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VH1 (spelled VH-1 (Video Hits One) until 1994) is an American cable television channel that was created in January 1985 by Warner-Amex Satellite Entertainment (at the time a division of Warner Communications and owners of MTV, which originally came up with the idea of the channel). It and sister channel MTV are currently part of the MTV Networks division of Viacom.

With then four-year-old MTVs popularity rising drastically among teens, VH1 began with the intention to capitalize off of the success of the music video. However, VH1's aim was to focus on the lighter, softer side of popular music, including such musicians as Elton John, Sting, Diana Ross, Kenny G, and Anita Baker, in hopes of appealing to people between the ages of 18 and 35, and possibly older. It has also historically played more adult R&B than its sister channel.

While VH1 still occasionally plays videos and has "video countdown shows", its more recent claim to fame has been much like that of MTV's, in the area of music-related reality programming, such as the signature show Behind the Music, and its focus on pop culture.

Early history

Early years and "Music First" branding

From the start, Video Hits One was branded as an urbane version of its sister/parent channel. It played more jazz and country artists than MTV and had a higher rotation of urban-contemporary performers. Its early on-camera personalities were New York radio veterans Don Imus (of WNBC and now WFAN); Frankie Crocker, program director and DJ for WBLS; and Tim Byrd of WPIX-FM (now WQCD), a station whose eclectic ballad-and-R&B oriented format mirrored that of VH-1. Not long after launch, additional veejays Scott Shannon (of Z100) and Alison Steele ("The Nightbird" of WNEW-FM) were added and Byrd left. Non-radio performers Jon Bauman ("Bowzer" from Sha Na Na), Rita Coolidge and Rosie O'Donnell later joined the outlet's veejay lineup.

The format left room for occasional ad-libs by the VJ, a godsend for emcees such as Imus and O'Donnell. In true Imus style, he used a 1985 segment of his VH-1 show to jokingly call smooth-jazz icon Sade Adu a "grape" for her oval-shaped head.

Typical of VH1's early programming was New Visions, a series which featured videos and in-studio performances by smooth jazz and New Age bands and performers, including Spyro Gyra, Andy Narell, Mark Isham and Yanni. At first, various musicians guest-hosted the program, but eventually musician/songwriter Ben Sidran established himself as permanent host.

VH1 catered to adult top 40, including musicians such as Ace of Base, Melissa Etheridge, Sheryl Crow, and other slightly more rock-oriented popular music than what it had originally played, though AC favorites such as Des'ree, Elton John, Madonna, Céline Dion, and Mariah Carey still received heavy video play in 1994, as well.

By 1996, VH1 was heading down the same path as its sister station, MTV, choosing to focus more on music-related shows than on music videos. Old episodes of American Bandstand could regularly be seen on the channel. By that time, the channel's ratings were beginning to fall. As a result, the channel began to lose money, verging on the brink of bankruptcy.

Pop-Up Video

Things changed very drastically for VH1 in the fall of 1996, with the premiere of Pop-Up Video, a very successful and popular show which offered tidbits of information as music videos were being played.

"Pop-Up" television has gone on to become something of a cultural phenomenon, appearing on episodes of Sabrina, the Teenage Witch, The Drew Carey Show, Brady Bunch reruns on sister Viacom channel Nick at Nite, and even a special episode of Who Wants to Be a Millionaire.

Behind the Music

In August 1997, VH1 again hit it big with the premiere of the first of the network's flagship shows, Behind the Music. The show features interviews and biographies of some of popular music's biggest stars qualified to be profiled on the series. The premiere episode featured Milli Vanilli. To date, there are episodes on everyone from Queen to Queen Latifah to MC Hammer to Fleetwood Mac to TLC to "Weird Al" Yankovic to Britney Spears, with more episodes being produced sporadically.

Legends

Shortly after, VH1 created a companion series, Legends (originally sponsored by AT&T), profiling artists who have made a more significant contribution to music history to qualify as "Legends" (that is, those artists who do not fit in the category of Behind the Music biographies). The artists profiled so far have included The Bee Gees, Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young, The Doors, Eric Clapton, Jimi Hendrix, Johnny Cash, Marvin Gaye, Neil Young, Pink Floyd, Queen, and U2

VH1 Divas

In 1998, VH1 debuted the first annual VH1 Divas concert and featured the "divas" Céline Dion, Aretha Franklin, Shania Twain, Mariah Carey, and Gloria Estefan, and the "special guest" Carole King. This show is notable in that VH1 stated sometime afterwards that singer Mariah Carey demanded to be filmed from only one side of her face at all times. As the show was being shot, they purposely filmed her from all sides and then made light of her demand on an episode of it's popular program "Pop Up Video". The caption jokingly stated that Carey needs to be filmed from the right side only, whereas the beautiful Twain can be filmed from any side. The show was a success and other hugely successful shows were produced in the following years featuring "divas" Whitney Houston, Cher, Donna Summer, LeAnn Rimes, Mary J. Blige, Diana Ross, Shakira, Joss Stone, and Faith Hill. Elton John was also featured as a "divo" in one concert.

Late 1990s to 2003

In the late 1990s, VH1 continued to get more diverse and teen-based with its music selection, and with that, the network updated its 1994 "Big 1" logo. Various late-night rock shows have been shown on VH1, featuring alternative rock and metal videos from the 1980s and 1990s. VH1 eventually warmed up to harder rock acts such as the Red Hot Chili Peppers, the Foo Fighters, and Metallica, and their new videos are generally added into VH1's playlist right away.

By the early 2000s, VH1 even began to play mainstream rap musicians. The latest videos by Eminem, Jay-Z, Snoop Dogg, and Missy Elliott began to be shown in VH1's rotation and even started to crop up on VH1's top 20 countdown, as of late 2002.

Save the Music Foundation

During its "Music First" days, VH1 was involved in a foundation that served to preserve and enhance music education programs in local schools. The VH1 Save the Music foundation was established in 1997 and purchased new musical instruments to restore music education programs that have been cut due to budget reductions in the past or to save programs at risk of elimination due to lack of instruments. The Foundation also conducted awareness campaigns, musical instrument drives and fundraising events. It still exists as of 2005, but with a much lower profile.

Music behind bars

VH1 endured criticism for having a show that focuses on musicians who are in jail. Critics thought that prisoners, mainly those convicted of murder, should not be entitled to any exposure. *

Movies that rock

In 1999, VH1 aired its first original movie, a bio-pic on Sweetwater. Over the next three years, they made over a dozen movies, including bio-pics on Ricky Nelson, M.C. Hammer, The Monkees, Meat Loaf and Def Leppard.

After 2003

In 2003, the network changed its focus again, dropping "Music First" from its name, and introducing their new and current box logo, which can be viewed at the top. Having saturated its Behind The Music series (and spinoff BTM2, a 30-minute version that told the stories of current chart-toppers) and gotten past the point of showing music videos on a regular basis, the network began to target the pop culture nostalgia market just like its sister MTV. The network started increasing the number of reality shows. Today, they include shows like Flavor of Love, the Surreal Life and Hogans Knows Best. VH1, once the serious face of music, has joined other networks in what is believed to be successful reality show programs that features beautiful women and, naturally, attract more viewers.

The World Series of Pop Culture

Between April 29 - 30, 2006, The World Series of Pop Culture, a VH1 game show tournament program, based on Entertainment Weekly's Pop Culture Quiz was taped at the Ziegfeld Theater in New York City. Sixteen teams, comprised of three people each, compete in a tournament to determine which team, collectively, knows the most about elements of popular culture. A wide range of topics are covered such as movies, music, TV and other miscellaneous pop culture. The top prize is $250,000. The show began airing July 10, 2006 and is slated for eight episodes. The MC is Pat Kiernan, morning anchor of NY1 News.

I Love the 70s, 80s, 90s

The shift began in late 2002, with the success of the I Love the 80s 10-part series. This spawned I Love the 70s in 2003, thought to be based on the BBC 2000 series of the same name *. Eventually, VH1 caught lightning in a bottle several times more with I Love the 80s Strikes Back, I Love the 90s, and Part Deux. Recently, VH1 premiered I Love the 80s 3-D, the third edition of I Love the 80s, which profiles more happenings from the 1980s, and I Love the Holidays, a 90 minute special which focuses on holidays, such as Halloween, Thanksgiving, Hanukkah, Christmas, and New Year's Day. The format (various entertainers giving their takes or opinions on popular culture) has been repeated for the weekly program Best Week Ever. VH1 has just introduced a new show to the line-up, called I Love Toys, which counts down the 100 best toys ever created. I Love the '70s Volume II is to begin another 10-part series starting July 10th, 2006.

The Greatest series

VH1 also produces its "The Greatest" series, in which a similar format is used to count down lists like "The 50 Sexiest Video Moments", "100 Greatest Songs of Rock 'N' Roll", "100 Greatest Songs from the Past 25 Years", and "100 Greatest Kid Stars". In 2001, Mark McGrath hosted VH1's miniseries "100 Most Shocking Moments in Rock 'N' Roll", which compiled a list of the moments in music history that changed its course and shook its foundations. The network also has a list of the "Awesomely Bad Songs" that made the artists' singles the worst. Different themes in this format include "50 Most Awesomely Bad Songs", "40 Most Awesomely Bad No. 1 Songs", "40 Most Awesomely Bad Dirty Songs", "40 Most Awesomely Bad Metal Songs", "40 Most Awesomely Bad Love Songs", "40 Most Awesomely Bad Breakup Songs" and "20 Most Awesomely Bad Songs of 2004".

CelebReality

VH1 also touts its "CelebReality" programming block of reality shows featuring minor celebrities, anchored by The Surreal Life, which mimics MTV's The Real World, instead placing minor celebrities from the past into a living environment. The CelebReality block has also aired such shows like Hogan Knows Best (Hulk Hogan's reality show) Celebrity Fit Club (A show where celebrity B listers get in shape), Flavor of Love (A show where rapper Flavor Flav picks a lover out of multiple women). Strange Love (a program following the past relationship between Brigitte Nielsen and Flavor Flav) and My Fair Brady (Which follows the relationship of Christopher Knight, who played Peter Brady on The Brady Bunch, and Adrianne Curry, who won the first season of America's Next Top Model)

Other Shows

It should be noted that the network does play music videos -- just like its sister network, MTV -- in the overnight hours. The overnight block was called Insomniac Music Theater until August 2005, when it was renamed Nocturnal State.
VH1 Rock Honors
On May 25, Queen, Judas Priest, Def Leppard, and KISS were the inaugural inductees into the VH1 Rock Honors in Las Vegas. The ceremony aired on VH1 six days later.

Spinoff networks

Like MTV and Nickelodeon before them, VH1 also launched spinoff digital networks as part of 'The Suite From MTV. Initially, four VH1 spinoff networks were formed, which were:

On June 30, 2005, VH1 Mega Hits was discontued because of low viewership. MTV Networks used the satellite space previously occupied by Mega Hits to launch LOGO, Viacom's channel targeted toward the gay and lesbian community,

In May 2006, VH1 Country was renamed CMT Pure Country.

International channels

VH1 Australia

Since March (April for Optus customers) 2004, VH1 has been available in Australia on Foxtel, Optus Television and Austar.

VH1 Brazil

The Portuguese-language version of the channel was launched in Brazil on November 21st 2005. However, VH1 Soul is available to digital cable subscribers since 2004.

VH1 Europe

VH1 Europe broadcasts from London to Continental Europe. The line-up mainly consists of documentaries, including series like 'The Fabulous Life Of...' and 'The Rise and Rise Of...'. Shows are usually subtitled or dubbed in various languages. Most strands of programming identical to VH-1 UK, but with different schedules and advertisements.

VH-1 Classic Europe is also available to many viewers and is, at present, entirely devoid of advertisements, with round-the-clock music videos.

VH-1 Germany

During the mid-1990s, a German-language version of VH-1 was broadcast, featuring more adult music than MTV, and using the original 1985 US logo. It proved unsuccessful and eventually had to make way for a mobile-content teen channel called MTV2 Pop.

VH1 Poland

Launched on December 1, 2005. The channel is aimed at people in Poland over 25.

VH1 India

In December 2004, MTV India and Zee-Turner teamed up to bring VH1 to India. In India, VH1 will be a 24-hour pay channel that will cater to the 16–44 age group.

VH1 Latin America

On April 1, 2004, VH1 Latin America joined MTV and Nickelodeon Latin America targeting audiences 25–49 years old. Until then, the VH1 main channel available for Latin America was the original US version. The Spanish-language channel is tailored for the market and feature a mix of music and entertainment with local and international-recording artists, as well as original programming.

VH1 Latin America was launched in the second quarter of 2004 with its initial distribution in Mexico via pay TV. The network is now available throughout Latin America.

VH1 UK

VH1 UK targets 25–44 years old, and has much of the same content as the main US channel. There are also two sister stations in the UK: VH2 and VH1 Classic.

VH1 Export

VH1 Export is a version of VH1 UK available in the Middle East, Africa (on DStv) and Thailand, on UBC 33. In Indonesia, VH1 programming also airs on MTV Indonesia at 5 and 7 pm, and on local terrestrial channels such as Jak-TV, Jakarta, TV Borobudur, Semarang, and Makassar TV, Makassar (UHF21).

Popular VH1 programs

External links

1985 establishments | MTV Networks | Music video networks | Viacom subsidiaries

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This article is licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License. It uses material from the "VH1".

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