Who misses

[John2189 573]

MTV of the 80s before rap took over. 

[ineedanother 1,884]

MTV was relatively new when I was in HS and I thought it was great to sit and watch or just have on in the background. We never had cable at home but I could hang out where it was. When I enlisted I fell off the grid for some years and when I resurfaced it seemed to have lost its way to more "reality" TV vs. music. I haven't looked back at it since.

[Ed Kennell 44,955]

It was Dick Clarks American Bandstand for me.

[John2189 573]

43 minutes ago, Ed Kennell said:

It was Dick Clarks American Bandstand for me.

Yes that was good too.

 

[Kenneth R Cluley 661]

Don't forget "SOUL TRAIN"

[stevasaurus 23,618]

I wonder what Nina Blackwood is doing today??  

[c-series don 11,413]

@stevasaurus I think she is a DJ on one of the SiriusXM channels? 

[Ed Kennell 44,955]

22 minutes ago, c-series don said:

@stevasaurus I think she is a DJ on one of the SiriusXM channels? 

And has an animal  rescue farm in Maine.

[wallfish 19,333]

On 3/2/2026 at 6:08 PM, John2189 said:

MTV of the 80s before rap took over. 

I was young and watched it quite a bit back then. Also watched American Bandstand and Soul Train too

I don't miss it.

Be sure to check out this thread. 

 

[kpinnc 17,182]

I still remember the intro with the shuttle launch and that music that went with it. 

 

Of course they took it down after the Challenger disaster. Appropriate of course, but it was very sad. 

[kwalshy 245]

I was never a MTV fan, maybe because we had the rabbit ears above the "1" TV in the house.   And today I'm not happy to admit it, but we now have "2" TVs.

Edited 15 hours ago by kwalshy

[Ed Kennell 44,955]

54 minutes ago, kwalshy said:

we had the rabbit ears

We did to until we upgraded to a two man outside antenna in 1952.        One person took the pipe wrench to the back porch and turned the support pipe while the second person relayed the picture quality to the pipe man.

[oliver2-44 11,227]

37 minutes ago, Ed Kennell said:       One person took the pipe wrench to the back porch and turned the support pipe while the second person relayed the picture quality to the pipe man.

And my sister yelling  “turn it the other way stupid” 

[c-series don 11,413]

I remember rabbit ears with tinfoil on them. Like that really did anything! When you stood in front of the TV you could get the picture dialed in by moving the antennas, but when you let go and went to sit down the picture would change. Then had to go back and try to guess which way to move the ears so when you walked away it would not change. We got basically two channels, three on a good day. Two were on VHF and one on UHF. I remember being the remote control for my dad!

 When cablevision came around 1980 it was a game changer! Clear pictures and lots of channels, I don’t remember how many but it seemed like a lot. Nothing like all the channels we have today though. I have to agree with Bruce Springsteen and his song “57 channels and nothing on”! 

[adsm08 4,207]

3 minutes ago, c-series don said:

I remember rabbit ears with tinfoil on them. Like that really did anything! When you stood in front of the TV you could get the picture dialed in by moving the antennas, but when you let go and went to sit down the picture would change. Then had to go back and try to guess which way to move the ears so when you walked away it would not change. We got basically two channels, three on a good day. 

 

Lucky. We had a big antenna. When I was a kid it was on the side of the car port and we had to go outside to adjust it. One person stood in the door and watched the TV while shouting to another who turned the antenna.

 

Then when I was in 5th grade we added a second floor and that made most reception impossible, so we moved the antenna to the roof of the car port, which was still the same roof from before. And the only real access was from my bedroom window, so I always had to go adjust it. Process was still the same, with two people shouting instructions.