Music Television

MTV, the United States’ first round-the-clock television service devoted to popular

music, went on the air in 1981. The first video broadcast featured a hit song by the

British one-hit wonder, the Buggies: “Video Killed the Radio Star.” Recalling the

Hollywood myth that silent-era stars would not survive the transition to sound

cinema, the title seemed to predict that television would supplant radio as the more

important medium to the pop music industry. It suggested that video and the

exposure of television might destroy some musical careers.