Explosion of Youth/Music TV!!!

Within the television industry, the major pressing concern of the 1980s was an expansion into new markets, combined with an attempt to win new audiences. This expansion was made essential by the advent of satellite and digital cable technologies, as well as the deregulation of broadcasting brought about by right-wing Western governments.

A number of economic and technological factors made this expansion of youth programming possible.

1.The continuing reduction in the cost of receiving equipment, and their decrease in size, meant that, for the first time, television sets were not necessarily located within the family living room, but also within the bedrooms of teenagers.

2.Offering the ability to record one programme whilst another was being watched, the increasing availability of video cassette recorders meant that youth television programmes could be recorded during periods of family viewing, such as early evening, and watched at times when family viewing did not take place, such as during the day.

3.Equally important in allowing broadcasters to attract the ‘youth audience’ was the ability to expand into previously unused parts of the daily broadcasting schedule, such as early morning, and late into the night. It was this expansion that led to, for example, the youth-oriented ‘Night Network’ in the very early mornings on the ITV network, and Channel Four’s Network 7. This phenomena was also facilitated by the increasing availability of video cassette recorders mentioned above, so youth television programmes broadcast as late/early as 4 a.m. could be viewed at a more convenient time.

4.The take-up of Satellite television and with MTV's launch in August 1st 1981

AND LAST BUT NOT LEAST.....

5. The evolution of the internet / broadband / iplayer / itunes etc etc / digital downloads / mobile video content

handouts you may have missed...

...but would love to have!

www.youritv.com/musictv

Go there and you'll find a list of all classroom handouts and resources I've handed out so far

Simon Cowell

Simon Cowell’s reputation as television’s Mr Nasty betrays the business nous that he has used to build an entertainment empire on both sides of the Atlantic. Mr Cowell has positioned himself as both producer and judge on talent shows such as X-Factor, Britain’s Got Talent and Inventor. Through American Idol he has also become US television’s third-biggest earner. Last year he is estimated to have earned £22.5 million and his wealth is estimated at £100 million.

ONE night a little more than two years ago, Simon Cowell, the creator of and corrosive judge on the biggest show on television, "American Idol," was driving his car through the streets of London, thinking about the state of his entertainment-business interests. "I remember thinking: My gosh, I've sold a new talent show in Britain, and I'm taking 'Idol' off the air there. I'm launching a classical group called Il Divo. I'm changing the sound of the group Westlife, which had already sold 40 million records. And I was thinking: This could all come crashing down. This new show could fail. The classical group could fail. I could screw Westlife's career up. Why am I doing this, because it's going to be quite a high-profile bomb if that happens."
Mr. Cowell did not suffer self-doubt for long. "It was sort of a delicious thrill really," he said in his buttery British tones. "Making a lot of money usually means not putting your neck on the block anymore, but putting your neck on the block is part of the thrill. If I genuinely believe something is a good idea, then I'm willing to fail or succeed by giving it a go."

For once, Simon Cowell was putting it mildly. No one in entertainment, in either the United States or Britain, is giving the business more of a go than

Mr. Cowell, who, despite being the highest-paid star in the history of the Fox network, remains much more mogul than divo himself.

The recording industry executive "never had on my wish list" to be a television star. When he reluctantly agreed to judge a little talent show in England called "Pop Idol," it was just to protect his record label's interest in the winner. Today he still thinks of himself first as a businessman. That businessman is only too happy to collect millions for telling appallingly bad singers that they're rubbish; but his real goal remains something along the lines of worldwide control over musical and any other kind of talent you can think of — from inventors to magicians to plate spinners.

In a wide-ranging interview in a spectacularly elegant Manhattan hotel suite (what other kind would someone of his current state of fame be expected to inhabit?), a relaxed and — believe it or not — unassuming Mr. Cowell discussed the many tentacles of his growing empire, part of a company he calls Syco, which at the moment includes a record label and a television production unit, both of which are cranking out products at a larruping pace.


The reach of what might be called Simon Inc. is on an impressive scale. Mr. Cowell runs the careers of numerous recording artists, including the Irish band Westlife and Il Divo, the operatic, pop-singing quartet that has reached the top of the charts on both sides of the Atlantic. His label sells millions of albums a year and will release five new titles in 2006. In addition, Mr. Cowell created a television show in England called "The X-Factor," which proved so popular it prevented the British version of "Idol" from getting back on the air, thus prompting a lawsuit against him. And he has, in some form of production or development, a total of no fewer than 11 television ("telly-vision," as he pronounces it) series for British and American networks.

And then there's the movie. "Basically an updated version of 'Fame,' " Mr. Cowell explained.

ALL of it begins, of course, with "America Idol," which, in its fifth incarnation on Fox, is reaching more than 30 million viewers each night it is on, and in the process is doing to the rest of television what Sherman did to Georgia. Having already buried every other competitor under ratings that are, against all odds, bigger this year than even the prodigious numbers it had previously rung up, "Idol" drove NBC's recent coverage of the Olympics into retreat, forcing that network to schedule its best winter events outside the hours of "Idol."
It seemed a perfectly wise decision. NBC could have offered America a night of naked ice dancing, and "Idol" fans would have preferred another dose of unknown teenagers singing their hearts out on cover versions of Michael Jackson and Mariah Carey.

One executive at a competing network (who did not want to be identified because it is never acceptable to be admitting defeat) said finding a show to face off against "Idol" has become akin to "going into a radioactive zone — anything you put there is going to get wiped out."

ABC made a rather frank admission of how formidable the task of taking on "Idol" can be when it promoted its new comedy "Sons & Daughters" during the Oscars telecast last week. The promotion said: "If you pick only one show to watch this spring, we assume if will be 'American Idol.' But since it's on almost every night, why not take a break and check out a show TV Guide calls fresh and painfully hilarious?" Kevin Brockman, the top corporate spokesman for ABC said: "You might as well embrace it. It's not like America doesn't know what's going on."

Mr. Cowell clearly relishes the continuing success of the reality talent show he and his partner, Simon Fuller, brought from their native England in 2002. "What for me makes 'Idol' so special is that under a reality banner so much of what we see today can't be considered reality," Mr. Cowell said. "Auditioning is reality. You win 'Idol,' the odds are you're going to get a career out of it."

But he emphasized that the reason he presides over "Idol" like Judge Dredd is that the winners join his label, which is under the aegis of BMG-Sony Music. "The only reason that I put myself through this pain is because my label gets the artist," he said. "Which is why I actually do care if I hate somebody or I actually like somebody."

"Idol" winners are signed for as many as five to seven albums. "We've sold 50 million records through 'Idol' alone in the last four years," he said. In England, the winner of this year's "X-Factor," a young singer named Shayne Ward, released a single (from Mr. Cowell's stable of songwriters) that sold a million units in a week. "He sang it on the finale," Mr. Cowell said. "We had it in the shops three days after the competition ended."

Perhaps his biggest music venture yet has been Il Divo, who are now packing concert halls, mainly with breathless female fans. Mr. Cowell said he came up with the idea one night several years ago while sitting in bed watching an episode of "The Sopranos," which he had heard much about but never seen. It was the episode when the gangsters go to Italy, and the voice of Andrea Bocelli plays behind many of the scenes.

"I literally sat up in bed," he said. "I was so mesmerized by this music against this imagery. I literally banged my forehead and said, 'Why don't we get four great opera guys together?' " An opera boy band, as it were.

Acknowledging that he knew nothing about the opera scene, Mr. Cowell said he enlisted several experts who told him it would take years to find four young, great-looking men with true opera voices for this kind of act. "I said, well, I've got years."

Almost three years later, he finally had his foursome: one from Spain, one from Switzerland, one from France, one from the United States. The first thing he had them sing was an opera-style rendition of "Unbreak My Heart" by Toni Braxton. "I never heard anything like it in my life," Mr. Cowell said. To date the group has released two albums — and sold 11 million.

"It's been especially good for me because when you're criticizing people on 'Idol," there's always people thinking: put your money where your mouth is," Mr. Cowell said. "So it was very satisfying. To put four unknown guys in front of the American public and have the album go to No. 1, that was very important for my validation, I think."

Still, as potent as the music business has been for him over the past five years, the television arm of Simon Inc. may have an even bigger upside. Mr. Cowell has three new series ready for three separate American networks. One for Fox, "Duets," sounds a little like "Singing With the Stars." Celebrities not known for singing will team up with professional singers. That one has yet to go into production.

The most immediate television venture will be "American Inventor" for ABC, with a premiere set for Thursday at 8 p.m. This one has the ring of "Idol" for the nerd set, with crackpot/genius inventors getting a chance to unveil their brainstorms (entries include a stun-gun-equipped glove and a portable fan for overheated dogs) in an audition setting. Then the finalists — as picked by a panel of experts — will get $50,000 to develop the idea and bring it to the next level.

The winner, determined as usual by audience phone-in vote, will be awarded a $1 million prize.

Mr. Cowell has a deal with Amazon to sell the winning product online. More significantly, he has a deal for himself to retain one-third of the invention's total profits. "We always try when we can to get a back-end participation," he said.

Of course, he will retain a similar interest in whoever wins his new program for NBC. Still untitled, the idea is to create an "American Idol" format for just about any other kind of talent.

"I'm just as interested to see an audition of a good and bad dog act as I am of a singer." Mr. Cowell said. "I promise you the auditions are going to be like something you have never seen before." Mr. Cowell likened the show, which he said he expects to have on NBC as early as June, to an old-fashioned talent office in New York in movies in the 1930's, where "any kind of act can walk in."

THAT would include singers, he said, but ones who don't qualify under the rules for "Idol." Thus, he said, "We will attract groups, and everything from 80-year-old singers or 8-year-old singers who think they are as good as Celine Dion." He stressed that the talent might be wide-ranging, but it had to be a specific act, capable of being presented on a stage in Las Vegas — because that's the prize.

"If you are a plate spinner on my show," he said, "you have to believe you can entertain a Vegas audience spinning your plates."

Craig Plestis, the top reality programming executive at NBC, said it took almost no time for Mr. Cowell to sell this show. "We sat down for lunch, then we saw a piece of tape and we were sold," he said.

Mr. Plestis said, "He definitely wants a hit on another network."

NBC could not have landed this project if Mr. Cowell's home network had not passed on it first. Under the deal Mr. Cowell signed late last year with Fox — which will net him more than $30 million a year — committing him to five more years of judging the wailers and warblers on "Idol," he agreed to give Fox a "first look" at all his new show ideas.


"I don't think they thought it through enough," Mr. Cowell said of Fox's decision to pass on the new talent series. He acknowledged that Fox might be reluctant to add talent contests that could in any way dilute the huge "Idol" franchise, but added, "If it's a hit, it's their loss." Not that he has any dispute with his Fox employers. To the contrary, Mr. Cowell said, "They have been incredibly decent and supportive to me."

It was mainly that relationship with Fox, Mr. Cowell said, that led him to settle the suit over "The X-Factor." Simon Fuller had alleged that Mr. Cowell stole the idea for that show from "Idol," then, because he starred in it, the original could never get back on the air. "It was settled amicably, but I do not like being called publicly somebody who steals," Mr. Cowell said. "You can't say, 'I own talent shows forever.' That's rubbish."

The invention show has also attracted a suit from a television production company in Minnesota, which claims it has produced a similar program for years. Mr. Cowell said he had never seen or heard of such a show.

Even with all these series backing up on the runway, Mr. Cowell said he had real regrets about one that would not be turning up on American television. In his deal with Fox, Mr. Cowell had to agree not to sell "The X-Factor" to an American network. Fox, in essence, paid him to keep that show off the air, fearing it could undermine some of the appeal of "Idol."

"If I say so myself, 'X-Factor' is a great show," Mr. Cowell said. "It's hilarious. I absolutely love it. Would it have been a hit in America? A million percent a hit."


More at http://www.people.com/people/simon_cowell

Remembering Lena Zavaroni

Remembering Lena Zavaroni

PART ONE



PART TWO



PART THREE



PART FOUR



PART FIVE



PART SIX




There is NO age limit on Britains Got Talent!
See: http://www.unrealitytv.co.uk/reality-tv/apply-for-britains-got-talent/

Remembering Lena Zavaroni

Lena Zavaroni found fame on the 70's music talent show 'Opportunity Knocks' hosted by Hughie Green

This is her story: Remembering Lena Zavaroni.

Watch All six episodes and write a 500 word essay entitled:

Should TV talent shows impose an age limit?


Issues to consider:

Did she find fame to young?

Did her early fame trigger her illness?

Was she emotionally immature/ill equipped to cope with the presures of such an early show-biz life? Or just badly managed?

Parental consent and responsibility?

Media resposibility and representation?

At what age are you equipped emotionally to cope with the fame bubble bursting?

Should there be an age limit on talent shows to prevent the exploitation of children?

Or should children/teenagers be recognised for their unique talents regardless of age? Why shouldn't they have their 15 minutes of fame?

The early history of Pop radio and Music TV

http://www.geevideos.com/search/?q=top+of+the+pops

http://www.geevideos.com/tag/jools/

http://www.geevideos.com/search/?q=freshly+squeezed

Use the three links above to access GEEVIDEO.com's excellent archive of Pop Music on TV Clips. When you click on one of the movie clips, you will see a 'Download Spamblocker' advert - ignore this and click on the 'skip' option on top right hand corner of the screen. The video should then be ready to watch.

Anyone teaching pop music needs to ge their libary to order the fabulous comprehensive history of pop by Alan Parker called All You Need is Love. It's coming out on about 4 DVDs as a set in May.Pop music as we know it in the west began just over 50 years ago in the early 1950s. Arguably it is not about to come to an end but it is the same as when it began. Already the three minute single song the basis of much pure pop is in terminal decline.

Music of all kinds will of course always be popular, but the way pop music is organised and sold is changing rapidly, and the future is hard to see.You probably have an iPod or want one for Christmas. Where does the music that you listen to come from? Some comes from your and your friends CDs, some music from downloads that you pay for, and some comes to you free. This is not how pop music began, although the three essential elements that are needed for pop music to flourish are still there. These three elements are:

TALENTTECHNOLOGYAUDIENCE

Let’s start at the beginning.
Don’t worry this is a very brief history to put everything in perspective. At A Level and higher levels this is known as context. Before World War Two (1939 – 1945) if you wanted to listen to a popular song you either bought a copy of the sheet music and played the song on your piano or acoustic guitar – this is what my aunt used to do. Or you could buy a GRAMOPHONE that played 78 rpm records, rpm means revolution per minute – this is what my mother did, as she did not play the piano. 78s are large 10 inch brittle discs that broke easily and could hold about 3 minutes of music on each side.

The gramophone is a very simple analogue instrument – there were some electric versions called pick -ups. A steel needle is placed onto the record that is on a turntable which is turned by a spring – you wind it up. The record has grooves cut into it that correspond to the vibrations of the music. The needle bounces around the grooves making the same vibrations as the music on the record which go through a horn shaped funnel and are amplified.

The dog on the HMV label is listening to music from a gramophone. The sound was scratchy and it only lasted 3 minutes – but the 3 minute pop song was born. The technology dictated that this was to become the standard song length. Actually it is the ideal duration for a song about romantic love aimed at teenagers and which will fit easily into a DJ format radio show.After the War the 78 would become the vinyl 45rpm disc, and the LP arrived – The Long Playing 12 inch record running at 33⅓ rpm which had about 20 minutes of music on each side – the forerunner of the CD album. Originally meant for classical music, the LP became important in the sixties as pop musicians matured and wanted to create albums.

The 45 singleWithout the technology of the little 45rpm disc pop music would not have appealed or been easily and cheaply available to its huge new audience of teenagers. After the war many babies were born in the United States and Europe as if to compensate for the huge loss of life in the war.This audience, known as the baby boomers, came to be teenagers in the mid fifties, and they were quite different to any previous generation of young people. They were relatively affluent with pocket money to spend.

The cost of a 45 rpm single was just about affordable each week or so by many young people, and there was very little to spend it on except films or pop music.A whole new industry grew up devoted to tapping into this new affluent generation of teenagers who began to hear exciting, rhythmic, fast music written just for them – rock n’ roll. This is where the talent came in. In America black performers like Chuck Berry, and Little Richard were recording exciting music onto these new discs. Their records began to be played on some US radio stations, or in the UK heard in specialist record shops.It was the true King of Rock Elvis Presley who did most to bring rock n’ roll to a teenage audience. An instinctive musician he sang blues and gospel influenced songs in a sexy way that thrilled young people all over the world. His early rock n’ roll records that electrified teenagers includi the up-tempo Hound Dog and Jailhouse Rock, and the bluesy Heartbreak Hotel. These were instant hits in the US and in the UK.The Stratocaster

The second technological development essential for rock music was the invention of the electric guitar usually attributed to Americans Leo Fender, and Les Paul in the mid 1940s. By the mid fifties the Fender Stratocaster had became the defining musical instrument of the new rock music. Immortalised in Britain by Hank Marvin playing his flame red stratocaster in the Shadows the group that backed Cliff Richard – check Cliff’s Move it for early British rock n’ roll.Two people who heard this new music in a record shop in Liverpool were John Lennon and Paul McCartney. They were in a ‘group’ (Liverpool name for a band) that sang rock n’ roll songs at The Tavern club. They admired the serious looking Buddy Holly, an American who played a Stratocaster and wrote his own memorable foot tapping pop songs. Check the link to Buddy Holly singing Oh Boy on Youtube.The Beatles emerged as the most important, inventive, exciting, musically distinctive and successful pop group in the history of pop music. In the early 1960s they began to write and record their own songs – Please Please Me, She Loves You, I Wanna Hold Your Hand, Help raced to the top of the record charts and entranced a new generation of young people in the UK who had never before had music created specially for them.It’s hard to describe the huge impact that the Beatles had in Britain. It wasn’t just that they were witty, handsome, cheeky, iconoclastic (breaking down traditional barriers) Liverpudlians, but the music was electrifying.

They had the ideal musical combination, which immediately became the norm, of lead guitar, rhythm guitar, bass guitar and drums, and good vocal harmonies. This was a much more exciting and loud, bass heavy set up, than even a big dance band sound (popular in the War) could create. Again the technology had contributed to rock n’ roll with the invention of the bass guitar which could play loudly the deep low range of a double bass.As the teenagers grew into students they were able to buy their favourite musicians on a 12 inch Album with over 40 minutes of playing time. The Beatles masterpiece Sgt Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band is often voted as the best album ever recorded. It became the defining sound of the 1967 summer of love when the pop album came of age as an icon in its own right.

Radio

The 1960s was the most creative period for rock music. This was again helped by the third major development of technology, the emergence of pop radio.I remember the frustration of not being able to hear all this exciting new music, except on one or two specialist radio programmes like the BBC Saturday Club. Entrepreneurs realised that this new dynamic young audience needed an outlet to hear all the incredible music that was being produced.

Pirate radio stations like Radio Caroline, and Radio London, were set up on ships in the North Sea broadcasting to England and northern Europe. They immediately captured a big audience. The BBC, prompted by the Wilson Labour government of the time, realised that this potentially vast audience needed a whole new radio station.It was called Radio 1 and launched by ex pirate DJ Tony Blackburn on 30 September 1967. It is of course still with us today, and still has the largest young audience in spite of numerous commercial competitors.By the mid sixties in less than 10 tears since Elvis caused a sensation with Heartbreak Hotel, the three minute pop song had a home not just on the Dansette record player in a teenage bedroom, but in cars, in work places and on radio and on television.Talent, Technology, AudienceSo the three elements had come together. The extraordinary talent of Elvis, the Beatles, and the other British groups and singers, as well as black soul singers from Detroit like The Supremes created sensational 3 minute songs available on pocket money friendly 45rpm discs which were heavily marketed with exposure on UK pirate pop radio stations.

The electrification of the guitar and the use of Marshall amplifiers gave small pop groups the chance to squeeze into a Transit van and play their own songs to young audiences in town Halls throughout the country.The talent had exploited the technologies to find its delighted audience of teenagers.Pop music was taking over the bedrooms of the nation’s youth. Just as the ipod has found a more sophisticated, older and mobile audience in the 21st century.

POP MUSIC AND TELEVISION

If technology drove the sound of rock music – the Stratocaster - and the means of consuming pop music - pirate radio and the 45rpm disc, it was the technology of television that created the look of pop music, and propelled the singers and musicians into world wide superstar status.

Television in Britain and the United States quickly realised the potential of youth audiences. For the commercial TV stations in America this new audience had money to spend on records, clothes, pop concerts, makeup, magazines and all sorts of consumer items.Elvis and The Beatles reached vast audiences of millions through appearances on the very popular Ed Sullivan show. Ed Sullivan had the highest-rated variety show in America.

It was a Sunday night ritual for millions. Sullivan booked the Beatles as headliners for three shows beginning on February 9, 1964.The Sullivan show remains one of the highest-rated non -sports TV programmes of all time. It is estimated that 45 percent of Americans, that is more than 73 million people, watched the show. Apocryphal stories maintain that not a single crime was committed in New York during the Sullivan hour.Check http://www.cnn.com/ ‘when the Beatles hit America’. On April 4th 1964 The Beatles had the top five songs on the Billboard Hot 100 chart – an achievement never equalled.

The Ed Sullivan show became the TV place to see the latest rock 'n' roll acts, many of whom were from Britain such as, the Animals, the Kinks, the Dave Clark Five, Herman's Hermits and Freddy and the Dreamers, and The Rolling Stones.Suddenly through television youth culture was visible to everybody. The Beatles had long hair; so men grew their hair long. Teenage pop music wasn't taken seriously, but the Beatles got people to take it seriously.

The Beatles studied Transcendental Meditation and went to India with the Marharishi, and this introduced a whole generation to Eastern mysticism, and the sitar.This was soon followed by the counter culture revolution including women's liberation, ideas about civil rights, the sexual revolution, and the peace and anti nuclear movement .There was an increase in taking drugs, and in sexually transmitted diseases, and traditional values and ideology changed. Previously admired institutions like the Church of England, the Monarchy and the government were seen as out of touch with ordinary people, fusty and monolithic. It was cool to mock these institutions e.g. the stage show Beyond the Fringe.In November 1962 That Was the Week That Was a new very popular television show in England introduced a whole new audience to political satire.

Each episode was introduced by singer Millicent Martin belting out a satirical song about the week’s news and political events. Music was seen as an essential part of this new show aimed at a young politically aware audience.

TELEVISION TAKES ON POP MUSIC

It soon became clear to television bosses that rock 'n' roll was going to attract audiences. The first ‘youth’ programmes did not quite hit the right note. Cool for Cats (ITV, 1956-61) and Six-Five Special (BBC, 1957-58), were based on the radio model of new music acts with chatty DJs.The effect was that they were trying too hard to be ‘with it’, which somewhat put off the target audience as well as annoying the older generation. Real success came with ITV’s Oh Boy! (1958-59) with its fast pace and irreverent approach which tuned in to the young audience, and in the process helped create the template for pop music TV.The BBC's main pop music show was the hugely successful Juke Box Jury (1959-67). A panel of invited guests would listen to a series of songs and pronounce them a 'hit' or a 'miss'. Despite its lack of visual content and an ageing host in radio DJ David Jacobs, the show was a success.What really captured the 60s zeitgeist was ITVs Ready, Steady Go! (ITV,1963-66). Ultra fashionable with her long dark hair in a fringe, presenter Cathy McGowan became a style icon. The difference from a television perspective was that RSG had a ‘live’ studio audience. Its mix of the latest bands in front of a live audience created a show that was influential, and more visually exciting than anything else on television.

Top of The Pops

The BBC not to be outdone by its rival ITV, really got chart pop music TV under way when on the first of January 1964 Top of the Pops (1964-2007) hit the nation’s screens. This was the longest running pop music show ever, and sustained the three minute single for several generations of teenagers.The programme was a chart show with a rundown of the top ten singles each week. TOTP quickly attracted a large audience as well as the support of the record industry. For musicians and record executives alike an appearance on the programme became a key element in a song’s success.

The bands generally sung to a backing track, or mimed to the actual record. This was considered to be the right thing to do because TOTP was a chart based show, so the actual record featured in the charts was the one the viewer should see and hear.The BBC continued to foster popular music although aiming at a different audience. As the album became the preferred choice of young people towards the end of the 1960s a new kind of programme took a more serious approach to pop music.

The BBC 2 series The Old Grey Whistle Test (1971-85) provided a platform for bands to play live and chat to the presenter Bob Harris. It quickly acquired a late night, rather exclusive cultural image.BBC2 also broadcast the influential In Concert series where stars such as Bob Dylan gave intimate concerts to a small studio audience. This later became Rock Goes to College (1978-81), a series of performances recorded live in front of student audiences with a feeling of acoustic integrity that was popular in the post punk era.

When Channel 4 started it had a brief to stimulate new audiences, and it took pop music TV in a new direction with The Tube (1983-87), a live mix of performances, videos and interviews presented by the effervescent and sometimes controversial Paula Yates and Jools Holland.Towards the end of the 1980s there was a fragmentation of the pop music scene. Many new styles and musical forms appeared and the single had become a CD single. It always seemed expensive and the pop chart began to be a much less important part of young people’s lives.

TOTP was still broadcasting every week on BBC1 and trying desperately to keep up with rap, hip-hop, acid house and indie. After several make overs TOTP moved to BBC2 and then in 2007 eventually died leaving the memory of a once great pop institution.Some TV shows attempted to address disparate audience tastes. With a blend of studio performances and the rapidly maturing art form of music videos, shows like Snub TV (BBC, 1988-90) and Rapido (BBC, 1988-92) aired late at night with little impact, although worthy in themselves. Specialist shows dedicated to black music, led by Baadasss TV (Channel 4, 1995-96) and Flava (Channel 4, 1996-2001), also emerged to niche audiences, but the overall audience impact was slight.

MTV

The seismic change in the landscape of Pop Music TV was the arrival of multi channel television, and MTV in particular which relied on the creativity and excitement generated by the growing popularity of the music video.Teenagers took up the 24 hour pop music MTV with enthusiasm, often soaking it up on the TVs in their bedrooms, much to the dismay of teachers and parents.

MTV (Music TeleVision) launched in the US on August 1st 1981 with the words: ’ladies and gentlemen , rock and roll’. The first video transmitted was appropriately the Buggles Video Killed the Radio Star. In fact the early MTV videos were often little more than promotional shots linked by a Video Jockey, similar to a radio DJ format.Later in the 80s record companies realised the potential of an exciting video played on MTV as a way of enticing an audience to buy a band’s CD. The first black artist to have a video on MTV was Michael Jackson with his 14 minute video of his album Thriller, which was one of the early and very influential high budget music videos.

The videos were rotated many times in a day and Thriller was played twice an hour at its peak.Queen’s video for Bohemian Rhapsody is considered one of the most influential with its ground breaking visual effects, especially the revolving faces of the band. It led to the creation of the music video as a creative art form.The new technology of digital visual effects (DVE) offered the video producer a whole range of special visual effects that threw out of the editing room window any notion that a song had to be a realistic version of a band playing a concert.

POSTMODERN MUSIC TELEVISION

The idea of postmodern television is of interest to students studying media theories. If you are interested in delving deeper into the theories behind television then Jonathan Bignell in An Introduction To Television Studies (Routledge 2004) examines in depth the whole idea of postmodern television. He also looks at Music Video and Postmodernism in The Television Handbook (Bignell and Orlebar Routledge 2005).A brief definition from this chapter is a good start:‘Music Television seems to be a perfect example of postmodernism : the material it broadcasts appears to be shallow, based around commodity images with no message except the injunction to buy, it broadcasts a flow of short videos producing an endless present or perpetual flow in which the …fixed points of conventional terrestrial television schedules are largely absent.’

Watching music video television appears to stop time and keep the viewer in a dream world of perpetual NOW. Strangely this does not seem to affect students at all and the amount of music television watched by teenagers fell in 2006 – probably because of the portable MP3 player.One of the main postmodern ideas is that pop performers are seen in a world of images that are not associated with any idea of their real selves. So a performer is only known through the MTV image, which can change as Madonna or Kyle have so successfully done. This leads to a change in cultural identity where everyone can redefine themselves according to the images they project. Music Television is part of this culture of celebrity where: ‘ the notion of an identity being constructed out of changeable appearances, changing fashions of self –presentation and the thinking of self as an image put on display to other people.’ (Bignell 2005) is popular with young people and young women in particular.

TRADITIONAL MUSIC TELEVISION

Back on terrestrial TV The Chart Show (Channel 4/ITV, 1986-98) pioneered a video-only format on network television still supporting the pop single but acknowledging the importance of albums.In the 21st century with the demise of TOTP, popular music has become part of the main stream of popular television with shows such as Pop Stars (ITV, 2001) and its successors, like Fame Academy (BBC, 2002). These shows are a mile away from the raw energy and iconoclasm of Oh Boy or Ready Steady Go and are watched by a family audience rather than an exclusively young teenage audience.As pop music entered its sixth decade the broadcasters woke up to the fact that they had a huge archive of great music.

The postmodern notion of nostalgia became fashionable and clips from the best acts became the norm in 'best of' shows such as the BBC's I Love the Seventies (2000) and its successors, which mixed chart tunes with jokey celebrity reminisces about the decade in question.Pop music became history and its sociological effect became interesting. The BBC told the story of pop music with insight and the benefit of hindsight in The Rock 'n' Roll Years (1985-87), a documentary series that charted popular music's progress from 1956 to 1980 with a mix of music and newsreel footage.

In 2001 the BBC’s Walk On By: the Story of popular Song was an excellent eight part series telling the story of the popular song over the last 100 years, with archive footage and expert interviews, from its earliest beginnings in black blues music and Appalachian folk songs to the present day.In a rapidly changing musical landscape Music TV and shows such as Top of the Pops no longer occupy a central role in young people’s lives.

Over recent years pop music TV including MTV has faced ever increasing competition from multi media and niche musical outlets which enable viewers to consume music of their choice, any time night or day, in a way that traditional television formats cannot do.In 2007 popular music on television is kept alive by the excellent Later... With Jools Holland (BBC, 1992-), a thoroughly 'grown-up' music show. Jools Holland, the former Tube presenter, and his band play live, and host an interesting mix of live performers offering a platform for popular musicians of all types from all over the world.The real music story of the first decade of the 21st centrury is that audiences are flocking to live musical events and concerts. Music is of course still par to f the soundtrack of most people’s lives but music on television needs to be repackaged and almost reinvented as a television format. The largest TV audiences for popular music are now for live concerts or recordings from live music events such as the Glastonbury festival.


There is still music on television and it is nearly all live or recorded as live – perhaps this is a good thing?

History of Pop Music TV (Part One)

Pop Music TV

How television jumped on the pop bandwagon

The existence of 'youth culture', forging new identities around music and fashion, is universally accepted today - although its manifestations, such as rap, still have the ability to provoke. But for the first generation of postwar teenagers the idea was nothing short of revolutionary.

Before the 1950s, young adults had largely dressed and behaved in a similar style to their parents. But changes in the postwar economy gave a generation of school-leavers previously unthinkable buying power: money that was soon being spent on clothes and rock 'n' roll records. Older generations were mystified and horrified in equal measure at this display of independent behaviour and, as has since become the norm, quickly blamed the music and its attendant culture for a disparate collection of social ills, especially 'delinquency'.

Whatever else it might have been, rock 'n' roll was clearly going to make for good TV, although broadcasters were at first unsure how best to approach it. Early attempts, including Cool for Cats (ITV, 1956-61) and Six-Five Special (BBC, 1957-58), combined performances with bantering compères to mixed effect. However, Oh Boy! (ITV, 1958-59) got the balance right. Its fast pace and irreverent approach better reflected the tastes of its audience and in the process helped create the mould for pop music TV.

Strangely, the BBC's main pop music show of the time could have worked as well on radio. Juke Box Jury (1959-67) featured a panel of invited guests who would listen to a series of songs and pronounce them a 'hit' or a 'miss'. Despite its lack of visual content, and a truly bizarre collection of panelists including actress Thora Hird (who appeared alongside Roy Orbison), the show was a huge success. Juke Box Jury was helped by securing an early appearance of all four Beatles (tx. 7/12/1963) and later the Rolling Stones (tx. 4/7/1964).

Arguably the most fashionable of early '60s pop programmes was Ready, Steady Go! (ITV, 1963-66), which turned presenter Cathy McGowan into a style icon, while its catchphrase, 'the weekend starts here', became the manifesto of a new youth hedonism that saw the weekend as a chance to forget work (or school) and party. What proportion of its audience actually lived the ideal was another matter. However, its eclectic mix of acts and its conspicuous live audience created a show that was both more artistically influential and more visually exciting that anything before it.

The most important date for pop music TV is 1st January 1964, the day of the first transmission of Top of the Pops (BBC, 1964-). Originally booked for a six-week run, the chart rundown quickly attracted a large and loyal audience and, crucially, the support of the record industry, which saw an appearance on the programme as a key element in an act's success.

Popular music quickly broke out of the confines of dedicated programmes. The Beatles perfected the move, with appearances on shows like Mike and Bernie Winter's Big Night Out (ITV, tx. 23/2/1964). Dedicated music slots still feature in a wide variety of programmes, including Saturday morning 'youth' shows, chat shows and 'stand-up' comedy.

The growing importance of the album towards the end of the 1960s saw the development of a new kind of programme that attempted to take a more serious approach to its subject. The Old Grey Whistle Test (BBC, 1971-85) epitomised this approach, but was often mocked as overly earnest, a problem not helped by its somnambulist presenter, 'Whispering' Bob Harris.

The BBC also broadcast Rock Goes to College (1978-81), a series of unadorned performance from bands in front of student audiences that reflected an increasing interest in live music, partly as a result of punk, a genre that had revived fears about music corrupting the nation's youth. So it Goes (ITV, 1976-77), shown initially only in the Granada area, ignored the media outrage surrounding punk and treated its guests with a level of respect that helped elicit performances of often startling quality, including an electrifying appearance by the Sex Pistols (tx. 4/9/1976). ATV's Revolver (1978) also attempted to respond to the post-punk scene, but never won the confidence of ITV schedulers and lasted just eight editions.
The arrival of Channel 4 brought with it The Tube (1983-87), a live mix of performances, videos and interviews, which regularly appeared on the brink of anarchy. An early appearance by Frankie Goes to Hollywood performing 'Relax' (tx. 7/7/1983), surrounded by women in PVC bondage clothes, created a minor uproar. However it was the programme's main presenters, Paula Yates and Jools Holland, who attracted the most criticism. Yates was reprimanded for bad language and Holland was suspended for swearing during a trailer.

A fragmentation of the pop market during the late 1980s and early '90s, including the rise of hip-hop, acid house and indie, spawned a number of shows that attempted to address disparate audience tastes. Based on a shifting blend of studio performances and videos, shows like Snub TV (BBC, 1988-90) and Rapido (BBC, 1988-92) were shunted into the corners of schedules by broadcasters that largely failed to understand their potential. Specialist shows dedicated to black music, led by Baadasss TV (Channel 4, 1995-96) and Flava (Channel 4, 1996-2001), also emerged around this time, and were even more cruelly treated by the schedulers.

The growing popularity of the music video and a change in the broadcasting landscape helped break music TV out of its ghetto via a range of dedicated music channels, led by MTV. The Chart Show (Channel 4/ITV, 1986-98) pioneered a video-only format on network television. Mainstream broadcasters have also realised that pop music can have a place at the heart of their schedules, although the heavily sanitised Pop Stars (ITV, 2001) and its successors, like Fame Academy (BBC, 2002) were never going ignite fears that they could corrupt the young.

As pop music entered its sixth decade a mawkish nostalgia crept into its TV coverage with packaged 'best of' shows such as the BBC's I Love the Seventies (2000) and its successors, which mixed chart tunes with jokey celebrity reminisces about the decade in question. The BBC had revisited pop music's past to better effect in The Rock 'n' Roll Years (1985-87), a documentary series that charted popular music's progress from 1956 to 1980 with a mix of music and newsreel footage. Since then TV has largely shied away from serious analysis of one of the defining features of postwar Britain in favour of a more trivial approach typified by Channel 4's Top Ten Holiday Hits (tx. 24/2/2001). One notable exception is Later... With Jools Holland (BBC, 1992-), a thoroughly 'grown-up' music show in which the former Tube presenter hosts an eclectic mix of live performers, treating musicians of all hues with a respect, even reverence, once associated with Whistle Test.

Key Dates in UK TV

www.youritv.com/musictv/

and download the Key TV dates doc.

You will also find other handouts there that you nay have missed

TV Chart Show Conventions

NETWORK MUSIC TV SHOW GENRES:
CHART, MAGAZINE, LIVE/PERFORMANCE, TALENT/SHOWCASE

CHART SHOW FORMS AND CONVENTIONS:

Always feature that weeks Top 20/40 mainstream pop chart
Chart run-down from 40/20 – No.1 = show always ends by revealing 'this weeks number one!'
Music chart is represented by music videos and 'as-live' performances.
Also represented by visual 'stings' / idents = identifying chart position (number) of featured act/song
Professional dancers feature heavily
Audience participation is key – dancing, cheering and clapping
Two presenters = one male and one female
High energy short presenter links between the acts or videos
Genre has own chart language to explain progress (or not) of chart position/entry =
'straight in at number 13; in with a bullet at 7; droppin' two places to this weeks number 9; shooting up ten places to this weeks number 3; just missed the top spot at...' etc etc.
Typical programme length - half hour durations.
Typically aimed at the 12 – 25 age group

Style & Format

Lighting: strobe, directional, multi coloured, bright, fluorescents/ usually in shot
Frequent lighting changes to reflect different moods in music
One or two stages: elevated from audience (presenter usually on differetn stage from acts)
frequent set changes to reflect different bands/songs
Gantry for audience viewing / dancing
Camera work fast, lots of sweeping pans, close-ups/intimate (front row view). Edited as-live / cut to the beat / visual fx / cameras not in shot
sound: loud, highly compressed, presenters 'shout' their links over cheering from audience
music videos/acts last for around 3 minutes
typically feature 7 chart songs
Show plays out/ends with that weeks number one song.


Sub Genre/variation:

Chart shows that feature on todays Digital Music Channels which have no live acts / no presenters (just voice over) and are made up of pop videos and clips. More 'montage' than 'live' or 'as-live'.


Issues and debates to consider with genre:


Q: Why has this genre largely died out on terrestrial television?

l Is it due to changing consumer habits, preferences and attitudes?

=Individualism as opposed to following mainstream trends now takes precedence in youth cultures?

=Multi channel music television?

=The internet? Mobile downloads?

=(pop) music not so important in youth culture (Xbox, games, fashion, TV, other?)


Assignment: 200 words max

Explaining your feelings about this genre:

If you do agree that this genre of TV show is a 'dead format' on network terrestrial television explain why.

If you feel it's still a valid format on network terrestrial television and should be brough back - explain why.

Past Papers

June 2007 exam:

Discuss the factors that might contribute to the success of a television music programme.

"Television has damaged the music industry. There are now too many performers who are getting success because of their looks, not their musical skill.” Discuss this view of the contribution that television is making to music.


Jan 2007 exam:

To what extent does the medium of television influence the music industry ?

'Music on TV is better served by television than by radio, because music should be a visual experience' Discuss this view


Jan 2008 exam:

How well are music lovers served by TV?

'Music is light entertainment. Viewers don't want anything live or intellectually demanding. Just pop videos on demand. The video channels have got it right" Discuss this view



How important is tv to the music industry ?

How might you go about answering an essay question like the above ?
Here are about 20 points you might make (in a random order!)
You need to think of examples for each and then explanations to make clear their relevance.

Structuring them into some kind of argument would be the third step to making this into an essay answer...

Image construction is vital to the music industry
TV adverts are used to sell albums
Chart shows are essential for the promotion of singles
Chat show appearances are often used to promote albums
The number of audition/reality shows on TV is testament to their huge importance
Documentary coverage of artists is frequently tied in with the release of new audio product
News coverage of bands/ solo artists is useful to their progress
The number of music channels to be filled with music videos represents a big area for the music business
Artists often appear on panel shows
Variety programmes for niche and mass audiences are used to showcase bands and their latest releases
Live concerts and festivals represent another opportunity for bands on TV to reach a wider audience
record companies sometimes release DVDs, particularly of tours, which end up being shown on TV
A flagging career can sometimes be revived by an appearance on a reality Tv show
Tracks can sometimes gain in popularity by being used as incidental music, trailer music on adverts, sports coverage or even soaps
Soap stars often release singles and start a pop career

Thanks to www.longroadmedia.com