I think that early cable is one the most interesting things in television history besides early television itself. Streaming hasn't really interested me as much it's movement from interesting to novelty to weird cash grab as accelerated in a way I wasn't expecting and honestly it feels too over the top. That's not the post. Early cable had the idea of "What the heck are we really doing here?" I mean you had space for different ideas that really (back then) couldn't work as an over the air station and you also had less restriction from the government over board than you did on OTA.
On Saturday, August 1, 1981, MTV: Music Television. It's kind of weird that people out there wouldn't know that MTV ever meant Music Television or why the heck MTV airs a yearly Video Music Award show. That's because MTV has long gone off their original focus. Launched by Warner and American Express (Warner Amex) the idea was the concept of a radio station but you could also see it being done with your face and eyes. A total assault of the scenes.
Radio has (had before...that's a different story) Disc Jockeys, MTV has Video Jockeys. They played music videos because this is television and watching music videos is probably the only way listening to music on TV could at least be entertaining. They played them 24/7 like at 3:49AM on July 9th, 1992, you could turn on your TV and see them playing a music video.
Single concept channels were made for cable. Back in 1979, someone somewhere said "I'm tired of not being able to watch sports on a Tuesday afternoon in November" and ESPN was launched. (Though most of ESPN is actually people balthering than live sports you get the idea) Warner had made an all children's channel so now local UHF channel 57 could be slowly killed off by cable TV in fun ways, and kids could watch programming on a sick day at 11:35AM instead of watching "The Price is Right". In 1980, Ted Turner decided that society needed a 24/7 news channel ( I wonder if he regrets this since the news channels seem to do less of that) So a radio station but TV is also an idea.
MTV launched at Midnight Eastern Daylight Time (since it was August) on August 1, 1981 with the 1979 hit song by The Buggles , "Video Killed the Radio Star" Ironically a song about the change, between the idea of people listening around the radio for programming and now watching it on TV. MTV didn't kill music radio because well TV wasn't portable, but that wasn't it's purpose, it still was a change to television in the era of change. (Funfact: The song/video came out 2 years prior to MTV)
The future you want ?
MTV was originally styled like a rock station but instead of radio it's on TV. They had big ideas they knew they were a big new idea, they introduced their channel as a rocket launching into space, landing into space with astronauts planting the MTV flag in the moon. MTV's design was put together by Alan Goodman and Fred Seibert and you should thanks these two legends for many things. If you were a Nickelodeon kid, they are part of that so much that it wouldn't even really have made it without them (them and Geraldine Laybourne) One of the big things about radio back then was the jingles and presentation they made cable presentation and television presentation different than it ever had been before.
MTV was in someone's loft?
That's the idea, MTV was an innovator. I'm not doing a history of MTV post, I really would have to use tons of documents and really be repeating stuff found in other places. MTV is essentially part of television because of it's core, it's still on the air now. Maybe sadly. MTV now is mostly there just on the cable system, withering.
MTV was built to be the NOW channel, a channel that tapped into the current trends, it had some bumps but made it. I'm sure if the internet was there in 1994 the way it is now, you'd have people complaining about how MTV playing the current video is nothing like the MTV they were growing up with in 1984. That's how things are really, the ages of time. I know the complaint now is that MTV doesn't play music videos and really if they did tomorrow, they wouldn't play ones you remember MTV Classic does though. The school of common thought now is that MTV playing music videos would be like well a radio station airing dramas in 1980. (Look at that)
Since the marketing genius who said "cable is dying"got their phrase into the common lexicon it seems that maybe it is, whatever that means. People have been told that newspaper and radio have been dying for decades. (It changes and morphs might be more suitable) Music videos are probably not really a business to have on TV anymore in the current state. Music Videos were like marketing, MTV helped sales of records, like radio used to as well.
I remember a Disney Channel Original Movie starting where the main characters were running to the TV set to see a new music video premiere. A perfect snapshot of society at that moment of time for teens at the time, you didn't know when they were going to show it again. Now you can see it on Youtube. (Ironic you can find many of the old MTV music videos there too) In a strange way, streaming killed music videos on TV before it was called streaming.
Now if you look deep in your cable line up, if you have that, you'll see channels that run music videos still, I'm not sure who's watching Nick Music or CMT Music but run on little channels, run on! MTV later gave society some reality shows, I mean everyone was doing it, so why not? MTV has lessened up on that even because the target audience they've always wanted probably doesn't even know where they are on the line up if they have cable in the first. Now they've found other things to air multiple hours a day.
More after the jump
