Hi All, I have been looking through the Countdown Archuives on the forum and am confused by the fact that there are two shows numbered 323? One is Jo Kennedy/Ross Donovan (a fairly standard format show) and the other, which has been aired on rage, has Molly interviewing Duran Duran interwoven with video clips and the voice over is John Peters. This show appears to be the day b4 the awards show. On the archives, it appears that this particular show was aired on 17/4/82 - the other show with JK & RD appears to actually have been aired 11/4/82. But oddly, checking shows prior to and after those dates, then the Duran Duran show should really be #323B maybe?? Anyone got any ideas?!

You have basically analysed the situation fairly well.

The ABC have incorrectly dated the Jo Kennedy/Ross O'Donovan show. It was recorded Thurs 8/4/1982, shown Sunday 11/4/1982 and to be repeated on Sat 17/4/1982 (this is shown on the clapper board at the start of my time-coded copy of that episode).

Instead of repeating the JK/R.O'D episode on April 17 they aired another one that they had recorded at short notice with Duran Duran in Adelaide during the week. The Duran Duran episode is officially recorded in the archives as episode 323/1.

The 1981 Countdown Awards Show aired on Sunday April 18 and as with all the Awards shows did not have an episode number.

The run down of Countdown programming in April 1982 was:

Ep 322 April 4 - Jon English (repeated April 10)
Ep 323 April 11 - Jo Kennedy & Ross O'Donovan (not repeated)
Ep 323/1 April 17 - Duran Duran (not repeated)
April 18 - Countdown Awards (repeated April 24)
Ep 324 April 25 - Split Enz (repeated May 1)

I have a feeling that the Duran Duran episode led to Countdown Friday starting a couple of months later which allowed Countdown to air more clips.

There were more of these Specials that were also incorporated:

A Countdown Culture Club special - Who's A Tart is recorded as being shown on June 26 1984 (which was a Tuesday) but my TV guide makes no reference to anything being shown that night apart from Rock Arena. It may have been shown instead of a repeat on the Saturday. It didn't appear to be given an episode number though.

Episode 442 Nov 11 1984 (hosted by Austen Tayshus) was not repeated as they showed a Countdown U2 special on Sat Nov 17 - I have an off air copy of it - and it is recorded in the ABC archives as 442A

Thanks Guru Bob for putting my mind at ease with your very informative reply. I guess with so much info to deal with in the archives, that there are going to be a couple of issues with the dates, etc. I also have the t/coded Jo Kennedy episode, where the dates of that are clearly on the chalk board at the beginning & for me, these lead in's with dates on the t/c shows are spot on accurate & can't be argued with! I find it funny what Jo said at the beginning there, with her glass of orange juice, "All your threats are coming true"?!! There are some hilarious bits at the start of those t/c shows!

Interesting that the awards shows are numbered, however in the archives on this website, they appear to be numbered and start with a 5. For example the 18/4/82 show is # 539?

P.S.Love your profile pic! Great LP that one, remember well buying way back then as a kid. LOVED "Unguarded Moment", still one of my all time favourite songs. Not to mention, "Misplaced Love" (with Marianne Faithfull on backing vox), plus one of Split Enz best songs, "I Don't Wanna Dance".

I had never noticed that before that it has a number here as I usually consult my own printout from the ABC archives.

The Countdown Awards Shows never had a program episode number attached to them apart from 1981 (ep 277). From 1982 - 1987 they did not have episode numbers allocated. Episode 539 is Dec 14 1986.

Yes Guru Bob, you are right - that must be a typo re: the 1981 Awards show - aired 18/4/82. This is what it says in C/D archives on the countdown memories site:

Year: 1982
Date: 18/4/1982
Show no: 539

Which is clearly an error, as you said, 539 is from 12/86. In my database I have the 18/4/82 awards show as number 324, as there are no other shows listed as 324 and it fit's in with sequence.

Maybe the 1981 Awards (18/4/82) are Ep 324 as Split Enz April 25 are Ep 325 (I made a mistake in the earlier post calling that 324). If Duran Duran are 323/1 then that would only leave the Awards Show as a possibility as 324 - will have to update my database.

I'm not sure where I actually got my "324" number for that show, as it was a rage repeat and not a time coded show. Maybe I just figured it out, but it was a long time ago that I did it. Looking at April 1982 as a whole, as you say, it fit's in perfectly.

BTW do you have show 3 in the series of show numbers 314, the Countdown 81/82 Summer episodes? Just looking at what I have, I am missing just that one show? Also, I am always on the hunt for any full length Countdown Revolutions that haven't been shown on rage, if you happen to know of any?

Those Summer Specials didn't have any episode numbers either, they were just numbered 1-8. No 3 was the New Zealand bands which is the only one I am missing as well.

Ep 314 was Dec 13 1981 and Ep 315 was Feb 14 1982.

I have the following Countdown Revolution eps plus whatever they have shown on Rage in the last 3 years (it's been a while since I updated my list):
Oct 27 1989
Dec 9 1989
April 20 1990
May 11 1990
May 18 1990
June 8 1990
June 22 1990
I think 3 of those were from Rage and 4 from Jase in Adelaide with whom I once traded some stuff. He posts on this forum occasionally. If you needed Jase's copies I would suggest that you try trading with him as it is his personal footage that he once taped off TV and he should benefit from it.

The Jo Kennedy hosted show is one I'll be requesting for 2014 - I'm a huge fan of "Starstruck".

Yes, it is a great show! Jo is one cool character!