Who Killed The Radio Star?

Kinda like "Who shot J.R.?" but not as important.

As MTV celebrates its 30th Anniversary, I thought it would be fun to take a look at how video killed -- or at least changed -- the way we enjoy music.

MTV, formerly an initialism of Music Television, is an American network based in New York City that launched on August 1, 1981.  At one time, MTV had a profound impact on the music industry and pop culture.  Slogans such as "I want my MTV" and "MTV is here" became embedded in public thought, the concept of the VJ (video jockey) was popularized, the idea of a dedicated video-based outlet for music was introduced, and both artists and fans found a central location for concert events, news and promotion.  

On August 1, 1981, at 12:01 a.m., MTV 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 (which took place earlier that year) and of the launch of Apollo 11. Those words were immediately followed by the original MTV theme song, a crunching classical tune composed by Jonathan Elias and John Petersen, playing over photos of the Apollo 11 moon landing, with the flag featuring MTV's logo changing various colors, textures, and designs. MTV producers Alan Goodman and Fred Seibert used this public domain footage as a conceit, associating MTV with the most famous moment in world television history.

The very first video that aired on MTV was "Video Killed the Radio Star" by The Buggles.  But if you think about it, isn't the more modern technology what really killed it?  I'm talking, turn-of-the-century stuff here?

Remember folks, when MTV first swept the nation with their all music, all the time idea, there was no internet. There were no iPods, no cell phones, and no tablets.  If you wanted music videos on demand, you had to sit in front of your television and watch what MTV showed, not necessarily the ones you wanted to see.  

But that doesn't mean that radio was dead then. If you wanted music in the car, at the office, at the beach, etc., you still needed your radio.  And it was like that for a good many years until fairly recent times. Just like advances in outer space have occurred, so too have advances in music and our access to it.

I want to make clear the fact that I was never an MTV junkie to begin with.  I love music, I didn't need to see the videos as much as I needed to hear the songs.  Not that I am not a visual person or didn't appreciate the mini epic movies that a lot of videos ended up becoming. I had friends who ran the channel 24/7 but I just never got into it.  So why would I start now?

All the reality and behind-the-music shows that air now are simply because MTV has no other choice.  In order for the network to stay afloat, they need to adapt to the changes in society and give people what they want, today. We can get music anywhere, any time. But for whatever reason, we can't get enough Jersey Shore. (I have never seen a single episode, or a single minute of an episode.)  

Despite the return of music video programming to MTV in March 2009 as AMTV -- an early morning block of music videos that aired from 3 a.m. to 9 a.m. on most weekdays -- MTV is not and has not been "music" television for a while.  And when people say they want their MTV, it doesn't mean what it used to.