MTV - Then and Now

MTV first went to air in 1981 with the music video clip "Video Killed the Radio Star", by the Buggles, little did the producers, musicians and viewers know that this television programme would change the face of music television forever. When MTV first started out it was centred on broadcasting music videos, like a radio with a screen to viewers all over America and eventually the world. MTV has since incorporated different genres of shows to suit different types of teenagers and young adults. I guess its correct to say that they have moved with the progress of today and have had to keep up with other television stations and programmes to keep their popularity up. In New Zealand we have Juice TV which is constantly playing music videos and on other channels such as C4 there is a slot devoted to music videos also.

MTV has adapted to what viewers want to see and have learnt that they need to produce other programmes to keep viewers tuned into their show. Appealing to the youth market they have shows such as, “Engaged and Underage”, “Pimp my Ride”, “Yo Mamma”, “The Hills”, “The Real Orange County” and “Jackass”, a lot of these shows have one thing in common – they entertain viewers because they are funny, embarrassing to some people in the show and the reality shows such as “The Hills” give us a glimpse into the lives of the rich, young and famous. Humour, sex, and reality tv shows sell! I asked the opinion of a friend about what they thought MTV was like before and now, and they said “now MTV is crap, because they no longer play music and only play teeny bopper shows, I remember when it used to be radio with pictures and they used to play music all the time and now a lot of music television has adverts, talking, interviews and are constantly showing teen programmes about who has the best hair, makeup or bag – who wants to watch that?”.