Remembering When NBC Presented Its Own Alternative to MTV in 1983

If you didn’t live through the 80s but have read about MTV’s dominance in that era, you might not realize that the network wasn’t the be-all, end-all for music videos. The clips were such a phenomenon in the era that others tried to get in on the act. One of the most notable efforts came from a major television network. Friday Night Videos, debuting in 1983 on NBC, broadcast music videos all over the country, albeit in the wee hours of the night.

Alternatives to the Big Dog

MTV debuted in August 1981. While it certainly made an impact right off the bat, it was on precious few cable systems in the beginning. Little by little, with the help of the “I Want My MTV” campaign, it started to work its way across the country.

That took a bit. In the meantime, other cable channels tried to get in on the act. HBO had Video Jukebox. But that was pay cable, meaning that the exposure was somewhat limited. The USA Network showed videos on a show called Night Flight, but that was more of an all-encompassing variety show.

As for network television, videos took a while to make their ingress. It took an executive who had experience in both music on television and late night to combine the two. That’s how Friday Night Videos was born.

Late-Night Rock

Dick Ebersol had worked on the long-running late-night NBC show Midnight Special, which featured top acts from around the world performing their hits on stage. Ebersol was in charge of NBC‘s Saturday Night Live in 1983 during Lorne Michaels’ hiatus from the show, meaning that he had plenty of clout.

He decided another music show to fill the late-night hours on Friday nights on NBC was the way to go. Friday Night Videos made its debut on July 29, 1983, at 12:30 AM ET (which technically made it Saturday night, but we digress). The show, in its earliest incarnation, ran for 90 minutes.

The format was simple. Off-screen announcers would briefly set up the videos, and top music acts would pop on for a quick promo or interview. But aside from that, it would just be video after video. One innovation was the “Video Vote,” which would pit two videos against one another. Fans decided the outcome via call-in votes.

Hosts with the Most

Friday Night Videos changed its format a bit in 1985 when they started including on-camera hosts. Many hosts were stars of NBC shows, allowing for in-house promotion. But top artists, including Madonna and Ozzy Osbourne, also hosted the show.

One area where Friday Night Videos outdid MTV was in their willingness to play something other than rock videos. By the middle of the decade, however, most cable systems had MTV as part of their lineups, making the NBC show somewhat superfluous.

With very little fanfare, the show that began as Friday Night Videos lasted all the way to 2002, although videos stopped being the focus long before that. Nonetheless, for a few short years, the show brought the newest sensation in music to many people who had no other way of experiencing it.

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