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Remembering When NBC Presented Its Own Alternative to MTV in 1983
Friday Night Videos, launched by NBC in July 1983, was one of the most notable network television responses to MTV's rise as a cultural force. While MTV had debuted two years earlier and was gradually spreading across cable systems, NBC's late-night offering brought music videos to a national broadcast audience who might otherwise have had no access to them, filling a gap during MTV's slower expansion across the United States.
The show was created by NBC executive Dick Ebersol, who drew on his experience with the network's earlier music programme Midnight Special and his standing as head of Saturday Night Live at the time. It debuted on 29 July 1983 at 12:30am ET as a 90-minute programme of videos introduced by off-screen announcers, later adding on-camera hosts in 1985, including stars such as Madonna and Ozzy Osbourne, and featuring an interactive "Video Vote" segment. As MTV became widely available on cable through the mid-1980s, the NBC show lost much of its purpose, though it continued in various forms until 2002.
In short
- NBC launched Friday Night Videos in July 1983 to rival MTV.
- Created by executive Dick Ebersol, it aired videos overnight on Fridays.
- The show ran until 2002, though it later dropped its video focus.
Explained simply
MTV began in 1981, bringing music videos to viewers with cable television. But cable was not available everywhere in the United States, so many people could not watch it. Friday Night Videos gave a wider audience a chance to see music videos on a major broadcast network.
NBC executive Dick Ebersol created the programme, drawing on his work with the music show Midnight Special and Saturday Night Live. It began in 1983 as a late-night broadcast, with announcers introducing the videos; later, guest hosts and a viewer vote became part of the format.
As cable access grew, MTV reached more homes and the gap Friday Night Videos had filled became smaller. The programme continued in changing forms until 2002, reflecting how the spread of cable reshaped where Americans watched music videos.
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