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Allen "Big Al" Tate

MTV Day One: The First 30 Videos

On August 1, 1981, the first video to air on MTV was one emblematic of MTV’s concept, The Buggles’ “Video Killed the Radio Star” which was then immediately followed by a brief message about music and television coming together and then “You Better Run” by Pat Benatar. 116 unique videos were played, spanning 209 spins over the first 24 hours. Due to being a brand new cable network, the first day featured numerous errors including playing clips at the wrong times, moments of dead air, videos that wouldn’t play correctly and other technical difficulties. This week I present to you MTV Day One: The First 30 Videos.

Mixcloud Link: https://www.mixcloud.com/bigalrocks/2022-08-07-mtv-day-one-the-first-30-videos/