Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
I'm Jeff Stevens. Thanks for checking out my eighty show
(00:02):
podcast on the forty third anniversary of the birth of MTV.
Here on August first, twenty twenty four, I get to
bring back one of the most iconic vjys of all time,
Mark Goodman.
Speaker 2 (00:14):
My buddy, dude.
Speaker 1 (00:17):
It is so good to talk to you.
Speaker 2 (00:18):
How are you doing, good Man? It's good to talk
to you as well. Good while since I've been a date.
Speaker 1 (00:24):
It has been a while, and we were just actually
your ears were probably burning because we just celebrated the
twenty fifth anniversary of our Summerfest concert here, so we
were pulling up a bunch of old pictures and there
you were with Night Ranger from one of the very
first ones. It was like Summerfest three or four or something,
and we just celebrated number twenty five, and there's pictures
(00:44):
of Mark Goodman everywhere.
Speaker 2 (00:45):
Wow, what you know, wasn't I? I was out there
for rich Springfield too, wasn't I?
Speaker 1 (00:49):
Yes? Yes, And it was funny because we had Rick
and Richard Marx here this past weekend, so we had
a whole weekend of it. It was it was Night
Ranger again. It was Rick and Richard and it was
Debbie Gibson and Wilson Phillips and we did it over
three nights for the twenty fifth anniversary. So yes, you
were here a couple of times.
Speaker 2 (01:06):
Yeah, yeah, that's great. You had the Two Dicks tour,
that's great.
Speaker 1 (01:11):
I'm sure any chance you get I know, I know,
I'm sure any chance you get to you know, you
and Rick go way back, right, I mean, that's is that?
And I was going to ask you. We've got a
million things we could talk about. Is that how you
kind of did you sort of coax Rick over into
uh into serious?
Speaker 2 (01:28):
The fact is that when MTV launched August first, nineteen
eighty one, Rick Springfield was number one that week, with
Jesse's Girl Yeah and Working Class Dog also number one.
So we didn't really have a lot to do with
his early early success. We did play the hell out
(01:49):
of his videos. And I mean, as far as him
being on on Serious XM, you know, he's he's an artist,
so he wants to have his music out as many
places as he can. And I first met him in
the eighties, but I started to work with him like
twenty or twenty five years later when he started doing
He was the first artist that I know who was
(02:10):
doing cruises.
Speaker 1 (02:11):
The cruises.
Speaker 2 (02:12):
Yeah, I did Rick Springfield Cruise and I've been working
with him on those. He was doing getaways up until
last year. It was like fourteen or fifteen years that
we've been been doing that together.
Speaker 1 (02:23):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (02:24):
Oh, he's become a really really good friend.
Speaker 1 (02:26):
Well, and you know, and yes, yes, I'm on iHeartRadio. Yes,
I do enjoy your countdown every weekend on Serious XM,
just you know, hearing you and Alan and Nina just
going through and giving your tidbits and everything, and then
of course catching Rick usually before or after the countdown
is always entertaining the working class DJ. Yeah. And I
(02:51):
don't know if anybody will remember this. I don't know
if you'll remember this, but you jumped up on stage
with my band one of the weekends you were here
and you sang video. Do you remember that video? Killed
the Radio Star? And of course here we are on
the birth of MTV today. So it's it's pretty that's
pretty special, man.
Speaker 2 (03:07):
Thanks coming full circle. Yes, I just can't believe that
MTV is forty three freaking years. Oh that's that's what
I can't believe.
Speaker 1 (03:15):
I know, So So Mark, take us back to that
first day, because obviously it was kind of an experiment.
I mean, nobody knew what was going to take off.
And here you are because you were you were radio
DJ and now you're on MTV and nobody knew what
was going to happen. So can you put me back
in that headspace forty three years ago? Today?
Speaker 2 (03:33):
We uh that that first night at air twelve oh
one August first, nineteen eighty one. We had recorded that
two days before. Oh you know, it was sort of
you know, you had to it was kind of acting,
you know, we had to trump up the excitement of
what that first night would be. And it was me.
I was the first first show on MTV. And what
(03:55):
was supposed to happen was that the rocket go. We hear,
ladies and gentlemen rock and roll. John Lack, the CEO
of Warner communicator of Warner AMEX, says that we play
the Buggles video Killed the Radio Star. We go right
into Pat Benatar, you Better run. And then after that
was me and I was supposed to come on and say, hey,
(04:18):
you'll never look at music the same way again. And
I'm Mark Goodlan and we're gonna be playing music twenty
four to seven, and I'm going to introduce you to
the other VJs, so you'll be seeing here going forward.
That was what was supposed to be the first thing
after the Pat Benuitar video. We wound up happening. Was
Benuitar video ended? And what came up was and I'm
(04:41):
Alan Hunter, I should watch against DV and you'll catch me.
They completely screwed it up.
Speaker 1 (04:46):
Oh no, so were you watching it, Garden? Were you so?
Were you so mad when you were watching? Like, I
can't believe they messed that up.
Speaker 2 (04:56):
We weren't on in Manhattan, so they had to put
us on a bus and ship us across the river
to New Jersey to this stupid little restaurant and they
stuck us down in the basement. It was like a
blue hair restaurant, like where you know old people go
for the early bird specials and stuff. Yeah, and we
were down in the basement and I was, yeah, I
(05:18):
was kind of freaked out when I saw that. Bob Pittman,
who was the head of the company, he melted down. Oh,
he was completely Oh he was dumbfounded. But you know
that the technology it wasn't ready for what we needed
from it. It took a while before it caught up,
but because there was it was a human error. Yeah,
(05:39):
you know, there was a guy what we called the
uplink where all he had all the tapes, all the segments,
you know, all the videos, he had everything that he
would send up to the satellite and he just put
the wrong cart in the wrong machine.
Speaker 1 (05:50):
All that planning and then uh uh. As a person,
I really have a lot of my career to really
to thank you for because I was one of those kids,
was just sitting there just watching MTV every possible waking second,
and I would take in everything that that the VJs said.
I mean, I love the videos, but I was also
fascinated by how you guys had all the information and
(06:13):
you know, and so I just I globbed onto that
and that made me want to get into the radio
shortly after that. So I have you to thank there,
mister Goodman.
Speaker 2 (06:22):
Wow, Jeff, that kind of blows my mind. And that's
thank you. That's incredible.
Speaker 1 (06:28):
It's true. I would because I thought, you know, whether
it was you know, I know Kurt Loder ended up
doing the music news or what, but I just thought,
you guys, I could tell you loved it, you were
into it. I hung on every word you guys said,
and and it just you know, it was like and
you guys were like my friends. I'm like, I had
my crew I hung out with, you know, at school
(06:49):
and baseball team and everything else. But I felt like,
you guys are my friends, and and that really ushered
me into saying, I want to do this somehow for
the rest of my life.
Speaker 2 (06:57):
And yeah, so that's you know, that's kind of what
you know, what we The position that the VJs wound
up being in was really kind of odd in terms
of celebrity, because, yeah, we were famous, you know, we
were I used to joke that I was on the
air more than Johnny Carson in somebody's home six hours
a day, seven days a week after year. Yeah, and
(07:20):
so of course, you know, there is that kind of
you know, familiarity, but we were like there was the
rock stars, they were really famous, and then there was us,
and we were in your living room. So we were
kind of the conduit. And that meant that people felt
like we were their friend, and that meant that, you know,
(07:40):
I could be in a restaurant in the middle of
the meal and somebody would come over and start asking
me for autographs.
Speaker 1 (07:45):
Yeah, I mean, I'm just.
Speaker 2 (07:45):
About to put a spoon of soup in my mouth. Hey, Mark,
just let me have my suit please? Yeah?
Speaker 1 (07:53):
Really? And then you're like, Okay, I know what Rick
Springfield and and Simon Lebonn and I know what these
guys are going through now, because I'm sure it was happening,
you know, obviously, like you said to you guys as well. Mark, Seriously,
I could talk to you for so long, but I
know I got to let you go. I want to.
So your podcast is called Sound Up with Mark Goodman
and Alan Light and.
Speaker 2 (08:14):
If you love it's a music podcast. It's about We
had yuess, you know, new music, classic stuff. We had
Pete Townsend on already talking about the Tommy premiere. And
it's just great fun to work with Alan Light. It
was an amazing journalist and he and I did a
talk show at Serious Exam for seven years and it's
great to be able to work with an incredible journalist
(08:36):
like him.
Speaker 1 (08:37):
I really love it well and of course on Sirius
XM eighties on eight and Classic Rewind Mark, I hope
we get to see each other again sometime It was
great talking to you. A happy birthday, MTV my friend.
Speaker 2 (08:46):
Thank you, Jeff, appreciate it. Man, good to talk to
you again.
I'm Jeff Stevens. Thanks for checking out my eighty show
(00:02):
podcast on the forty third anniversary of the birth of MTV.
Here on August first, twenty twenty four, I get to
bring back one of the most iconic vjys of all time,
Mark Goodman.
Speaker 2 (00:14):
My buddy, dude.
Speaker 1 (00:17):
It is so good to talk to you.
Speaker 2 (00:18):
How are you doing, good Man? It's good to talk
to you as well. Good while since I've been a date.
Speaker 1 (00:24):
It has been a while, and we were just actually
your ears were probably burning because we just celebrated the
twenty fifth anniversary of our Summerfest concert here, so we
were pulling up a bunch of old pictures and there
you were with Night Ranger from one of the very
first ones. It was like Summerfest three or four or something,
and we just celebrated number twenty five, and there's pictures
(00:44):
of Mark Goodman everywhere.
Speaker 2 (00:45):
Wow, what you know, wasn't I? I was out there
for rich Springfield too, wasn't I?
Speaker 1 (00:49):
Yes? Yes, And it was funny because we had Rick
and Richard Marx here this past weekend, so we had
a whole weekend of it. It was it was Night
Ranger again. It was Rick and Richard and it was
Debbie Gibson and Wilson Phillips and we did it over
three nights for the twenty fifth anniversary. So yes, you
were here a couple of times.
Speaker 2 (01:06):
Yeah, yeah, that's great. You had the Two Dicks tour,
that's great.
Speaker 1 (01:11):
I'm sure any chance you get I know, I know,
I'm sure any chance you get to you know, you
and Rick go way back, right, I mean, that's is that?
And I was going to ask you. We've got a
million things we could talk about. Is that how you
kind of did you sort of coax Rick over into
uh into serious?
Speaker 2 (01:28):
The fact is that when MTV launched August first, nineteen
eighty one, Rick Springfield was number one that week, with
Jesse's Girl Yeah and Working Class Dog also number one.
So we didn't really have a lot to do with
his early early success. We did play the hell out
(01:49):
of his videos. And I mean, as far as him
being on on Serious XM, you know, he's he's an artist,
so he wants to have his music out as many
places as he can. And I first met him in
the eighties, but I started to work with him like
twenty or twenty five years later when he started doing
He was the first artist that I know who was
(02:10):
doing cruises.
Speaker 1 (02:11):
The cruises.
Speaker 2 (02:12):
Yeah, I did Rick Springfield Cruise and I've been working
with him on those. He was doing getaways up until
last year. It was like fourteen or fifteen years that
we've been been doing that together.
Speaker 1 (02:23):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (02:24):
Oh, he's become a really really good friend.
Speaker 1 (02:26):
Well, and you know, and yes, yes, I'm on iHeartRadio. Yes,
I do enjoy your countdown every weekend on Serious XM,
just you know, hearing you and Alan and Nina just
going through and giving your tidbits and everything, and then
of course catching Rick usually before or after the countdown
is always entertaining the working class DJ. Yeah. And I
(02:51):
don't know if anybody will remember this. I don't know
if you'll remember this, but you jumped up on stage
with my band one of the weekends you were here
and you sang video. Do you remember that video? Killed
the Radio Star? And of course here we are on
the birth of MTV today. So it's it's pretty that's
pretty special, man.
Speaker 2 (03:07):
Thanks coming full circle. Yes, I just can't believe that
MTV is forty three freaking years. Oh that's that's what
I can't believe.
Speaker 1 (03:15):
I know, So So Mark, take us back to that
first day, because obviously it was kind of an experiment.
I mean, nobody knew what was going to take off.
And here you are because you were you were radio
DJ and now you're on MTV and nobody knew what
was going to happen. So can you put me back
in that headspace forty three years ago? Today?
Speaker 2 (03:33):
We uh that that first night at air twelve oh
one August first, nineteen eighty one. We had recorded that
two days before. Oh you know, it was sort of
you know, you had to it was kind of acting,
you know, we had to trump up the excitement of
what that first night would be. And it was me.
I was the first first show on MTV. And what
(03:55):
was supposed to happen was that the rocket go. We hear,
ladies and gentlemen rock and roll. John Lack, the CEO
of Warner communicator of Warner AMEX, says that we play
the Buggles video Killed the Radio Star. We go right
into Pat Benatar, you Better run. And then after that
was me and I was supposed to come on and say, hey,
(04:18):
you'll never look at music the same way again. And
I'm Mark Goodlan and we're gonna be playing music twenty
four to seven, and I'm going to introduce you to
the other VJs, so you'll be seeing here going forward.
That was what was supposed to be the first thing
after the Pat Benuitar video. We wound up happening. Was
Benuitar video ended? And what came up was and I'm
(04:41):
Alan Hunter, I should watch against DV and you'll catch me.
They completely screwed it up.
Speaker 1 (04:46):
Oh no, so were you watching it, Garden? Were you so?
Were you so mad when you were watching? Like, I
can't believe they messed that up.
Speaker 2 (04:56):
We weren't on in Manhattan, so they had to put
us on a bus and ship us across the river
to New Jersey to this stupid little restaurant and they
stuck us down in the basement. It was like a
blue hair restaurant, like where you know old people go
for the early bird specials and stuff. Yeah, and we
were down in the basement and I was, yeah, I
(05:18):
was kind of freaked out when I saw that. Bob Pittman,
who was the head of the company, he melted down. Oh,
he was completely Oh he was dumbfounded. But you know
that the technology it wasn't ready for what we needed
from it. It took a while before it caught up,
but because there was it was a human error. Yeah,
(05:39):
you know, there was a guy what we called the
uplink where all he had all the tapes, all the segments,
you know, all the videos, he had everything that he
would send up to the satellite and he just put
the wrong cart in the wrong machine.
Speaker 1 (05:50):
All that planning and then uh uh. As a person,
I really have a lot of my career to really
to thank you for because I was one of those kids,
was just sitting there just watching MTV every possible waking second,
and I would take in everything that that the VJs said.
I mean, I love the videos, but I was also
fascinated by how you guys had all the information and
(06:13):
you know, and so I just I globbed onto that
and that made me want to get into the radio
shortly after that. So I have you to thank there,
mister Goodman.
Speaker 2 (06:22):
Wow, Jeff, that kind of blows my mind. And that's
thank you. That's incredible.
Speaker 1 (06:28):
It's true. I would because I thought, you know, whether
it was you know, I know Kurt Loder ended up
doing the music news or what, but I just thought,
you guys, I could tell you loved it, you were
into it. I hung on every word you guys said,
and and it just you know, it was like and
you guys were like my friends. I'm like, I had
my crew I hung out with, you know, at school
(06:49):
and baseball team and everything else. But I felt like,
you guys are my friends, and and that really ushered
me into saying, I want to do this somehow for
the rest of my life.
Speaker 2 (06:57):
And yeah, so that's you know, that's kind of what
you know, what we The position that the VJs wound
up being in was really kind of odd in terms
of celebrity, because, yeah, we were famous, you know, we
were I used to joke that I was on the
air more than Johnny Carson in somebody's home six hours
a day, seven days a week after year. Yeah, and
(07:20):
so of course, you know, there is that kind of
you know, familiarity, but we were like there was the
rock stars, they were really famous, and then there was us,
and we were in your living room. So we were
kind of the conduit. And that meant that people felt
like we were their friend, and that meant that, you know,
(07:40):
I could be in a restaurant in the middle of
the meal and somebody would come over and start asking
me for autographs.
Speaker 1 (07:45):
Yeah, I mean, I'm just.
Speaker 2 (07:45):
About to put a spoon of soup in my mouth. Hey, Mark,
just let me have my suit please? Yeah?
Speaker 1 (07:53):
Really? And then you're like, Okay, I know what Rick
Springfield and and Simon Lebonn and I know what these
guys are going through now, because I'm sure it was happening,
you know, obviously, like you said to you guys as well. Mark, Seriously,
I could talk to you for so long, but I
know I got to let you go. I want to.
So your podcast is called Sound Up with Mark Goodman
and Alan Light and.
Speaker 2 (08:14):
If you love it's a music podcast. It's about We
had yuess, you know, new music, classic stuff. We had
Pete Townsend on already talking about the Tommy premiere. And
it's just great fun to work with Alan Light. It
was an amazing journalist and he and I did a
talk show at Serious Exam for seven years and it's
great to be able to work with an incredible journalist
(08:36):
like him.
Speaker 1 (08:37):
I really love it well and of course on Sirius
XM eighties on eight and Classic Rewind Mark, I hope
we get to see each other again sometime It was
great talking to you. A happy birthday, MTV my friend.
Speaker 2 (08:46):
Thank you, Jeff, appreciate it. Man, good to talk to
you again.
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