MTV: The birth of a channel.

I want my MTV!

August 1, 1981. “Ladies and gentlemen, rock and roll.” With that simple statement, MTV launched into GenX hearts and pop culture history. 

Next time, we’ll discuss MTV breakout stars and history-making videos. Today, let’s begin at the beginning. How did MTV come to life?
 
You could say it was the brainchild of a bunch of middle-aged white guys looking to make money by injecting new life into the floundering music business.

August 1, 1981. “Ladies and gentlemen, rock and roll.” With that simple statement, MTV launched into GenX hearts and pop culture history. 

Next time, we’ll discuss MTV breakout stars and history-making videos. Today, let’s begin at the beginning. How did MTV come to life?
 
You could say it was the brainchild of a bunch of middle-aged white guys looking to make money by injecting new life into the floundering music business.
 
Disco was dying by 1980. There wasn’t much left to do besides sweep up the glitter and turn out the lights. Record sales across all genres of music were down. Music executives placed the blame on anyone but themselves. Long before they faulted LimeWire for slumping music sales, music companies blamed people taping music onto blank cassettes for their business woes.
 
Elektra Asylum’s president said home-taping music off the radio was “the most dangerous threat thus far to our well-being.” Other record companies, including Warner Communications, Polygram, Arista Records, Sony-MCA, and CBS, went on the offensive. Their tactics included offering a cash reward for anyone who could invent a spoiler signal for off-the-air taping, threatening to cancel ads that ran on the same page as advertisements for blank tape manufacturers, and lawsuits. Along came Jack Schneider and John Lack, executives with WASEC, the Warner-Amex Satellite Entertainment Company. 
 
The idea for a music video channel wasn’t theirs originally. Singer and record producer Todd Rundgren had plans to broadcast the first 24-hour music video channel out of his studio, but satellite transponder issues prevented his dream from coming to fruition. However, Mike Nesmith of The Monkees (remember them from last week?) made inroads with PopClips, a promotional tool for Warner Communications’ record division. Nickelodeon broadcast PopClips with Howie Mandel as its first host. According to Nesmith, “Without sounding too arrogant, I created MTV when I did PopClips.” 

But the magic wasn’t there just yet. PopClips lasted one season. Enter Schneider and Lack. In March 1981, WASEC made their plans for a 24-hour music video channel public. At that point, they started working on finding VeeJays (video jockeys). They auditioned 1500 people and hired five: Nina Blackwood, Alan Hunter, J.J. Jackson, Mark Goodman, and Martha Quinn (who was a replacement for another hire who backed out). 
 
The logo was developed by committee. The video clips…well, music videos were in short supply at that time. WASEC executives spent a lot of time with record companies dickering over the expense of developing video clips for the channel. They decided to work with what they had while hammering out agreements with the hesitant companies.
 
So, MTV launched out of a Fort Lee, New Jersey office on a hot August night with a music video by The Buggles: “Video Killed the Radio Star.” Oh, the irony. 
 
Other artists who appeared in videos that first night included Pat Benatar, Rod Stewart, The Pretenders, The Who, and Todd Rundgren. 
 
The channel was not a hit. It faced several challenges out of the gate. Its geographic footprint was small. MTV didn’t hit the airwaves in New York and Los Angeles, as well as other parts of the country, until early 1983. Additionally, the music video supply arguments continued with the record companies. A few “old-school” artists, such as Bob Dylan, were vocal in their opposition to the music video trend. And finally, the channel began to face backlash related to accusations of racism. 

Motown’s Jobette division and other music publishers with black artists derided the inadequate, or lack of, compensation for companies, artists, and songwriters. Then MTV declined to air “Super Freak” by Rick James. He called the MTV execs racist in a Los Angeles Times news interview, saying that an appearance on the channel could help him sell hundreds of thousands more records than record sales and radio airplay alone. He told Rolling Stone magazine that MTV was “taking black people back 400 years” by not airing more videos by black artists.
 
MTV used its “narrowcast” format as a defense, saying it targeted a general audience interested in rock-and-roll music, not R&B, soul, or urban contemporary artists. Artists weren’t convinced. David Bowie, Bob Seger, and other musicians openly questioned MTV executives and veejays about the lack of black artists on the channel. 
 
Then, Michael Jackson dropped a little ditty called “Billie Jean.” As Jackson’s Thriller raced up the Billboard charts, he moonwalked into history on the Motown 25 television special. Thriller became the first album in history to be number one in the United States for two consecutive years. It also made record profits. Suddenly, MTV’s racism issue changed from one of black and white to one of green. There was money to be made. 

To learn more about the making of MTV, read Inside MTV by R. Serge Denisoff.
 
If you enjoyed this essay, please share it with your friends! Coming up next week: MTV’s breakout stars and history-making videos.