Quote on rage messageboard
"Ghostrider,

The rage team have been somewhat amused by the storm created by the repeat."

I guess they don't understand the anguish of fans at rage.

We are fortunate that Rage do air old footage at all so I am grateful for that. We don't get episodes of Sounds or Nightmoves shown on Channel 7, Episodes of Wavelength or Hey Hey shown on Ch 9, Episodes of Night Shift or Wrok shown on Ch10 or episodes of Rock Around The World or The Noise from SBS so I am glad that Countdown and other shows get a look in at the ABC.

But ultimately if they do decide to show old footage and only provide about 30 hours per year from archives that contain around 1000 hours then it would take well over 30 years to explore it all without repeats clogging the system.

In future years this may not even continue or other shows - current or yet to have even been produced - will also take up time as they become retro.

I am not going to live to be 200 years and as I don't believe in any after life or re-incarnations then this is my one shot at life. So taking that into account I don't quite share Rage's amusement at the repeat, but it's happened and is history now.

I would have liked to have seen a few more Countdowns, some 70's Flashez, Suzanne Dowling Rock Arena etc but on the whole while it wasn't the best Retro month we've had it wasn't that bad either as they listened to our most wanted Countdown requests and the clips they did show on the Saturday nights were mostly rarer ones.

I enjoyed a lot of Retro month this year but that repeat really did annoy me.

I must admit I'm somewhat amused (and bemused) at that post from the moderator on the forum. Who knew "4 or 5 emails throughout the year" could have such an impact/voice?

It hasn't happened so much lately, but in the past (on the old Rage guest book), people would often ask for a certain episode or special to be repeated, and the moderator replied that they don't normally do that unless there was a reason why a large section of the country didn't get to see it for some reason (e.g. election broadcast). Why then are they so lenient with the 'demand' needed to repeat a Countdown that aired only 12 months ago? I could *maybe* understand if it was a 'classic' Countdown that aired during retro month in the 90's, featuring a well-known and popular host who had recently passed away or something... but to repeat an Ignatius Jones-hosted episode that aired only 12 months prior, it's quite puzzling. Maybe he was the "4 or 5 people?"

WOW, I just went to the rage messageboard now, what ass holes!


Moderator:
Retro Month used to repeat Countdowns all the time but now we wish to keep the repeats to a minimum. This year there were 7 unrepeated Countdowns and one repeat.

The repeat has been highlighted in numerous posts and addressed by the moderator on more than one occasion. This forum needs to move forward, so regarding this issue we're gonna have to say: that's all folks.


Jason:

So THIS means that less Countdown's will screen each year by the looks of it as they want to keep Countdown to a minimum!!!

THANK GOODNESS I have kept my word on NOT posting on
rage anymore. They don't deserve it. They say 'This forum needs to move on'... There will be NO regulars left posting on there with this kind of rude behavior from them !!!

I for one will NEVER be back posting on there EVER again, they are such terrible things. So there ya go folks, rage want to keep Countdown repeats to a minimum. How sad...

I from now on will expect the worse from January. January will NEVER be the same as it was in the 90s. Thank goodness for those retro months days when it was Countdown GALORE!

I've already gone on about how I felt about that repeated episode and I found Rage's response and handling of that to be less than brilliant.

It was great seeing the most requested Countdowns shown but so many more could have been aired and showing so many Hitscenes in the first week was far too excessive. They should also certainly have shown some 70s material, such as the 2 remaining Flashez episodes, clips from the storage tapes, etc.

Hopefully next year will have far more variety with shows such as highlights of BeatBox, The Factory, etc.

From what I've seen on rage, there are hardly any Countdown repeats nowadays, where as, some years ago, there were numerous repeats. It's easy to speculate about the 4-5 e-mails, but at the end of the day, we really don't know about these e-mails. There's no way to prove it. Either way, it's better that they are repeating less now anyway.

It could also be the case that when they mention requests by e-mail, they are referring to messages sent privately from Facebook or Twitter. Because even the moderator isn't sure whether it was 4 or 5 e-mails, it's just that they could be corresponding to the message board from another rage staffer and the term for private messages was simplified as e-mails.

There are just too many variables involved.

I find it interesting that rage are 'AMUSED'. As I
said, working at rage is JUST a job for them.

They have no REAL passion for music. If they did have that passion THEN they would PERFECTLY understand that hardcore Countdown fans wait 11 months each year and repeating an episode just played last year is a real let down. The rage team only care about their pay check, if I worked at rage i would 101% UNDERSTAND why those who wait for Countdown episodes all year would be crabby about a repeated episode from just 12 months ago!

Wow! guys, just read the rage board and saw what you meant by the moderator's attitude problem. Very worrying, very worrying. :(

As I've always said, the ABC's best medicine is bringing back Johnathan Shire to clean the joint out, and employ people who have a genuine love for the music. As I've always said to my family and other friends, the ABC is a closed shop full of the close knit buddies, that cover each others asses, this is why Jonathan Shire had so many problems with the ABC board at the time, and why he was.... well... I think the right words was a amicable disengagement.

What I remember if correct, he wanted to make the ABC more relavent, meaning it's material had to be more of an interest to it's audience, rather then smacking on any old crap. He also noted that there was much staff that could be made expendable; I guess what he meant by that is cleaning out all the old rot in the joint. I guess the only thing I would of objected to is advertising on the ABC.

Back to Rage though, we definitely have a pack of f*cking imbeciles running that show, and with Shire in charge, I reckon they would of been the first to be raked out.

Absolutely!... The people working at rage these days know NOTHING. Regarding January, the staff there at the moment have kept rage goes retro because it's a tradition BUT they know ZERO about what they are doing and their audiences.

Their reply's to regulars is absolutely DISGUSTING and RUDE.

I quite like Countdown a lot. I've always watched Countdown during retro months and I'm also an aficionado of chart music and chart archives. Though I do agree with the moderator in the sense that other peoples tastes need to be catered for too. I also thoroughly enjoyed watching The Factory and Countdown Revolution as I'm quite fond of that era too. As well as liking general retro clips. I personally like to see other content as well, in addition to Countdown because there is more variety.

I do think the moderators response could have been more diplomatic, though it shows frustration and annoyance. They really can't please everyone all the time, not even myself, I can assure you.

Here, Here Mark & Jason. Totally agree. I don't understand the way they treat Countdown. After all it had 2 national tours and numerous CDs and DVDs sold at the ABC shop and other retailers. They should be supporting this show each January. Time for a Countdown Spectacular 3 - of course when Molly gets better!