Every August 1, fans of 80s music, Classic Rock, New Wave, etc note that it is the anniversary of MTV launching. Last year, we saw several media stories about the 30th Anniversary and were treated to seeing some 30-year-old content via places like the awesome YouTube Channels MTVClassic1 and MTVTheFirst24.
But the real 30th anniversary for most of the US is happening right now. It was the summer of 1982 – not 1981 – when most cable customers got MTV.
On MTV’s Day One, very few cable operators actually offered MTV. I don’t trust anyone who says that they remember watching MTV’s first hour of broadcast. If anyone says this to you, ask them how the liked living in Oklahoma City, as that’s one of the few larger markets that had it on day one!
It was nearly a year later that most of America got the world’s first music channel. I can remember coming home from camp in June of 1982 and seeing “Who Can It Be Now” by Men At Work. The phones in my little town in Northern Illinois were on fire with high school and junior high school students spreading the word about what was going on Warner Amex Cable channel 12!
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