The Australian TV Week King of Pop awards began in 1967 as an extension of the Go-Set Awards, named after the weekly pop newspaper of the day.
When Normie Rowe was voted most popular performer by Go-Set’s readers in 1967, Channel O’s Go!! Show decided to crown him on air. In the following years, TV Week took up the televised awards and emulated what they’d been doing for years with the Logie Awards – encouraging their readers to vote by mailing in a form.
The King of Pop Awards ceremony – a title bestowed on Australia’s most popular male pop performer – was broadcast by the 0–10 Network from 1967 to 1975 and from 1976 to 1978 by the Nine Network.
A “Queen of Pop” award was added in 1972.
In 1979 the awards were overhauled and the now old-fashioned “King Of Pop” title was dispensed with.
The awards were renamed the TV WeekCountdown Awards and were screened in conjunction with the ABC pop show of the same name.
The Countdown Awards were eventually discontinued in the 1980s, some time before Countdown was axed in 1989.
By this time, the peer-voted ARIA awards were becoming recognised as the major Australian award for popular music, though it was 1992 before those awards gained television coverage.
The King of Pop Awards ceremony – a title bestowed on Australia’s most popular male pop performer – was broadcast by the 0–10 Network from 1967 to 1975 and from 1976 to 1978 by the Nine Network.
