be revived re-ignited this month after ABC TV had a ratings success with its Countdown Live concert on New Years Eve at the Sydney Opera House.

It drew 707,000 overnight metro audience, the third biggest show of the night after the ABC’s midnight fireworks (1,48 million) and the earlier family fireworks (710,000).

The concert featured artists such as Jimmy Barnes, John Paul Young, Shane Howard, Marcia Hines, Phil Jamieson, Colin Hay, Stella Donelly, Casey Donovan, Isaiah Firebrace, Montaigne and The Wolfgramm Sistersperforming hits from the Countdown era and also drew rave reviews on Twitter for the night’s house band.

Countdown Live had its biggest audience in Sydney, with 320,000. It was also the second biggest show in the 25—54 demo, and fourth in the 18—49 group and fifth in the 16-39 group.

In a Facebook post, long time host and talent director “Molly” Meldrum called the NYE show “absolutely spectacular”.

He added, “So proud to have been part of Countdown and to see how its message still resonates today, we have incredible talent in this country, we should continue to support Aussie acts wherever possible.”

Certainly the ABC has been testing the water: last September it began a 13-part series called Classic Countdown featuring the best studio performances from each of the 13 years the iconic show was on air.

By being on the ABC, Countdown was the first national music show, tapping not just the metro music fans but also the huge untapped regional audiences.

Colour TV had just arrived in the country, and there was nothing like a glittering pop show to showcase it.

This was the era before TV became mobile, Australian lifestyles were more independent, and the entire family would be at home together on Sunday evenings to prepare for the school or working week.

At one point Countdown had an extraordinary reach of 3 million a week.

Record label executives would report that sales for a track it played on Sunday night would clearly spike on the Monday morning.

With such power, it could easily demand from labels that they exclusively get the latest video clips first, or it wouldn’t be played.

Invariably, a spin on Countdown meant that commercial radio would also pick the track up.

Meldrum has long maintained that a new Countdown show would work if it had the Sunday evening timeslot, and as long as it had new presenters.

He however wouldn’t mind having a behind-the-scene role, in picking the talent.

In any case, Meldrum says that the ABC should have a music show in the old timeslot.

He wrote, “ABC need another show in the 6-7pm time slot, like they did with Countdown, they can’t go wrong.

“If the ABC did that again and go around the country, all the rural areas etc, that would be the best present this country could ever have for music.”

A number of label executives told TMN this morning that a show like Countdown wouldn’t compete with the massive competition from YouTube or that music discovery is now sourced from new medias.

Said one, on condition of anonymity, “The Countdown brand might have a future as a special event held once or twice a year.

“But as a weekly show? Forget it! There are some good acts out there, but where’s the total excitement in the music industry, where are the acts that want to be pop stars?

“It was there in the ‘70s but once that disappeared in the ‘80s, so did Countdown.”