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COUNTDOWN IS BACK THIS JANUARY, 2019 ... ON rage !!!!!
Stay tuned below with regular Countdown full archival information for each Countdown episode rage shall be airing every Saturday throughout January ...
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I feel particular excitement and anticipation regarding this year's retro season. I have no specific reason why, other than blind hope.
In November I requested 4 Rock Arenas and 3 Countdowns. As per the other thread, I now see all 3 Countdowns that I requested have been shown previously, but more than 13 years ago. Maybe that's long enough ago for rage to consider repeating them.
Only one of the Rock Arenas I have asked for appears to have been shown previously, as far as I can tell.
Here's hoping for lots of goodies in the coming weeks...
To be honest, I think most 'they played the episode/s I requested!1!!' claims are due to coincidence and luck, rather than a deliberate effort of rage staff to appease particular viewers.
Each year, there are fewer remaining non-repeated episodes. So the odds of one you've 'requested' being shown increase every year. An occasional exception to this might be if they air something they never have before (e.g. Countdown Friday) after someone suggests it - but I think this would be due to rage not previously realising such source material might exist, then investigating it, rather than them specifically asking Achives to find a particular episode.
I think rage pretty much do/program what they want, and that the playlists for retro month are locked in months before it airs.
ohnoitisnathan
To be honest, I think most 'they played the episode/s I requested!1!!' claims are due to coincidence and luck, rather than a deliberate effort of rage staff to appease particular viewers.
Each year, there are fewer remaining non-repeated episodes. So the odds of one you've 'requested' being shown increase every year. An occasional exception to this might be if they air something they never have before (e.g. Countdown Friday) after someone suggests it - but I think this would be due to rage not previously realising such source material might exist, then investigating it, rather than them specifically asking Achives to find a particular episode.
I think rage pretty much do/program what they want, and that the playlists for retro month are locked in months before it airs.
Each year, there are fewer remaining non-repeated episodes. So the odds of one you've 'requested' being shown increase every year. An occasional exception to this might be if they air something they never have before (e.g. Countdown Friday) after someone suggests it - but I think this would be due to rage not previously realising such source material might exist, then investigating it, rather than them specifically asking Achives to find a particular episode.
I think rage pretty much do/program what they want, and that the playlists for retro month are locked in months before it airs.
If you remember the old Rage messageboard they actually even responded and explained some of the selections due to the feedback that they received. The person who used to be responsible for the Retro month programming actually sought out our input and even contacted me personally for a list of what they had shown to avoid repeating themselves.
Even as far back as the 90's where you had to phone through or write a letter, the requests for 1970's episodes resulted in 20 episodes being played in 1997, which I think was the first year that they started to listen to requests after playing some random episodes in the first few years. 10 years ago when there were still over 300 non-repeated episodes in the archives the strike rates for requests was very high compared to the mathematical probability of coincidentally requesting what was being shown.
I remember in 2009 I asked for all the remaining Christmas and Countdown Awards shows that hadn't aired and they aired them all that year. Another year I had a poll on this site for everyone to list their most wanted Countdowns for each year and they showed all the top selections we made for every year that season. Last year Patrick suggested a Lene Lovich episode from 1983 that no one knew existed and they found and played it. Jason has also had many of his requests shown and Clip Magnet was successful with random Rock Arena episodes.
With the amount of episodes shown that were suggested compared to those that still exist and are yet to air I think they certainly make an effort to show requested material which I think is fantastic as they certainly aren't obliged to do so. They do listen but not exclusively.
This year with the Classic Countdown series and their NYE Countdown theme I am optimistic that we will see a fair bit of Countdown again regardless of whether it was requested or not...but it will be interesting to see how many of the remaining 126 odd un-repeated Countdowns match requests.
Ultimately I think it comes down to what type of material is being requested. Countdown is always popular so that is their main go to item. Requests for other items such as Countdown Revolution, The Factory, Hitscene, GTK etc have been shown in the past but are not as broadly supported and they seem to have dropped off on those more recently as a result.
Looking forward to the next 4 weeks.
Jan 4th, 2018 - 12:00 PM
The first clues are up, if someone wants to look up what episodes these are.
https://scontent.fadl1-1.fna.fbcdn.net/v/t1.0-9/26167430_10155070881245776_3352932945257511322_n.jpg?oh=27519c5426bb99b5657b74fff98feb64&oe=5AF84FD3
Jan 4th, 2018 - 5:34 PM
Brad
The first clues are up, if someone wants to look up what episodes these are.
https://scontent.fadl1-1.fna.fbcdn.net/v/t1.0-9/26167430_10155070881245776_3352932945257511322_n.jpg?oh=27519c5426bb99b5657b74fff98feb64&oe=5AF84FD3
https://scontent.fadl1-1.fna.fbcdn.net/v/t1.0-9/26167430_10155070881245776_3352932945257511322_n.jpg?oh=27519c5426bb99b5657b74fff98feb64&oe=5AF84FD3
Personally, I hate when rage restrict the Saturday morning selection to artists appearing on the following night's episode, as often it means we get repeats of clips they regularly air throughout the year instead of something actually rare.
And you can embed images here, using [ img] [ /img ] (minus the spaces) tags:
I agree that it is a waste when they devote a Retro slot to airing just the biggest hits of the acts featured on the corresponding Countdowns. Obscure or lower charting hits are preferable every time. Better too if that artist doesn't already have a best of DVD, which applies here to 3 of the acts at least.
The first lineup looks good from my perspective - all eighties, and likely to be at least one from 1985.
Jan 4th, 2018 - 5:58 PM
Brad
I agree that it is a waste when they devote a Retro slot to airing just the biggest hits of the acts featured on the corresponding Countdowns. Obscure or lower charting hits are preferable every time. Better too if that artist doesn't already have a best of DVD, which applies here to 3 of the acts at least.
The first lineup looks good from my perspective - all eighties, and likely to be at least one from 1985.
The first lineup looks good from my perspective - all eighties, and likely to be at least one from 1985.
Armin
ohnoitisnathan
To be honest, I think most 'they played the episode/s I requested!1!!' claims are due to coincidence and luck, rather than a deliberate effort of rage staff to appease particular viewers.
Each year, there are fewer remaining non-repeated episodes. So the odds of one you've 'requested' being shown increase every year. An occasional exception to this might be if they air something they never have before (e.g. Countdown Friday) after someone suggests it - but I think this would be due to rage not previously realising such source material might exist, then investigating it, rather than them specifically asking Achives to find a particular episode.
I think rage pretty much do/program what they want, and that the playlists for retro month are locked in months before it airs.
Each year, there are fewer remaining non-repeated episodes. So the odds of one you've 'requested' being shown increase every year. An occasional exception to this might be if they air something they never have before (e.g. Countdown Friday) after someone suggests it - but I think this would be due to rage not previously realising such source material might exist, then investigating it, rather than them specifically asking Achives to find a particular episode.
I think rage pretty much do/program what they want, and that the playlists for retro month are locked in months before it airs.
If you remember the old Rage messageboard they actually even responded and explained some of the selections due to the feedback that they received. The person who used to be responsible for the Retro month programming actually sought out our input and even contacted me personally for a list of what they had shown to avoid repeating themselves.
Even as far back as the 90's where you had to phone through or write a letter, the requests for 1970's episodes resulted in 20 episodes being played in 1997, which I think was the first year that they started to listen to requests after playing some random episodes in the first few years. 10 years ago when there were still over 300 non-repeated episodes in the archives the strike rates for requests was very high compared to the mathematical probability of coincidentally requesting what was being shown.
I remember in 2009 I asked for all the remaining Christmas and Countdown Awards shows that hadn't aired and they aired them all that year. Another year I had a poll on this site for everyone to list their most wanted Countdowns for each year and they showed all the top selections we made for every year that season. Last year Patrick suggested a Lene Lovich episode from 1983 that no one knew existed and they found and played it. Jason has also had many of his requests shown and Clip Magnet was successful with random Rock Arena episodes.
With the amount of episodes shown that were suggested compared to those that still exist and are yet to air I think they certainly make an effort to show requested material which I think is fantastic as they certainly aren't obliged to do so. They do listen but not exclusively.
This year with the Classic Countdown series and their NYE Countdown theme I am optimistic that we will see a fair bit of Countdown again regardless of whether it was requested or not...but it will be interesting to see how many of the remaining 126 odd un-repeated Countdowns match requests.
Ultimately I think it comes down to what type of material is being requested. Countdown is always popular so that is their main go to item. Requests for other items such as Countdown Revolution, The Factory, Hitscene, GTK etc have been shown in the past but are not as broadly supported and they seem to have dropped off on those more recently as a result.
Looking forward to the next 4 weeks.
While they occasionally ask for suggestions to fit a particular theme (that they have already decided on) on facebook, I haven't seen rage do this for ages. Furthermore, they stopped the 'comment to page' thing being an option (where a facebook user can just leave a comment to the page, rather than commenting on a post rage have started) a while back, and I think that too was to stop so many people requesting/suggesting things.
Most of the facebook posts rage leave eventually have dozens, if not well over a hundred comments. Many of which are just tagging other facebook users to alert them to the post, or to say they like or don't like what rage have posted/the playlist (or asking where the playlist is). In general, there isn't much thought given to comments left on their facebook page; especially when compared to the old website forum and guestbook. I really doubt rage read the majority of comments left on their posts - which further diminishes the influence viewers might have over the playlists. Also, whoever moderates the rage facebook page these days seems to rarely respond to comments people leave. Just a couple of years ago, they did so much more often. I don't know whether any of this is the result of government cuts to the ABC.
This being said, rage did air a number of clips I had suggested over the years during the 2016 Saturday night Vault special. But those were requests made mostly years prior, not recently.
ohnoitisnathan
Armin
ohnoitisnathan
To be honest, I think most 'they played the episode/s I requested!1!!' claims are due to coincidence and luck, rather than a deliberate effort of rage staff to appease particular viewers.
Each year, there are fewer remaining non-repeated episodes. So the odds of one you've 'requested' being shown increase every year. An occasional exception to this might be if they air something they never have before (e.g. Countdown Friday) after someone suggests it - but I think this would be due to rage not previously realising such source material might exist, then investigating it, rather than them specifically asking Achives to find a particular episode.
I think rage pretty much do/program what they want, and that the playlists for retro month are locked in months before it airs.
Each year, there are fewer remaining non-repeated episodes. So the odds of one you've 'requested' being shown increase every year. An occasional exception to this might be if they air something they never have before (e.g. Countdown Friday) after someone suggests it - but I think this would be due to rage not previously realising such source material might exist, then investigating it, rather than them specifically asking Achives to find a particular episode.
I think rage pretty much do/program what they want, and that the playlists for retro month are locked in months before it airs.
If you remember the old Rage messageboard they actually even responded and explained some of the selections due to the feedback that they received. The person who used to be responsible for the Retro month programming actually sought out our input and even contacted me personally for a list of what they had shown to avoid repeating themselves.
Even as far back as the 90's where you had to phone through or write a letter, the requests for 1970's episodes resulted in 20 episodes being played in 1997, which I think was the first year that they started to listen to requests after playing some random episodes in the first few years. 10 years ago when there were still over 300 non-repeated episodes in the archives the strike rates for requests was very high compared to the mathematical probability of coincidentally requesting what was being shown.
I remember in 2009 I asked for all the remaining Christmas and Countdown Awards shows that hadn't aired and they aired them all that year. Another year I had a poll on this site for everyone to list their most wanted Countdowns for each year and they showed all the top selections we made for every year that season. Last year Patrick suggested a Lene Lovich episode from 1983 that no one knew existed and they found and played it. Jason has also had many of his requests shown and Clip Magnet was successful with random Rock Arena episodes.
With the amount of episodes shown that were suggested compared to those that still exist and are yet to air I think they certainly make an effort to show requested material which I think is fantastic as they certainly aren't obliged to do so. They do listen but not exclusively.
This year with the Classic Countdown series and their NYE Countdown theme I am optimistic that we will see a fair bit of Countdown again regardless of whether it was requested or not...but it will be interesting to see how many of the remaining 126 odd un-repeated Countdowns match requests.
Ultimately I think it comes down to what type of material is being requested. Countdown is always popular so that is their main go to item. Requests for other items such as Countdown Revolution, The Factory, Hitscene, GTK etc have been shown in the past but are not as broadly supported and they seem to have dropped off on those more recently as a result.
Looking forward to the next 4 weeks.
While they occasionally ask for suggestions to fit a particular theme (that they have already decided on) on facebook, I haven't seen rage do this for ages. Furthermore, they stopped the 'comment to page' thing being an option (where a facebook user can just leave a comment to the page, rather than commenting on a post rage have started) a while back, and I think that too was to stop so many people requesting/suggesting things.
Most of the facebook posts rage leave eventually have dozens, if not well over a hundred comments. Many of which are just tagging other facebook users to alert them to the post, or to say they like or don't like what rage have posted/the playlist (or asking where the playlist is). In general, there isn't much thought given to comments left on their facebook page; especially when compared to the old website forum and guestbook. I really doubt rage read the majority of comments left on their posts - which further diminishes the influence viewers might have over the playlists. Also, whoever moderates the rage facebook page these days seems to rarely respond to comments people leave. Just a couple of years ago, they did so much more often. I don't know whether any of this is the result of government cuts to the ABC.
This being said, rage did air a number of clips I had suggested over the years during the 2016 Saturday night Vault special. But those were requests made mostly years prior, not recently.
I am more interested to see the strike rate for the emails as I submitted mine that way this year. Prior to that I hadn't put in any suggestions since the last year of the Messageboard about 5-6 years ago.
Interestingly both myself and Jason requested March 16 1980 with Steve Gilpin of Mi-Sex and they have indicated that a Steve Gilpin episode will be played. I know he hosted about half a dozen times but would be very happy if they showed that episode. Even better if they found the lost May 18 1980 show that Steve hosted from Brisbane.
Ultimately as long as none of the episodes are repeats I will be happy with whatever they dig out.
Jan 5th, 2018 - 12:05 AM
"...just gives oxygen to all the plebs" 
Such an accurate description.
I didn't bother requesting anything this year, and I don't think I did last year either, as I don't think they've ever aired anything I specifically asked for during retro month.
