Countdown Spectacular (11/12)

Teen-oriented pop music still enjoyed strong popularity during the 1970s, although much of it was sourced from overseas, and the proportion of Australian acts in the charts had hit an all-time low by 1973. That trend began to change around 1975, and many credit that largely to the advent of Countdown. Much of the show's influence derived from its timeslot (Sundays at 6pm) and the fact that each week's show was repeated the following Saturday at 5pm; the series also undoubtedly benefitted hugely from the long-delayed introduction of PAL colour television system in Australia, which was introduced four months after Countdown premiered. Because of this, Countdown was also one of the first Australian TV series to be made entirely in colour, although nearly all of the master videotapes from 1974 to 1978 were later erased and recycled during an ill-advised "economy drive" at the ABC. The reason was that 2-inch videotape was expensive, and at upwards of A$300 for a one-hour roll at the time, it was considered economical to re-use the tapes. 100 episodes in total were erased from this period. In recent years, ABC Archives has undertaken an upgrade of the remaining episodes, copying what was left to their two on-air playback formats Betacam SP and Digital Betacam. It is the copying of the programs onto this format that has allowed the ABC to re-broadcast episodes of Countdown during their all night music show, Rage, in January, to make up for the lack of new release video clips available to the ABC at that time. (extract from Wikipedia 2011)