From nj, It was 30 years ago today when the country was able to watch music videos on a cable channel dedicated soley to rock music. MTV was launched as an initialism of "Music Television" when the clip “Video Killed The Radio Star” by The Buggles aired on August 1, 1981. (The second video to air was Pat Benatar's "You Better Run.")
The channel had a profound effect on pop culture and signaled a new era in how the country consumed music and perceive musicians. The channel's original format was initially like a radio station where on-air hosts known as VJs would introduce video segments.
Although there are many, here is some benchmark moments and trivia:
• The original five MTV VJs in 1981 were Nina Blackwood, Mark Goodman, Alan Hunter, J.J. Jackson (who died in 2004) and Martha Quinn.
• Many black artists had trouble finding an audience on the rock-dominated channel. After pressure from record execs at CBS, MTV began showing Michael Jackson's "Billie Jean" video in regular rotation in 1983. It officially was the start of a lengthy partnership with the King of Pop and opened the doors for other artists like Prince, Rick James, Donna Summer and Eddy Grant.
• In 1984, the network produced its first MTV Video Music Awards show.
• The MTV Movie Awards debuted in 1992.
• The animated cult smash "Beavis and Butt-head" aired from 1993-1998. On July 13, 2010, it was announced that the series would be revived.
• In 1997, "Total Request Live" presented the Top 10 daily videos. With charm and good looks, host Carson Daly brought popularity to the show and it soon developed a cult-type following. Eventually, hundreds of fans would stand in Times Square outside the TRL studios each weekday during the show's taping. But now, like "TRL," VJ's are gone -- replaced with "Twitter Jockeys."
• In 1992, "The Real World" reality show debuted and showcased the lives of seven young adults all living under one roof. In a way, it started the wave of the original programming-oriented MTV we know today. Soon came "Laguna Beach," "The Hills" and "Teen Mom."
• "The Osbournes" reality show premiered on MTV on March 5, 2002 and followed the lives of rocker Ozzy Osbourne and his family. In its first season, the show was cited as the most-viewed series ever on MTV until ...
• In 2009, Snooki killed the video star when the network delivered "Jersey Shore." It meshed what worked in "The Real World" with the fist-pumping antics of guidos and guidettes in Seaside Heights, New Jersey.
