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This Day in a History classic production of My Heart

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Radio.

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Hello, and welcome to This Day in History

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Class, a show that gives a quick

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look. It's something that happened a long

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time ago. Today I'm

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Gabe Lousier and in this episode,

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we're talking about a monumental moment

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in TV history, the launch

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of the world's first all day music

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channel. The

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day was August one.

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MTV went on the air for the first

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time at twelve oh one am.

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It was the first cable channel devoted

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entirely to music videos, which

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had aired around the clock seven.

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That programming concept had been developed

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through a joint venture between Warner

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Commune, Occasions, and American Express.

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The idea was to copy the format

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of Top forty radio stations by

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having on air hosts here known

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as video jockeys or VJs,

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introduced music videos and then

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banter about music related topics

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in between the clips. Not

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many people saw the channel when it first

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launched, as it was originally available

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only to households in certain parts

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of New Jersey. The channel was

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picked up by cable operators in Kansas

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City shortly after its debut, but

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larger markets like New York City and

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Los Angeles didn't carry the channel

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until considerably later. Despite

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that slow start, MTV or

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Music Television went on to shake

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up the entire music industry, driving

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record sales and creating new ways

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for audiences to find and fall

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in love with music. It's

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a little surprising, then, that MTVS

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broadcast began now with a music

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video, but with a countdown played

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over footage from a Space Shuttle launch

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and the Moon Lady. As the footage

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played and the rockets began to blast

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off, a voice announced the channel's

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arrival, saying, quote, Ladies

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and gentlemen, rock and roll.

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At that point, the now iconic MTV

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logo filled the screen and the network's

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original theme song, called Man on the

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Moon began to play. A

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moment later, viewers were introduced

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to Mark Goodman, one of the networks

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first VJs, against

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the background of a studio made up to look

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like a cozy loft style apartment.

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Goodman gave a brief description of the

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channel's concept and what had hoped to

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achieve. Take a listen, this

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is it. Welcome to MTV

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Music Television, the world's first

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twenty four hour stereo video

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music channel. Just moments

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ago, all of the VJs and the crew

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here at MTV collectively hit our

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executive producer su Steinberg over the head

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the bottle of champagne, and behold, a new

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concept is born. The best

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of TV combined with the best of

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radio. Starting right now,

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You'll never look at music the same way again.

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We'll be right back to introduce the other VJs

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and the other folks who are gonna be with us on MTV.

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After a short commercial break, the

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other four VJs introduced themselves.

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Nina Blackwood and j J. Jackson

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both had backgrounds in radio, as

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did Mark Goodman. The other two

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VJs were Alan Hunter, a struggling

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actor and waiter, and Martha Quinn,

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a recent graduate of n y U who

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had worked at the campus radio station. All

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the VJs hoped the gig at MTV

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would be their big break, but some of

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them knew it was a long shot and kept their

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day jobs for several months just in

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case the network fell apart. That

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seemed like a plausible outcome, as

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the channel's success was hardly a sure

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thing. According to MTV studio

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producer Robert Morton, part

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of the problem was that many people didn't

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even know what a music video was, including

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potential investors. And advertisers.

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Music videos had existed in some

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form for more than four decades, but

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they weren't a top priority for artists

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or record companies, as there was no reliable

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way to distribute them. That

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started to change in the late nineteen seventies

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has more established cable channels like HBO

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and USA began to dedicate

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single programs to the airing of music

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videos. However, a channel

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that played nothing but music videos

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was a completely different story, and

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it was tough to get people on board with the concept,

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but the creators of MTV had

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faith in their medium. In fact,

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the first music video ever played

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on the channel was for the Buggles song

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video Killed the Radio Star. The

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track was already two years old at the

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time, but it was a fitting introduction

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to a channel bold enough to believe that

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video really was the of the future.

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If you've never heard the song before, here's

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a taste wine

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We've gone to. After

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its flashy debut, MTV

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struggled to find an audience for its first

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few years. One major hurdle

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was a lack of fresh content. The

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videos that played had been supplied for

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free by savvy record companies who

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had already invested in the medium.

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However, many executives were

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wary of producing new videos

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for the network since it was still an unproven

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model. That left MTV

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with only a small library of videos

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to pull from, reportedly just two

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hundred and fifty or so. Almost

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half of that collection was shown on the channel's

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very first day on the air, with many

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of the videos being played multiple times.

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For example, April Windes Just

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Between You and Me, The Who's You

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Better You Bet? And Phil Collins

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in the Air Tonight, where each played

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five times during the first twenty

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four hours. Luckily

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for music fans and for employees

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of MTV, record companies eventually

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came around to the idea of producing new

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music videos to be played on the channel.

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This change of heart was due to an increase

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in album sales for artists who weren't

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being played on the radio but did air

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videos on MTV. As

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the industry began to realize MTVS

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potential, music promoters invested

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in the creation of increasingly creative

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and elaborate videos to showcase

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their acts. One of the first

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to make a big splash with the public was

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the three video for Michael

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Jackson's hit song Thriller Clocking

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in at nearly fourteen minutes. The

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epic horror themed video boasted

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detailed costumes and special effects,

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and demonstrated the medium storytelling

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potential. It also added some

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much needed diversity to the channels otherwise

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mostly white line up. The

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promotion of artists like Jackson, Madonna,

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Duran, Duran and Prince helped

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keep MTV afloat during its

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early years and also gave the singers

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a nice career boost in the process.

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Another turning point for the network was

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the introduction of its famous slogan, I

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Want my MTV. It

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was first featured in a nine two

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ad campaign and was meant to get

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kids and teens to demand their cable

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providers start carrying the channel. The

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popular commercials featured rock stars

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like David Bowie, Cindy Lauper, Mick

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Jagger, and the Police joining in

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the plea for MTV I

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want my TV, I want

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my MTV, I want

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my MTV on

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compa.

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The ads

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worked well to get the word out, an MTV

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star continued to rise throughout the early

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nineteen eighties. In fact, it

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grew so successful that in the

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network was purchased by Viacom, expanding

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its reach to even more markets. This

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change in ownership led to a shift in content

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as well. Instead of airing a

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grab bag of videos from all different

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genres, the network started packaging

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videos into single genre blocks

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like alternative rock, heavy metal, and

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hip hop. By the late nineteen

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eighties, the network had even expanded

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into non video programming, including

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game shows, animated cartoons,

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award shows, news, and of

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course, reality shows. As

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the years went by, MTV realized

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that it's narrative programming, whether scripted

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or not, earned better ratings than

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its music videos. In response,

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it continued to broaden its focus from

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popular music to you targeted

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pop culture in general. By

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the early twenty one century, this transition

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was all but complete, and viewers

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were hard pressed to find any videos

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in the network's lineup. MTV

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may have strayed from its original mission,

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but it's continued to have a profound effect

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on the cultural landscape, both in the

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US and abroad. In

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that sense, the network has grown beyond

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its original branding as music

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Television. Just don't

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expect the name change anytime soon.

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Without the M It's just TV.

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I'm gay, Bluesier, and hopefully

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you now know a little more about history today

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than you did yesterday. You

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can learn even more about history by following

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us on Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram

9:47

at t d I HC Show,

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and if you have any comments or suggestions, feel

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free to send them my way at this Day

9:55

at iHeart media dot com.

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Thanks to Chandler Mays for producing the show,

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and thanks to you for listening. I'll

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see you back here again tomorrow for another

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day in History class. I'm

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I want my MTV al

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right, I want. I

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won't I MTV

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Wow twenty five hours

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a date on cable TV. I

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wont md MTB. Yeah.

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Too much is never enough