Countdown (Australia)- John Farnham Introduces Debbie Byrne- March 1, 1975

A segment from the long running Australian music TV series Countdown, which aired on the ABC from 1974-1987.

This particular segment aired during the Countdown episode which originally aired on March 1, 1975, on the ABC.

This clip features Australian singer John Farnham, hosting the first colour episode of Countdown (see description below), introducing Australian singer Debbie Byrne’s song ‘The Boogie Man Gonna Getcha’.

Note: This episode, taped from a rebroadcast from the ABC music show ‘rage’ on January 30, 2005, lists this episode on-air and on its playlist website having aired on February 22, 1975. This is incorrect, as full colour broadcasts began in Australia on March 1, 1975, as will be explained below.

Vaxfacts: This episode of Countdown was the first full-time television program to air in colour on the Australian Broadcasting Commission (ABC, now Australian Broadcasting Corporation), and among the first television programs to air in colour full-time in Australia. The original broadcast of this episode began on Saturday morning 12:02 AM, March 1, 1975. It was preceded by a five minute ‘Introduction To Colour’ sequence, which began at 11:57 PM on Friday February 28, 1975, presented by Australian actor Grahame Bond, in his most famous role as ‘Aunty Jack’. The video of this introduction can be viewed at the following link:
   • Aunty Jack Show  

The official beginning of full-time colour television broadcasts began on midnight (12:00 AM) Saturday March 1, 1975. The ABC chose this Countdown episode to launch colour television across Australia- the other three major city channels had a variety of choices for their opening colour programming. In Melbourne, Channel Seven (specifically HSV-7) had its own ‘Introduction to Colour’ sequence, followed by a ‘colour marathon’, which began with the 1974 TV movie ‘Bacharach ‘74’. Channel 9 (specifically GTV-9) began its official full-time colour transmission with the 1946 Ray Milland and Barbara Stanwyck movie ‘California’. Channel 0 (specifically ATV-0, now ATV-10, Channel 10) began its full-time colour transmission with the 1965 Frank Sinatra movie ‘Von Ryan’s Express’. Sydney’s viewing was slightly different- apart from Countdown, which the ABC also showed in Sydney (and nationwide), Channel 7 (ATN-7) showed the 1959 movie ‘Black Orpheus’, Channel 9 (TCN-9) showed the movie ‘Home From The Hill’ leading into ‘The Face of Fu Manchu’, and Channel 10 (TEN-10) showed the movie ‘Can Can’.

Worth noting is that prior to the commencement of colour transmissions at midnight, at 9:00PM on February 28, Channel 7 (HSV-7 Melbourne) featured a program ‘Black And White Nostalgia’, which had a look back at their black and white programming prior to the introduction of colour television. This retrospective is almost identical in nature to their retrospective send-off on Tuesday December 10, 2013 for the shutdown of analogue television transmissions in Australia, the clip and detailed description of which can be seen at the following link:
   • HSV 7 Melbourne Analogue Switch Off  

While this Countdown episode was one of the first shows to air in colour after full-time colour transmissions began in Australia on March 1, 1975, the actual first colour transmission in Australia occurred on June 15, 1967, when ATV-0 (Channel 0 Melbourne) broadcast the Pakenham horse races live from 12:00 PM for a 5 hour broadcast, using a $100,000 RCA colour camera, viewed via closed circuit TV, by Sir Reginald Ansett, ATV-0’s then-owner. The introduction of colour television took until 1975 to fully implement in Australia for a number of reasons: the decision to use PAL colour television over NTSC; television was still being rolled out in the more remote parts of the country (such as Darwin) as late as 1971; Australian Government standards for colour TV fire safety; and waiting for costs for TV stations to convert their equipment to broadcast colour TV, along with costs for consumer TV sets, to come down. The date for the transition of March 1, 1975 was set by then-Prime Minister Billy McMahon on February 25, 1972.

To view articles and advertisements about the introduction of colour television from 1974-1975 newspapers, go to the following link:
https://www.flickr.com/photos/vax80/s...

Many thanks to scana1979 (   / scana1979  ) for providing background information.