Take 40 Australia, the longest running local music countdown on Australian radio, has been axed after 32 years.
Take 40 Australia was the brainchild of Tony McGinn, who founded his company MCM Entertainment around the show. MCM (renamed Authentic Entertainment in 2014), recently closed and sold its assets to the Southern Cross Austereo radio network.
The Austereo Network had been broadcasting Take 40 since the shows launch in 1984.
Take 40’s first host was legendary radio presenter Barry Bissell. Bissell, one of Australia’s most respected radio broadcasters and programmers, was the voice of Take 40 for the first 20 years until his retirement in 2004. The show passed its 1000th episode milestone with Bissell in 2003.
Andrew Günsberg took over from Barry in 2004 and hosted Take 40 Australia until 2009. Next came Kyle Sandilands and Jackie O for two years, Jackie by herself for another two years and then Angus O’Loughlin, Ash London and Emma Freedman.
Southern Cross Austereo bought the assets of Authentic Entertainment, not the company. As well as the Take 40 brand, those assets included the advertising rights to Vevo Australia along with its 170 million local video views per month.
It now looks like that was all Austereo was interested in. Take 40 Australia, a piece of broadcast history, is over.
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