Who Killed the Video Star: The Story of MTV

In our finale, we try to get an answer for our central question: what happened to MTV? But also, for the deeper questions that have been bubbling up over the last eight episodes, what happened to everything? Why does the loss of MTV hit so hard? Is this optimized, algorithmicized entertainment landscape sustainable or satisfying? Can we go back? And… how many episodes did Ridiculousness just get picked up for?

For now anyway, we have heard the last of the place where you used to hear it first. While we were recording this podcast, as part of a round of layoffs at Paramount, MTV News was officially euthanized. So we’re taking a moment to talk to some of the people who built the one news brand that took young viewers seriously, and some of the voices those young viewers came to trust. 

As the moment of the boy bands and the pop girlies winds down, MTV gets new life by making celebrities into reality stars, and cranking out daily dating shows. But as the ratings soar, a revolution is brewing, and it's about to steal MTV's thunder.

In the ‘90s, MTV is established enough to attract Bob Dylan to Unplugged and host its own Rock & Roll Inaugural Ball. But then a survey from the network’s research department turns up one small fact about the MTV audience that makes a massive impact on their programming, on popular music, and on traffic patterns in midtown Manhattan. 

Who Killed the Video Star: The Story of MTV is a new 8-episode Audacy original about the rise and fall of MTV hosted by former MTV VJ, Dave Holmes.

We know that with 1992's The Real World, MTV predicted the phenomenon of reality television. But they also created a new species that roams the earth to this very day: the Reality Television Star. We talk to a few early Real World cast members about the blinding level of fame the show gave them, and the ways it affected their own reality.

Who Killed the Video Star: The Story of MTV is a new 8-episode Audacy original about the rise and fall of MTV hosted by former MTV VJ, Dave Holmes.

To increase ratings and become more attractive to advertisers, MTV leans away from music videos. In so doing, they create some of the most influential shows of the 80s, which inspires a complaint that would follow them forever.

Who Killed the Video Star: The Story of MTV is a new 8-episode Audacy original about the rise and fall of MTV hosted by former MTV VJ, Dave Holmes.

MTV's initial ascent is not exactly meteoric. The network struggles to reach viewers and attract advertisers. To succeed, MTV would need to do two things:

1) Break its own rules.

2) Broadcast the greatest music video of all time.

Who Killed the Video Star: The Story of MTV is a new 8-episode Audacy original about the rise and fall of MTV hosted by former MTV VJ, Dave Holmes.

Today, MTV is a household name. And everyone knows what a music video is. But there was a time when MTV and the art form it championed were crazy ideas that nobody believed in. Well, almost nobody...

This is how it all started, told by the people who made it happen.

Who Killed the Video Star: The Story of MTV is a new 8-episode Audacy original about the rise and fall of MTV hosted by former MTV VJ, Dave Holmes.

Audacy Podcasts presents Who Killed The Video Star? | The Story of MTV -- an eight-part series about the network that conquered pop culture until it suddenly fell off the map. Hosted by former MTV Video Jockey, Dave Holmes.