transcript

Speaker 1:
[00:00] Hey Hit Parade listeners, it's Chris. While the show is on a brief break, we wanted to recommend something for you to check out. Obviously, if you're a listener to my show, you love pop music history. And if your appetite for history extends beyond the world of music, check out History Daily. History Daily tells fascinating stories of what happened on this day in history, with a broad mix of subjects, politics, sports, technology, medicine, everything that makes us who we are today. It's hosted by Lindsey Graham. No, not that Lindsey Graham. This is the same Lindsey Graham behind a bunch of great history podcasts, including American History Tellers and American Scandal. The History Daily episode you're about to hear is called The Launch of MTV, and it chronicles the lead-up to August 1, 1981, when MTV began broadcasting in the United States with its first video, The Buggles, Video Killed the Radio Star. Also, I had forgotten that a former member of The Monkees was involved in MTV's Genesis, and the episode does a great job providing that part of the story. You'll find a link to History Daily in our show notes, so head over there to dig into their vast archive of momentous events that happened on this day in history. For now, without further adieu, here's History Daily's episode on the launch of MTV.

Speaker 2:
[01:58] It's the summer of 1977 on a beach in Los Angeles, California. 35-year-old musician Mike Nesmith sits on a deck chair on a rocky bluff overlooking the Pacific Ocean. Sitting next to him are three beautiful women. They give Mike flirty looks as they sip cocktails, but it's all for show. Mike and the women aren't actually flirting. They're performing for the camera and film crew on the bluff with them. Mike is making a promotional video to accompany his latest single, Rio, since his heyday as a member of the 60s boy band, The Monkees, he has struggled to find consistent success in his solo career. But that's not for lack of trying. Mike has experimented with all manner of different ways to promote his music. At one point, he even released a tie-in novel to accompany one of his albums. His latest venture is this music video, which he hopes will promote the newest release. But as Mike continues to mug for the camera, behind him, a large beach umbrella collapses in the wind, ruining the take. The director calls for a pause in filming while the crew fix the problem. Waiting for the next take, Mike gets out of his deck chair and moves toward a craft services table stocked with food and drinks. As Mike picks through what's on offer, he hears two crew members snickering and making comments about this absurd project. They stop when they realize he can hear them and quickly scoot away to make themselves busy. Mike just pours himself a coffee and smiles. It's not the first time someone has mocked one of his ideas, but this time, he'll be sure to have the last laugh. Despite the doubts of others, Mike Nesmith is convinced there is a market for narrative-driven videos within the music industry. He's put thousands of dollars of his own money into this project in the hope that it will propel Rio up the charts. The song won't do as well as he hoped, but this is just the beginning of a new way of enjoying music, and Mike's groundbreaking idea will eventually lead to the creation of the MTV Network, which will begin broadcasting on August 1st, 1981. From Noiser and Airship, I'm Lindsey Graham, and this is History Daily. History is made every day. On this podcast, every day, we tell the true stories of the people and events that shaped our world. Today is August 1st, 1981, the launch of MTV. It's the summer of 1979 at Warner Records in New York City, two years after Mike Nesmith filmed the music video for his single Rio. Now 37 years old, Mike bounds into the office of Warner executive John Lack. The two men shake hands and exchange small talk before Mike hands John a VHS tape. This is what the meeting is all about. A television and a tape player stand ready, and John does the honors. When he presses play, the TV screen springs to life with the music video Mike filmed on the beach two years ago. But when the song Rio ends, a second music video begins, this one by a British band. After that finishes, another music video plays, then another and another. Throughout this presentation, John hardly says a word. He simply stares, transfixed at the screen, and from time to time nods his head slightly as if telling himself something. Watching him from across the room, Mike smiles. This is exactly the reaction he wanted because John seems to get it. Mike didn't make the first ever music video with Rio. When he was with The Monkees back in the 1960s, bands would often appear on live TV shows like American Bandstand in the US or Top of the Pops in the UK. But the more popular some of these bands and singers became, the harder it was to fit in TV appearances around their touring schedules. So many of the bigger acts would record themselves on sound stages, lip syncing to their latest singles instead. These would satisfy the appetite of audiences desperate to see their favorite stars perform. But there was no real art to the bulk of these videos. But with Rio, Mike Nesmith deliberately tried something different. He gave his video a narrative using images to complement the song and innovative editing to add color and excitement. When it was broadcast on television music shows, Rio immediately stood out. But now Mike is convinced he can take the genre even further, and that's why he's in New York. He wants to sell a program he's called Pop Clips. The idea is to showcase artists from around the world via their music videos. It's Mike's intention that these Pop Clips will be introduced by video jockeys, the way disc jockeys play music on the radio. But despite Mike's confidence in his pitch, he's been turned down by every network he's hit with so far. John Lack is a TV executive who likes to challenge, though. A rock and roll fan since he was a teenager, John is the perfect audience for Mike's idea. He agrees to buy Pop Clips on the spot and tells Mike he'll play it on his new children's channel, Nickelodeon. So now, Mike has to create new episodes of the show to air every week. Mike gets to work sourcing new music videos. He finds most of the content he needs in the UK and Europe, and the show begins broadcasting in late 1980. But tastes and standards differ on the other side of the Atlantic, and before long, Warner's executives become worried about what they see as adult-oriented content in some music videos. Scantily clad dancers, heavy rock and drug references weren't exactly what Warner had in mind when it launched Nickelodeon. Still, executive John Lack is convinced that there is an audience for music videos in America, and he wants to take the Pop Clips concept further. He meets with Mike to discuss the idea of a 24-hour channel devoted exclusively to music. Mike loves the idea and gets to work right away. But while both men support the idea, soon their visions start to differ. The disagreements begin with the question of who will anchor the new channel. John wants to use traditional DJs to introduce the music videos, establish voices the audience will know and trust. But Mike wants to be more experimental, pushing for new video jockeys and edgy stand-up comedians. This and other creative differences between the pair eventually become insurmountable. It's increasingly obvious that Mike's artistic sensibilities just don't fit with John's commercial ambitions, so the two agree to part ways. John Lack finds himself on his own, and selling his idea of a 24-hour music video channel will prove more difficult than he imagined. Stagnating sales will mean that record company executives will be reluctant to invest in new ideas, but it will turn out that this new idea will save them all. It's January 1981 at Rockefeller Plaza in New York City, a year after John Lack and Mike Nesmith parted ways. Today, 35-year-old John Lack stands at the head of a large boardroom, VHS tape in hand. It's a reversal of the position Mike Nesmith was in two years ago. But John isn't pitching a single television show. He wants to create an entire network devoted to music videos. In front of him are the two men he needs to convince. One is Steve Ross, the head of Warner. The other is Jim Robinson, the CEO of American Express. A recent merger between the two companies means John needs both men to say yes to this proposal. And while John has already spoken to Warner and is confident they'll see the benefit in his idea, he's less sure about the response from a banking and credit card company. John puts his carefully curated VHS into the machine and presses play. One after another, a variety of music acts fill the screen. Cher, Dire Straits, even Mike Nesmith's Rio gets an airing. But despite all the artistry on screen, the response in the room is muted. Neither of the two CEOs seem to react as the tape continues playing. This leaves John nervous. He desperately wants this to be a yes. The past six months have been difficult ones for the entire music industry. The disco boom has gone bust and record companies have seen a fall in sales for the first time in years. Music shows on TV are also dropping in the ratings. And while Pop Clips has been a modest hit for John and the Warner-owned Nickelodeon, it's home on a children's channel means it has missed the most desirable audience of teenagers. John is certain that his new music channel can better target this key demographic and in turn help Warner sell more records, but he still has to convince his bosses to agree. When his taped presentation ends, John launches into his pitch. Knowing there's a banker across the table from him, he focuses on the dollars and cents. He reassures them that Warner and American Express wouldn't have to spend a lot to create content for this new channel, because in much the same way radio stations don't produce the songs they play on the air, record labels will provide these music videos for free to promote their artists. As an added benefit, John knows Warner Communications has a spare satellite transponder currently not being used. This means his music channel could be launched at a low cost using already existing technology and resources. It's a strong pitch, but John doesn't know what to expect. He braces for the worst, but to his surprise, it's Jim Robinson from American Express, who throws his weight behind the idea first. Still, Warner's Steve Ross is not saying much, which seems like a bad sign. Without his approval, they won't be able to go ahead. John feels himself begin to deflate, but then Steve tells him what happened after their first conversation about this idea a few days ago. Steve admits that at first he was skeptical until he mentioned John's pitch to his teenage daughter. She said he'd be mad to pass on it, that this new channel would be the hottest thing that ever happened to TV. So now, thanks to a little help from Steve's daughter, John has the green light he needs from both of his bosses. But the approval comes with caveats. First, John must launch his network within the next six months. Satellite channels are booming. There's already specialist networks for news, sports, and movies. If music television is as great an idea as John says it is, it will soon have competitors, so the faster they reach market, the better. And besides, Warner wants that spare transponder to start paying for itself as soon as possible. It's a tough ask, but John won't be alone. He enlists 27-year-old Bob Pitman to join his team. Seen by many as a prodigy in the music industry, Bob is full of ideas of how to make John's idea a success. Bob knows that rock and roll is built on doing things differently, so he tells John that instead of regular programming in hour and half-hour slots like most channels, they should lean into the idea of non-stop music videos. Every Saturday night, they could have a concert film or documentary, but the rest of the schedule will be schedule-free, all music, all the time. It's a daring gambit. Without must-see shows to draw eyes at specific times of the day, this new channel might struggle to attract an audience, but Bob is confident this is the way to go, and eventually John agrees. The final thing John and Bob need, though, is a name for their new channel. TV One is suggested, but quickly thrown out as being too generic. TV M, where the M stands for Music, is a strong candidate until a young programmer at Warner offers an alternative, MTV, Music Television. The name is perfect and everything else is in place. In the summer of 1981, MTV will go live, and music and television will never be the same again. It's approaching midnight on August 1st, 1981 in Fort Lee, New Jersey, less than a year after John Lack got approval for his pioneering music channel. In a bar named The Loft, TV executive Bob Pitman orders another drink to calm his nerves. Tonight is MTV's big debut, and Bob has devoted the last six months of his life to this bold new idea. Now, it's the moment of truth. Bob and his colleagues have found one of the few places in the area that can receive MTV. And as the clock ticks closer to midnight, Bob's pulse races. Suddenly, the TV set flickers to live. The familiar voice of John Lack booms out saying, Ladies and gentlemen, rock and roll over an image of a rocket taking off in footage of Neil Armstrong planting a flag on the moon. But instead of the stars and stripes, on the flag are the letters MTV. The bar erupts into cheers as Video Killed the Radio Star by The Buggles becomes the first music video to be played on the channel. All around, producers and editors congratulate each other on the channel's launch. But Bob keeps his eyes fixed on the screen as his new hosts introduce themselves to viewers and as they explain who they are, Bob spots a problem. The tapes are airing in the wrong order. The hosts are talking about the wrong songs. After all Bob's hard work, this is frustrating. But the mistake doesn't have a huge impact. After all, only a few thousand people are watching the launch. It will take more than one night to prove whether MTV will be a hit or a failure. And despite its rocky beginning, over the next few months, the channel will steadily grow a small but devoted audience, especially among teenagers. Then on March 1st, 1982, a new ad campaign for the channel changes everything. The I Want My MTV promo features some of the biggest names in pop, including Madonna, Mick Jagger and David Bowie. Their combined star power rockets MTV into the national consciousness and for the music industry. The video suddenly becomes the most important promotional tool at its disposal. For the rest of the 1980s, MTV continues to shape the cultural conversation in America, with groundbreaking hits like Michael Jackson's Thriller and Dire Straits' Money for Nothing debuting on the network. Over the decades that follow, the rise of the Internet and the fragmentation of the media landscape, we'll see MTV move away from music videos to focus on reality TV shows. By then, John Lack and Bob Pitman will be long gone having left the channel they created to form their own media companies. But their legacies will remain as the men who brought music videos to the masses and changed an industry forever when they launched MTV on August 1, 1981. Next, on History Daily, August 4th, 1944. After two years in hiding, Anne Frank and her family are discovered by the Gestapo. From Noiser and Airship, this is History Daily. Hosted, edited, and executive produced by me, Lindsey Graham. Audio editing by Mohamed Shazia. Sound design by Matthew Filler. Music by Thrum. This episode is written and researched by Owen Paul Nichols. Edited by Joel Cowen. Managing producer Emily Byrne. Executive producers are William Simpson for Airship and Pascal Hughes for Noiser.