Hi All,

I'm having just a little trouble sorting out episodes from April 1982. I know there was a Countdown Awards thrown in there somewhere. Molly explains, in the interview with Duran Duran, that the show had to go to air on a Saturday. Rage states that was aired April 11th. But when did the Jo Kennedy/Ross O'Donovan episode air? I'm only quite certain about the Split Enz episode aired on the 25th April, and the Jon English episode aired on the 4th April.

Thank you.

As I understand it the shows are as follows:

Ep 322 April 4 1982 hosted by Jon English and repeated April 10

Ep 323 April 11 1982 hosted by Ross O’Donovan & Jo Kennedy (Starstruck)

Ep 323/1 April 17 1982 Duran Duran episode was shown in the slot usually reserved for the Saturday repeat. For some reason the episode was numbered 323/1 instead of 324, perhaps as it was shown in a 323 repeat timeslot instead of the 324 slot on the Sunday.

April 18 1982 - 1981 Countdown Awards - Awards episodes, as with the summer episodes, were not numbered. Repeated April 24

Ep 325 April 25 1982 hosted by Split Enz and repeated May 1. This should have been episode 324 but became 325 due to the Duran Duran episode.


The ABC seem to confuse themselves with the numbering. I have a copy of ep323 on a timecoded disc which includes the pre-show clapperboard information. On that board it says the Starstruck episode was recorded 8/4/82, replayed 11/4/82 and repeated 17/4/82. However in their official records (from about 10 years ago) of which I have a printout and which Jason copied onto this site (in the Countdown Archives section) they have the episode recorded as aired on 17/4/82 (the same date they have for the Duran Duran episode) although it was only originally meant to be the repeated episode night and then it didn't air then after all due to the Duran Duran episode.

Obviously the decision to show the Duran Duran episode on the 17th instead meant that neither episode was ever repeated. There was only one episode shown on the 17th according to the TV guide so clearly the ABC records are incorrect in listing both as shown on the 17th.

Not sure if I have cleared that up or made it more confusing.

Armin, you are an encyclopaedia of knowledge ... thank you. This fixes up my list of episodes for around that time nicely. So essentially, the Duran Duran episode can be considered no. 324, although officially it's known as 323/1. Fine, I can live with that. Thanks once again, much appreciated.