History of MTV
MTV, originally an initialism of Music Television, is an American cable television channel that launched on August 1, 1981 by Warner Communications. It is currently owned by Paramount Skydance, and is one of the company's flagship brands.
MTV's original focus was on music-related programming, including blocks of music videos. As its viewership and popularity among teenagers grew, and with the eventual rise of internet-based services and platforms rendering its original format obsolete, MTV gradually scaled down its music-centric programming from the 1990s and throughout the 2000s. Reality shows and documentaries have since made the bulk of MTV's original programming, while the channel has also produced scripted comedies, adult animation, and teen dramas.
1981–1991: Rise of the music video
Background
In the 1970s, music television focused on live performances, with shows such as The Midnight Special, In Concert, and The Old Grey Whistle Test. Numerous major musical acts had made music videos to accompany their songs, including the Beatles, Bob Dylan, ABBA and Queen, but the concept and format had not been widely established.In 1979, executives at the newly formed Warner-Amex Satellite Entertainment felt teenagers were an overlooked and potentially lucrative audience, and hoped to develop a television format to target them. MTV's original format was created by the executive Robert W. Pittman, later the president and CEO of MTV Networks. He tested the format by producing and hosting a 15-minute show, Album Tracks, on New York City's WNBC-TV in the late 1970s. Pittman's boss, Warner executive vice president John Lack, had shepherded PopClips, a TV series created by the former Monkees member Michael Nesmith, whose attention had turned to the music video format in the late 1970s.
Launch
On Saturday, August 1, 1981, at 12:01 a.m. Eastern Time, MTV was launched with the words "Ladies and gentlemen, rock and roll", spoken by John Lack and played over footage of the first Space Shuttle launch countdown of Columbia and the launch of Apollo 11. The words were followed by the original MTV theme song, a rock tune composed by Jonathan Elias and John Petersen, playing over the U.S. flag changed to show MTV's logo changing into different textures and designs. MTV producers Alan Goodman and Fred Seibert used this public domain footage as a concept; Seibert said that they had originally planned to use Neil Armstrong's "One small step" quote, but lawyers said that Armstrong owned his name and likeness and that he had refused, so the quote was replaced with a beeping sound. A shortened version of the shuttle launch ID ran at the top of every hour in different forms, from MTV's first day until it was pulled in early 1986 in the wake of the Challenger disaster.The first music video on MTV, which at the time was only available to homes in New Jersey, was the Buggles' "Video Killed the Radio Star". It was followed by Pat Benatar's "You Better Run". Occasionally the screen went black when an employee at MTV inserted a tape into a VCR. MTV's lower third graphics near the beginnings and ends of videos eventually used the recognizable Kabel typeface for about 25 years; but they varied on MTV's first day, set in a different typeface, and including details such as the song's year and record label. MTV's on-air programming was originally produced from the Teletronics studio facility at West 33rd Street in Manhattan, New York; programming was uplinked to satellite from a facility in Hauppauge, New York that also served as the uplink for sister networks Nickelodeon and The Movie Channel. MTV later moved studio facilities to Unitel Video's complex located on 57th Street in 1987, remaining until 1995 when MTV chose to begin producing studio content in-house.
As programming chief, Robert W. Pittman recruited and managed a team of co-founders for the launch that included Tom Freston, Fred Seibert and John Sykes. They were joined by Carolyn Baker, Marshall Cohen, Gail Sparrow, Sue Steinberg, Julian Goldberg, Steve Lawrence, Geoff Bolton; studio producers and MTV News writers/associate producers Liz Nealon, Nancy LaPook and Robin Zorn; Steve Casey, Marcy Brafman, Richard Schenkman, Ronald E. "Buzz" Brindle, and Robert Morton. Kenneth M. Miller is credited as MTV's first technical director at its New York City-based network operations facility.
Within two months, record stores were selling music from MTV that local radio stations were not playing, such as Men at Work, Bow Wow Wow and the Human League. MTV also sparked the Second British Invasion, featuring existing videos by British acts who had used the format for several years.
MTV targeted an audience of ages 12 to 34. However its self-conducted research showed that over 50% of its audience was 12–24 and that this group watched for an average of 30 minutes to two hours a day. As the PBS program Frontline explored, MTV was a driving force that catapulted music videos to a mainstream audience, turning music videos into an art form as well as a marketing machine that became beneficial to artists."
Original VJs and format
MTV's earliest format was modeled after AOR radio. It underwent a transition to emulate a full Top 40 station in 1984. Fresh-faced young people hosted its programming and introduced videos. Many VJs became celebrities in their own right. MTV's five original VJs in 1981 were Nina Blackwood, Mark Goodman, Alan Hunter, J. J. Jackson and Martha Quinn. The VJs were hired to fit certain demographics the channel was trying to obtain: Goodman was the affable everyman; Hunter, the popular jock; Jackson, the hip radio veteran; Blackwood, the bombshell vixen; and Quinn, the girl next door. Due to uncertainty around the channel's success, the VJs were told not to buy permanent residences and to keep their second jobs.The VJs recorded intro and outro voiceovers before broadcast, along with music news, interviews, concert dates and promotions. These segments appeared to air live and debut on MTV 24/7, but they were pre-taped within a regular work week at MTV's studios.
Rock bands and performers of the 1980s who appeared on MTV ranged from new wave to soft rock and heavy metal including Adam Ant, Bryan Adams, Pat Benatar, Blondie, the Cars, Culture Club, Def Leppard, Dire Straits, Duran Duran, Eurythmics, Peter Gabriel, Genesis, Daryl Hall & John Oates, Billy Idol, Michael Jackson, Billy Joel, John Mellencamp, Mötley Crüe, Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers, the Police, Prince, Ratt, Ultravox, U2, Van Halen and ZZ Top.
In 1984, more record companies and artists began making clips, realizing the popularity of MTV and the growing medium. To accommodate the influx of videos, MTV announced changes to its playlists in the November 3, 1984, issue of Billboard that took effect the next week. Playlist rotation categories were expanded from three to seven: New, Light, Breakout, Medium, Active, Heavy and Power. This ensured that artists with chart hits got the exposure they deserved, with Medium being a home for established hits still on the climb up to the top 10; and Heavy a home for the big hitswithout the bells and whistlesjust the exposure they commanded.
Flashdance was the first film whose promoters supplied MTV with musical clips to compose promotional videos, which the channel included in its regular rotation.
The channel also rotated the music videos of "Weird Al" Yankovic, who made a career out of parodying other artists' videos. It also aired several of Yankovic's specials in the 1980s and 1990s, under the title Al TV.
PSAs and promotion of charitable causes and NFPs were woven into the MTV fabric. In response to the AIDS epidemic, MTV initiated a safe-sex campaign in 1985, believing that many youths would be more open to the message there than from their parents. Its safe-sex campaign continues today as "It's Your Sex Life".
Formatted music series
1986 brought the departures of three of the five original VJs, as J. J. Jackson moved back to Los Angeles and returned to radio, while Nina Blackwood moved on to pursue new roles in television. Martha Quinn's contract was not renewed in late 1986, and she departed the network. However, Quinn was brought back in early 1989 and stayed until 1992. Downtown Julie Brown was hired as a replacement VJ. In mid-1987, Alan Hunter and Mark Goodman ceased being full-time MTV veejays.1991–1998: Alternative era
"Smells Like Teen Spirit" music video
On 10 September 1991, Nirvana released "Smells Like Teen Spirit", the lead single to their second studio album Nevermind. Its music video premiered on 29 September that year and rapidly became one of MTV's most popular and most requested videos. The video won two MTV Video Music Awards and was in heavy rotation on MTV during the 1990s. Amy Finnerty, formerly of MTV's programming department, claimed the video "changed the entire look of MTV" by giving the channel "a whole new generation to sell to". In 2000, the Guinness World Records named "Smells Like Teen Spirit" the "Most Played Video" on MTV Europe. Rolling Stone placed the music video for "Smells Like Teen Spirit" at number two on their 1993 list of "The 100 Top Music Videos". MTV ranked the song's music video at number three on its "100 Greatest Music Videos Ever Made" list in 1999.Animation and reality programming
From 1995 to 2000, MTV played 36.5% fewer music videos. MTV president Van Toffler stated: "Clearly, the novelty of just showing music videos has worn off. It's required us to reinvent ourselves to a contemporary audience." The network launched MTV Radio Network in 1995 with Westwood One.File:Cosplay of Daria.jpg|thumb|302x302px|A woman cosplaying as Daria Morgendorffer, the title character of the popular MTV animated series Daria, which originally aired from March 1997 to January 2002
MTV would venture into adult animation, with shows like Beavis and Butt-Head, Celebrity Deathmatch, Undergrads, Clone High, and Daria. Of the animated shows that aired, Beavis and Butt-Head and Daria ended up being the most successful, with both shows developing a cult following. Daria also included two full-length television films: Is It Fall Yet? and Is It College Yet?, which originally aired on MTV in 2000 and 2002, respectively. The 1996 Beavis and Butt-Head film Beavis and Butt-Head Do America aired on MTV in 1999 after previous objections from show creator Mike Judge.