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Since time immemorial entertainment has been part and parcel of our lives. The ancient Romans had the Olympic Games while the Aztecs appreciating their hunting games and almost every culture had its music and dance festivities. Throughout the decades, entertainment has evolved and through the media we are able to appreciate other cultures. Media in the form of electronic media, started with radio and soon enough there was the emergence of television. Television provides audio visual information and over the years there was the creation of television networks and among them was MTV.
History
MTV was aired in 1981 in New York City. However, the history of its launch dates back in 1977 when Warner Cable - a division of the Warner Communications, launched the first two way interactive cable TV system, QUBE in Ohio. QUBE offered many channels and among them was a music channel that broadcasted music concerts and other music related TV programs. This channel was called Sight on sound. Later on, Robert W. Pittman, then the president of the MTV Networks, test drove a music format by producing and hosting a fifteen minute show, Album Tracks on WNBC in the late 1970s.
In addition which led to the creation of MTV, another concept depicted in the book The Mason Williams FCC Rapport, author Mason Williams states that he pitched an idea to CBS for a television program that featured "video-radio," in which DSL would play music on the air. The book was published in 1971, a decade before the official airing of the MTV.
At 12.01 am in August 1st of 1981, MTV launched with the famous words of John Lack “Ladies and gentlemen rock and roll” and it has never looked backed since then.
Development Of MTV
The main aim and objective of MTV was to broadcast music videos through the guide video jockeys VJ's who acted as air hosts on a 24/7 daily basis. The launching of MTV and its programs saw thousands of new young men and women being air hosts in the many channels offered in MTV. There were five original VJ’s since the debut of MTV and these include Alan Hunter, Mark Goodman, Martha Quinn, Nina Blackwood and J.J. Jackson. All of them expect J.J. Jackson became hosts in the Sirius xm radio channel 8.
In the 1980's MTV was popular for playing a wide a variety of music including classical rocks which created many music legends of all times like David Bowie, John Mellencamp and Billy Joel. Similarly, new rock bands and famous music groups were also made popular when MTV began its airing. Heavy metal rock bands for instance the Fixx, Culture Club, Van Halen was also made known via MTV.
However, problems started in MTV and this particularly was the color barrier. Inside MTV itself, few African American air hosts received regular rotation on the channel. Very few black artists received regular time on the shows such artists included Tina Turner and Eddy Grant. This situation was solved when it started playing Billie jean a song by Michael Jackson who also had a difficult time in getting regular rotation. His song was the one which broke the color barrier and paved way for new artists like Whitney Houston and Janet Jackson to enter the world of music.
In relation to this a growth of music video series began and in 1986, MTV introduced 120 minutes which played alternative rock and other underground music.
MTV And Its Relation To Concerts And Other Non-Music Media
Since its debut MTV has been known to broadcast music shows that were recorded. Furthermore, when there was regular rotation, there was the emergence of new song writers and script writers. The growth of music especially hip hop was boosted by these script writers and thus many new artists were brought forth into the limelight including famous hip hop rappers like LL Cool J and Snoop Dogg.
MTV has been known to show live concerts especially in July 13th 1985 when Bob Geldof and Midge Ure organized a fund raiser in Philadelphia to help the famine in Ethiopia. 16 hours of this fund raising event was done by MTV.
Throughout the years to come MTV provided a diverse number of shows that were not music related and one of them was animations. During the 1990s, for purposes of targeting the children and young people, MTV introduced animated shows and cartoon series. This was done by Liquid Television, an animation showcase which was originally a BBC import. In addition to this, sister station Nickelodeon (Nicktoons) created cartons, some of which were aired by MTV. Similarly, some of the cartoons that were showed on MTV depicted maturity and also providing entertainment simultaneously. Some of these cartoons included: Clone High, Undergrads, Grimmy, Celebrity Deathmatch and Daria.
In the 1990s and 2000s, apart from animation shows and series, MTV also focused on reality shows. Reality shows were a success in the 1990s especially with success of the Real world and Road Rules as the foundation. MTV followed this move and started with another round of series in the 1990s. Popular game shows and talks shows hit the air waves in the mid nighties. The John Stewart Show and Singled Out are some of these shows. The 2000s saw MTV producing and broadcasting a unique show; a scare reality show called fear.
Movies were also not left behind. MTV produced some popular films including Cross Roads, Jackass: The Movie and Super Sweet 16: the Movie.
MTV And The Society
The society can either make or break a corporation and MTV is no exception. Just like any business, MTV has the responsibility of providing morally ethical programmes and so far very little complaints have received when it comes to this matter. MTV, has edited a number of shows; both music and non-music and has censored vulgar language. Issues to do with drugs, violence and sex are extremely handled before the shows are broadcasted.
MTV And Today's Technology
With the advancement in technology, MTV has many events all over the world and through its official site one is able to follow some of the major news and events.
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