When viewing Countdown, especially Countdown Revolution or even The Factory on rage, the audio is mono. Wasn't stereo audio implemented sometime during the mid 80s? Did the ABC not have stereo broadcasts for some of its shows, or have they down-converted the audio.

Countdown was recorded on 2 inch videotape and that was only capable of producing mono audio. I'd be guessing on Countdown Revolution and The Factory but I'm pretty sure thats when BetacamSP came in and although that format's capable of stereo audio, whatever equipment happened to be connected to it may have been only mono capable.

I thought Countdown was recorded in stereo in the 80s :-(

I don't know if this helps, but still remember recording the rage top 50 in late 1991, and remember they were still in mono, hense why I was more of a video hits fan. I don't think the ABC went stereo until 1992 1993; government enterprise I suppose, gotta do everything on the cheap. :(

Rage was in mono, but they simulcast it on JJJ in stereo. I remember our first video had a simulcast function where you could patch in a tuner and substitute the TV soundtrack with the stereo simulcast. I still have VHS tapes recorded in the 1990s featuring clips recorded off the Rage Top 50 featuring the audio recorded in stereo off JJJ. Those were the days of analog TV and radio - couldn't do that nowadays with digital delays.

If I remember correctly, the 'stereo on Triple J' thing stopped some time around early 1993... well, at least for broadcasting the top 60/50 simultaneously. I do remember being slightly amused hearing the likes of Peter Andre and The Heights ('How Do You Talk To An Angel') airing on Triple J due to being in the charts on Rage

The first full-time stereo TV broadcasts in Australia were by Channel 9 in Sydney in November 1983. Channel 7 followed in February 1984 and Channel 10 in February 1985. The ABC first commenced stereo broadcasts in Sydney in February 1992 - yup eight years after the commercial channels.

I very clearly remember watching rage for the first time in stereo and posting about it to aus.music newsgroup (remember those?).

This of course means that none of the ABC's '80s music programmes are in stereo.

I don't understand why sound levels are different on retail CDs? I find a lot of the older CD's (reissued and bought new only a few years ago) seem to have a lower volume sound than new release CDs. It S H I T S me when I put together a CD of 80s tunes taken from artists CDs and the volume is softer and louder on various tracks. I often have to mess around with the record level on each track so they match up with the same sound level. I can understand that it may be because of place of manufacture, but they should all be in line with each other.

I recorded a few Countdowns onto audio tape off the JJJ simulcast. The Adam Ant episode (September '81), 10 June 1984 & Xmas '84 episode.