What happens to the 'M' in MTV? A look at the changes in MTV's programming

Seminar paper from the year 1998 in the subject Communications - Movies and Television, grade: 1- (A-), Ohio University (School of Telecommunication), course: Broadcast & Cable Programming, language: English, abstract: A couple of months ago I had the chance to talk to the pop critic and founder of the Rolling Stone Magazine Greil Marcus doing an interview for a German radio station. When I asked him, what he thought of the recent HipHop videos, he answered, ' In the United States MTV doesn't show many music videos anymore. They show date shows, game shows or celebrities playing volleyball on the beach shows. Videos are shown only in the middle of the night, when I can't watch them'. I had noticed a similar trend on MTV Europe but wasn't aware that MTV's move towards non-music programming was even more severe in the United States. Greil Marcus is certainly not the only one complaining about the lack of music in 'Music Television'. Even Bart Simpson during the beginning of one episode of 'The Simpsons' writes a grumpy 'In don't want my MTV anymore' on the blackboard in his classroom (Stein 1997, p. 103). But what has led to the focus of MTV on non-music programming? Or is the trend even reversing and MTV is going back its roots? What about the new spin-off channels MTV started to offer in the past? This paper takes a look at the changes in MTV's programming within the last couple of years, at the new programs of this season and at the historical development of this interesting network.