V-66 the Beat of Boston (doc. teaser trailer)

[raccoonradio]

I know V66 was a TV station but hopefully this post will stay in Boston radio because the people in
this video are best known from radio: the Woo, Dale Dorman, John Garabedian, Sunny Joe White, David O'Leary, etc

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eqouGVGNdtg
Forthcoming documentary on 80s music video TV station (active in the local music scene!).

 

[jacobr]

very cool. thanks for the heads up!

 

[oldface]

I wonder what Perry Stone is doing now a days? Wasn't he also a DJ on WHTT?

 

[LA_Guy]

The V (and others) got killed by MTV....

MTV (the big dog at the time) cut a deal with the record labels that said they had EXCLUSIVE use of videos-they could NOT be played on ANY OTHER program or station that ran over six hours a day of rock videos. That killed V-66, U-68 (New York) and all the others.

Within a few months, over the air rock TV stations were all gone....

 

[ZRXOA 5248]

well V-66 was John Garabedian's baby, I remember his last show on WBCN as he left to put V-66 on the air. He took a lot of BCN staff with him, Tank, David O'Leary are 2 that I remember right off the top of my head.

 

[Oldbones]

They produced at least a few custom videos too. One that stands out was "We Built This City" by Starship...instead of using the (lame) record company video they produced their own with lots of local clips & photos. I also remember a different version of Dire Straits' "Walk Of Life" than what MTV showed. The V-66 version was clearly produced by the band, as it had Mark Knopfler playing guitar in a subway tunnel. The version MTV aired had nothing to do with the song. IIRC it was just clips of football players. Never got the point of that.

 

[Retro]

V-66 also competed by playing a real lot of local artists as well, that was a real plus too!

 

[BearFur]

I also remember a different version of Dire Straits' "Walk Of Life" than what MTV showed. The V-66 version was clearly produced by the band, as it had Mark Knopfler playing guitar in a subway tunnel. The version MTV aired had nothing to do with the song.

As soon as I saw the title of this thread, that video popped into my dead. Did Knopfler himself change it from "I want my MTV" to "I want my VJV" or was it done locally?

 

[radiorama1]

They produced at least a few custom videos too. One that stands out was "We Built This City" by Starship...instead of using the (lame) record company video they produced their own with lots of local clips & photos. I also remember a different version of Dire Straits' "Walk Of Life" than what MTV showed. The V-66 version was clearly produced by the band, as it had Mark Knopfler playing guitar in a subway tunnel. The version MTV aired had nothing to do with the song. IIRC it was just clips of football players. Never got the point of that.

Also... In addition to the Starship video... does anyone on the forum remember the custom mixes of "We Built This City" that a couple of area Boston RADIO stations had back in the day... Instead of the corny 80's sounding DJ that yaps over the bridge "Lookin' out on another gorgeous sunny Saturday and I'm seeing that bumper to bumper traffic"... the stations had their own DJ's on the track... I would like to say that the stations were WHTT with Alex Stone something about "You've got Alex Stone playing Boston's hottest hits right here on HIT RADIO 103.3 WHTT" and also I believe Kiss 108 was playing their own version with I'd like to say Uncle Dale and Sunny Joe? Man I sure wish I had an aircheck of those!

 

[radiorama1]

Also: IIRC I believe that Doug Alling was also on the HTT version...

 

[jimcutler]

I'm a John Garabedian fan. He's a smart business guy who created V66 from nothing. It had it's own vibe, and it was new and basically uncharted ground for a local company to exist doing that. I remember getting the prospectus for investors early on and the business plan called for selling after a few years of operation. But it's been 22 years now so (I'd have to dig it out). I still think of that building out on the Pike as the V66 building. I got a great tour of V66 and later of his home airport, planes and hanger and the studio for open house party. You gotta admire someone who makes things like that. I really dig people like that. Very few people have the balls and the skill. Perry Stone worked at ZOU doing nights and was a great guy. V66 morning guy Bill Stevens worked with me at EEI for a while and is very much into NASCAR broadcasting. Last I heard he was still doing Nascar from ESPN TV. Marc Mitchell voiced the DJ break inside of We Built This City for ZOU. Can't wait to see the V66 docu. Because of the V66 teaser trailer on YouTube I found myself looking up all the V66 era videos: 10-9-8 by Face to Face, Doin' the Countdown by the Drive, Aerosmith was just re-emerging (Tyler said he was quote "pregnant with a million new songs"). So many great Boston bands. I never knew Arnie G personally and don't want to leave out his contribution. This is fun.

 

[Retro]

I only remember WZOU having a version.

 

[chitchatjf]

My big questions are:

1)Why did he sell out to Home shopping so soon?

2) After he did why didnt he just grab some radio station to do this format (A Hybrid blend of Top 40/Urban and album rock)

 

[Eli Polonsky]

My big questions are:

1)Why did he sell out to Home shopping so soon?

Probably a combination of the fact that MTV (which was still playing music videos then) was making it difficult for him to obtain videos by putting artists/labels on exclusive contracts for their videos, and that Home Shopping offered him a lot of money for the station.

2) After he did why didnt he just grab some radio station to do this format (A Hybrid blend of Top 40/Urban and album rock)

Radio formats were already becoming very compartmentalized by then, so that probably wouldn't have worked. With so many music stations on the dial by the mid-'80s, you had your rock stations, your Top 40 stations, your (somewhat) urban and/or dance stations back then, etc... and most listeners were looking for their favorite format and genre, not a hybrid/mix.

V-66 was the ONLY terrestrial on-the-airwaves music TV station in the area, so it could present a cross-section of styles. People didn't mind watching multiple genres when it was the ONLY music video station on the air. There was no competition for music video unless you subscribed to cable to watch MTV.

John H. is currently putting out a wide variety of music formats and mix formats on his syndication/subscription service "SuperRadio" from out of his home studios. I don't think any of the programming is heard on the radio around here, but I'm sure he's doing well with it, and having a good time. He always seemed to.

 

[radiorama1]

I only remember WZOU having a version.

Ah, I must have confused the ZOU version with somehow being on Kiss 108... thanks to you, and to Jim for clearing that up...

I still think there might have been a "copy cat" version on WHTT though...

 

[chitchatjf]

My big questions are:

1)Why did he sell out to Home shopping so soon?

Probably a combination of the fact that MTV (which was still playing music videos then) was making it difficult for him to obtain videos by putting artists/labels on exclusive contracts for their videos, and that Home Shopping offered him a lot of money for the station.

I think they aired a few video shows with those exclusive clips so they could sneak them into the library. OTOH I think there were a few MTV syndicated shows where Ch 66 served as the Boston affiliate. One of the local clips "Out of Touch" was offered airplay ON MTV and the band turned it down.

Had he stuck it out,I think you still would have seen all videos into the early 90s with some youth based syndicated fare being tossed in. I think it could conceivably still be around today ,perhaps even with an HD signal.

2) After he did why didnt he just grab some radio station to do this format (A Hybrid blend of Top 40/Urban and album rock)

Radio formats were already becoming very compartmentalized by then, so that probably wouldn't have worked. With so many music stations on the dial by the mid-'80s, you had your rock stations, your Top 40 stations, your (somewhat) urban and/or dance stations back then, etc... and most listeners were looking for their favorite format and genre, not a hybrid/mix.

V-66 was the ONLY terrestrial on-the-airwaves music TV station in the area, so it could present a cross-section of styles. People didn't mind watching multiple genres when it was the ONLY music video station on the air. There was no competition for music video unless you subscribed to cable to watch MTV.

John H. is currently putting out a wide variety of music formats and mix formats on his syndication/subscription service "SuperRadio" from out of his home studios. I don't think any of the programming is heard on the radio around here, but I'm sure he's doing well with it, and having a good time. He always seemed to.

At least it would had been good to at least TRY it out on a station We will unfortunately never know.

 

[Retro]

The MTV exclusives were only for a month, but there was an anti-trust lawsuit filed by other stations though because of it. I heard a rumor reported in Billboard magazine that some labels were holding out on videos as long as 6 months, that makes no sense to me at all.

Also, from the best that I understood, V-66 wasn't able to turn a profit at all, which was the main reason for selling as well.

 

[Retro]

BTW, Super Radio's "Open House Party" last I knew was still being aired Saturday nights on Kiss 108.

 

[raccoonradio]

SupeRadio syndicated Howie Carr for awhile.

When up in Burlington VT I was taping some WXXX, a CHR station, for a tape trader and I stumbled
upon Open House Party and heard him.

 

[Oldbones]

John H. is currently putting out a wide variety of music formats and mix formats on his syndication/subscription service "SuperRadio" from out of his home studios. I don't think any of the programming is heard on the radio around here, but I'm sure he's doing well with it, and having a good time. He always seemed to.

Didn't he sell SuperRadio several years ago?