It took nine days, $30 thousand dollars, 2 editions of the Macarthur Chronicle and the co-operation of a shopping centre to count down 1,000 songs on C91.3 as part of the station’s first survey promotion.

Campbelltown’s local radio station, C91.3, conducted the countdown and gave away $5,000 to a listener who guessed what the number one song would be.

“It was a marathon effort by all concerned,” according to C91.3’s General Manager Andrew Gordon.

“Almost three weeks ago C91.3 started taking nominations for the ‘Rock & Pop 1,000.’ In a twist to the normal ‘vote’ listeners picked at random were paid for their contribution on the way to the number one song… All in all, we gave away almost $30,000…including $5,000 for the person who guessed the number one song correctly,” said Gordon.

“It was the best kept secret in Campbelltown. The Program Director wouldn’t even tell me what was the number one song. There were only three people who knew for sure, but thousands of people tried to guess it. The response has been amazing.”

C91.3’s drive announcer Rob Doorey, announced the number one song after the station’s Program Director wandered into the studio during the previous track and told him what it was, just moments before it had to be played. The song was AC/DC’s ‘It’s A Long Way To The Top.’

The lucky winner of the competition was Mike Runcorn of Leumeah who was presented with his $5000 cheque by breakfast announcer Rob Duckworth. “I offered to help him spend it, but he didn’t seem to need my assistance,” laughed Duckworth.

C91.3’s first ratings survey came to an end on Saturday and results will be announced in early July. “We’re hoping for a positive result. The team have worked very hard on bringing local radio to Campbelltown since we went on-air in August last year. The survey results will tell us if we’ve succeeded,” Gordon told AMT.