Creating MTV
“I want my MTV”
Previous to the creation of MTV, you could only listen to music, but in 1981, that all changed. Robert Pittman and his co- creator John Lack decided to make music television. They wanted to make a television channel dedicated to playing music videos. On August 1,1981 at midnight, that’s just what they did. Their actions would change the way the world saw music forever.
Before Robert Pittman pitched his idea of creating this channel, he did his research.“I use research to find out what people like and what they are doing."- said Mr. Pittman. He decided that what teenagers wanted was "irreverence, zaniness, instability, chaos, a frenetic pace, lots of disjointed thoughts, and in-depth info about music" as Terry Heaton said. It was then that he formed the idea of a channel that would be devoted to music and music videos. This channel would target the age group of 18-34. He and his co-creator, John Lack presented his idea in March of 1981 to the company Warner Amex Satellite Entertainment.
In January of 1981 a meeting was held to determine what would happen to MTV. Finally, after a long 2 ½ hour debate, MTV was approved and funded with 20 million dollars by Warner Amex Sattelite Entertainment. Despite the wariness in starting MTV , it was an instant success and earned 7 million dollars in the first eighteen months. This marked the start of a new generation.
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