Dropping in at CBS-FM in New York City this week, former MTV VJ, actor, and now podcast host Dave Holmes joined Race Taylor to discuss the history and impact of the (in)famous network, as well as its rise and fall as detailed in his new 8-part Audacy Podcasts original series Who Killed the Video Star? The Story of MTV.

Dave Holmes got started at MTV in 1998 and was with the network until right around 2002. “I got there just at the tail end of the post-Nirvana Alternative moment and right at the dawn of the boy bands and the Britneys and Christinas,” he explains. For a bit more perspective, he adds, “I was in the middle of Times Square as we counted down to Y2K!”

During those simpler times, Holmes remembers moving into the studios in Times Square NYC just as the network was elbowing in on Dick Clark’s New Year’s duties in the Big Apple. “They were a lot of fun,” Dave says of those celebrations, “because we were overlooking all of the craziness, and we could get into and out of the crowds with ease, which was really nice. I still don't understand people who go and just stand there all day.”

Although that famous window made iconic by so many Total Request Live tapings has now gone, and in its place an anime plushie store of some sort, Race admits he still finds himself bringing family past it whenever they’re in town.

Discussing the driving force behind his new 8-part podcast series, Dave admits, “It's a thing that I get asked about a lot, having been at MTV. It is now, like many linear cable channels, kind of just something that shows a lot of reruns and acquired movies... But, when it happens to Ovation or whatever, which was a great station, people aren't as emotionally wounded. When it happens to MTV, people are like, ‘it's my youth, it's being slaughtered in front of my eyes.’ So, people ask me a lot about what happened.”

Holmes continues, “A journalist by the name of Jim Weber kind of just hit me up out of the blue and, he too was thinking about what happened with the arc of MTV and of cable TV in general and asked if I wanted to collaborate on something. It’s a story not only of this one network, but also sort of what the Internet and what our changing habits have done to the media world.”

As Race points out, what can sometimes also be overlooked is the major impact that MTV had on music and culture and the cable television business in general, with MTV paving the way for LGBTQ+ characters for example. “Culturally MTV was like a seismic event when it happened,” Dave agrees. “It was originally supposed to be sort of a Rock radio station for TV, but the more interesting artists were the pop groups out of the U.K., who were really visually more exciting than like a 38 Special or REO Speedwagon at the time. So you got Culture Club and you got Yaz and Frankie Goes To Hollywood and all of these artists who were visually interesting in making great music and openly not straight, which was revolutionary.”

Of course, by creating reality TV with The Real World, he adds, “they introduced the world to real LGBT people. For that reason, it was massive, but also just the way that it changed fashion and American politics and exposed midwestern kids like myself to art at a critical moment, it was huge.”

It's also an interesting look back at when everything wasn't On-Demand, Race points out. “If you knew your favorite band was going to do ‘MTV Unplugged’ and you weren't locked in to see those iconic performances from[Eric] Clapton‘Tears in Heaven,’ to Bon Jovi and ‘Wanted Dead or Alive,’ or[Bob] Dylan, or Natalie Merchant, or whoever -- you missed it,” he says.

“Yeah, there's no DVR even,” says Holmes. “If you weren't there at nine o'clock on a Thursday or whatever it was, you would miss the show that you wanted to see. It was a very different… I feel like I'm talking like my parents did about the Victrola or whatever. It's such a different world.”

“Even those of us who lived it now live in this new world so completely that we take it for granted,” he adds. “The story of MTV is not really a rise and fall because it does still exist -- MTV Entertainment does still exist. The linear cable channel does still exist and they all still are profitable and all that, but MTV Entertainment has pivoted to making stuff for other networks: ‘Yellowstone’ and ‘Emily in Paris,’ things like that.

Though Dave is no stranger to the podcast format, “this particular one, this is unusual,” he admits. “There were a lot of people that we wanted to talk to -- it's such an interesting story and there's so much to pack into eight episodes. So, we've been on this for a couple of years now. More and more people that I wanted to talk to kept popping up and we were very lucky that just about everybody said ‘yes.’ I got to talk to a lot of old executives who are like superstars to me, people like Doug Herzog and a woman named Sally Frattini. I got to talk to Gary Kemp of Spandau Ballet who got to watch his whole fortunes change when there was suddenly this network playing their videos.”

Also making appearances as guests are former hosts like Downtown Julie Brown and Kevin Seal, “VJs from the ‘80s who I grew up loving… that accent,” he explains. “I got to talk to a lot of my contemporaries and friends; Damien Fahey, Gideon Yago, SuChin Pak, and Chris Connelly, who was like my mentor. He doesn't know this, but he's my mentor.”

Without spoiling the ending, Holmes touches on the current state of MTV and all of its “ridiculousness,” explaining, “Well, that's what's on. I bet you if you turn on MTV right now, ‘Ridiculousness’ is on, it's gonna be a marathon,” he says of the seemingly 24-7 Rob Dyrdek that the station now airs.

“We're living in a ridiculousness marathon,” Dave adds. “It's on hundreds of times a week, literally, and it's because it's a show that they can do eight a day and be out by mid-afternoon. They've got it down to such a science. The skate fail videos keep coming in. So, MTV has done what a lot of cable channels have done where they've just cut costs to a point where it's like, ‘We know this will do well enough,’ and it may not change the culture but it keeps the linear channel afloat.”

Expounding on the recipe first doled out to audiences by Bob Saget and Tom Bergeron on America’s Funniest Home Videos comes straight from the brain of skateboarding entrepreneur and host, Rob Dyrdek, whose Ridiculousness is detailed fully, Holmes says, towards the end of the podcast series. “We get deep into it later in the season, how that show came about and the incredible episode order that they just got, which will blow your mind.”

“There's a lot to get to before we leave and there are a lot of answers to the question, Who killed the video star? It is culture and it is our own consumption habits, and it's the Internet, Dave says. “it's a lot, it's a lot of different things.”

Finally, with decades worth of artist interviews now floating endlessly in the ether, Race wonders, what is to become of the archives? “A lot of the early MTV stuff got taped over because they just never imagined in a million years that anyone would ever want to watch it again,” Holms says. “It was a way to cut costs even back then… before the digital area era, once I was there, there were better ways to hold on to that stuff. But I don't know where it is. I would love to have a password to the server that it all lives on! I would watch the hell out of some old MTV and VH1 archives.”

Don’t miss Race Taylor’s full discussion with Dave Holmes above -- plus, download the free Audacy app and follow along with Who Killed the Video Star? The Story of MTV -- now streaming.

Words by Joe Cingrana Interview by Race Taylor

Dropping in at CBS-FM in New York City this week, former MTV VJ, actor, and now podcast host Dave Holmes joined Race Taylor to discuss the history and impact of the (in)famous network, as well as its rise and fall as detailed in his new 8-part Audacy Podcasts original series Who Killed the Video Star? The Story of MTV.
Dave Holmes got started at MTV in 1998 and was with the network until right around 2002. “I got there just at the tail end of the post-Nirvana Alternative moment and right at the dawn of the boy bands and the Britneys and Christinas,” he explains. For a bit more perspective, he adds, “I was in the middle of Times Square as we counted down to Y2K!”
During those simpler times, Holmes remembers moving into the studios in Times Square NYC just as the network was elbowing in on Dick Clark’s New Year’s duties in the Big Apple. “They were a lot of fun,” Dave says of those celebrations, “because we were overlooking all of the craziness, and we could get into and out of the crowds with ease, which was really nice. I still don't understand people who go and just stand there all day.”
Although that famous window made iconic by so many Total Request Live tapings has now gone, and in its place an anime plushie store of some sort, Race admits he still finds himself bringing family past it whenever they’re in town.
Discussing the driving force behind his new 8-part podcast series, Dave admits, “It's a thing that I get asked about a lot, having been at MTV. It is now, like many linear cable channels, kind of just something that shows a lot of reruns and acquired movies... But, when it happens to Ovation or whatever, which was a great station, people aren't as emotionally wounded. When it happens to MTV, people are like, ‘it's my youth, it's being slaughtered in front of my eyes.’ So, people ask me a lot about what happened.”
Holmes continues, “A journalist by the name of Jim Weber kind of just hit me up out of the blue and, he too was thinking about what happened with the arc of MTV and of cable TV in general and asked if I wanted to collaborate on something. It’s a story not only of this one network, but also sort of what the Internet and what our changing habits have done to the media world.”
As Race points out, what can sometimes also be overlooked is the major impact that MTV had on music and culture and the cable television business in general, with MTV paving the way for LGBTQ+ characters for example. “Culturally MTV was like a seismic event when it happened,” Dave agrees. “It was originally supposed to be sort of a Rock radio station for TV, but the more interesting artists were the pop groups out of the U.K., who were really visually more exciting than like a 38 Special or REO Speedwagon at the time. So you got Culture Club and you got Yaz and Frankie Goes To Hollywood and all of these artists who were visually interesting in making great music and openly not straight, which was revolutionary.”
Of course, by creating reality TV with The Real World, he adds, “they introduced the world to real LGBT people. For that reason, it was massive, but also just the way that it changed fashion and American politics and exposed midwestern kids like myself to art at a critical moment, it was huge.”
It's also an interesting look back at when everything wasn't On-Demand, Race points out. “If you knew your favorite band was going to do ‘MTV Unplugged’ and you weren't locked in to see those iconic performances from [Eric] Clapton ‘Tears in Heaven,’ to Bon Jovi and ‘Wanted Dead or Alive,’ or [Bob] Dylan, or Natalie Merchant, or whoever -- you missed it,” he says.
“Yeah, there's no DVR even,” says Holmes. “If you weren't there at nine o'clock on a Thursday or whatever it was, you would miss the show that you wanted to see. It was a very different… I feel like I'm talking like my parents did about the Victrola or whatever. It's such a different world.”
“Even those of us who lived it now live in this new world so completely that we take it for granted,” he adds. “The story of MTV is not really a rise and fall because it does still exist -- MTV Entertainment does still exist. The linear cable channel does still exist and they all still are profitable and all that, but MTV Entertainment has pivoted to making stuff for other networks: ‘Yellowstone’ and ‘Emily in Paris,’ things like that.
Though Dave is no stranger to the podcast format, “this particular one, this is unusual,” he admits. “There were a lot of people that we wanted to talk to -- it's such an interesting story and there's so much to pack into eight episodes. So, we've been on this for a couple of years now. More and more people that I wanted to talk to kept popping up and we were very lucky that just about everybody said ‘yes.’ I got to talk to a lot of old executives who are like superstars to me, people like Doug Herzog and a woman named Sally Frattini. I got to talk to Gary Kemp of Spandau Ballet who got to watch his whole fortunes change when there was suddenly this network playing their videos.”
Also making appearances as guests are former hosts like Downtown Julie Brown and Kevin Seal, “VJs from the ‘80s who I grew up loving… that accent,” he explains. “I got to talk to a lot of my contemporaries and friends; Damien Fahey, Gideon Yago, SuChin Pak, and Chris Connelly, who was like my mentor. He doesn't know this, but he's my mentor.”
Without spoiling the ending, Holmes touches on the current state of MTV and all of its “ridiculousness,” explaining, “Well, that's what's on. I bet you if you turn on MTV right now, ‘Ridiculousness’ is on, it's gonna be a marathon,” he says of the seemingly 24-7 Rob Dyrdek that the station now airs.
“We're living in a ridiculousness marathon,” Dave adds. “It's on hundreds of times a week, literally, and it's because it's a show that they can do eight a day and be out by mid-afternoon. They've got it down to such a science. The skate fail videos keep coming in. So, MTV has done what a lot of cable channels have done where they've just cut costs to a point where it's like, ‘We know this will do well enough,’ and it may not change the culture but it keeps the linear channel afloat.”
Expounding on the recipe first doled out to audiences by Bob Saget and Tom Bergeron on America’s Funniest Home Videos comes straight from the brain of skateboarding entrepreneur and host, Rob Dyrdek, whose Ridiculousness is detailed fully, Holmes says, towards the end of the podcast series. “We get deep into it later in the season, how that show came about and the incredible episode order that they just got, which will blow your mind.”
“There's a lot to get to before we leave and there are a lot of answers to the question, Who killed the video star? It is culture and it is our own consumption habits, and it's the Internet, Dave says. “it's a lot, it's a lot of different things.”
Finally, with decades worth of artist interviews now floating endlessly in the ether, Race wonders, what is to become of the archives? “A lot of the early MTV stuff got taped over because they just never imagined in a million years that anyone would ever want to watch it again,” Holms says. “It was a way to cut costs even back then… before the digital area era, once I was there, there were better ways to hold on to that stuff. But I don't know where it is. I would love to have a password to the server that it all lives on! I would watch the hell out of some old MTV and VH1 archives.”
Don’t miss Race Taylor’s full discussion with Dave Holmes above -- plus, download the free Audacy app and follow along with Who Killed the Video Star? The Story of MTV -- <a href="https://www.audacy.com/podcast/who-killed-the-video-star-the-story-of-mtv-8568e">now streaming</a>.
Words by Joe Cingrana Interview by Race Taylor

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