Take 40 Australia’s 1000th show

To celebrate 1000 shows, Take 40 Australia this weekend will play some of the best number one songs from the past 20 years and feature special guests. Barry Bissell has been the program’s host since it began in February 1984.

The syndicated radio program, which draws its countdown information from the ARIA music chart, is syndicated to 89 commercial FM stations around the country and heard by over a million people.

Take 40 has been running an online poll to find Australia’s favourite number-one song of all time, which will be played on the 1000th program this week.

The first top song played on the show when it began was Pat Benatar’s ‘Love is a Battlefield.’ Since then 273 songs have gone to No. 1, including 43 by Australians. Bissell’s personal favourite bands are Doobie Brothers, Cold Chisel, Australian Crawl and Midnight Oil.

Bissell is now 56 years old and lives in the Melbourne suburb of Prahran. He started in radio at 3SH Swan Hill and was until recently doing mornings on Fox in Melbourne as well as hosting Take 40.

Take 40 Australia is syndicated by mcm entertainment.

Click here to listen (2 MB wav
file) to the opening of this week’s historic show. Website below.